Community Portal/Move

Move?

Some of the discussion on the Revitializing thread, as well the two month wait on Parser functions has got me wondering - how much support will Beth continue to put into this site? I don't think they'll do anything to shut it down, but it has been hobbling along with some very bare functions for a while now and I'll let you think of any other reason you can.

So, I asked over at UESP whether a move would be welcome and feasible - the answer seems to be yes. By move, I mean keeping most of this intact - the function pages, definitely the portals, any non-bylined tutorials, etc. Now for the bigger question, how would the normal CS wiki editors feel about it? (if you're reading this, you count as a normal CS editor) Of course, if it sounds like a possibility we'll bring it up on the Revitializing thread.

A bit more of my input - It depends on how good the bots can be and how much of the site they can keep intact (which will require more discussion - sorry, I'm not too good at timing these things). Most of the move will force us to reorganize information, but that's somewhat the goal anyway. I think it would open the discussion of what can be done about Navigation - possibilities encourage discussion.

I... very strongly do not wish to do that. This site is linked to by the CS Help tool (actually, this is the Help tool), and it is important to have all of this information in one centralized place. I very much think this is the place that it should be.

Further... I'm somewhat unclear on why the Parser functions are so critical. I completely agree; it's fairly clear that Bethesda is once again ignoring this site; we're not likely to get them or any others. But I don't see that as a good enough reason to move.

I'm just one person, and I've give my opinion; I'm more than willing to listen to others. However...

I really don't think we can move. Bethesda never specified the Copyrights of this (note the continually angry red uppercase link to Project:Copyrights in the edit page), but it's fairly safe to say that they consider this Wiki, and the information and articles contained within it, to be their property. This Wiki adds value to their company, however little that may be, they're not likely to want to give it up. And I really don't think that they're going to want to have this Wiki become just a giant re-direct to UESP.

So, I think this discussion is kind of dead in the water anyway.

Dragoon Wraith TALK 02:46, 15 February 2008 (EST)

To be clear, it's not so much the Parser functions as much the difference in attitude and participation. The people at UESP want their wiki to be useful, as good as it can be, and are all very active while Beth seems to be in a 'Fallout or bust' mode and we have to bother them to get anything (I do mean bother, I know GStaff and all of them have more important things to do).

I can go either way on it, just bringing it up as a possibility.

Copyrights - Reading the bottom again, it only talks about other's copyrights so I don't know. If we go forward there should be an e-mail to Beth about it.--Haama 10:36, 15 February 2008 (EST)

I have no doubt that the people at UESP have the best intentions but they can't make up for the shortage of contributors we have now, and I think that moving will only make it worse. I do agree that the UESP Wiki is far better than this one.

Besides that, moving is a hell of a job and we don't even have time for a proper reorganization.

--Qazaaq 18:13, 16 February 2008 (EST)

If the people at UESP want to help, they are more than welcome to sign up here and help.

Dragoon Wraith TALK 21:10, 16 February 2008 (EST)

I'd support DragoonWraith on this. There is no good reason to move this to UESP, they both run on the same technical platform (MediaWiki), and if you ask me to choose between Bethesda and UESP in terms of longterm infrastructure availability potential, I'd rather bank on Bethesda. They have an excellent track record supporting their mod community, and as a corporate entity they are generally better suited to maintain such a thing. Plus, both UESP and this wiki are major community assets, and the community might do well not to put all eggs into one basket. I have (lurker) accounts on both wikis, so there is nothing preventing anybody to work on both. Clavis0 22:23, 16 February 2008 (EST)

Ironically, I don't really agree with Clavis0 - I don't find Bethesda's track record terribly impressive, nor do I have any doubts about UESP's continued existence at this point (UESP has been around since before Daggerfall, seriously now). My main objections lie with the fact that this ought to be the place where people look for information on modding because this is where the CS itself sends people who look for help.

Also, it is, at least in my opinion, advantageous to have this Wiki specializing in modding, as opposed to a section of UESP's Wiki. I find UESP's search function even worse than the one here - search for something, and you're liable to get results spanning the entire Elder Scrolls series. You can uncheck sections, but it's irritating to do. Finding information there will likely be just as difficult as here.

Anyway, that's how I feel about it.

Dragoon Wraith TALK 23:02, 16 February 2008 (EST)