Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: karajorma on August 24, 2004, 03:33:53 pm
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Been having a rather trying day here. The last couple of days I've been trying to update my FAQ but I'm finding it pretty hard going.
The FAQ was originally written when FS2 had been out a couple of years. Nothing much changed so it was pretty easy to go through my VBB postings and put together a FAQ. Since nothing much changed it was pretty easy to maintain it.
However over the last few months two things have caused me to rethink my attitude to the FAQ.
1. The Wiki is a more comprehensive source of information and it seems rather foolish to try and compete with that.
2. The SCP moves so quickly that there is no way the FAQ could keep up with it.
The result is a big problem for me. I hate leaving the FAQ up when it is full of information which is now incorrect. I really hate pointing someone at it when I know that the info on it could mislead or confuse but maintaining it so that it doesn't get old is a real case of running to stay still.
So I'm stuck as to what I should do with it.
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move it to the wiki and also Turn it into a HLP Digest with answers to Questions posed on the forums
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keep the turret and table tutorials for sure. (I need them!)
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The turret tutorial would definately remain in some form or other. Possibly moved to the wiki but I definately wouldn't delete it until someone writes something to replace it.
The intro and HotU pages will also definately survive cause they are indexed elsewhere and I don't want people coming to the FAQ finding it gone and then being stuck.
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Voted move the entire thing to the wiki, since then you would potentially have other people to help you maintain it.
*Checks wiki changes list*
Though that might just be a pipe dream...
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I would keep it mostly there, with a warning some stuff, like SCP, is out of date.
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Keep it all there :yes:. Although I would move all the old FAQs in an archive, and all the ones still current (leave them exactly where they are now) and any additions made in the future. Why? There are links all over the net to the FreeSpace Oracle and its subpages, removing it would be havoc and even redirecting it might still throw some people off.
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Yeah. I'd never yank the Oracle without making sure that all the pages forwarded elsewhere.
For a start I know a lot of HotU people end up here precisely because of the FAQ.
The consensus seems to be towards moving things over to the Wiki which is something I'm fine with. I like the idea of having an archive. A lot of the information that is outdated is still useful to people who can't or won't run the SCP.
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At least I will get sentimental when there is no separately Oracle left. I forwarded lots of people to it too... anway, good job kara! :)
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No offence :) intended... but the Oracle seems more inviting and less distracting then the Wiki, I thinks its the colors :nod:. Maybe the Wiki should adopt a better color scheme.
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I think you should update the FAQ as much as you can and leave a warning about possibly incorrect infomation or infomation that is likey to change in the future. Also leave out questions that are extreamly hard to keep up to date.
Oh can you please complete the turreting tutorial, coz you stated at the end of the tutorial the following : I intend to add to this FAQ details on how to add engine glows, paths and even fighter bays and docking point to the GTC Great Big Cube
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Yeah. I noticed that while I was looking at it last week :) I will have to explain that stuff, maybe with a more detailed model though :)
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Front page. :)
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Thanks :)
Can't hurt to get some more opinions on the matter :)
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Any ideas if anyone visits the Wiki at all?
By the way, the FRED Help documentation which I wrote more than a year ago is not uploaded anywhere. Do you still need it? If yes, I can upload it and put it into HTML format.
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I think it would be useful to have it. Especially with this whole newbie training thing going on. :)
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Wait ... I can put it into the Wiki. Or should I host that somewhere else(swooh?) and put it into HTML format?
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Put it into the wiki if you can. :)
The only problem with the wiki is if you need any images hosted cause you'll have to keep them elsewhere for now (Or contact one of the admins with a zipfile of the pics you want)
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It's a bit more complicated than that ... discuss it via ICQ in the afternoon, ok?
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No problem.
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Your FAQ is downloadable in a package isnt it?
How come the wiki isnt, i mean i'd love to download it and browse through it offline. But i guess the reason is coz it's updated too often (am i right?).
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The Wiki is not updated often. Look at the Recent changes window. It rather became an SCP FAQ than a FreeSpace Modding manual. When things get updated at the SCP, it goes there.
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Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
Your FAQ is downloadable in a package isnt it?
See what I mean :), isn't it obvious that things are better when you can download them at least in its minimal form if possible.
Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
How come the wiki isnt, i mean i'd love to download it and browse through it offline. But i guess the reason is coz it's updated too often (am i right?).
Like TopAce said, it's not updated often but its not downloadable because that would defy its natural concept, an online (often updated - not currently) encyclopaedia of the Freespace Universe.
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@kara - Keep your FAQ online as it is and update it as much as possible. If you a question is too hard to answer, link it to the wiki. I really like the whole downloadable package thingy.
@Xelion - Why cant we change the concept of the wiki to a "online, downloadable encyclopedia of the freespace universe?"
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Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
Your FAQ is downloadable in a package isnt it?
I didn't know that there was that much demand for the downloadable version but yeah. The current download might be a little bit out of date though (Well more out of date than the rest of the FAQ). I'll change things around when I finally get around to the big upgrade I'm planning.
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Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
@Xelion - Why cant we change the concept of the wiki to a "online, downloadable encyclopedia of the freespace universe?"
You would need some kind of plug-in/server side-script for that I believe. Its possible although I'm not the one to contact on this, Lonestar or Sandwich is. :)
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huh. But kara made his FAQ downloadable so easy just by saving his website into a zip file. Cant we use the same technique to make it into a downloadabe package. And say every 3-6 months a new package is compiled.
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Its a Wiki not a website, I don't exactly know what the Wiki is based on, it might be possible, but every 3-6 months is pointless as data is updated quite frequently in some circumstances. I'm still not the one to contact about this, I don't operate or maintain the wiki. If I did it would be online just as is now but include several more features mostly because there are some features that can not be included in a download :).
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My FAQ is also signifacantly smaller than the wiki :D
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New link to my FRED Document:
http://www.swooh.com/peon/TopAce/FSHelp.html
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@ Karajorma, do take some time with your FAQ, placing entire parts of it in Wiki, and changing/scraping others as needed.
Thing is information overlap is good for the soul... :D
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I don't object to taking some time to fix the FAQ. What I'm worried about is that I'll have to do it again 3 months down the line.
The SCP is moving so fast that certain parts of the FAQ get old very quickly.
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Yeah, i see your problem. Maybe you could have special 'update news' page where you can quickly announce the new stuff, link it to the wiki, and leave a warning on your FAQ that you only update it a few times a month or something like that.
Really love your download feature!