[Mars]

Welll now that people are starting polls to see which theory from the wiki people believe... should we change the way we deal with fanon? I'm afraid my putting up other theories besides the manifesto just made things worse.

[Shade]

As far as I'm concerned, let people poll and debate all they want, as that's part of what a forum is for. As long as the wiki itself doesn't endorse any particular idea, and they are all properly marked as non-canon information, I don't see a problem.

[Taristin]

I'm afraid my putting up other theories besides the manifesto just made things worse.

Some of us refuse to accept the "manifesto" as well.....

As long as the wiki itself doesn't endorse any particular idea,

But isn't the wiki, by omitting the lesser popular ideas, endorsing theories by default?
Im kinda of the opinion that if you intend to post one leading idea, you should post the other ones as well.

[Dark Hunter]

Perhaps a subsection can be added to the "history": Fan-made history. Keep all the fanon in one place.

[Shade]

But isn't the wiki, by omitting the lesser popular ideas, endorsing theories by default?
Im kinda of the opinion that if you intend to post one leading idea, you should post the other ones as well.

Noone is preventing them from being added to the wiki. As you can see from the first post, that is in fact exactly what Mars has been doing. As long as they are reasonably well written and properly marked, if they're added, that's fine

But you can't really expect us to go digging for new theories. The wiki is free for anyone to edit after all, so if anyone finds something missing, they should add it themselves.

[Mars]

Plus I did go digging for new theories when I put up that section... turnout wasn't great.

I'm all for "if we put up one theory we should put them all up" the trouble is, by putting a ****load of theories up, it makes the theories section more noticeable, so then you end up with newbs (not a derogitory term, simply mean "new people who don't know any better") stumbling upon them, thinking that they are pillars of HLP, and asking which ones people think is right. I'm beginning to go the "Contain the fanon to the forums" route.

[Shade]

We could perhaps nest them a bit deeper, giving non-canon items their own portal page which explains all about how this stuff is just speculation and guesswork, and that none of them are considered correct. Then have all the non-canon categories linked from that portal, and purge links from any other place, and that should clear things up.

Basically, the result would be segregating all the non canon info from the rest and make the only access point a big fat disclaimer page. Thoughts?

[Snail]

Sorry, I was the one who started that whole 'Shivan Theories' thread...

I just thought it would be something interesting. Besides, I would have posted it anyway but forgotten about the other two options (just Nightmares and Starborn theories).

Sorry I stirred this whole damn thing up.

[Shade]

It's a healthy discussion to have, really. The way the wiki is currently structured in regards to non canon information is prone to misunderstandings, so trying to figure out what could be done differently is not a bad thing.

One thing I can think of right off at least, that would help it some, would be to nest any theories and information that apply to a specific campaign as a subsection of that campaign. So information on the Starborn, for instance, as well as any fan speculation on them, would only be accessible through the Starborn campaign page, Speculation on the origin of the Nyarlathotep (btw, if I spelled that right from memory, I deserve a cookie) only from the Derelict campaign page, and so on.

It would clean it up some, if nothing else, and keep things in proper context as frankly these things can really only be understood within their respective campaign settings anyway.

[Snail]

The starborn thing isn't even on the wiki. I got it from the Starborn FAQ down at MG.

[Mars]

Somwhere in the wiki I belive it talks about the Starborn... anyway, I'll see what I can do.

[Snail]

Anyway, I'm sorry if I caused this entire dispute. I just wanted to have a little fun, but that turned out to be a very bad move.

[Mars]

No you didn't cause it, look back a couple of topics, this was a huge debate for a long time, don't worry about it

[NGTM-1R]

Somwhere in the wiki I belive it talks about the Starborn... anyway, I'll see what I can do.

Can't be. I don't think MindGames even has a proper campaign entry...

[Dark Hunter]

They do have an FAQ...

[aldo_14]

We could perhaps nest them a bit deeper, giving non-canon items their own portal page which explains all about how this stuff is just speculation and guesswork, and that none of them are considered correct. Then have all the non-canon categories linked from that portal, and purge links from any other place, and that should clear things up.

Basically, the result would be segregating all the non canon info from the rest and make the only access point a big fat disclaimer page. Thoughts?

I would nest it very deeply, perhaps in a hole in the ground filled in with cement.

[Mars]

We could perhaps nest them a bit deeper, giving non-canon items their own portal page which explains all about how this stuff is just speculation and guesswork, and that none of them are considered correct. Then have all the non-canon categories linked from that portal, and purge links from any other place, and that should clear things up.

Basically, the result would be segregating all the non canon info from the rest and make the only access point a big fat disclaimer page. Thoughts?

I would nest it very deeply, perhaps in a hole in the ground filled in with cement.

My thoughts exactly, there's just no good reason to have that stuff in the wiki. Those theories are nice and all, but what's the use of having them there?

[NGTM-1R]

The wiki, as I have pointed out before, is the knowledge source of all things Freespace. These are also knowledge of Freespace, though perhaps you don't like them.

[Mars]

But it's not knowlage, it is theories, not based on anything other than the author's imagination. That's fine for the forum, but not so good for a wiki.

[NGTM-1R]

Theories are knowledge. Your computer runs on theories. The difference isn't that large. And most of the people involved DID make some attempt to back it up. Some of them have clearly been pulled out of the creator's ***, but not all.