wiki Quality Control

[randomspot555]

Ok, this is going to come across as a rant. But I could spend all day editing and come close to no progress, becuase this Wiki is just in a sad state.

Just clicking random page:

http://projectpokemon.org/wiki/EP036

Let's pretend you never heard of the Pokemon anime. This Wiki page would leave you wondering stuff like:

• What the hell is this about?
  
• What journey?
  
• What heroes?
  
• What's Sunnytown?
  
• Why do they need to go to Sunnytown?
  

Knowing it's about an anime episode brings in even more ponderings, such as:

• What's the episodes title?
  
• What Pokemon were featured? (reading it, you can't even tell it's about Pokemon)
  

After a few more random page clicks from the same editor having the same problems, I come across this gem:

http://projectpokemon.org/PPwiki/index.php?title=Pokemon_breeding&action=history

• "I" statements in a Wiki? No one cares. The article is about Pokemon breeding, not Behind the Scenes of PP's Wiki.
  
• The grammar, spelling, and overall quality of writing looks like it was done by a junior high school student.
  
• These "Credits" pages are annoying. Wiki's a group effort, and your contribution to it might be edited or deleted entirely in an hour. These aren't reliable. If you need to use it to link to a source, do so. But don't glorify yourself or others by putting a PP's members name there.
  

As I said, I could honestly spend all day re-writing these articles and make next to no progress.

We need quality control.

So, first off:

We need admins for the Wiki that have power to...I dunno, mass edit stuff, warn people for making crappy edits/articles, and so on. This is part of the problem, that any random person off the street can come in, write an article, and their poorly researched or poorly spelled article can sit there for weeks without anyone noticing. In some cases, they get "Wiki Contributor" recognition, despite the fact that their edits are poorly done.

And until that happens, I really think we should re-consider letting just anyone edit. It's clear that many people who put these articles up have no idea how to write. They're breaking the very basics of Wiki writing, such as inserting opinion/bias, I statements, crediting themselves, and almost never citing a source. That isn't to say they don't ahve the potential, but right now, they're doing more harm than good.

[Guested]

I think we need templates.

Also, I agree with you on the "credits." Totally annoying. Just check the history page, seriously.

And I agree with you about the "I" stuff. These are wiki pages, not FAQs.

But I think we need templates.

[randomspot555]

I think we need templates.

Could you expland on what this means? You mean like a pre-determined design for a page? What a page should look like?

Also, I agree with you on the "credits." Totally annoying. Just check the history page, seriously.

And I agree with you about the "I" stuff. These are wiki pages, not FAQs.

But I think we need templates.

[Guested]

Could you expland on what this means? You mean like a pre-determined design for a page? What a page should look like?

Exactly. Bulbapedia is a good site because all of its pages are uniform. They all have the same layout and information, etc.

If we had some kind of template decided for our wiki, then we wouldn't have all of this random, half-done stuff floating around (as much).

[damio]

So, first off:

We need admins for the Wiki that have power to...I dunno, mass edit stuff, warn people for making crappy edits/articles, and so on. This is part of the problem, that any random person off the street can come in, write an article, and their poorly researched or poorly spelled article can sit there for weeks without anyone noticing. In some cases, they get "Wiki Contributor" recognition, despite the fact that their edits are poorly done.

There are ranks for the wiki.

Administrator, Bureaucrat, Editor etc.

[HottSushiz]

Hmm. Templates seem like a rather convenient idea.

Let's pretend you never heard of the Pokemon anime. This Wiki page would leave you wondering stuff like:

• What the hell is this about?
  
• What journey?
  
• What heroes?
  
• What's Sunnytown?
  
• Why do they need to go to Sunnytown?
  

.

LOL. That's nearly the same as what my friend said when he visited the site.:biggrin:

[Endless Eden]

I think that the credits is just pointless and..showing of kinda so there is gonna be ranks on the wiki now?

[evandixon]

The Wiki needs a lot of work: someone who has nothing better to do than make sure that everything within a Wiki is perfect and consistant.

[Endless Eden]

True but that person will have to know a lot about all aspects of pokemon.Unless of course they check the info against other info on other sites in that case it whould just be time consuming.

[evandixon]

True but that person will have to know a lot about all aspects of pokemon.Unless of course they check the info against other info on other sites in that case it whould just be time consuming.

There could be more than one person - specialists!

[randomspot555]

The Wiki needs a lot of work: someone who has nothing better to do than make sure that everything within a Wiki is perfect and consistant.

I don't want that to be my overall message. But that, right now, there's little, if any, consistence in quality of writing, editing, fact checking, sourcing, and templates. I think we really should restrict who has access over editing the Wiki until it becomes a bit more organized.

And I would imagine the Wiki has an Admin, etc...but honestly I have no idea who they are. I don't think I've heard of any enforcement for poorly written or poorly sourced articles.

[Endless Eden]

Maybe you should ask.

@Evandixon of course there whould be more than one but they whould need vast knowledge.

[evandixon]

I don't want that to be my overall message. But that, right now, there's little, if any, consistence in quality of writing, editing, fact checking, sourcing, and templates. I think we really should restrict who has access over editing the Wiki until it becomes a bit more organized.

And I would imagine the Wiki has an Admin, etc...but honestly I have no idea who they are. I don't think I've heard of any enforcement for poorly written or poorly sourced articles.

I had a hard time getting the In-depth National Dex to have the same structure, and It still isn't exactly the same structure, because I added Evolution data to the first one or two.

[Sabeta]

Hmm, I was attempting to create a page on Abilities, it would include a list of all the abilities, by Index Number, as well as a brief explanation on each Ability's function in or out of Battle. As well as some small sections regarding PID relations to Ability, as well as mention of Pokemon who can have Multible Abilities; However, it would seem I do not have access to the Editing Feature on the Wiki. Would someone please allow me to make Edits (Not sure if this is even the right place to make posts), my User account there is the same as here. I also wish to make an Attack List, also sorted by Index Number, since that too is missing.

[randomspot555]

Sabeta, the Wiki is semi-closed. While it's available for the viewing public, it is largely used for game researchers to share information. We're no longer (at least at the moment) trying to make and maintain a general-Pokemon wiki.

[Sabeta]

Hmm, I see. Ah well, I was mostly hoping to put the aforementioned things up there for my own Personal use, and for those who needed it as well.