User:Infinite/Rant/Archive

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21st April 2012[edit]

April Fools'[edit]

Earlier this month it was April Fools' Day. Yours truly was the main antagonist yet again, with some horrible news (written alongside standard co-conspirator Aquadrizzt) and a terrible main page rework. The Minstrel prank is credited to zeeZ (for the logos) and poke (for the music), but I was right there when these things were plotted. Though even with all of those pranks, something wasn't quite complete about all of this.

And today I have found out exactly what was missing. The credibility of the interview wasn't undermined by just the impact of the "news," but also the lack of teasers to have it come across as reality. The pranks should be a dead give-away when you start to think about them. Other than that they should just entertain, which we did (and didn't at the same time).

So in the aftermath of the April Fools' pranks of this year, I'd like to compliment the set of pranks with one more "prank." An encore, if you will.

This Chronomancer "concept art" piece.

I hope to be seeing you lot for next year's April Fools', because I have already been plotting in advance. ;)


19th December 2011[edit]

You are strong[edit]

Hello! Today is a day for an inspirational rant that has nothing to do with issues, problems, hardship, or even the Christmas season. Today is a day where I hope to empower you.

I want to tell you that you are strong. Strong because you're still alive today. Strong because you somehow dealt with, or are dealing with hardship as we all do. Be it slowly, cautiously, carefully, radically, naively, intelligently, rationally, emotionally, barely, or assertively; you are still alive and coping. You are still doing it. And why does this make you strong? Because it helps you shape your very self.

You may feel like you are or were on the top of the world. You might feel like you've hit rock-bottom. Maybe you've even been thinking about ending all the pain, ending your very self. But you didn't. And if you are thinking to yourself "But I will soon" then I hope that these words can talk you out of that. For you have no right to take away a life, not even your own. It is not even a sensible choice to do so. Is the whole world against you? Is there no other way? Is there nobody who cares? Is this really all that is left? Wrong. You were born in this world with the power to overcome these kind of thoughts. You were born with the power to always turn everything around, no matter how dire the situation is getting. Even if you are hurting because of someone else, you shouldn't stop trying because of them. Your life isn't about them. Ultimately, your life is 100% and utterly about you.

I will save you my story, to not further discourage you, but trust me when I say that there is always a way, as well as there is always a reason. They say only the good die young, and that may be a reason why you're hurting. But if you give up because of that you are being beyond disrespectful towards these people. They had no choice left. Their body or spirit gave up on them. It is very emotional and very hard on the emotions, but they fought their every step, maybe even moreso because they accepted the fact that they might die soon. Their lives were taken away from them. They didn't take their own. If they did, they choose to do so to avoid imminent pains. But their death would be even just a bit in vain if it takes more lives as a result. You can't take your own life because the world took away theirs. You have no right. You should take their fate and strengthen yourself. Know that they wanted for you to be happy, to be free. To live prosperous.

If you are depressed beyond belief, much like I was once, you take yourself by the collar, step in front of a mirror and look at yourself. The person you see there is strong. Yes, life sucks balls sometimes, but that isn't going to stop the person in the mirror. Yes, life's unfair, but that doesn't mean you let yourself be dragged down. Yes, you may feel like it always happens to you, but it just doesn't. It happens to all of us. To some of us more than others. You look into that mirror and stare yourself straight in the eyes. Tell that reflection that he or she is strong. That nothing is going to stop you from trying. Nothing is worth giving up for. Nothing can just take away your happiness forever. You deserve to live. You deserve to be happy. You deserve it no matter what.

Many will have their prejudice at the ready. Many will disagree. Some may even wish you dead. But no one else should be stronger than you. You will be the one deciding what you need to try and do to get your positive spirit back. And even when you do, you might have moments where you slip back into it all. It's important to never give up. It's important you try again. Failure is a natural aspect of being human. It helps us realise our faults, our flaws, our weaknesses. And knowing those will help you shape yourself. Work with them. They needn't be your forte, but they mustn't dominate your mood.

I could go on for hours, finding the exact words to get you to feel stronger, but there is little to no point. In the end, maybe you only have need to hear one thing. It may be very meaningless, it may be very trivial, but please know that it is true and heart-felt:


There is someone out there who will always believe in you. There is always someone who puts trust in your choices. There is always someone out there who has gone through similar things. There is always someone who cares. And if all else fails for you, I'll state it quite bluntly now; there is always me. I believe in you. I may not know you, I may not be more than text on some website. Heck, I may not even appear honest to you. But I am being sincere here. I care, even if the rest of the world stops caring. I believe, even when everyone loses hope.

Because I have been through hardship, like a bouncing ball travels through a room, unpredictable at times, bouncing high, bouncing low, rolling along at slow pace, airborne for ages. I've been there. Last year I was without hope. Last year I had brief moments where I considered ending my very life. But I didn't. I found out that I will always be worthy of living. I will always be ready to fight. I'm not a quitter. If you quit, the people who "hate" you win. If you quit, the people who love you lose. If you quit, you will forever take away yourself from the world.


And that is one loss we should not have to suffer on top of the many losses we already do suffer every day. So know this; you are strong. You will turn your life around.


23rd October 2011[edit]

Userboxes and user categories[edit]

Well, it was inevitable, to be honest. After 268 edits for the sake of the Category reorganization and worse even, just for the Users category; I feel inclined to rant about this particular eyesore. Bear with me, I have seen too much wiki for one day, so agitation may ensue.

Quite frankly, the amount of userboxes and user categories is excessive. I am not saying that they shouldn't exist at all, but I am definitely saying there should be considerably less of both. Especially the user categories, which is why I went through today's touble. They are about to get shot down from their community pedestal near-completely. Gone, no more useless user categories nobody cares about.

Yes, that's right, no more.

Userboxes[edit]

I was initially considering starting a similar project for the userboxes, but I have reconsidered. Instead, the userboxes will be here to stay; they are free to, if you'd ask me. They are harmless, yet many. But all-in-all they are the community's guilty pleasure (after all, my entire user page is based on them). I do not hate on them, nor do I support them per say, but I can live with them being there. Except for one aspect of them; auto-categorization.

Take for instance Saxon's Coca Cola userbox. It's quite nice and all, but it comes with an [[:Category:Users that like Coca Cola|unnecessary category]] when you use it. This is the case for almost every single one of the userboxes on this wiki. And it shouldn't have to happen at all. On the category reorganization project's page, you can find the current Users category, including sub-categories. The rest is not relevant enough to merit its own categories. We could have 500 userboxes for a single profession and we would probably find about 20-400 categories for every single userbox. That is not acceptable at all.

There is a single user category for a single profession. If you enjoy/love/like/excel at/whatever playing/being/roleplaying/LARP'ing/talking about/whatever a warrior, there is one category you can make your userbox categorize users in. Not two, not three, not over 9000!: one. If you want to categorize in a category that does not yet exist, consider its value prior to creating it. It will be ruthlessly tagged for deletion if it is not a key category (for reference, the key categories can be found on the project's page). If the main space categories are being sorted out, the user categories should, too.

User categories[edit]

As per above, user categories barely have any effective value to the wiki, so make sure you are creating a valuable category in the first place. Nobody cares about your [[:Category:Users who are awesome|awesomeness]]/[[:Category:Users who are evil|evil side]]. Nodody cares about your [[:Category:Users who like guns|fondness for guns]]. We can just about care about your gender, favourite professions and whether or not you are a Helper on this wiki. They are valuable in ways that matter (addressing a user, possibly finding in-game friends to play with, and wiki assistence respectively).

All the other user categories are currently merely adding to the category chaos. They are going to go, they have to. New, valuable categories become regulated, monitored, maintained. Others will be forced to stay away. We are still not a forum.

So to start it off, please take down and/or alter auto-categorization on userbox templates (and others, where applicable) to purely categorize into any of the key categories. If it's not important enough, don't waste a category on it. Don't categorize in a top category or sub-top category (being Category:Users, Category:Users by..., and so on) because we already know you're users. Keep categories clean, concise, valuable and easy to navigate.

Conclusion[edit]

Take a look at this edit to see what I mean. The category is extremely trivial and yet there is a category for it (whilst I am typing this rant up, it is still tagged for deletion). Pointless.

So simply follow my example, especially when you are making new user(box) templates; you don't need a category for the 2 members who have kick-ass aunts who love to roll strong necromancers. You don't need a category for it at all. Even if 100 users have dogs at home, there is no need for a category. So make your userbox, but don't have it automatically categorize users. I will find your edit and undo/alter it if you do.

Some people are getting worked up about the 8th profession mania. Some people are getting worked up about uneducated rage they find online against their beloved Guild Wars 2.

And I get worked up over these issues. Because someone has to, hopefully you can see that now.


16th September 2011[edit]

A parody of appreciation[edit]

"It never gets old, huh?"

"Nope."

"It kinda makes you want to..."

"Break into a song?"

"Yep."

I love the edits
I love community
I love discussions
I love the cat'g'ry tree
I love the wiki
And all its messed-up folks
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
I love the egos
I love the edit war
I love to revert
I love our made-up lore
I love the wiki
And all its craziness
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
I love moving files
I love Wikichu
I love the drama
I love the rants I do
I love the wiki
It's such a brilliant place
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da


21st May 2011[edit]

Not a forum[edit]

Another rant on what is apparently unacceptable to the raging fanbase GW2 is experiencing. The wiki is not a forum. I repeat;
The wiki is not a forum.

You heard it here first and you will hear it here often. So because no one aside from a handful of people understands what this entails, to me the honour of recapping exactly what a wiki is.

A Guild Wars 2 wiki is[edit]

An encyclopedia. To store information about everything found in the game and universe of Guild Wars 2. To create articles carefully listing all information we have in the most clear and complete way possible. Only facts are used in listing information; claims based on sourceless information can (and should) be mercilessly removed. A wiki deals with nothing but facts, sources and references. Speculation and general discussion is greatly discouraged on any serious wiki, with the exception of user space and user talk space here.

For a long while, we were not as strict as we are today. In fact, we aren't that strict today either (people just claim we are). Tiny sections on talk pages pointing out something irrelevant to the wiki is often allowed to stay. We (that is, those who frown upon the wiki being used as a casual forum) let such sections slide; we're not some sort of irrational wiki police. Yet we are called irrational and a wide variety of swears and insults that we warn people for (personal attacks and insults are not acceptable behaviour). Is this fair? Perhaps in some fanboy's perspective this is considered fair, but then again, they shouldn't be involving themselves with something as a wiki in the first place. It is not us being irrational, it is them being balatantly incorrect.

As I said, we usually let harmless chatter slide, even on main talk pages. There is nothing detrimental that comes from these minor sections. But some things just run out of hand and the masses choose to ignore it. We tried "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" for a while, but to no avail. Now we are actively forced to regulate the chaos. And people will be butthurt about this and rightfully so. You can see it as a form of censoring because that is what is. That's right, we censor your input. And the sole reason why we do this is because it is not relevant to the wiki.

And before you start calling me names that have no ground whatsoever and just have you appear uneducated; I was once a regular participant in speculative rants and general discussion topics. I fought for a lot of subjects and made a fuckload of predictions because I thought it was accepted on this wiki. And it was, until the first tsunamis of fanboy ragings struck us. We set up a bank account for donations to save us and the misplaced discussion archive was born. With it, we started to filter all speculation and general chatter from the profession reveal talk page (a really, terribly bad rampant chaos at the time) and cleaned it up. Then we could easily find the relevant topics once again and discuss the revision to that article (this is what talk pages (at least in main space) are for).

A Guild Wars 2 wiki is not[edit]

A forum. Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? It is a point worth restating as you are still ignoring this excessively. We are not a place to have long-winded discussions regarding game-related topics on. this is where everyone goes into the wrong. What talk pages are designed for is discussing the edits made to the article they are tied to. For instance, the talk page for the Ranger article is not there to discuss rangers. Nor is it there to discuss how epic-looking Barrage is, or Serpent's Strike, or the ranger's pets, or <insert ranger-related topic here>. Then you might ask yourself; what the fuck is it for then? A good question, sir. It is there to discuss that questionable edit that that random person made.

In example; someone edits in the following in the list of weapons available to a ranger: "Rifle". You revert him/her because it has already been confirmed that rangers are incapable of using any other weapon than previously listed there. They revert you back because they are also a raging fanboy/-girl and is not wrong in their own eyes. The IP not only broke the "1 Revert Rule" accepted practise but is also steadily reverting EVERYONE else back to their rifle edit. This is where a talk page comes in; You leave the edit be (yes, even if it is incorrect!) and you create a new topic on the talk page explaining (with sources!) as to why rangers have no access to rifles. You then end the new topic with something along the lines of "someone please revert this in a couple of minutes unless new sources are found that the rifle can in fact be used by rangers". This is all you need to do to restore the article into a correct state. Reverting the steadfast IP does not aid documentation in anyway, In fact; edit wars are greatly discouraged and admins may choose to hand out warnings or/and blocks if they persist. This means that you could end up being blocked for reverting false information back to correct information, le gasp!

But a more persistant example exists, which clearly points out what the wiki is not (a forum!); Someone creates a topic on one of the profession article talk pages about why it is the most <insert stereotypical insult/praise here> profession ever, including vague attempts at leetspeak and fallacious use of the English language. You read this and agree/disagree with his/her arguments. You are about to reply to them. Stop. Before you reply ask yourself the following question; "Should this topic not be on a fanforum instead?" Also ask yourself; "Will my reply aid documentation on the article that belongs to this talk page?" If the answer to the first question is "yes" and the answer to the second question is "no" (most often the case!) then please cease all actions and navigate away from the page. You were about to add speculation/general discussion to a talk page created for discussing the revisions of the main article! Have you any idea what that could have resulted into? Probably not, but fear not, it is better now that you refrained from your commentary there.

Why should I listen to you?[edit]

You shouldn't. Actually you should but that would be wrong in your eyes regardless of what I say and I cannot blame you. You are in a bubble that we forgot to pop when you arrived here. People today assume the wiki is like an official forum. It was accepted before so it's fine now. Wrong. This time people actually woke up and realized how completely backwards it is to allow speculation and general chatter on a wiki. People took action. And others are being childish now that their "freedom" is taken from them. But then here is your freedom back; you are allowed to speculate and converse casually on this wiki! Really? Yes! But not everywhere.

Speculation and general chatter takes place in your (or others') user space and their talk pages. User space is like your personal home instance that you can fill with whatever discussion you would want. You want people to discuss the awesomeness of <topic> with you? You can! Just make a new topic on your user talk page and watch the comments roll in! You will soon notice that those stuck up wiki policemen are perfectly capable of fanboying all over (the/a/an) <topic> and will actively discuss with you.

We really aren't uptight about what you are allowed to say at all. It is where that is the issue. To avoid oversized talk pages filled with rage and glee at the same time we have to slam our fists down and regulate things. We're sorry it has to be this way, but it truly is with the best and most effective intentions. It has been opted to completely delete your comments and posts and that would be true censoring and we do not support that.

In conclusion[edit]

The wiki is not a forum. To speculate or generally and casually discuss subjects within the GW2 universe you are allowed to make topics for them in your user talk space or join a discussion on any other such topics found on user talk pages. The talk pages for articles are there to discuss edits to the main articles and to resolve edit wars and conflicts. This split is in effect to avoid rampant chaos on this wiki. We let small topics and discussions slide often enough, but topics and comments with high chance of leading to massive discussions are moved to user space or a special archive.

I hope this has brought light to people and they will henceforth refrain from calling total strangers random, incorrect and highly offensive names. We are all here for a game and we should never forget that this is the official wiki that should be handled with certain formalities.


18th April 2011[edit]

LGBT and me[edit]

Let me start off this particular rant with a fact that needs to be stated in conjunction with this rant: I am gay. If you knew this, it won't surprise you. If you didn't, you know now. But I will also give a few warnings right away: This rant is particulary offensive to a whole deal of people. And also note, this rant will probably disappoint a handful of people. Either way, this is my personal stance and I choose to rant about it.

I hardly ever choose to side with any LGBT community. I don't believe that such communities are required, vital, or in any way necessary. Sure it may prove as a beacon of light to other homo-/bisexual and transgender individuals, but it's a shadow on society to me. It is a way for people to stamp themselves with a tag, as if it is required to be open about their sexuality with such. Word of advice; your sexuality needs no stamp or tag or sign or whatever you think you need. The average heterosexual individual also doesn't label themselves as such. Not because heterosexuality would be a norm, a standard. Instead, it is because no one requires anyone else to shove their sexuality in others' faces. To put it simply; no one gives a shit who you're sleeping with. Nobody cares.

As for me; I don't care either. I don't like the flamboyance you assume over your sexuality. I don't enjoy the effemite or overly tomboyish behaviour you present yourself with. I don't think men with fake breasts and female clothing are in any way nice to look at. I am revolted by your self-promotion. What is wrong with being who you are, without exaggeration. Are you afraid you're not making others realize you're into the same sex/wish to be of the opposite gender? Well that is too bad then, get over it. The LGBT movements have boxed sexuality into a category from which it won't budge for a few decades, if not longer. It is up to such a point that people have even asked me why I don't enjoy girlish things. I am male, I behave as such. As I should. Of course I have characteristics that are considerably less "manly" than the average, I won't deny that. But I am male, wear guys' clothes, hang out with bros, etc. I don't want people to think that, because I am gay, I should have a purse. Or a leather suit. Or whatever else not.

This is also why sexualities are still a major topic in society; you guys try way too hard. You fight for equality, yet whilst doing so you present yourself as unique, special, different. It's only natural you are not making any impact. Try to protest in normal clothing, with normal signs, without the specialness. If you want equality, be equal to "them". Do what I do. I had to turn down 5 girls since my last girlfriend (last girlfriend being when I was relatively young and not quite understood what I really felt; I did love her, but not truly in hindsight). I apparently do not come across as gay. This is of course a major disadvantage; I want to attract the same sex, not the opposite sex. Still, it pleases me that I do not come across as gay. It puts everyone at ease, and I can break the news when I think I should. I am not a bad advertisement that promotes itself in a way where you just want to walk away. Sexuality is not a prime characteristic. The way I live I can be social towards anyone and only "come out" if it would otherwise become problematic.

Speaking of "coming out", I think that is the biggest bullshit on the planet. Granted, there's bigger things, but in this rant it's the biggest. Coming out is the process of telling those in your direct environment that you are of a different sexuality than heterosexuality. Again, as per above; who cares? Your parents? They may not accept it or may be happy for you. Deep down, either way; you shoved it in their face and they will be hurt. Of course, the realization of your sexuality (mothers know this before you do, according to studies) will have to come either way. One day you will live your life as who you are. Sexuality is a part of you, so it will present itself. But that's all natural. You don't have to force it onto them to make them realize.

Your friends? Are they really your friends if they don't accept you as you are, even without telling them? Do they need to hear about what you get all hot and bothered for? Friends usually accept you as you are, even if your sexuality is non-heterosexual. They don't need the confirmation.

Co-workers? They will only judge you if you "come out" at work. Do your job and socialize naturally. Same thing applies here; they don't need you to shove it into your face. In fact, from various perspectives (of all sexualities) it is said that co-workers will most usually confront you about what they see you as, which is the perfect moment to have a talk about it.

The world? Doesn't care. Ever.

So who is left to "come out" for? You. Aren't you being hypocrit for presenting yourself as different. It is your burden to bear and no one else's. If they don't accept you for who you are, they're not truly there for you. Even if this means your parents are not truly there for you. You grew up with them, you lived off of them, they watched you grow up. They'll come around eventually; you're their kid.

And that is why I don't "come out" to most communities. The only reason I did it in the Guild Wars 2 communities is because people were getting the wrong ideas and I felt like people should know. Also because I want to be a beacon of wisdom to others like me, but also anyone else with questions, or need for a chat. That is who I am; social and caring. If I can help I will. If I cannot, I will still try to. My sexuality has nothing to do with it.

Sexuality has to do with sex and love. As a wise man once said to another man; sex with men makes you gay, the t-shirt makes you stereotype.

And that is true. The LGBT community is the stereotype. Has hardly anything to do with being proud of your sexuality. It is there to be different. To make a statement.

And I am ashamed to be gay because of it.


29th March 2011[edit]

Improvement[edit]

In general line, people absolutely love to counter an argument regarding improvement of the bigger picture with a biased opinion. Most occasionally it boils down to; "I don't like, thus it shouldn't be introduced." I will assume no one needs further elaboration as to why that argument is not viable in any way.

This happens a lot on (for instance) Guru. People are already capable of whining their butthurt asses off, based on what they have played with for 45 minutes (or a multiplication of such, during the demos) or only just seen. I find it revolting. People need to accept that without coherent and consistent gameplay, everything is subject to personal interpretation. Personal interpretation is a false ground for arguments against something, as it is equally false ground for arguments in favour of something. It's called having your head up your arse.

What I'd love to see occurring in the world is a simple mind change; "If it improves the general picture, though I personally don't think much of it, it is not a bad thing. Especially if I can choose to circumvent the changes legally, I don't have to participate in what I don't enjoy." Per example, the 7-hero update on GuildWars, is, in my opinion a bad thing. It has made the game (to me) even more AFK-able. In fact, I can now use 7 heroes to AFK DoA on HM. The challenge is sincerely lost. I voiced my opinion, but got oppressed on Guru for voicing it (lolGuru).

Then I started to realize; I don't have to roll 7-heroes. I can still limit myself to the original 3 heroes and fill up with whatever amount of henchmen I think I will need. I can still invite other players to team up with; the new 7-hero update does not actually affect my gameplay at all. So I dropped my arguments with that and everyone went hipster again.

I (and with that you, the reader) can assume this stance on absolutely every change in life. Yes, it will be annoying at first, but you can trust me on this; it will make life a lot more optimistic where changes don't affect you negatively. It won't take away the butthurt feeling of dropping your cookies, waffles and mudkipz on the floor, though.

The flip side[edit]

If you follow the stance above, you will soon notice a flip-side issue. You will be in a loner's perspective; people just love to bitch about the shit they feel is happening. They also hide behind freedom of speech to voice their personal distastes. I'm not saying that freedom of speech is bad. I'm saying that freedom of speech is being abused to bring negativity into the world even moreso than people were already doing.

You will be an outsider, timid and optimistic. People will ridicule you for your "ethical stance on things", it is not something of the 21st century at all. Politically correct answers and statements are, like all forms of wisdom, not appreciated by any society in this day-and-age.

But still, is that enough reason to give up your cheerful life and mindset? Will you subject yourself to them, just because you want to belong with them? Coward. Dare to be different, or die trying. Joining those you can't change is a sign of defeat and not even women will subject to defeat if they fail their sandwich.

P.S.[edit]

No, I am not sexist. I just paraphrased a meme to inspire you. I hope I have changed your mindset even a tad bit, as I am obviously an ideologist who needs to change the world.


6th March 2011[edit]

GW2W:TALK[edit]

Guidelines on how to handle and maintain talk pages.

All articles have respective talk pages, this is standard on a wiki and the "Discussion" tabs allow quick navigation to them. But not all talk pages are used for their primary purpose; namely, the discussion of the revisions to an article. On Guild Wars 2 Wiki, it is generally misunderstood what talk pages function as and various cases show that informing users who misunderstand backfires drastically.

Following are guidelines of how to discern misuse of talk pages, general tips to keep unwanted discussion civil and most importantly how to deal with talk page misuse.

General guidelines[edit]

  • New topics should go at the bottom of a talk page under their own section header, unless they would be more appropriate as a subheading of an existing topic or section.
  • Talk page comments should be signed to give proper attribution and identification. Signing comments is commonly done by (but not restricted to) ending a talk page edit with 2 dashes and 4 tildes -- ~~~~. Note that 4 tildes are always required, no matter how you sign your comments.
  • Avoid modifying comments made by other users, even to correct obvious typos. Even if comments could use a clean-up to be understood correctly, this is not your place.
  • Avoid modifying your own comments, unless it is to correct minor typos or sentence structure. Using strikethrough is much preferable. Note that this point generally refers to older comments, when a discussion has already carried on.
  • It is acceptable to edit existing comments to clean up formatting for readability; for example, closing an unclosed tag that is affecting subsequent comments, scaling down large images, removing the leading space character (which encloses text in a dashed box and prevents text wrapping), or modifying the indentation. Note that this only goes for the formatting, not the actual content of a comment.
  • Speculation is a clear misuse of talk space. See below for desired actions when encountering speculation.

Removal of talk page content[edit]

  • Users should not remove comments from any talk page, including their own, with the following exceptions:
    • Removal of clear vandalism and spam.
      • Users should not remove what they consider "spam" from other users' user talk pages, but should let the posters know that it is inappropriate.
      • Users are allowed to remove "spam" from talk pages associated with their own user space, especially if a "warning" has been placed.
    • Removal of links to sites containing malicious scripts or patently offensive material.
    • Removal of email addresses (although any request to not remove them should be honored).
    • Removal of personal information posted without the person's consent.
    • Removal for archiving purposes (see following section).
    • Removal to a more appropriate talk page and marking the move using the {{moved}} template in both the source and destination pages. This also includes speculation, as seen below.
  • If part of a post is removed, a replacement note detailing what was removed should be inserted (such as <personal attack removed> or <link to site removed>).
  • If a comment was removed in its entirety due to the above exceptions, there is no need to insert a replacement note, unless the removed comment had received a reply, in which case replacement notes such as <spam removed> or <vandalism removed> should be inserted.

Removal of speculation[edit]

  • Users should remove comments that are specifically focussed on speculation, including their own in one of the following manners:
    • Removal of comments by moving content into a "Misplaced discussions" archive. This is generally applied to archive discussions which have gone on for a longer period of time.
    • Removal of comments by moving content to the starter of a discussion their talk page and marking the move using the {{moved}} template in both the source and destination pages.
  • Users should not remove speculation from any location because they disagree with it.
  • Users should refrain from enticing speculation and if accidentally initiated, create a new location for the sparked speculation within their user space. Furthermore, the user should inform the other contributors to said speculation discussion about this new location and casually request the discussion to be carried on in the new location.
  • Users should never delete speculation (wholly or partly) without abiding the guidelines above.

Archiving[edit]

An archive is essentially an old talk page. Archiving is used to clean up an excessively long talk page and provide easily accessible references for past discussions. Archives can be added to any talk page on Guild Wars 2 Wiki. This guideline will explain how to archive and offer some tips on what to avoid.

When to archive?[edit]

Generally, when the page exceeds 32kb in size. But also when it's otherwise cluttered. Archiving may also done to speculation, as explained below.

See Help:Archiving.

Archiving of speculation[edit]

When archiving speculation a user should archive in a "Misplaced discussions" archive, to avoid cluttering up proper discussions in the regular archives. You may or may not be required to sort out which discussions are speculation and which are revision-oriented discussions. Archiving speculation is very likely only restricted to discussions which have not been monitored appropriately and have been left behind to die out.

As per general archiving, do not archive ongoing discussions. Instead, follow the Removal of speculation guidelines.


17th-18th February 2011[edit]

Why the official wikis are badly serviced and what we might want to do about it[edit]

In all my time on the official wikis, I noticed that the developers were only apparent on the feedback pages and their user space where applicable. I also noticed that server-side bugs and other issues, as well as wiki software issues were hardly ever properly dealt with by the company. This led to the many discouraged hearts amongst regular contributors and admins alike. It is not surprising to see contributors air their frustration on talk pages and locations outside the official wiki servers. But that only leads to general agitation, as well as protests and half-arsed documentation. In short, the lack of acknowledgement from the company that owns this wiki (and GWW) leads to messy documentation which in turn likely results in less support from the company.

A vicious cycle.


There must be something we can do about this to break that cycle. There must be a way to prove the company that we mean as much business as they do and that we require the assistance from the company to make it happen. Time after time I have been pondering exactly what that could be. What are other games' official wikis doing that we are not that allows them to benefit from their official status? And then I realized exactly what was wrong. The biggest games out there have no official wiki at all.

  • Aion has a PowerWiki on their official site, maintained not by the community, but by the company. In fact, as far as the eye goes, over 99% of all edits are made by a single contibutor.
  • EVE has the EVElopedia, which appears to be an unofficial wiki chosen to become the official wiki over time. They face similar problems and use GWW as a source of inspiration.
  • Darkfall has absolutely no official wiki.
  • RIFT only acknowledged a particular fanmade wiki as their official fanwiki. Obviously they are in no other ways tied to maintenance from the company they're documenting content for.
  • The Lord of the Rings Online has no official wiki, but acknowledges a tremendous amount of fansites.
  • Runescape has no official wiki, but manuals and guides on their official site.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Online has an official wiki in Beta, which is not popular at all, status unknown. What is known, is that the bugs and issues the wiki may have are not reported on the wiki itself, but on the official forums, which has regular developer's patrol.
  • Vindictus also only acknowledges fanmade wikis and databases as their official fansites.
  • Perfect World has an official wiki I worked on briefly. It is a neverending mess with 1 admin. They dictate anything that happens on that wiki and nobody really uses it.
  • Runes of Magic has no official wiki and does not acknowledge fanwikis.

In essence, ArenaNet has a unique position with their no official forum but an official wiki stance. One they could easily promote as they have the community that would allow them to. How can we convince ArenaNet to not only innovate the MMORPG genre, but also the community communication and information transfer? And would that really help us?


What we should try to accomplish[edit]

What we should definitely refrain from[edit]

What in no way matters and is considered trivial[edit]

  • User space flair. Fine as long as it is properly sorted, not duplicated, not messy and not display-breaking.
  • Trivia. Trivia is nice, but how does documentation benefit if we add how skill x is a reference to film y?
  • Anything not related to Guild Wars 2. But we all know this; it's not the Guild Wars wiki, it's not the ArenaNet wiki and it's not the NCSoft wiki. If it's not Guild Wars 2-related, it has no place here.


Where we should start[edit]

  • A to-do list. It sounds simple, we have projects, but a general "to-do list" is a very good aid to improve the wiki even prior to the game's release.
  • A new pages article, on top of the special page for it. It needs to show new pages, what categories it went in, what articles it links to and what links to the page. It shows in one single glance what can be improved about the new page, what double links there are, whether it is properly categorized, if it is orphaned still, etc, etc. Without such a page, we need a lot of special pages patrol to spot minor mistakes.
  • A "bear with us" stance. We have server-side issues. They make documentation painfully slow and leads to many edit conflicts. We've informed ArenaNet, now we will have to bear with it until they can see the time to fix the issue. This goes for all issues.
  • Consistency discussions. How to keep articles in a general format and design that avoids chaos in design and information.

Where we should stop[edit]

  • Overloading articles with flashy graphics and trivia where one would not expect it. Sure, it looks cool to some people. Yes, I am one of those people. But too much flair kills the official status and could go as far as painting us as amateurs.
  • Nitpicking over every little visual change. Some edits were too extravagant, not concise enough, not direct enough, overly trivial, etc, etc. If you are convinced your edit was the best thing that ever occured on the wiki, yet it does not aid documentation and complicates display for smaller/bigger resolutions, it will have to change.
  • Discussions over discussions over discussions. If a discussion is rekindled in the nearby future or has extreme probability to do so, it would be unwise to have it die out and archive it.
  • Drama over drama over drama. Things happened, they were dealt with, now shut the fuck up and carry on.

Elaboration[edit]

Consistent and exact documentation[edit]

This may be the biggest dumbstruck moment on this entire rant, but that still means we have to carry out our collected facepalm. We have been fairly inconsistent in the past, present and will be in the future. If we don't introduce general formatting guidelines or set a bot on general formatting guidelines, we will experience a branching problem: A user creates an article based on a chaotic article of the same nature, adds some things without really knowing whether it is supposed to go there or not. The next new page is based on the previous new page, etc, etc. If we have a general formatting consistency, all articles of the same nature will be consistent.

As for the exact part, I refer back to the capitalization discussions. Two things about them;

  • They are required to establish more consistency throughout the wiki.
  • They need to incorporate the actual game.

The first point is moot; we are already at a point where we use proper capitalization throughout our articles. But the second point is more pressing; there should be a golden rule that some parts of documentation should be verbatim. For instance, item titles, achievement titles, weapon titles, etc. If an object in the game has a title and that title uses specific capitalization, we should copy the title as it appears in game. That said, everything outside the title or if the capitalization spreads out over all uses of the object, should follow normal capitalization rules. If you call something by its in-game title (such as weapons/organizations), you should copy the title. If you call something by its general title (such as consumables that are everyday objects/subjects), you should capitalize it according to standard capitalization.

Examples:

  • Ghastly Reaver - A Ghastly Reaver is...
  • Loaf of Bread - A loaf of bread is...
  • Seraph - ... the Seraph are...
  • Asura - ... the asura are...

A way to instantly brief ArenaNet[edit]

This one is not yet in our direct control; we can inform ArenaNet on the wiki, but we should take it further than that. There should be a way to instantly brief ArenaNet about an issue on the wiki that requires attention from the company directly. We should not follow other games in their example: It would be unwise to link all issues on wiki to, for example Guru. Equally, it would be unwise to have a general bug issue form that just anyone can send. I think this is a good mechanic to introduce to sysops and bureaucrats. If a bug requires attention from the company, one of the admins should be decided on who can send a short email to the company stating "this and this needs to be checked out and resolve for these and these reasons". One email should be enough, ArenaNet is informed. No abuse there either.

A way to display all articles[edit]

A lot of articles, especially those with image galleries, have resolutions-breaking designs and image sizes, making the articles hard to read or ending up with horizontal scrolling. No one enjoys a broken design, we should carefully design our articles and pages to ensure optimal viewing for all resolutions. In priority; low resolutions above high resolutions. (To prove this is not biased, the dimensions of my screen are 1920x1080.)

A working sorting system[edit]

Not only a working and effective category tree is required to have a working sorting system; also cleverly designed templates and instant overview of edits are crucial to having such a system. Not to mention bots patrolling to keep the system intact and running. Luckily the category tree project is already up and running, and the pressure on the RC is not as big as it could be, at this stage; we have a window of opportunity to implement such a system.

Self-promotion[edit]

Like with any site, we are as big as the crowd we can reach. Official status or not, if we don't have the people visiting us specifically, we're not promoted enough. The opposite is also true; if we are put in a bad light, more and more people will stop visiting us (as frequently as we might like them). GWW is in a very bad light at the moment and it is my personal belief that it's gone past a point of no return. GW2W is relatively new and fresh and ready to show people we *do* know what we are doing. Good and consistent content, with pleasurable design and nice reads stops people from putting us in a bad light and thinking bad of us. Until the game is out and especially if there will not be a help function in the finalized result, we have to promote ourselves. If you are on a forum where posters have questions and the question is best answered by a quick glance on the wiki page; point the wiki page out to them. If you are being asked questions you could answer with easy, direct people to the wiki articles that cover their answers. We are all individuals with our own way of phrasing such answers, whereas the wiki's answers were doublechecked and polished by many contributors. It is not a shame to pass the answer onto a collective project.


Leaving broken and red links[edit]

This has my personal agitation most of the times; red links and broken links. If the link is destined for an article or file that has extreme likeliness to be blue within the next 24 hours, you can leave it as is, but if the link is not going to be leading anywhere any time soon; change it. Red links show up on the special pages, the article they are linked to show up on the wanted pages. If it's not actually a wanted page, remove it and the link.

As for broken links; fix them, or attempt to fix them. If a reference is broken, the original location might have been moved. Track it down and fix it. If the reference article is removed altogether, but a reference is still required (rare cases), try to substitute. If all else fails, remove the reference, it is dead and cannot prove the fact any longer. Dependsing on how offcial a reference is, the information that used a reference may or may not be deleted.

Leaving previous links[edit]

This, this, this, this. Someone moved object x from location a to location b; make sure every link to location a is changed to location b! As long as there are still links to location a, location a requires to be a redirect. In turn, as long as it requires to be a redirect, it cannot be deleted for future use of another topic of the same name or deleted in general. You can check "What Links Here" in the menu on your left to see what links to location a and fix the links so they take others to location b instead. This can be carried out by a bot.

Lengthy discussions on trivial topics[edit]

To be fairly short about this; some discussions are neither aiding nor detrimental to the wiki. But other discussions are lengthy ones about a very miniscule fact or point. If it is trivial, this discussion usually sparks from personal distaste. If someone doesn't like the way something looks/is written, try to propose a change rather than blowing the discussion up to a gigantic wall of text which basically talks down about the original complaint. Trust me, it is much faster just going with the flow. In short, propose a change that is just as exact and is not being objected.

Equally, if the topic persists, you are allowed to revert and if a revert war is about to commence, take it to the admins instead.

Speculation on the main space and its talk space[edit]

Also short; speculation is non-official, non-confirmed, personal belief and/or deduction. This information is not determined accurate or exact and therefore has no place on main space or the talk pages tied to main space. Speculation is better off moved to user space if the user monitors the discussion and if not, moved to a misplaced discussions archive (hopefully temporary). There are plenty of users with user space dedicated to speculation and none of those pages are detrimental to the wiki.

A lack of welcoming environment for new users[edit]

This is currently not the case, however; all users have those moments where they are a little moody. Not all users show this in their comments and/or edits. If your mood affects your comments/edits, it is wiser to take a break or cool your head before submitting. All browsers are humans (save genetically manipulated or generally hyper-intelligent other animals), they all interpret comments differently and a hint of bad mood in your comments will likely be noted and very likely commented on. Keep this in mind and a welcoming community comes naturally.

Drama[edit]

LOLDRAMA


User space flair[edit]

Your user space is your little home instance; as long as you're not breaking the wiki or making it impossible to navigate, it truly is your space. But this space, too, is part of the wiki: Even here, you need to abide by the practices and processes

Trivia[edit]

Needs to conform general documentation rules; if it's not confirmed and or not extremely obvious, it should not be added. Blurring the trivia line makes the exact part of the information lose meaning.

Anything not related to Guild Wars 2[edit]

Needless to say, if it is not related to Guild Wars 2 in any way, it has no place on this wiki (save as reference, resource and user space).


A to-do list[edit]

See also:

  • [[User:Infinite/To-do list|/To-do list]]

A new pages article[edit]

As explained before; there needs to be an automatically generated page that lists all articles that are new, what it links to, where it is linked from, what category/categories it is sorted in, what templates are used on it and optional, what the initial edit summary was. We have no such pages and only RC patrol and Special Pages stalking will keep new pages in check and properly sorted. Such a page would have to be reset at least weekly, with an archive for the previous week (or maybe a full archive).

A "bear with us" stance[edit]

Until ArenaNet prioritizes the wiki's general well-being, there's nothing we can do about it. Suck it up. They have been informed, you're only causing more agitation by pointing it out every time.

Consistency discussions[edit]

See also:


Overloading articles[edit]

It's too extravagant, it takes away the focus from the information and is just not required to document the game. It can look good AND be to-the-point, but if it doesn't, change might be in order.

Nitpicking[edit]

If you can not, under any circumstances live with a specific version of an article, you can bring it up. If it is then changed just for your convenience, stop pointing out minor things or change them yourself. Consensus still applies at all times and your edits may get reverted. You can contest this, but if it's trivial, suck it up.

Discussions over discussions over discussions[edit]

At most it leads to drama; work towards consensus and close the discussion with a very proper majority in favour of a change. Also, warn people who wish to start drama over it AFTER the discussion has reached consensus and they can't take it, don't ignore them during discussions. We have no policies, but "You Are Valuable" is proper wiki-etiquette. Keep a massive discussion going or it can not possibly be as important as you implied it to be when you first commented on it. Don't watch it close just so you can start fresh later on, you will only cause agitation and hostility.

Drama over drama over drama[edit]

Wut. LOLDRAMA

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