Mistipedia: GonzoRon's WIKISEED removal project

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Hey everyone,

We had some great excitement when Mistipedia was launched, almost a year ago. And right out of the gate, we got a lot of editing done. Since the launch, we've had 29,118 edits, by the 34 registered users and 540,628 views! But of course, there's a lot left to be done, and edit rates seem to have tailed off quite a lot after the initial rush.

One thing that's lingering a lot longer than I thought they would are the WIKISEEDs. What's a WIKISEED? click here for a detailed example, but in brief, it's a marker for information that was imported blindly from the Ravenloft Catalogue and hasn't yet been smoothed into a nice-looking wiki page.

They serve a useful purpose, but that purpose is to eventually be removed.

So I am here to issue a challenge... let's try and purge the wiki of WIKISEEDs and make it look like a "real wiki" and not a computer-generated one. I have set a personal goal for myself of removing 10 WIKISEEDs a day. But there are thousands of them, so I can't do it alone. Here's how to join me:

1) register as an editor on Mistipedia if you haven't already
2) type WIKISEED in the search box and hit "search" (not "go")
3) pick one of the results and make it look nice by removing the WIKISEEDs
- If you happen to know a bit about the subject of the page, or have the source material for it, and want to elaborate, great!
- If you can think of a category that the subject goes in (a species, a class, a society they belong in, a trait that applies, or anything else that helps categorize the subject) go ahead and add it in the form [[Category:_____]].
- But even if you just edit all the WIKISEEDs into a sentence and remove them, you've done your job.
4) repeat X times a day. I've chosen 10/day, but you can do whatever you like, even 1/day. Even 1/week. Even just do one and then stop forever. Every little bit helps.
5) If you want, make a note in the "Summary" field something like this: "Gonzoron's 10 WIKISEEDs-a-day goal #7-9 for today" using your own name and your own goal instead of mine.


What do you get for doing this?.... well, nothing really. Just the satisfaction of a job well done, and the knowledge that you're helping your fellow Ravenloft fans... Anyone with me?

[steveflam]

I would like to help but might need a little "help" or a "How to" do this lesson!

[High Priest Mikhal]

Same here on the help. I mean, I would love to contribute to the Psionics page and especially to the Nightmare Court--specifically the Rainbow Serpent, which has some real life roots in the Rainbow Serpent of Australian Aboriginal myth regarding the Dreamtime. But I don't want to stray too far into fanon, which the psionics rules I posted in the Fan Fiction largely are even if they've stayed largely true to the outlines of supernatural powers as presented in the canon books, albeit with some embellishments. Plus the Nightmare Court demands a look at the Plane of Dreams from a non-Ravenloft perspective as much as a Ravenloft-oriented one, and aside from a couple of pages in the 3.0 Manual of the Planes, there's no real canon for that place. What is there is sketchy at best and really open to fanon and supposition.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I would like to help but might need a little "help" or a "How to" do this lesson!

You're in luck! There's a Help link in the "navigation" box at the side of each page. See also the Guidelines for editting. Don't be afraid. If you can post on this forum, you can edit a wiki. It's a a very similar process. Log in, find what you want to add, click edit, make the change, click submit. And don't worry about messing anything up. The software keeps every edit, so it can always be undone.

Give it a try, and let me know if you run into trouble.

But I don't want to stray too far into fanon, ...

Fear not! Mistipedia is a repository for ALL things Ravenloft, canon or not. Just be sure to label everything appropriately. See the Levels of Canon page for details.

Plus the Nightmare Court demands a look at the Plane of Dreams from a non-Ravenloft perspective as much as a Ravenloft-oriented one,

To some extent, yes, but our primary goal is to to document what does exist, even if it's not much. That said, as mentioned, feel free to add whatever you feel necessary, as long it's sourced and labelled regarding canonicity.

and aside from a couple of pages in the 3.0 Manual of the Planes, there's no real canon for that place. What is there is sketchy at best and really open to fanon and supposition.

Keep in mind, despite using 3e monster categories for the purpose of organization, the wiki is edition-agnostic. The vast majority of Ravenloft material is 2e, after all. Any scrap of info on the Court from any source, any edition, is potentially useful to a Ravenloft DM and therefore belongs on the Court's wiki page.

[Scipion_Emilien]

One question and one comment on the wiki

1-Why can't I log to the wiki? I can on the board and not on the wiki. is that another account?

2- Do we really want to put who his the darklord of a domain without a spoiler block? I was going to send the Falkovnia page to one of my new player, saw that, and decide to just forget about it.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

1-Why can't I log to the wiki? I can on the board and not on the wiki. is that another account?

Yes, it's another account. You need to create an account there. Click on "log in/create account", then "create account"

2- Do we really want to put who his the darklord of a domain without a spoiler block? I was going to send the Falkovnia page to one of my new player, saw that, and decide to just forget about it.

Yes, we do. The wiki is meant to collect all known info about Ravenloft. That makes it inherently a DM tool, with lots of spoilers in it. We have a warning right on the wiki main page to this effect. Now, if you want to make a spoiler-free "player's guide to ___" page for any subject, go right ahead! That would be a great addition to the wiki too.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Ah. Now I have to break out (okay, unzip the PDF of) The Nightmare Lands and read up on the dreaming rules on the main site so my own homebrew ideas don't clash too much with the canon and the Frat's material. Um, I'll put up a new thread asking for others opinions and ideas on the (homebrew non-canon) material I plan to post on Mistipedia (labeled as HB N-C).

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Here's an example, my 10 for today, which took about 20 minutes to do. Showing some that I fleshed out with personal knowledge, and some that were simple WIKISEED removals and nothing more....

#1 Captain Johannes van Deusen - before after
#2-3 Jean Tarascon - before after
#4-5 Ruined Keep - before after
#6 Werejaguar - before after
#7-9 The Hand - before after
#10 Bastellus - before after

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

bump.

As perhaps was expected, even my own zeal to remove the WIKISEEDs has faded, and I was not able to keep up with my 10/day goal, but I've been removing them as I see them. Were are currently at 2203 pages still with wikiseeds, down from some larger number I regrettably did not note at the start. That's great progress!

I intend to start anew with the 10/day goal starting today. Who will join me!? <GonzoRon stands on the piled carcasses of dead WIKISEEDs and holds his bloody sword aloft> "Who will join, me, I say?!?!"

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Down to 2170...

Here's a direct link to the list of pages still with WIKISEEDs, in case anyone wants to help.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

We broke the 2000 barrier! (and the 1900 barrier as well).

Down to 1884!

[Dimitri Mazieres]

I recently joined the effort to rid the wiki of the wikiseeds (thanks for the tips, Gonzoron!). However, in my irreflexive initial burst of edits, I think I messed some of the Catalogue imported information. Is there a way to revert my first modifications?

Another question: Right now I'm only removing the Wikiseeds tags, but I was wondering if I were to add to the wiki's entries how much information could it be added without being considered copyright infringement. Obviously, game stats are out of the questions but, could we paraphrase, say, the Fang of the Nosferatu description/history from Forbidden Lore without it being an issue?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I recently joined the effort to rid the wiki of the wikiseeds (thanks for the tips, Gonzoron!). However, in my irreflexive initial burst of edits, I think I messed some of the Catalogue imported information. Is there a way to revert my first modifications?

Not to worry, Dmitri. For one thing, the wiki software saves every edit, and we can always revert to an earlier version. For another, you didn't do any real damage to the Catalogue import. Yes, you removed some "IMPORTED..." lines in the comments, but those are only there to track what's been imported from the Catalogue and what hasn't. My thinking was that as the Catalogue continued to be updated, I'd periodically import more stuff from the Catalogue to the wiki. But data entry into the Catalogue has pretty much stalled completely since the wiki went up, so I don't think that will be an issue. And if it is, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

So, don't do that again, but don't worry about what's already done.

Another question: Right now I'm only removing the Wikiseeds tags, but I was wondering if I were to add to the wiki's entries how much information could it be added without being considered copyright infringement. Obviously, game stats are out of the questions but, could we paraphrase, say, the Fang of the Nosferatu description/history from Forbidden Lore without it being an issue?

Actually, on a limited basis, game stats are ok. (stuff like Male Human Vampire Ari2/Ftr5, but not much more).

Here's what the Mistipedia guidelines say:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Mis ... Guidelines

Please respect the copyrights of the publishers - The Ravenloft setting is not currently supported by Wizards of the Coast, and all of the source material is out of print, but that does not give us the right to republish the material. Please summarize in your own words, and limit direct quotes. Do not upload copyrighted pictures, but limit pictures to those which are copyright-free, or that you have created yourself, or that you find on fraternityofshadows.com, or that you have express permission from the artist to republish. EXCEPTION: it is our understanding that cover art may be used under the fair use clause when discussing the contents of a book for review purposes.

So yeah, please do go ahead and summarize the history/description/powers of the Fang of the Nosferatu in your own words, but don't copy it word for word from the book.

For an example of what would be allowable, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_rings#Synopsis
or
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Azalin_Rex

[DeadReborn]

I was plugging away at some of these today and noticed pages that referenced a Grand Conjunction module has a link to download it, which has since been taken down. Should we remove those links?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

First off, thanks for the help!

Second, good catch!

Third, man that stinks. I've put in an email to wizard's website support to see if they are gone for good. If it turns out to be the case, or if they've moved to a new address, I'll do a global search and replace to get them all removed or repaired in one swoop.