Character Profiles: Wiki vs Forum?

[Sadok]

The Orcs of the Red Blade Wiki is somewhat outdated as of late, with several orcs having not made their profiles, or their profiles having not been updated in years. There are a couple of reasons that may be the case, from lack of visibility to the effort required to make or update a profile, to whatever else.

With some of the recent changes to the website, it's now possible to have a character-profile section built into the forums instead, similar to the DefiasRP forums: http://www.defiasrp.com/f189-orc

Instead of creating Wiki pages, orcs would be able to make alphabetised forum threads for each of their characters, following this copy-paste template (but able to edit it in any way they wish):

Code Select Expand

[img]Insert profile picture[/img]

[b]Name:[/b] Write here
[b]Alias:[/b] Write here
[b]Rank:[/b] Write here

[b]Age:[/b] Write here
[b]Gender:[/b] Write here
[b]Race:[/b] Write here
[b]Clan:[/b] Write here
[b]Class:[/b] Write here
[b]Alignment:[/b] Write here

[b]Family:[/b] Write here
[b]Known Friends:[/b] Write here
[b]Known Enemies:[/b] Write here

[b]Appearance:[/b]
Write here

[b]Personality:[/b]
Write here

[b]History:[/b]
Write here

[b]Things you may know about this character:[/b]
Write here

[b]Things you may not know about this character:[/b]
Write here

[b]Memorable Quotes:[/b]
Write here

[b]Other Information:[/b]
Write here

[spoiler=Gallery]
Include more pictures of your character here, with IMG tags.
[/spoiler]

Any other information on the Wiki can be relocated to appropriate homes on the website, and the use of the Wiki slowly phased out after people are able to salvage whatever information they require.

So my question is to you: would you prefer to use the Wiki for character-profiles, as we currently do, or would you prefer them to be housed here on the forums in their own separate section?

Further: if you do prefer the Wiki, what would you propose to ensure it was used more often and more accessible to the average member? And if you prefer the forum, would you want any changes to the provided template, or any added features for the character-profiles?

Please give your feedback and vote on the poll!

[Umaua]

Well, this is just me. But putting everything under one roof is the wise choice. Then they are easier to access also, easier to remember.

So if there's a vote for it, the forums.

[Vezara]

I find forums way easier to use (and much better looking) than the Wiki, plus like Umaua said, it's better to have everything "under one roof". So I voted forums.

[Gridish]

Here's my opinion on the Wiki:

I love the idea tof a wiki to death, however there are a few flaws to the entire thing.

1.) It's a few clicks too far away. It's a known fact that people are lazy. So a few clicks extra will ensure people are left uninterested due to having to extra clicking. I know.. horrible excuse, but it's true!

2.) It's really hard to keep the wiki updated. There are quite a few posts on there that are outdated and it's really hard to keep track on what needs updating and what doesn't. Aspecially when the lazy people ( See point 1) don't go there because they're too lazy! ( Again.. see point 1 if you haven't already.)

3.) Having a seperate wiki for the ( Lets be realistic) rather small community we have here is just not a realistic set of mind to have.

As for this idea coming to the forums:

1.) It misses a sense of "This page is totally mine" feeling what you get when it comes to owning a wiki page.

2.) .. lazy people...?


To be fair, I feel it is wise to swap out to an easier approach ( Thus being the changing to the forums and dropping the wiki.) So I vote for sacking the Wiki! * grabs torch*

[Atsenkha]

Voted for forums. I like wiki's, but I find that most people don't. It tends to go unused, and many of the articles written go unread.

Forums have more visibility. They require less clicks and are more noticeable. And the style of bio posted in the template above lends itself to being quicker and easier, making more people want to do it and more people want to read it.

Wiki has far superior customization and visualization capability. It can do more fonts, formatting, images, and tables. But these only really are useful for those who are willing to take the time to learn them, which means that few do.

So yeah, voted for forum.

[Rhonya]

I think the wiki is a great idea. It's fun, easy to keep some information about lore characters as well. But...simply said, as others have said before, it takes some clicks to get to and it's not very easy in use for those who're not good with codes. (Like me)
I think it'd be nice to have a piece on the forum at least as well, easy accessible for people and with an easy template I think more people would actually fill one out.
Even if we keep the wiki at the side, cause I still like to browse it occasionaly.

So I vote forums, but I wouldn't mind keeping the wiki either.

[Vraxxar]

Okay I couldn't press the poll options to I'll write it.

FORUMS!!! WOOO!!!

Also, random orcies:           

[Srelok]

I voted Forums, basically because while I like the wiki, I dun get it. Too much coding for my limited mind.

[Gashuk]

As long as all the interesting old articles on the wiki are kept alive on the forums, I'd happily see the wiki die and keep character profiles on the forum!

I did however used to like the wiki, as to me, it felt like it was itself the 'annals' - and by pressing 'random', it allowed me to feel like when Gashuk was studying the annals, it was all jumbled and confusing and that was an epic way to learn the history of the guild but I can see how the wiki isn't the way going forward. Very outdated!

[Srelok]

What Gashuk said is definitely true, I like the random button too. It's like thumbing through the annals to somewhere in the middle and just reading from there.

[Kozgugore]

Had a little discussion with Sadok about it and I still like to think that the wiki has its certain uses, like better cataloging and formatting options. Still, I can understand the sentiment of wanting to bring it all under one roof, so if that's what it all comes down to, so be it. I'll personally just miss having some kind of way to neatly sort and display all of my pictures and screenshots on my own biography page. >_>

[Rhonya]

We don't really need to completely remove the wiki of course, Koz! I vote for that it stays, even if it is a bit outdated, it's still very fun to read for those who want to!

[Srelok]

Koz, we don't necessarily want the Wiki gone. And I think it wouldn't be a problem spamming your forum profile with pics XD

[Grogok]

Aye I think the wiki should stay aswell.From what I understand the forum will only be a short bio, so people who would want to make a larger and more detailed post could be used on the wiki. And the codes to do the simple things like headlines or something could be a subpost on the short bio forum

[Sadok]

While the Wiki is probably going nowhere anytime soon (not least of which because it'll take time to transfer some of its content to elsewhere on the site, either way), it is worth considering whether it's prudent to keep both Wiki and forum profiles in the long-term -- they do the same thing, and unless people return to the Wiki with renewed fervor, it's always going to be years out of date.

I am working on a compromise motion to try and replicate as much of the eclectic feel of the Wiki pages' content across the forums, at least. I can't promise things like random topic buttons, although it's not completely out of the question, but it should be something that manages to centralise things on the forum without sacrificing any of the word-content of the Wiki, for those that prefer more sprawling bios.