Thread:Sannse/@comment-1251315-20160606142915/@comment-1251315-20160607172725

Sannse wrote: I think I am seeing a pattern in your problems on various wikis. You tend to think, it seems, that there is "one right way" to run a wiki. For example, you say that it's not okay to quote Wikipedia as a source. Where, in fact, that's totally a decision for each wiki and its community. Wikipedia itself may suggest people don't, but they also provide help on how best to cite them. But even if Wikipedia's advice were totally firm, it would still be the decision of the wiki's admins and community whether to cite them or not.

In fact, there are very few things on a wiki that have to be done one specific way. There is room for all sorts of variation. I would say the main rule that's universal (other than those in the ToU) is that the community has the ultimate say on who should keep admin rights. Note, even there that's "keep" not "get". There are many possible ways for an admin to be chosen on a wiki. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (yes, that's a geeky quote, deal with it ;) ) Oh don't get me wrong, I know that there are many ways to run a wiki and that's there no "one way to run one". I completely agree with your assertions that it's up to the community to decide how to run things and I'm not going to go around changing things just to my way of thinking. I also don't go onto wiki's just to cause problems like someone asserted: I go to wiki's because I have an interest in the topic and would want to improve it in some way so that they can be even better.

Maybe I don't articulate my point very well in discussions, but I always propose things that I believe are in the best interests of the wiki so that it can improve further, not just because I want the wiki to be improved in a way that I personally want (despite the assertions from certain users).

However, for larger wiki's, such as HP Wiki, TES Wiki and so on, it is generally not a good idea to be referencing Wikipedia for a definition or something: for a big wiki to do something like that isn't very professional. In fact, if someone references Wikipedia for a word definition on a large wiki, I just think that they can't find more legitimate (and more accurate) sources and that they aren't interested in displaying professionalism.

Large wiki's don't become large wiki's by being unprofessional and citing Wikipedia is not very professional. It was only HP Wiki where I was finding wikipedia citations in not very appropriate locations, no other "large" wiki I've went to has used wikipedia as a reference point for a word definition. Even on small wiki's I am a crat on, the userbase knows not to use Wikipedia as a citation source: in fact, I'd wager a guess that out of all the "large" wiki's on Wikia, I would only find HP Wiki referencing Wikipedia for definitions, which says a lot.

As this discussion was not even focused at all on HP Wiki and was me asking a general question on a situation that had happened to me, I wanted to hear your opinion generally for future instances, should I end up on a wiki where something similar happens. I don't know how this thread somehow ended up just becoming all about HP Wiki, because it wasn't ever about them.