User:RansomTime/talk/1

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Licensing
( -->) - User talk:Brandon Rhea: SWFanon

I laughed
Nice avatar...Abce2 | Free lemonade only 25 cents! 00:48, July 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * Oh, the cake - I was struggling to think of something to put there, so it was a placeholder, seems to have stuck -- Random Time  00:47, July 19, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's just that we have almost the same avatar that made me laugh.Abce2 | Free lemonade only 25 cents! 15:03, July 19, 2010 (UTC)
 * Aah, I didn't realize - Monobook users only see avatars in blog comments -- Random Time  15:39, July 19, 2010 (UTC)

i would say on community central
on my blog, i think it should be on community central because my own wiki is only about 1 thing. this is the main wiki so here is the best Happy65 12:57, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, Community central is the "main wiki" but I don't think many editors here Club Penguins on a regular basis - and those that do probably won't see the poll. Also, your signature here should link to your userpage (it's just plaintext at the moment) -- Random Time  13:07, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

I have a highlited one on other wikis but there is no option on this wiki '''Happy65. Randomtime Rules'''

Anyway cp wiki has not got past to the next round, i know cp answers has but im Not voting for that. plz vote Happy65.Randomtime Rules
 * I'd perfer not to, please sign your comments (using ~ ) when posting on a talk page -- Random Time  09:32, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

"I'm starting to think Wikia really doesn't get it"
I typed the above line as I exited IRC this morning. I was referring to what I think is Wikia's lack of understanding on how wikis, and wiki communities work. You may have heard of the Wikia Staff Blog, which outlines Wikia's new skin plans. The blog had information, but not that much, and I, like other users, wanted to know some information about the changes. My personal interest was not losing monobook - which Wikia had previously promised to keep around, but had not mentioned in anything about this new skin.

Where would be the best way to gather feedback? My bet is, many users would suggest a talk or forum page, where different concerns could be given their own section header, and then addressed properly. However, shortly after a forum page was set up, Uberfuzzy placed a large notice stating that the staff wouldn't read comments there, and wanted feedback as blog comments. If you are not shocked by that last sentence, please read it again.

Blog comments? Are you out of your mind. You can't edit them after you've sent them, they're formatted in an ugly way, and you have to click a little button at the bottom of the page to read more, when they scroll of the page. This is not a good place to gather good discussion and feedback. The blog comments became little more than an echo-chamber, with people asking the same thing over and over. If this was in a forum page, people would read the section headers, and contribute there. There would be a more varied and valid discussion. None of this can happen in a blog comment.

Yes, I understand Wikia is doing a beta of the skin (which is something they didn't do with monaco) - but when asking for feedback, it seems idiotic to have it in blog comments. I also applaud Wikia's general efforts with communities. However, wikia is a company that is based around wikis, including the wiki model of building a community. However - some of the things they've done recently haven't really been to the benifit of the traditional thinking of what a wiki is. The 2 most recent examples of this are:
 * Article comments
 * Achievements

Both of these features, thankfully - are opt-in (although I do notice that central's just recently got article comments). I'm going to address the article comment feature first, most users know what these arguments are. Article comments, as opposed to talk pages:
 * Are easier to write on than talk pages
 * Scroll like blog comments
 * Therefore probably won't be seen as much
 * Can't be sorted into section headers
 * Vandalism can't be removed by users - sysops have to do it
 * Vandalism can't even be flagged by users, unless an external system is created where users warn sysops of vandalism
 * Create a "New page" in RC every time one is written, regularly taking 2 lines in RC, when one would normally be taken up by this comment (a busy article comments section, therefore - will take up a lot of space in RC, where the talk namespace will not)

Achievements, whilst encouraging editing - encourage RC spam, and editing for editing's sake. I don't want someone who edits the article space every 2 seconds, adding minor details to think that he's better than a user who only edits a bit, but still makes valid contributions. It violates one of the first principles of most wikis, you are valuable. Achievements create the impression that users with more edits are more valuable than users with less edits, which is incorrect, and potentially damaging for the smaller user. Yes, they do encourage editing, but they don't encourage the right type of editing.

I'm sorry that I ranted, but I felt that I needed to get my frustrations out. I'm posting this on my talkpage, feel free to comment underneath. This was written in a, slightly ranty state at 2AM on a Wednesday morning. -- <font color="Orange">Random <font color="Black">Time  00:53, August 18, 2010 (UTC)