[Idea] Use the wiki for game threads and guides/tutorials

[delroth]

As time passes, game discussion threads and guides/tutorial threads become obsolete and need to be updated. At the moment, the only person that can update one of these threads is the OP, which might not be active on the forums anymore or might not know an update is required. The solution we currently have is to recreate the threads when they become obsolete. That's obviously not an ideal solution as the problem will reappear again when the new OP will become inactive.

However, Dolphin also has another way to publish guides and informations about games: the wiki. It already contains a lot of things about games that are not mentioned in game threads. But some of it is also obsolete and needs updating. It could do with a lot more contributors taking time to review articles and creating new content.

My idea to fix these two issues, as well as the problem of the duplicated content (some things are both in the wiki and in forum threads, which is again not ideal), would be to "embed" a wiki page as the first post of a forum thread. Basically, instead of having the content of the game thread/guide on the forums, it would be hosted on the wiki and the forum would display the wiki page in the first post (styled to look good on the forums).

This will require a bit of work on our side to work properly (I haven't seen any plugin for mybb that does that, so I'll have to implement it myself, which shouldn't be that hard) but will be a fix for the 3 issues I mentioned earlier.

I'd like to get your feedback about that idea to know of potential problems I might not have thought about. If everyone is ok with that I'll start implementing it as soon as possible

[Maverick Hunter X]

Well I'm all in for that. I'm not gonna be around here forever and the threads I have created isn't always gonna be updated by me.
And the more I look at my threads the more I'm starting to doubt on my own competence.

The more I read this, the more I like the idea!

[MayImilae]

I think it's a fantastic idea. It would give the wiki pages some more exposure, which helps the wiki stay up to date, and it makes it so everyone can update "game threads" on the forum. It's a win win for everyone.

Of course, I have a few things I'd want to make sure of. I assume all this is a given, but eh, might as well say it.

• Pages are still the wiki, so they should still follow wiki rules. ...not that there are many. But you know, formatting and things. Us wiki editors will be around to help people figure things out and clean up messes, as always. It's not hard at all, and you can just rip off what else is around it to figure it out. It's cake.
• Wikis are interconnected by design. (Just try to read just one article on wookiepedia. I dare you.) Clicking a wiki link in the embedded window should open the full wiki in another tab. Again, duh, just, might as well say it.
• To make sure everyone gets the general process of wiki's, someone (probably me since I'm suggesting it) should make a primer for it here on the forums. But again, it's really not that hard.
  

You know, that really wasn't much. There really aren't any downsides to this idea, minus the difficulty in making it work.

[delroth]

The links will still work, as well as most of the formatting. I'll use the Mediawiki rendering engine to generate the HTML that will be used for the forum posts, with a custom skin to match the forum.

[Maverick Hunter X]

The idea is genius and you had me already on the "Use the wiki for game threads and guides/tutorials"

I vote YES!

[MayImilae]

Quote:with a custom skin to match the forum.

I've been wanting a wiki theme that matches the forum/main page anyway.


How would game threads be created? Would you give out instructions for anyone to make a thread about a game with the wiki page embedded in it?

[delroth]

I'll probably limit the capability to create a thread using a wiki page to moderators/admins/major wiki contributors/developers. There shouldn't be a new one every day except at the very beginning, and wiki contributors (which, if the wiki becomes more useful, will become a larger group) could easily create the game thread if they notice a new game article being created.

[Maverick Hunter X]

If this is gonna be reality I see no point wasting time perfecting my game threads I have created lately.

[delroth]

Start contributing to the wiki instead

[Maverick Hunter X]

In retrospect it feels kinda silly to have created all those threads now. But maybe if I hadn't this idea wouldn't exist I suppose?