Over the past week I have been discussing with the Wiki admins and other editors ways to improve the Wiki's usability. Stuff was ranging from reorganizing information to adding new template ideas. A common complaint with my ideas was that it would increase maintenance of the already hard-to-maintain Wiki. Then I had a moment of clarity: The Wiki seems to be lacking tools to keep track of when things are getting out-of-date! I wanted to devise something that should reduce blind maintenance, increase more meaningful maintenance, and draw more attention on much needed information.
My template ideas and the ideas being sandboxed before they go into effect, if at all
The first idea I started working on was a way to rate each problem a game has during emulation. The template logs problems into seven categories if there is missing data, such as how severe the issue is when playing (unknown), missing bug reports, missing revisions that correct the problem, and a flag that determines if the issue has been partially resolved (Sonic Heroes graphical glitches). The categories have an explanation what they mean.
The second idea I had was to overhaul the infobox to include information relevant to emulation. The current infobox is just a modified clone of what you find on Wikipedia containing a lot of useless information, such as genre, game series, and publisher details. More vital information would be compatibility rating, MD5 checksums, and DVD9 Wii discs. The sandboxed infobox I got going is still rough and a WIP. It is far from final. It barely looks different. I have a template talk going on brainstorming what should be in it.
The third and final idea I had was banners that flag articles that are out-of-date in various other ways (stubs and outdated templates). The idea is simple. Just plop the template on a article/section you think is out-of-date and hopefully it creates just enough of an eyesore that someone will fix it, prompting its removal. Yes, these templates categorize the out-of-date articles.
Right now, I need feedback. These templates may look rough on the surface (I got complaints about it and I am working with Kolano to make it more acceptable as he already improved the look of my problem rating idea) but I know at its core it is something the Wiki needs to help aid it's maintainability.
My template ideas and the ideas being sandboxed before they go into effect, if at all
The first idea I started working on was a way to rate each problem a game has during emulation. The template logs problems into seven categories if there is missing data, such as how severe the issue is when playing (unknown), missing bug reports, missing revisions that correct the problem, and a flag that determines if the issue has been partially resolved (Sonic Heroes graphical glitches). The categories have an explanation what they mean.
The second idea I had was to overhaul the infobox to include information relevant to emulation. The current infobox is just a modified clone of what you find on Wikipedia containing a lot of useless information, such as genre, game series, and publisher details. More vital information would be compatibility rating, MD5 checksums, and DVD9 Wii discs. The sandboxed infobox I got going is still rough and a WIP. It is far from final. It barely looks different. I have a template talk going on brainstorming what should be in it.
The third and final idea I had was banners that flag articles that are out-of-date in various other ways (stubs and outdated templates). The idea is simple. Just plop the template on a article/section you think is out-of-date and hopefully it creates just enough of an eyesore that someone will fix it, prompting its removal. Yes, these templates categorize the out-of-date articles.
Right now, I need feedback. These templates may look rough on the surface (I got complaints about it and I am working with Kolano to make it more acceptable as he already improved the look of my problem rating idea) but I know at its core it is something the Wiki needs to help aid it's maintainability.