Character Histories

Recently the topic of member histories has been come under fire. The history form seems outdated and rather limiting. Worse yet, it has pointless fields that people feel obligated to fill, making up random junk just to have something there.

The thought is to make Character Histories an exclusive aspect of the DJB Wiki. Everything anyone needs to know about your character can be explained at length on your own personal article, and includes the option to provide a character image. Any other information can be expanded with supporting articles and easily cross-referenced with anything and everything relating to you including the exact documentation of years of significant events, clan/house & family affiliations, and possessions.

Character Histories made on the DJB Wiki will still be evaluated. They will still be subjected to the rules of the SA.

For an idea of how this format could be useful, check out the DJB Characters category and look over some articles that have been put together. They are all in various stages of completion, but it will give you an idea of the power behind this option.

For great examples, just look at these:
Mine
Cyris Oscura
Muz
Ylith
Mejas Doto

Hmm, seems like a really good idea. You definatly have my vote.

I am completely against this idea. Some people (such as myself, heh!) don't care for the Wiki. The fact that it's up for display publicly (or rather, easier to access than the history now) makes me uneasy.

Besides...creating Wikis is just more workt han needs be.

Creating a wiki is actually very simple, but if need be I'm sure more concrete guidelines can be used. The current "history" portion on the dossier doesn't normally tell us much and either way it doesn't HAVE to be done if you don't want it to.

Although open to anyone to edit, there usually isn't much of a problem with people messing up the histories of others...most of the time those edits are a marked improvement, helping to alleviate any problems that may occur. To make things fancy, it is "harder", but for a regular wiki page it isn't difficult at all.

Anyways, I'm all for the wiki-only idea

I'm for the Wiki idea as well, I like that you have more freedom and you don't have to deal with some of those questions on the history form we have to fill out now.

If the histories go Wiki-only, will there be a template or general guide lines posted for them? Those of us who have been around for a while, and came up with the dossier histories, probably won't have a problem knowing what to put in, but newer members may not (especially if they're new to creating characters like I was when I joined).

As long as there's something to let people know what info is expected to be included in the history then I'm all for it.

I think the wiki would be a good idea, but since I'm new here (and cannot do wiki pages all that well) I think maybe there could be some form of blending between the two?

There are some parts on the DB character history that has to go, but some people may not be all that wiki savvy to begin with. It would make it rather hard for them to create a character history..

Wiki is really brainless. You type, preferably in English. That's it. You can use basic formatting to make it look better. You can get fancy and go for some "advanced" formatting if you so desire.

As for templates - sure, they're already in place. The Getting Started guide on the Main Page has everything you really need to know. Just fill out the information and you're all set.

On the open-editing issue, sure anyone can edit it, but edits can be reverted. openly changing someone's info in a negative way is vandalism. We have ways of dealing with vandals.

If anyone ever has any questions, they can contact me. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it.

I'm all up for the wiki-only route, with one slight exception. On the DB character page, instead of a link to the wiki page, why not just display the wiki page itself?

As for newbies, it should be relatively simple to create a character template and just have them add in their relavent info....

Are you talking about putting the wiki on the Dossier? that would not look very good. I think I see where you're coming from though.

I am completely against this idea. Some people (such as myself, heh!) don't care for the Wiki. The fact that it's up for display publicly (or rather, easier to access than the history now) makes me uneasy.

Is it a problem that they are avalible for display, or that we can be edited? we could make it illegal (in a DB way) to modify someone else's history without thier premision.

I'm all up for the wiki-only route, with one slight exception. On the DB character page, instead of a link to the wiki page, why not just display the wiki page itself?

As for newbies, it should be relatively simple to create a character template and just have them add in their relavent info....



Are you saying that we should use the Wiki pages for our dossiers, or that the wiki page should be embedded in the dossiers?

If it's the first one, that's going to completely negate the wonderful database that we have which makes life so much easier for everyone because they don't have to send an email to the MAA to have him manually update each page when someone gets a promotion, medal, passes an SA course...you get the idea.

Embedding the wiki page into the dossiers may work, but it's going to require reformatting either the wiki or dossiers (and the entire djb.org site) so that the two match. I think it'd be just fine if the "View History" button was changed so that it linked to the person's wiki page.

Kaine:

Thanks for the answers about the templates. The side bar template with the summary of the character's important info is definitely something that helps. Do you think that it'd be possible to add a link under those to a completed article as an example of a good and complete character history?

Im going to have to take a stance against. The Current history is simplistic enough for newer members to create a Simple "starting" History, while the Wiki allows for a lot more development.

Maybe an option of View basic history for the current one, and a view complete history will link to the Wiki. This will create a nice short readable history for starting members, and those of us who dont want to read 5 pages, and a longer page for older members, and those of you who wish to read into detail

Are you saying that we should use the Wiki pages for our dossiers, or that the wiki page should be embedded in the dossiers?

If it's the first one, that's going to completely negate the wonderful database that we have which makes life so much easier for everyone because they don't have to send an email to the MAA to have him manually update each page when someone gets a promotion, medal, passes an SA course...you get the idea. 

Embedding the wiki page into the dossiers may work, but it's going to require reformatting either the wiki or dossiers (and the entire djb.org site) so that the two match.  I think it'd be just fine if the "View History" button was changed so that it linked to the person's wiki page.

Kaine:

Thanks for the answers about the templates.  The side bar template with the summary of the character's important info is definitely something that helps.  Do you think that it'd be possible to add a link under those to a completed article as an example of a good and complete character history?



Embedded Dossier/Wiki -
No. I was thinking more simply that the "View History" button would just point to the Wiki Article. That's it.

Crix -
I didn't want to keep pointing to my own article since, well, I didn't want to come off sounding self-absorbed, so I scoured the Characters for someone who is just a regular DJB member and has done a great job of filling out the page.

That member is Etah. This article is about as complete as they really should be.

I agree its a brilliant idea. No one really looks into the DB history to find out about someones character. The wiki histories could be a pin-point to a more accurate version of someones history.

I like the Wiki, you can personalize them a lot. They can be just about as plain or as detailed as you feel like doing. I am all for the idea.

But I also think there should be a very simple, common sense instructional guide like the SA has for the regular character histories for noobs or it might seem a little daunting.

Eventually the Wiki could also be used for character development, Journeymen adding bit by bit to their Wiki as they approach Dark Jedi Knight.

Thanks for the compliment by the way

I'm in full support of fully moving character histories to the Wiki.

First off, they look incredible if you really get into it. You can add images, use various templates, and overall it beats the dbj.com database history hands down.

Second, the Wikis are very addicting. For some reason I can't stop making minor edits to my own (Vlad's Wiki Page)and it gives a chance to really expand on your character's history.

Third, the Wiki is incredibly easy to use. It may seem daunting at first but the learning curve is literally ten minutes. You can start off with just a few basic blocks of text, and then you can really make big jumps in formatting and presentation. All you have to do is take a look at someone else's Wiki page, look at the code in the Edit section, and you'll have a pretty good grasp of what to do.

I'm definatly for haveing them Wiki only, and for those who say its too dificuilt coul a form not be set up with just what the SA requires (and most clans for a promotion) that could be sent to the wiki staff so it can be coded for the newcommer. Not only will they have their history with everyone else, but when the decide to expand, there is a base there ready for them.

Well, I checked out Wiki and realized how easy it is to work, so I'm for Wiki-only aswell.

I'm definintely pro-Wiki. Super easy to edit, super easy to search.

The only reason i'd say keep them as they are is for future use purposes... (something Sil and I mentioned briefly)

Wiki data isn't normalized; the current format of the histories (with some tweaking) could be so done... which would allow for advanced roster searching for DJR or ACCR such as... race searching, gender searching, etc.

The only reason i'd say keep them as they are is for future use purposes... (something Sil and I mentioned briefly)

Wiki data isn't normalized; the current format of the histories (with some tweaking) could be so done... which would allow for advanced roster searching for DJR or ACCR such as... race searching, gender searching, etc.



The wiki has pretty good search capabilities as it is. Go to the DJB wiki and search for Teltior...I'm there.

But, good point about the searching, however, that information can easily remain as part of a dossier and can be rendered on the wiki in some fashion. (I'm not too knowledgeable about the plugin capabilities of MediaWiki) If you expose the dossier info as a web service of some sort, retrieving and formatting that data is trivial.

Where the wiki would be especially great - as this thread suggests - is for those descriptions...the paragraphs we need to write about ourselves...there's no benefit to keeping that stuff outside the wiki. But you are right, Species, sex, etc are dossier stats that can and should remain based in the current Dossier setup.

Just my 3.4 cents.

my only problem is the security and integrity of the histories. If its fixed, then i dont see why they cannot move to wiki. But at the current state of the DJB Wiki system. Im against it.

The power to revert changes is there. If you are concerned about people vandalizing pages, we have ways of making them stop.

I still feel we should make it Wiki only. It takes less time to search the Wiki pages than to look up a dossier, look up the history, and hope that it's still accurate. Because most of the elder members dont even bother updating that one.

I think keeping things as they are (wiki and DB site historys) would be the best option. Having it Wiki only would only serve to make the DB experience seem less of a "whole product" imo.
Perhaps the advantages of having both ways outweigh the disadvanages. A the verry least we should continue to cater for people who dont have the time or knowlege to set up a wiki entry.

would be that hard to implement the Wiki's formating into the dossier? like you click on history in the dossier and you get a wiki based page?