Twilight Esker
06-02-2021, 12:00
Not to come off too badly as an apparent upstart from nowhere, but I think it's fair to say the Org wiki has a problem.
I boil it to three things that permanently drop its appeal at a glance:
1. It is visually 'default'. No character, not in the way the forum has. Compare to Total War Center; the wiki visually compliments the forum. This overlap can be found many places, not this one. I consider it a top issue despite the age old maxim, graphics are not everything.
2. Content is unorganized and I would say, unsophisticated. No driving structure to it, just the brief initiative of contributors 'from the time'. This is to say the very presentation at a text level needs work, not just that the content is incredibly incomplete.
3. The login connection is nifty; the inability to edit after the connection is made, not so much.
There's a minor, but notable +1,
4. The MediaWiki version has fallen badly out of date. Not a huge deal and still usable, but if moves are made it is an easy step forward (in comparison to the forum). Perhaps even easier given the state of content as it is.
As I noted in the private messages that started this, I do have a conflict of interest because I'm working with the TWC Wiki and that is where a majority of my contributing interest is going at the moment. But I am not especially picky in a wish to see 'the older sites' move forward. So were I to involve in this I would have a pretty focused drive; technical stability, a layout to expand from, and completeness on data to intersect the wiki and the forum. So, laying groundwork and suggested policy for Total War offerings, with true page-to-page work being the intersect with Org matters. If nothing else the Wiki can do an excellent job presenting org-related information, such as the key .Org mods and a breakdown of site features. Purpose, even if it may never quite match up with its competitors in scale (unless it manages multiple regular contributors + a steady flow of outsiders, might be a bit much to expect now...).
It's a connection I believe is worth exploring, both for my own edification and the Org's benefit. Before getting in pure technical, I present this as a premise to begin from.
I boil it to three things that permanently drop its appeal at a glance:
1. It is visually 'default'. No character, not in the way the forum has. Compare to Total War Center; the wiki visually compliments the forum. This overlap can be found many places, not this one. I consider it a top issue despite the age old maxim, graphics are not everything.
2. Content is unorganized and I would say, unsophisticated. No driving structure to it, just the brief initiative of contributors 'from the time'. This is to say the very presentation at a text level needs work, not just that the content is incredibly incomplete.
3. The login connection is nifty; the inability to edit after the connection is made, not so much.
There's a minor, but notable +1,
4. The MediaWiki version has fallen badly out of date. Not a huge deal and still usable, but if moves are made it is an easy step forward (in comparison to the forum). Perhaps even easier given the state of content as it is.
As I noted in the private messages that started this, I do have a conflict of interest because I'm working with the TWC Wiki and that is where a majority of my contributing interest is going at the moment. But I am not especially picky in a wish to see 'the older sites' move forward. So were I to involve in this I would have a pretty focused drive; technical stability, a layout to expand from, and completeness on data to intersect the wiki and the forum. So, laying groundwork and suggested policy for Total War offerings, with true page-to-page work being the intersect with Org matters. If nothing else the Wiki can do an excellent job presenting org-related information, such as the key .Org mods and a breakdown of site features. Purpose, even if it may never quite match up with its competitors in scale (unless it manages multiple regular contributors + a steady flow of outsiders, might be a bit much to expect now...).
It's a connection I believe is worth exploring, both for my own edification and the Org's benefit. Before getting in pure technical, I present this as a premise to begin from.