TMNT info pages for The Technodrome

[Krang]

In another thread, we were discussing the idea of how to make it easier for people to contribute to The Technodrome's main site. In particular, we would like to have more TMNT-related information, such as episode summaries and character profiles. While our main focus is on the original cartoon and we would prefer info about that, we would also welcome info about the other TMNT universes.

The idea I have is to set up a wiki-like system that any forum member could use to edit the info pages (of course, we would give credit to everyone who contributed to each page). At the bottom of each info page, there would be an "Edit This Page" link. Clicking that link would take you to a form where you could edit the text of the page. From there, I thought of two possibilities to maintain quality and prevent abuse:
Moderated Wiki-like System
For this idea, your changes would not immediately be made live. Instead, they would be added to a moderation queue that would be checked by Shredder every so often, edited as necessary, and pushed to the live site.
Unmoderated Wiki with Quality Checking
For this idea, you would not be editing the actual page, but a copy of it that can be edited freely by you and other members. Every so often, Shredder would look over the current copy, make any necessary edits, and copy the page over to the live site.
Either way would require coding, and I want to make sure that we have a good amount of support before spending time on this. If you're interested in helping or have any questions, please post here.

[Nelson]

Words

Great idea. It would be nice to add a photo album so that anyone can upload some TMNT related pics, and also an "official" gallery of pics of the action figures. Something like what you can find on www.toytraderz.com/toyandfiguredatabase/main.php, aiming to include every TMNT figure and accesory ever made.

[Cipher]

If you're going to do it, use a moderated system. That way you won't end up with piles of shite like the TMNT Wikia.

[tone-master21]

I think it's a great idea, and I think that the moderated system is the best way to go.

[Bigfoot]

Yes, I would use it, and contribute to it, and I think that the moderated system would work best.

[Jester]

My lame episode guide can be stolen if you want it Krang.
I do need to get back at that.

[Krang]

Thanks for the feedback so far, everyone. If we do go ahead with this, we will most likely use the moderated system as suggested.

Great idea. It would be nice to add a photo album so that anyone can upload some TMNT related pics, and also an "official" gallery of pics of the action figures. Something like what you can find on www.toytraderz.com/toyandfiguredatabase/main.php, aiming to include every TMNT figure and accesory ever made.
Sure, that sounds like a good idea. Toy info would definitely be welcome as well, and if we add the ability to upload images, people could help create galleries like the one you linked to.

My lame episode guide can be stolen if you want it Krang.
I do need to get back at that.
Thanks, we'll definitely add that to the site. I also haven't forgotten about the episode transcripts you sent, which will most likely be linked to from the episode summaries assuming we go ahead with the new system.

[Spitfire]

Your more then welcome to use my comic adaptations list I made for the new toon. I can also provide pictures of the comics if you like, I own virtually all of them or if you want you can steal them from the official site. If you want bigger pics though let me know. I might also have some stuff not on the official site.

[Krang]

Your more then welcome to use my comic adaptations list I made for the new toon.
Thanks! That would be a good addition to the new section if it happens.

I can also provide pictures of the comics if you like, I own virtually all of them or if you want you can steal them from the official site. If you want bigger pics though let me know. I might also have some stuff not on the official site.
We do have a comic cover archive (http://www.thetechnodrome.com/comics/) maintained by Bebop (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=204), so if you have anything that he doesn't, you might want to get in touch with him so that he can add it.

[sdp]

God, it definitely has to be wiki style. Moderation before it shows up is going to kill it. You know when things are changed. Technodrome could have an awesome Turtles wiki but it won't happen if its moderated.


Or at least while its being started leave them open and only close the near complete articles for moderation.

[andrewdsz]

I think wiki style is not that safe you noe... .. If someone with malignancy comes over and delete/modify some of your works for whatever reason,you gonna go mad.Moderate style is good.

I have some toy pics that loves to share,so thumbs up.

[Spitfire]

We do have a comic cover archive (http://www.thetechnodrome.com/comics/) maintained by Bebop (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=204), so if you have anything that he doesn't, you might want to get in touch with him so that he can add it.

Yeah I have every cover that's missing and some stuff not even listed, like every trade. I've never seen Bebop post I don't think but once i got the scans I'll let him know.

[Krang]

It's been a week since this thread was posted, so I'd like to start deciding pretty soon whether to start coding this project or to put it on the shelf for now. At this point, I'm not sure that we have enough support to get it started, but it's not too late for that to change. :) So, is anyone else interested in helping out with this project?

[Krang]

God, it definitely has to be wiki style. Moderation before it shows up is going to kill it. You know when things are changed. Technodrome could have an awesome Turtles wiki but it won't happen if its moderated.


Or at least while its being started leave them open and only close the near complete articles for moderation.
I think it's a great idea to set up something moderated on this site, with changes that are submitted going through approval first. I've been editing wikipedia for over 2 years and the one thing that always gets me is when you've made a change and everything is 100% correct and then someone reverts your change. If there was a moderator they could look back in their logs to see if the change was valid or not and deny the reverting. It may be a lot of work for whoever is moderating though.
If we do continue with this idea and decide to go with the moderated system, there would be a message telling people about pending edits to the article they are working on, and they would possibly even be able to see those edits. This would lessen the chance of multiple people working on the same area at the same time and should hopefully address the concerns that you two posted.

[sdp]

It's been a week since this thread was posted, so I'd like to start deciding pretty soon whether to start coding this project or to put it on the shelf for now. At this point, I'm not sure that we have enough support to get it started, but it's not too late for that to change. :) So, is anyone else interested in helping out with this project?

I'd definitely help though my knowledge while a lot more than the average fan doesn't compare to most users here.


And my concern with moderated style is mostly that none of the moderated wikis I've ever visited have been as good as unmoderated ones. Wikipedia is great. The reason people don't like it is because what they wrote is changed and they don't like not seeing what THEY wrote as part of the article. More than anything because they like seeing their words and opinions as fact.

The normal wiki style lets you know any edits that happened, its not like someone can get away with it not being known and vandalism is not as common as people make it out to be.


if its moderated, its only going to hurt it as its not going to get as many entries as it would have if it wasn't.

[Ninjinister]

If you're going to do it, use a moderated system. That way you won't end up with piles of shite like the TMNT Wikia.

Jeez, why are you so critical of that Wiki?

[Jester]

Wiki's great, but the fact that any schmuck can edit it and undo any good information makes a moderated site a much better option, IMHO.

[rayfillet101]

friendly bump:D
I think it would be great if we could organize something like Toonzone's coverage of the DC and Marvel Cartoons. Bio sections, episode sections with reviews and media, behind the scenes stuff...for the fans by the fans.

[Venom]

This sounds like a pretty great idea! The moderated queue seems like the best route to get the better quality entries but rather than having the entire load of sorting them through fall on Shredder, why not have a circle of "Wiki mods" that you two select; draw up a short list of things you guys will/will not accept.

[Krang]

Good to hear that there is still some interest in this project! If we can get a decent number of people who are interested in helping out, I'd be glad to start working on setting this up again.

Looking back, though, I think the options above might be limiting to the amount of help we get. To help get the ball rolling, I think it would be a better idea to just have a regular wiki, but only open it to forum members who request accounts. That should help screen out the spam and vandalism that happens to wiki pages that can be edited by the public. If things don't work out there, we can go back to one of the two options above.

This sounds like a pretty great idea! The moderated queue seems like the best route to get the better quality entries but rather than having the entire load of sorting them through fall on Shredder, why not have a circle of "Wiki mods" that you two select; draw up a short list of things you guys will/will not accept.
Good idea, we will definitely consider that if we decide to go back to the moderated wiki.

[ToTheNines]

I'd love to help out, count me in.

[tone-master21]

I still think it's a great idea.

[sdp]

Just wanted to bump this because TMNT needs a wiki and the drone should be the one to do it. http://wikidrome.thetechnodrome.com should be up soon for the fandom Krang ;)

TMNT needs an independent wiki, TMNTpedia is pretty bad partly because of the people who run it and partly because its hosted by wikia and they are terrible that care noting about the wikis they host, thats why most wikia sites are terrible, Wikki is a far better wikifarm than wikia.

Anyways this project should definitely go on, I am sure it'd be very well received and would be a lot more active than just forum members contributing, plenty of people would. I think it would be a mistake for the site to not make one, it would help the fandom grow not to mention make the site more popular.

Just a few thoughts, it has to be open and not moderated, most wikis work like this and they have no problems if there is an article that causes problems it can be locked for only certain people to edit. It really isn't an issue as vandalism isn't as common as you'd expect. Of course like most wikis you can assign mods that can moderate edits and final say. I would definitely help contribute in all I can which I realized wasn't as little as I thought I would. This would awesome for the technodrome and the fandom in general.

[Kendamu]

Oh, cool! Something to do!

Yes, we really should get on this.

[Ninjinister]

TMNTpedia is pretty bad partly because of the people who run it

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/310/screenshot20101125at115.png


Thanks a lot!

[sdp]

Thanks a lot!

How about mostly's Wikia's fault ;) Which it is true, this is why most Wikia sites are terrible with only a small handful of actually good Wikias that are well run. Wikia is just very messy and give terrible support, also characters should get different pages, its messy to shoehorn all the versions of April in one article, there should be a main April article with each different April getting her own article (well at least the ones that warrant one). I really don't see TMNTpedia getting better while it stays on Wikia, you should at least transfer it to Wikkii (http://wikkii.com) a much better wiki farm than Wikia.

[Ninjinister]

Well technically I don't run it, but I am a high contributor there and do a lot of maintenance and abuse reporting there, so it's close. I'm also frequently in touch with one of the admins, who does a bang-up job when he's around, but is too busy to be there all the time.

Honestly, other than this new setup that Wikia just rolled out, I don't see what's wrong with their service at all. It all looks fine and dandy to me. Nor do I particularly see what's wrong with the TMNT Wiki in general; all of the information is there at your disposal, and while it's not perfect, there isn't such a thing as a perfect Wiki as they're all works in progress.

[John Pannozzi]

You guys really should start a protected TMNT Wiki on Wiki Spaces (http://www.wikispaces.com), much like the Savage Dragon Wiki (http://savagedragonwiki.wikispaces.com/) which is run and edited by members of the Image Comics message board (a thread on the wiki at the Image boards can be found here (http://forums.imagecomics.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=349), FYI).

Pretty much only certain members of the Image board (myself) are allowed to edit the Dragon Wiki, and I strongly feel it should be the same with members of the Technodrome forums and the TMNT Wiki Space Wiki I'm proposing.

Who's with me?

[gobo]

Nice idea.

[John Pannozzi]

I just started up the Ninja Turtles Wiki at Wiki Spaces. (http://ninjaturtleswiki.wikispaces.com/)

[TheCanadiandrome]

very cool!