Wiki Paravia

originally posted by Trys

An update on this subject. I'm evaluating the latest version of MediaWiki software and they have addressed the issue of a help system that can be installed. Everything is going pretty smoothly at the moment.

I wanted to check to see if any of the visitors to this site were still interested in contributing to a Paravia Wiki?

Trys

originally posted by Hunter

Yup

originally posted by Konran

Count me in :wink: I'm obsessive with organizing details.

I'd contribute!

originally posted by Blue

Another obsessive type chiming in here, as well.

originally posted by Mark Timmony

I'll help! It'll give me another reason to re-read the books (and take notes!)

I often find myself wanting to take notes while I read too, to keep track of things like which chapter certain events happened in, or which triplet had the first mention of a unicorn, etc.

Sadly everytime I try, I get caught up in just reading the story and any intention of writing notes goes out the window!

originally posted by Trys

Well it's all setup and running but is very slow. So I'm guessing something is not quite right. I hope to have time to address this over the weekend.

originally posted by Konran

Awesome! =D Good luck getting the bugs out.

originally posted by Joy

Yes, good luck in getting it going properly - it will be a welcome addition.
I'm also one of those who start out each re-read with the intention of taking notes, but get totally immersed in the story AGAIN and forget to do it!
I always seem to come away from the re-reads with very certain opinions and feelings about characters and events, but very dodgy recollection of the facts and specifics that back up those opinions!! Hence, the somewhat infrequent contributions to discussions :smiley:

originally posted by Trys

Ok, lets give it a try. The speed issue appears to be intermittent so I'm chalking it up to Internet congestion. The link to the wiki is www.paravia.com/wiki. Please read the guidelines before starting to create a page. I will be processing book cover images that I will upload to the wiki that can be used with the various book pages.

Trys

originally posted by Neil

Hi Trys

I just tried an expt - added Arithon "Master of shadow".

Initial thoughts…be back later for more :slight_smile:

Will entries be vetted?
Is there any security to stop "rubbish"?
Would Janny be willing to give us the appendices :slight_smile: (I assume she approves of this?!? I guess it might make her life easier too!)

originally posted by Trys

Neil,

I checked your page. That is what would be called a stub. It needs to be fleshed out with a description of who and what Arithon is. As the wiki grows links between pages can be established. For example if the text in this page were something like:

Arithon, Master of Shadow and half-brother to Lysaer entered Athera by way of a World's End Gate.

Links could be created from Shadow, Lysaer, Athera, and World's End Gate to pages for those subjects.

Vetting is an ongoing process done by all contributors. Anyone can edit the pages so anyone can correct inaccuracies, spelling errors, etc. The security to stop "rubbish" exists on several levels. Only registered users can edit the wiki. If unsavory characters create an account and post crap in the wiki then anyone can delete the page. I'll be monitoring the wiki as I monitor this forum and any one who does post crap gets their account suspended.

So the wiki is very much a group effort where the group polices itself. :smiley: I'm hoping that contributors can have fun while building reference area for Janny's universe.

As to the appendices, these are published, copyrighted material. The only place on the web where they 'might' appear is the offical webpage. They wouldn't appear here or in the wiki. Anything further on them I'll leave to Janny to make comment. FYI, I don't know if she reads the Miscellaneous topics so if you want to ask her directly, you can ask in one of the book topics (though for some reason I thought someone did ask Janny if the appendix would ever get published outside the US edition but for the life of me I can't remember if this is true or what the answer might have been. :smiley:)

originally posted by Konran

Great, gonna go check it out right now =)

I doubt we can copy word-for-word the descriptions from the back of the books either, so we'll just have to get creative. ^^

originally posted by Konran

This isn't so bad. Had to look up a couple of formatting things but once you get the hang of it it's really easy. I expanded the Arithon page a little =)

Hi Trys,

What are your thoughts on spoilers? Should we assume that a visitor is up to date on the latest release?

For example, Jaelot is a pivotal location that's revisited and changes from book to book, so someone who has just read Ships of Merior may want different information than someone who's read Traitor's Knot.

Looks good, thanks for all the hard work!

EDIT: Just found the spoilers bullet in the Posting Guidelines :smiley:

originally posted by Neil

Hi Trys,

Sooner or later some material is going to "infringe" I would guesson such a wiki. How do you avoid "copying" - even inadvertently - the an appendix content when one does a definition? seem odds to rewrite in one's own words…and kind of corrupting or not respecting the original?

How to do Davien without using the word "betrayer"? Some quotations are bound to be entered? Maybe the whole wiki could someow be brought under the banner of the official site?

I wonder whether "lord of light" is copyrighted by Mr. Zelanzy? :wink:

I think that the "firefly" wiki is a good example to see.

There are definitely design issues :slight_smile: I'll be watching with interest! I may try to set up a wiki one of these days for work.

originally posted by Trys

Neil,

I suspect you are right about infringements. They are going to happen and that's ok. We'll deal with them. I think worrying about using things like 'betrayer' do identify Davien is overkill. In this case it is part and parcel of the character and an appellation that is often used to identify him. Remember that this Chat Area has the same rules about copyrighted material. :smiley:

I just took a peek at the Firefly wiki, I'm going to assume the creators/maintainers have permission to use the images, etc. And I have Janny's persmission to setup this wiki. :smiley:

Trys

originally posted by Trys

I've created a stub for Curse of the Mistwraith. I think this format is a good starting place for pages for the books. I will investigate how 'templates' work and can be created but that's gonna take a while. I'll be focusing on creating cover images for the books. So far CotM, SoM, and WoV US covers have been uploaded. The rest will follow as well as the British covers.

Trys

It's been a busy week, but I'm still itching to get started. Hopefully I can set aside some time next week to learn the formatting and such.