User talk:Etset
Hello
Good job spotting the typos in old articles. Welcome to the VDC! --Tourorist 02:48, 25 Dec 2007 (PST)
- Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm currently keen on contributing to VDC, whilst trying to absorb the everlasting pool of knowledge that it contains (its quite a lot, I know!). Hopefully someday I can create something with it! I'm still trying to understand how to work with the wiki itself though (mainly writing and editing, using templates, etc). I'll soon get the hang of it, I hope :) --Etset 08:52, 26 Dec 2007 (PST)
Happy newyear 2008!!!
Happy 2008 guys! Wish you all the best of success in both professional and personal life. Cheers!--Etset 15:50, 31 Dec 2007 (PST)
- Indeed, have a good year!--Gear 15:59, 1 Jan 2008 (PST)
Issue 1: Category Organization
Categorizing articles a little while ago made me think about how to structure the whole thing a bit better... But before going on an editing rampage, I thought it would be best to show what I mean first. Basically the idea is to try to reduce the number of categories an article is "under", by establishing a hierarchy on the whole category structure in a balanced and sound way. I think this (crappy paint-made) image explains my idea well enough. "Links" in red are those "links" that are, at the moment, established but I think should be removed, to promote a better sense of hierarchy and organization of information. "Links" in blue are those that would need to be established to conform to this idea. (I'm only referring to these specific categories, but it's a general notion...).
I believe that we should go for a more tree-like structure with the categories, to "fix" this issue. A couple of examples:
- Currently, the category Mod Entities is a sub-category of Level Design. I feel this is slightly redundant (hence, painted in red.), since Mod Entities is (I think you would all agree) a sub-category of a larger category which is Entities, which in turn is a sub-category of Level Design. This redundancy might be unnecessary.
- Currently, numerous entities are listed under the Entities category. While it might seem harmless at first, this actually destroys the whole purpose of having sub-Categories such as: Counter-Strike: Source Entities, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Entities, Half-Life 2: Episode One Entities, Portal Entities (to name only a few). Because, what's the point of having an entity article placed under both the Entities and Half-Life 2: Episode One Entities Categories? Does it make it easier to search for it, or get information related to it? I really don't think so. On the other hand, if the goal really is trying to list all entities under the Entities category (while still listing them under their respective Mod/Game Entities category, which is redundant) then I have two remarks:
- That goal is somewhat illogical, because it brings no gain of information nor does it provide a user with easy to use/search information. If a particular user, for some reason, is looking for a full list of all the entities he can get his hands on, see remark number 2. An example of this is the worldspawn entity article page, which is placed under both Entities and DOD:S Entities categories, while being described in the article as being available in all of the Source games. Confusing for new-comers, is it not? Yet it is very simple information and it should be made simple to interpret.
- There are currently articles which already contain massive lists of entities for a bunch of games. And in my opinion such comprehensive lists should indeed exist in the form of articles, since they are usually pretty static, in the sense that entities aren't constantly added/taken from a game engine. These articles are sufficient in providing lists, while categories are (should be) a way to sort out and organize articles into logical sections, like files (articles) and folders (categories) in one's computer file system.
However, to conform to this idea, all of the base entities ('func_detail', for example), would be placed under a new category with that name: Base Entities. This would effectively shrink the Entities category, but wouldn't render it useless since it would still "link" to all of the sub-categories Mod Entities, CS:S Entities, etc..., thus effectively organizing information into coherent and non-redundant sections.
The way I see things is: articles are like books and categories are the sections of a library. Usually you place a book under one section rather than spreading it all over the library. The latter only makes things harder when someone wants to use that resource. If there is a "better" (this is subjective, of course) category in which to put this, then we can put it (if possible, only) in that category. I believe things will be better organized that way. I also believe that in some cases it might be hard to discern what category/categories one can place an article under, to avoid this kind of redundancy, but we don't have to get it right the first time! :) That's what wiki's are strong at.
And that is why I believe I've made a mistake with the edits I made earlier today, because I did the exact opposite of what I just described... but at least it made me realize that this might be an issue worth discussing, for the sake of the wiki. Hence, I though it'd be best to hear some more opinions before heading off trying to change the world...
TLDR: My opinion is that we should aim to restructure the use of Categories, to structure information in a more user-friendly way. Feel free to read my (rather long) rant, though! ;) --Etset 10:03, 7 Jan 2008 (PST)
- The rant and picture are a little confusing, but I think I agree with your principles. :P
- From the looks of it:
- The "Mod Entities" Category could just be eliminated altogether.
- The various "list of xxxmod entities" pages could be removed, and replaced with "Category: xxxmod Entities" pages where they : don't already exist, to keep it standardized.
- All of the "Category: xxxmod Entities" should be subcategories of "Category: Entities".
- The Entities Category should be empty, except for subcategories. Even Source Base should be a subcategory, etc.
- All of the "Category: xxxmod Entities" pages should link to those other Entity subcategories to which they have access, such as the Base Source subcategory. Exceptions should be listed where the mod breaks the functionality of an inherited entity, somewhere near the link.
- Sound right? --Daeval 11:02, 7 Jan 2008 (PST)
Issue 2: Re Category Organization
(Continuing from Issue 1) While sorting out my ideas about the whole issue, it came to my attention that there are some categories that are actually quite badly maintained and, in my opinion, fail at attempting to organize things, which is the reason why categories are used in the first place. These could use some maintenance and a lot of patience. Examples of this are some of the <Language> categories where each translated article just gets tossed into. It would eventually lead to a point where that category becomes an index with all articles (translated to that language) available on the wiki. What's the point in that? That already exists, for that matter.
Since minor-editing dozens upon dozens of pages just because of this is something that can be seem "not ok", I've come to ask for opinion. Is it ok? Are there any guidelines on this sort of issue? If not, should we write a brief article on how to take full advantage of the whole category system, and organize information? Of course, this is assuming that someone agrees with my point of view :P --Etset 10:03, 7 Jan 2008 (PST)
I don't like the idea of deleting sublinks. A category page can still have multiple parents. Also, I wouldn't bother so much about naming. --Baliame (talk) 10:30, 7 Jan 2008 (PST)
Issue 3: "Category:NPC:ru" versus "Category:NPC (ru)"
(Continuing from issue Issue 1) This one is easier: I also noticed that there are two categories named NPC:ru and NPC (ru). The first clearly follows wiki recommendations regarding translation but has no articles under that category. The second has some articles, but all of them end in _(ru) instead of the usual :ru termination. Perhaps the NPC (ru) category should be deleted and all the articles should be renamed to conform with the recommended pattern. Just to normalize things. If no one has anything against it, I'm more than happy to do it myself :) --Etset 10:03, 7 Jan 2008 (PST)