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| Of course, by no means am I done, but it's at a point where I feel comfortable enough to solicit your feedback. So you can do that here or (more preferrably) at [[Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Sidebar Redesign]]. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 20:07, 26 February 2008 (CST) | | Of course, by no means am I done, but it's at a point where I feel comfortable enough to solicit your feedback. So you can do that here or (more preferrably) at [[Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Sidebar Redesign]]. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 20:07, 26 February 2008 (CST) |
| == Initial survey responses ==
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| So far, I've been amazed at the initial responses to the survey. I've been receiving some excellent feedback, which is what I'm looking for, really. Here are some initial trends I'm seeing:
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| # We have an audience that's focused on the Re-imagined Series. (No surprise there, really, since that ''is'' on everyone's minds right now!)
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| # People don't really look to us for merchandise information. There's a definite focus on the episodes, characters, behind-the-scenes, battles, tech, and ships.
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| Things we need to improve upon...
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| === High importance ===
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| # We need to have multiple versions of the current skin. There's no way around it. Some people have talked about the colors being too dark, so lighter colors would work.
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| # Also, there's a need to allow non-contributors to submit corrections as well.
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| # Unregistered (or not logged in) users also want to be able to read the talk pages again, which is an easy fix. But they want that option.
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| # People also want easier navigation, which means we're going to have to retool the sidebar in order to achieve it. Fortunately, I've had this in mind for a while now, and we can probably integrate the portal links into the sidebar for greater effect and usability. (See: [[Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Sidebar Redesign]] for the proposed changes.)
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| ## Some have also commented about the placement of the search bar. '''Update:''' This has been fixed in the new skin. The search bar is now on the side.
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| # People want to know how to contribute information or use the website. We need help documentation on how to effectively use the website, since we are an immense resource... immense enough where some people tend to get lost, it seems like, and are unable to extricate themselves from that.
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| === Important, but long term development stuff ===
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| # There are people wanting to have more analysis on characters. Some of them have noted that many of the character articles rehash plot points, which is an issue some of us behind-the-scenes have brought up time and time again as well.
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| # There are people wanting more behind-the-scenes information.
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| === Mid-level importance ===
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| # <s>Also, some have commented on how bad the built-in search feature is. I've commented on this in the past as well, so we're probably going to use Google, until the MediaWiki people know how to develop a better built-in search feature.</s> Update: We're using Google as our primary search engine. Nothing in the way of the search box has changed, so the "Go" button will still work, and all that jazz. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 16:55, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| ===Comments===
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| There's a lot here so far, with over 40 responses in just the last day... So digest, discuss, and maybe do a [[BW:TANK|think tank]] or three. :) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 08:54, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :You mean unregistered users can't read talk pages? Why would we want that? --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 08:58, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :: The mindset was that people only came here for information, and people didn't want to see the behind-the-scenes talk... Obviously, that isn't the case. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 09:03, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :::That one was actually bugging me too. When you came in on a talk page, there'd be no "article" link either. It's good to have the context of both available, even if you're just reading. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 09:59, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :1.) As said, the unfortunate lack of character analysis has been noted already. It's been rectified with one or two articles, but overall it's kind of a mess. Kinda sad, that with a series so heavily focused on character interaction, people felt the need to rehash the story and focus on trivial tech nonsense instead. In hindsight, this should have been different from the beginning, but now we are somewhat stuck with it. I made [[Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Character Bio Project/To Do|this page]] you can evaluate the character articles and note things that need to be done. While many need to improved, a few are quite good actually.
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| :2.) I agree on the search function. It has bugged me too in that it often doesn't find what you look for unless the article already exists.
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| :3.) Not sure on behind-the-scenes information. We aren't a news site and can't be one. We do have some behind-the-scenes information on the show and the people working on it, and it could be extended I guess, but if people expect articles on the newest going-ons that probably won't happen. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 09:10, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| ::For the search thing we could try [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:LuceneSearch the LuceneSearch extension] which is also used by Wikipedia and friends. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 09:15, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| ::Well, I'm turned off by the memory usage on the sucker... Plus it's just better for us to go Google anyway, that way we won't impact the performance of both servers. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 09:31, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :::As for the skin (aka my department) I take full responsibility for that. I carried the colors over from the BsgBook type and I guess massed up, it doesn't sit right. Myself and Joe already talked about using the colors from the blog, in the same design look. Navbar, no problem. Rehashing that is easy. As far as the search bar, there is only so many places for it to go. I can add a second one before the bottom bar. I think we need to really focus on [[BW:TUT]] which is pretty much established. Make it stand out and also expand the To-Do topics a bit more. Maybe we can get the Help preview filled. I've never really like merchandise information on the front page, but we should still create articles about it and use our referral links to gather some sort of income for server costs, etc. Maybe it's time to open up the flood gates to unregiested users being able to edit. we would for sure have to setup the [[BW:VANDL]] patrol and change the "trusted" group to have patrol permissions. That's about it from me. :) [[User:Shane|Shane]] <sup>([[User_Talk:Shane|T]] - [[Special:Contributions/Shane|C]] - [[Special:Editcount/Shane|E]])</sup> 09:42, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| ::::I'd be in favor of that. I'll get started writing a revert bot next week (too busy this week), which will be available to all patrollers (of course, the trusted group would also need the rollback right in that case) so mass edits can be reverted easier. I'll extend the bot to revert moves and page creations too (although the latter needs sysop access of course; trusted users can't delete pages). When all of this is up and running, we could also experiment with allowing autoconfirmed users to move pages (see also [[Battlestar Wiki talk:Think Tank/Move Squad#Autoconfirmed|this discussion]]).
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| ::::Furthermore, we should write up a patrolling 101 at [[BW:PATROL]] so patrollers know how to mark edits as patrolled, how to revert thenm and how to use the revert bot. All this sounds like a good idea for a [[BW:TANK]] proposal to me. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 10:22, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :I just want to comment on the survey itself. I've been exposed to quite a few surveys of late and when I took this survey it made an impact. The concise nature is a major plus. Nobody likes to fill out lengthy surveys. It is better to run several surveys spaced out with fewer questions than one large survey. The questions were nicely worded and well thought out. There is a clear focus on each one and the answers will greatly help the direction of this project. The prize is certainly a great incentive. I want to congratulate whomever created the survey. Now the work of initiating changes can begin.--[[User:Jonathan|Jonathan]] 13:23, 4 March 2008 (CST)
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| === "Opening the Flood Gates" ===
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| I'm not in favor of "opening the floodgates", simply because quality of the wiki would probably go down, not up. Sure, it might get a few more contributors, but quality people are hard to come by. Also, it's harder to hold accountability to anonymous users, so I would oppose that.
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| There are other alternatives to having people send in corrections... which I'm working on right now and will have more detail in the next few days. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 10:33, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :I'm not too keen on it either. Registration probably keeps away very casual readers who see an error here and there. But if someone reads the Wiki often and has ideas for changes, I don't see why they can't take a few minutes and get an account. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 10:56, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :I'm just wary of the "RC Patrol" culture that seems to develop when you have to deal with anonymous vandalism. You end up with a class of users that spends all of their effort cleaning up vandalism, and seem to sometimes develop a paranoia regarding sockpuppets, etc. I like that our admins are generally contributors first, so you don't see those self-nom RFA's where the user is mostly wanting block powers to more effectively execute their RC patrol. --[[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]] 16:45, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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| :: I agree. "RC Patrolling" and fighting vandalism is a time waster, pure and simple. It detracts from the main purpose of working on a reference in the first place, which is what I referred to earlier. We don't come here to fight vandals, but to increase our knowledge base and improve the quality of the site... Everyone who contributes has a set amount of time for this, since we all do this in our "spare time"... And frankly, I don't like the culture that Wikipedia generates in terms "vandalism patrol" or "RC patrol"... it's very poisonous and causes more problems than its worth. It's one of the things I got sick of when I contributed to Wikipedia.
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| :: As you noted SV, where we stand out as people is that we have this unwritten motto that we're "contributors first, chiefs second". Basically, we have an efficient work ethic and I'd be really loathe to destroy that by bringing down the floodgates. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 17:10, 19 February 2008 (CST)
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