Template talk:Content/Menu/Box5

Images?

I don't think these should have images, as they steal your attention from other parts of the main page, and the majority of people probably aren't interested. Also, when one added a picture, the other added a bigger one (and labelled the edit minor), and it wouldn't be good if it turned into a competition. Do people agree that they should be removed? --Undc23 23:50, 4 March 2006 (CST)

I'm inclined to agree. Either the images should be pulled, or some sort of a standard (x pixels by y pixels) should be developed so that the images will be uniform. Pictures can be very powerful when applied correctly, but I'm not sure if these add much in terms of navigation. --Steelviper 09:10, 5 March 2006 (CST)

Yeah. Yuck. I hadn't seen that, but I agree so much that I went ahead and took 'em out. If someone can come up with a compelling reason to keep them, we can always revert. --Day 19:48, 5 March 2006 (CST)

We are in agreement. I doubt many people even use these things, and pictures don't seem necessary. --The Merovingian 21:07, 5 March 2006 (CST)

If those who set the rules & regulations of the website deem it that images aren't acceptable on the main page ((which seems to be the case)) then thats perfectly understandable and accepted. But also believe me, It was far from a competition, Especially given I didn't realize the banner was actually larger but I'm a bit blind at times, It as done more so to keep a certain balance given their had already been a image for the other link for a number of days now. But it's all good now, I do apologize for any possible inconvenience though. Though, A new section dedicated to fan based subjects or maybe fan fiction/Role Playing alone might be a good idea, giving everyone expanded room to explain their sites for those who might be interested.. But thats just a idea. Thanks. --RWL 22:01, 5 March 2006 (CST)

Sorry, I should have assumed good faith. --Undc23 23:57, 5 March 2006 (CST)

Compared to the number of people that use GalacticaStation or something else, few people actually use these things. The "BSG 2003 fanfic archive is a broken link; there's nothing there anymore.

As for the "Original BSG 2003 RPG"...barely a dozen people use this; why are we advertising it? We should not.

Most of all, as for the "Kobol's Legacy" RPG, why are we advertising a small-scale, localized fan event which hasn't event started yet?

Frankly, I think we should take a vote on ever bothering to keep these at all. --The Merovingian 22:12, 5 March 2006 (CST)

I think you're all forgetting one important thing though. BSG, as re-imagined series, is relatively young. I'm 100% sure it doesn't have a fanbase compared to Star Trek, Star Wars or even Stargate yet. Also, I doubt it'll attract the same people as the bigger "brothers", maybe except for Stargate (people, who weren't too impressed with Atlantis, like myself, might switch over to BSG). And I even doubt that it'll attract all of the fans of the original series. It's still growing. And that'll take some time.

Also, as for the RPGs. Well... From my experience a game with a dozen+ members who manage some 3,000+ IC posts of rather high quality within a bit over 6 months is rather impressive. Go to any random Trek or Star Wars RPG on the net and you'll see that the majority is either dead after 6 months (usually even faster than that), or the quality of the posts is so bad that good roleplayers will stay away from it (agreed, there are games with 2,000 plus members, but, as I've seen it, only a small number of them -usually not even 10%- can roleplay in more than two coherent sentences).

Fanfictions, also still in the beginnings. Of course, the older stuff has bigger FF areas. Just take the thousands of Stargate FFs, no surprise there, considering that Stargate is hitting season 10, while the new BSG is about to end season 2. Stargate is 8 years ahead. Trek and Star Wars... a few decades...

Face it, the BSG community for the re-imagined series IS small when compared to the others. Fact is, it's only been running in the US and UK, it has finally hit Germany in February with season 1, which surprised me, because you could get the mini-series on DVD in Germany last autumn already.

When looking at the "big brothers" of BSG in the business I have to say a successful community for a series usually has more than a wikipedia and a couple of fansites. That includes FF areas and RPGs and advertisements for those. Nothing can live without advertisement anyway. And, to be honest, I think BSG wants to play with the big brothers on equal ground and not stay in the shadows of them. --AKM 07:13, March 6th, 2006 (CET)

I took a step back from this and frankly? I think some of this is disrespectful and down right snarky. First, I'm going to point out that the removal of the Battlestar Galactica Fan Fiction Link was very premature, I actually checked and their site is having some problems but their mirror is still up, did anyone bother to check? Apparently not,Battlestar Wikipedia has been down a couple of times over the past few weeks but you don't see people jumping the gun to drop it from their link page do you? And on the second point, ' Compared to the number of people that use GalacticaStation or something else, few people actually use these things.' No offense, but are you one to really make that judgment? Are any of you? I mean it's obvious that none of you have any personal interest in Role Playing or Fan Fiction so how can you deem what's successful and what's not? Scifi Fan Fiction is big, many thousands of people enjoy the stories creative people come up with and I don't think you can deny that and I admit Role Playing probably has a smaller following but its still a serious one.

The only thing that limits RPG's is exposure, Because it is hard to find RPG's that have a good member base with good writers and a active storyline, which is what we have. It took me six months to find it and that was by pure chance, with the right exposure? We could have many more members but I didn't realize this was some sort of popularity contest. I prefer the old train of thought, Quality over quantity? I don't think you should shun Fan Fiction or Role Playing because it's not your cup of tea, I thought the fan community was suppose to stick together and support each other?

I'm not asking for special treatment for our group or any other, I just think some of the remarks here have been a tad arrogant. If you really want to get down to the facts, both Battlestar Galactica RPG 2003 and the Battlestar Fan Fiction Site have been around quite a bit longer then Battlestar Wikipedia, Both sites have done their own share to foster interest in the series in my opinion as has this site. I don't think what you consider 'small' groups should be written off, truth be told the following of Battlestar Galactica since the end of the original series could be considered a small-scale, localized fan base. I thought the fan base was suppose to stick together and support each other, Maybe I was wrong. These sites are successful in their own right and could very well grow to be a lot larger, if you just don't want any sort of web sites with advertising on your front page? Thats cool, I understand it but don't pass judgment that noone cares about fan fiction or role playing, because that's far from the truth. --RWL 09:18, 6 March 2006 (CST)

I think y'all're misreading some of us (at least). I, for one, do have an interest in roleplaying. I'm not sure how it became obvious that all of us don't. BSG roleplay isn't my thing, and RPing over a BB throws me off my game, but I'm not gonna hate on someone because they do things differently. However, the concern is not that BSG Wiki doens't like BSG RPGs. The initial concern, anyway, was that we wanted to head off a potential attention-grabbing contest, which is a verry common problem Wikis have. I don't think we should remove the links. If we get more than two games that warrant linking, then we might make an article about BSG RPGs and link from there (and link that page in the community box). I definately think images should not show up on the main page... Lots of little images looks cluttered to me.

Now... fanfic is a different beast, I think. We are cautious of fanfics because often some popular topic will be discussed in many fics that is, more or less, directly contrary to much on-screen evidence (Cf. "Lee is a Cylon"). However, because of the number of people who like whatever idea, there becomes a demand for us to act as if it were a valid theory. Fanfic is, at best, speculation (which, unless noted very obviously as such, we dislike) and at worst contradictory. Additionally, there are some legal question marks regarding copyrights that I, personally, would really rather BSG Wiki not get anywhere near.

In any case, I think the idea above about removing links to such things was to keep an eye on our goal, which is to become a reliable resource for information about the characters, ships, plots, actors, creators, etc. of Battlestar Galactica (all vcersions). Being a catalog of BSG RPG and/or fanfic sites is, strictly, outside the scope of that goal. Don't, please, take it personally. Now, I don't see it as so far outside the scope of our goal that we couldn't drop a link here or there. We just have to be careful not to let it take more than a supporting role, as it were. However, I allow that a rational person could disagree, so there's room for debate on that issue. --Day 23:24, 7 March 2006 (CST)

I am new to the wiki format. I am one of the admins to Kobol's Legacies. I apology for causing any trouble. When I saw the fan stuff section I added our rpg to it. I apology for being the first to add a mini banner to it, I did not know I started an ad war. I understand the need for uniformity on the board, and now that it seems that more rpg or fan stuff sites are being added with descriptions, while no other link sections have them on the front page. I am willing to just go to a link only format like the other sections on the front page.

I understand the concern others have about this site, and that they only want to make it better, like I want to make the role playing community site I am part of better. I will have to agree, BSG is a new fandom that is growing larger every day, and that it takes time to establish a reliable fan site. New sites have to be given a chance to grow. Fanfiction and role playing has a place in the fandom ... Thanks for your time, Oversurge

Link Incorporation

I'll make sure these links have been migrated to the new design (community portal) before I delete this. --Steelviper 15:48, 2 August 2006 (CDT)