Battlestar Wiki:FAQ/Content

This part of the FAQ deals with the content of the Wiki.

Why do you not cover fan fiction?

The Battlestar Wiki was created to chronicle all of the actual series themselves, including its spin-off material such as books, comics, and memorabilia. Basically, Battlestar Wiki is an encyclopedia of all officially merchandised materials relating to the show, which include the shows themselves, the books, and anything authorized under the merchandising license provided by the copyright holder. Fan fiction, fan art, fan videos, and other creations are not licensed (and not technically legal, even factoring in the fair use provision of the United States' copyright law) and thus aren't covered here.

Furthermore, fan fiction is often contradictory and open to various interpretations, not to mention the fact that most mainstream fans are mainly unconcerned with its presence. Therefore, the decision was made in its inception not to cover fan fiction or any content that the fans have created.

We have, however, created a means to create or post fan fiction, via our sister site Wiki Frakr (the satirical version of Battlestar Wiki).

Why don't you have more information on [this] or [that]?

Battlestar Wiki is voluntarily built by fans, like yourself, and people tend to edit or create what they like to create.

Beyond the desire to help the project, people are not financially reimbursed for the time or effort they put into the website. Therefore, there are not people who edit the wiki 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... they edit when they can, adding or editing as much as they want.

As most people tend to stick with subjects that they like, it is logical, then, that people will doubtless edit articles on those kinds of topics. Each contributor has their own calling, and no two (or more) callings are the same, and thus the Wiki is built with the help of many people of different inclinations.

So if something is "missing" from our encyclopedia, and you'd like to see it added, then you are more than welcome to join us and add such information on this yourself. And don't worry about messing up, since there's a safety net in place to fix things as they were.

Why don't you just cover [this version of Battlestar Galactica] instead of [those other versions]?

Battlestar Wiki's prime directive is to cover everything officially related to Battlestar Galactica, regardless of fans' viewpoints on any of the series.

We are not interested in pandering to just one group of fans, and have found that most fans relish in being able to understand all the series, even if they themselves have certain preferences.

In other words, "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations".

And if you don't like content from certain versions of the Battlestar Galactica saga, then we've made it as easy as humanly possible for you to do so.

Why don't you report more news?

Collecting news and writing articles about it is a lot of work. We feel that doing so on a scale comparable to dedicated news sites would severely cut into the time needed to edit the Wiki and keeping it, and its affiliated sites, running. Moreover, there are already a lot of Battlestar news sites on the internet.

However, we acknowledge that many readers would like to read news here. There are tentative plans to run feeds to one or several news sites on Battlestar Wiki.

Why don't you include more spoilers in articles?

We do include some spoilers from reputable sources, but they can usually be found only on the individual season pages, episode articles for upcoming episodes, character articles and sometimes ship articles.

One problem with spoilers is that they are sometimes partly or even entirely wrong, or misleading, which makes their inclusion questionable. Even if they are true, the content later needs to be re-written to reflect what is actually shown on screen. Thus keeping the spoiler content confined to a few pages - instead of including them on all related articles - cuts down on the work needed to keep the articles up to date.

Why don't you include more sound and images to the Wiki?

We wish we could, but we do not because we would run afoul of the copyright law. Basically, all the images, sounds, videos, and trademarks relating to Battlestar Galactica belong to NBC-Universal.

Items used on the Wiki are used under the fair use clause of United States copyright law. However, "fair use" is not meant for carte blache usage, but rather each instance of fair use needs to be declared, either directly or implied through its usage.

It is easier for us to justify a few sound clips, or a few images, rather than a full list of either sound clips or screen shots from each moment in the show.

Why don't you include more video on the Wiki?

This is because we stringently stick with officially licensed sources, such as Hulu. In this example, Hulu is licensed to carry Battlestar Galactica content by the copyright holder, and is thus legal for us to use them.

On the other hand, places like YouTube and other video sharing services do not have permission from the copyright holder to host BSG related content, are illegal and cannot justify their usage of copyrighted content under the fair use clause of United States' copyright law.

There are exceptions to this, but they pertain to obscure videos that have been made available via the YouTube or other video sharing services. One such example is the commercial for the Battlestar Galactica Cylon Bubble Machine.

Why can't I see videos from Hulu?

Due to legal concerns, videos from Hulu are forced to be specific to various regions of the world, since each part of the world has their own licensing issues that need to be addressed.

Well, other sites have galleries of pictures and videos and they don't get caught! What are you scared of?

Answer: Lawyers.

Legally speaking, we have no desire to offend the copyright holder by flashing our asses at the frakking law. We exist primarily at the benevolence of the copyright holder, like any other website covering a copyrighted property (like Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, et al.), since we are basically a big promotional tool for them.

Recognizing this, we have had to ensure that we don't piss off the copyright holders by posting galleries of photos, mixing copyrighted songs together into copyrighted clips, etc.

Also, unlike gallery-collecting or video sharing sites, Battlestar Wiki happens to fall under the Section 107 of United States copyright law, since our use of copyrighted material is for the following purposes (as excerpted from here): "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research".

We adhere every single section of the aforementioned line, since we:

Critique Battlestar Galactica, e.g. our Analysis and Questions sections, particularly in the episode guide.
Offer commentary, e.g. the Notes sections of our various articles.
Report news when warranted, but we're not a news reporting agency.
Teaching, since we're a reference material, which has been used in learning more about BSG. (Did you learn something today?)
Scholarship, in studying the work.
Research, in assembling articles from various sources for a cohesive work that relates to the previous conditions protected by the fair use doctrine.

Why aren't the featured articles and pictures changed more frequently? How are they chosen?

They are supposed to be changed monthly. Moreover, they are not picked by one person, but voted on by Battlestar Wiki members (usually only the Chiefs, but anyone can vote). Unfortunately, voting has dropped off in recent months, making it difficult to come to a consensus about the featured item. That is why there were some months were either no article/picture was chosen or the update was delayed.

In addition to that, featured articles are held to high quality standards, which is why usually known and larger articles are picked. We are aware that it might be better to feature some less known articles and will try to do so in the future.

Table of Contents
- Battlestar Wiki:FAQ/Navigation|FAQs on Navigation
- Battlestar Wiki:FAQ/Content|FAQs on Content
- Battlestar Wiki:FAQ/Functionality|FAQs on the gizmos
- Battlestar Wiki:FAQ/Financial|FAQs on ads and other $$$

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