Board Thread:Wiki news and announcements/@comment-1585211-20131207142428/@comment-2234967-20131215044357

King Starscream wrote: I'm not sure if I can add too much to this, but thanks for asking for my opinion NM8 :)

I think a merge and name change is a good idea, largely because of reasons I have discussed in other threads: too many wikis with the same information just breaks up the community based on their preferred site. Now, this IS the NERF Wiki, so I assume that it would focus solely or mostly on Nerf specifically; removing the OffBrand prefix kind of warrants a change to the name. Dart Blaster Wiki is a good name, if the existing one is willing to share it or give it to us. Off Brand should only really be used if the dart blasters of a given manufacturer are not a brand in and of themselves, like the cheap-o stuff you find in drug stores and gas stations.

Multiple portals within the wiki for the different brands doesn't so much create a divide as much as organize the site better. Portals are really just ways to quickly navigate based on brand rather than lumping it all together. There can still be shared categories between the different portals, which I believe will help show that they're more similar than some would believe. For example, Buzz Bee's shotgun style blaster and the Sledgefire both use shells, so despite being different brands they'd share a category.

Short summary: Brand portals would be a good idea, with Off Brand being toys made by really small names. Portals are just for navigation, not breaking the site up. I think if we can do this right we can make Wiki as big and influential as TFWiki. Perhaps the name "off-brand" wasn't a good choice for the non-Nerf portion of the wiki. I can understand this causing confusion and, if wanted by the community, we can rename that portion of the site to "non-Nerf". The reason why we chose to have all non-Nerf blasters under a single portal and not one for each of their own is just for the sake of organizing things so that the wiki isn't messy. We used Brickipedia as a starting point for the merge with how it treats splitting between Lego products, user reviews, custom articles, etc. Having a portal for each brand may become a bit much, and, I also believe that there's a limit to the amount of custom page types that can be added to a wiki.

Maybe we should look into possible solutions to fix what we already have set up instead of ripping content away. Many editors here like the idea of one central wiki pertaining to the hobby of Nerf. It'd also benefit the community, as I've mentioned previously, as there wouldn't be separate sites with separate rules and separate staff. One wiki is really enough, if done properly, like Starscream said with the comparison to TFWiki.

As for the wiki name, again, I've mentioned time and time again that Nerf, while a brand name, is also colloquially a broad term for dart blasters in general. Ask an average person what they call toy guns that shoot foam darts and they'd answer with "Nerf gun". This doesn't just go for the average person, but with the fanbase as well. While there are some Nerf purists (and probably the majority of them are underage), the rest of them will use the term "Nerf" broadly. I can't think of any Nerfing website with a large community that splits their discussions based on brand. Yes, fans will refer to Nerf as Nerf, and Buzz Bee as Buzz Bee, Air Zone as Air Zone, etc., but they're really not going to argue over site/hobby name (I honestly can't think of any Nerfing communities that don't have "Nerf" somewhere in their name).

Also, the suggested staff list is pretty biased. Saying that you're the only one who cares about the topic is so wrong. I stress out about the wiki a lot. I've put so much work into the wiki over the past few years. To disregard all that effort I've put into the wiki is pretty disgusting. The same can be said for anyone who's stuck around with the site over the years.

Honestly, I can be pretty quick with resolving issues on the wiki. If there's a page that needs to be deleted, if there's vandalism, I'm quick to take care of it. When there's trouble with a user, I will step in and tell them to calm down. However, when troubles get to be tiring and they're not going anywhere with any sort of resolve in sight, I get tired and put off responding to them. I think the same goes for Gage as well. If you want an honest answer as to why I don't answer every email you send me, well, here you go.