Expanding on SK.net's encyclopedia

Should SK.net create its own wiki?


  • Total voters
    18
Note: I know this isn't precisely the right place for this, but have placed this thread in the general Site & Forum News section for highlighting. Feel free to move it. Also, I want to once again thank Walter for admitting my registration upon request. Otherwise, I feel this post would have been postponed roughly a month's time.

Hello, SkullKnighters. I'm Emeratu, a newcomer to Berserk lore and now-avid reader of the series (jumping from point to point in the story without any direction, because it's fun and allows for further lore research). I wouldn't call myself an avid animanga fan overall, however, having only thoroughly read/watched roughly five animanga series overall (e.g. Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Death Note, Bleach, and Monster). When reading those aforementioned series, I always love to look up extra information pertaining to what I've read; more in-depth content potentially offering a better understanding of the material in question. Narutopedia, Dragon Ball Wiki and Bleach Wiki still, to this day, are of great help to me, due to their well-documented content and thorough coverage. It's no wonder the wikis get so much traffic and daily visitors; they are useful repositories of information pertaining to some of the biggest animanga series in existence. The highly popular and frequently visited One Piece Wiki is also replete with great content, and was a nice reference when I used to read One Piece. Though not an animanga series, Nickelodean's Avatar series is supplemented with a five-star Avatar Wiki, which I often found myself checking out in the hot days of The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

As a scanlations reader atm, I'm prone to misunderstanding episode content. Quality wikis like the above are great for readers like myself who want a better understanding of the lore. With Naruto, DBZ, Bleach and (at times) One Piece, fans have exceptional wikis to refer to, in the advent of confusion or yearning for better understanding. ... With Berserk, we, in truth, have nothing; more precisely, nothing as well-compiled, built on and referential as Narutopedia, Dragon Ball Wiki, Bleach Wiki, One Piece Wiki, etc. It seems pretty awful that arguably the greatest fictional work in the manga scene lacks a reliable, rigorous, and dedicated wiki of its own for Berserk fans to peruse. Wikia's Berserk Wiki is simply in a state of... disarray and aperture (i.e. missing, misleading and at times inaccurate content).

A user by the name of ApostleBob succinctly put it quite well.

ApostleBob said:
Just a friendly warning: The Berserk Wiki is woefully out of date and full of outdated speculation, much of which has been since debunked. It's an okay resource but I'd put my money on SK.net any day over that. There's a strict empirical 'no nonsense' approach here that filters out a lot of the garbage you'll see elsewhere.

Wikia's Berserk Wiki has some other shortcomings, in case anyone's asking themselves, "Why not just improve the wiki instead of complaining then?":
  • It's hosted by Wikia, Inc. "Why does that matter?" You ask? Well, Wikia is famous for their content-squeezing "Oasis" wiki skin and forced technical updates and implementations, all of which lend themselves to brining in more revenue via obtrusive ads. This ugly Oasis skin is forced on readers, offering limited space for content and a whole right side of empty, unused whitespace. In a nutshell: If possible, I'd rather avoid working on Wikia's network, in spite of the great wikis stationed there. Berserk deserves better than this, in my opinion. (example)
  • It has rather off-putting aesthetics. From the wiki logo and caption design, to the color scheme, templates and main page design, the overall aesthetics of the site are a bit lacking. The streamlined and rather dour design of SK.net fits Berserk's dark tone, in my opinion, and consistency and simplicity are always nice.
  • The community there lacks the dedication of SK.net. Quite a few entries in the site encyclopedia aren't even covered on the Berserk Wiki, and despite the goal of creating a reliable repository of Berserk info, the site has a surprisingly low amount of contributors; from what I've seen, most Berserk fans are present either on here or /r/berserk (Reddit).

"So what exactly are you proposing?" you may be asking right about now (sorry for the prose) . Well, I'm proposing SkullKnight.net create its own Berserk Wiki using MediaWiki software, under the name of "SkullKnight Wiki" (or any other name decided upon, in the advent of a green light). I know I'm a random new user who has come out of nowhere to the forum gun-ho with a rather large idea, but I truly do feel the site, as well as the Berserk community in general, would benefit from an SKWiki:
  • The compilation of Berserk info is more than possible. With a community as dedicated as SK.net, I do believe building the ultimate Berserk wiki would be a cakewalk for fans who have been following and discussing Berserk lore for a decade+ now.
  • Such a venture could potentially bring in more site traffic. As I will go into below, there are other forum sites with their own MediaWiki wikis. While the forum always attracts fans, wikis are surprisingly capable of doing the same, as seen with Berserk Wiki – some fans prefer to compile a comprehensive source of information about a subject matter rather than discuss it (hence the division). With its own wiki, SK.net could provide those fans with a self-reliant medium to build the ultimate Berserk resource, as well a forum for discussion. Said users would in-turn look to the forums at some point, and the overall site traffic would definitely increase, due to more readers and SEO. A popular and reliable wiki with a direct connection to the most prominent Berserk discussion site can only mean good things for the network and community overall (save for trolls, which are encountered on all wikis).
  • Other prominent, predominately forum-based sites are doing it. Feeling as if this is an anomalous idea with no potential or prominent implementation? Fear no more! Quite a few popular wikis on the net have a forum-wiki hybrid network in effect.
    • The Bulbagarden Pokémon forum has its own wiki in the highly successful Bulbapedia wiki.
    • (reversed) The popular UESP Wiki for the Elder Scrolls series has its own discussion forum, UESP Forums.
    • Forum site Westeros.org has its own wiki in A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
    • Two instances of this implementation exist in The Legend of Zelda scene: Zelda Universe has its own wiki in Zelda Wiki, and Zelda Dungeon has its own wiki site (the best implementation of a forum-wiki hybrid site I've seen thus far, might I add, with the universal top navigation and all).
  • SEO shouldn't be a problem. Due in part to point number one, SEO ultimately would cease to be a problem. With some wiki optimizing practices, increasing quality content and time, I feel the wiki would naturally gravitate to first place results for Berserk Google queries.
  • SK.net has loremasters. SkullKnighters possess varying degrees of knowledge on the Berserk series. The general consensus seems to be that, atop the hierarchy of Berserk understanding sits Aazealh – SK.net's resident loremaster. I've read through a many discussion threads since finding this site, and the preeminent question answerer has typically been Aazealh. I can't help but think that voracious SkullKnighers like that would only benefit from a medium to which they can collate their knowledge, one they could then in turn reference in discussions. (This self-referential nature would also help with SEO, come to think of it.)
  • A wiki would introduce a refreshing dynamic to SK.net. As good as Berserk is, there's no doubt it's unique from most popular manga series in that it's hiatus-laden and bereft of new information at times. (As I will touch on next...) A wiki would present SkullKnighters with something else to do, especially during dry spells, like this one in particular; at minimum, it would give the community something to truly work, improve on and be a part of while waiting for the new material..
  • A wiki is more modular, accessible and expandable than a mere site encyclopedia. (Expanding on some above points) A little semantic sugar: a 'wiki' is specifically designed to be edited by anyone, though it's still an encyclopedia. An 'encyclopedia'—as with SkullKnight.net's current Berserk Encyclopedia—is drastically more limited in who can contribute to it. I'd wager only the site administration here had a part in the creation of the Berserk Encyclopedia; as understandable as that is, it's limiting to other forum members nonetheless, in my opinion. MediaWiki software allows for the swift reversion of undesirable revisions and the like, and is easy to learn. I have experience with the wiki application, if assistance is needed with templates, design, extensions and the like (not extensive, but definitely enough to make a working, clean and efficient wiki). I personally feel accessibility for other forum members, rather than just the administrative minority, is the biggest convenience of and merit for SK.net developing its own wiki.

Those are the core reasons I have for proposing this idea. Should this become a thing, surely other things will need to be discussed, but for now, I leave SK.net with the general concept and its particulars.

I know that this may instantly get shot down, for technical, communal or practical reasons, but I found it an interesting idea regardless. Whatever is decided upon is ultimately fine with me.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Hello Emeratu,

Walter and I have been talking about revamping the 15 years old encyclopedia for many years now. To be blunt, it hasn't been done because we haven't had the courage to get started on it. I take full responsability for that.

Should it be done? Certainly. Should it be a wiki? Nope. Why, you may ask? Well it's quite simple. The reason the Berserk Wikia is terrible (as is the Wikipedia article on Berserk) is because it can be edited by anyone and everyone. That is not what Berserk needs, nor is it what gives our community its quality. What Berserk needs is a comprehensive, authoritative source of information. One that is authored by actual experts on the subject matter.

Unfortunately there aren't many of those. It's down to two or three people to get it done. Now don't be mistaken, I appreciate your suggestion, and certainly a more modern, searchable database will be used whenever we get around to it. But the bottleneck is the same it's always been: Walter and I need to set aside the time to do it ourselves, and it's not a trivial endeavor. That's what it comes down to, and why we won't do a wiki: when it comes to Berserk and given our experience in the matter, it's 100% clear to us that it's not a task that can be crowdsourced.

Emeratu said:
As a scanlations reader atm, I'm prone to misunderstanding episode content.

I think remedying that is where you should focus your efforts. Buy the volumes and read them attentively.
 
Aazealh said:
Hello Emeratu,

Walter and I have been talking about revamping the 15 years old encyclopedia for many years now. To be blunt, it hasn't been done because we haven't had the courage to get started on it. I take full responsability for that.

Should it be done? Certainly. Should it be a wiki? Nope. Why, you may ask. Well it's quite simple. The reason the Berserk Wiki is terrible (as is the Wikipedia article on Berserk) is because it can be edited by anyone and everyone. That is not what Berserk needs, nor is it what gives our community its quality. What Berserk needs is a comprehensive, authoritative source of information. One that is authored by actual experts on the subject matter, and not scanlation-readers who've just finished binging on the series in a single sitting.

I think remedying that is where you should focus your efforts. Buy the volumes and read them attentively.

I wouldn't add series content to the wiki immediately. Of course I would personally wait to buy the volumes and such before doing so (unless I'm adding very general information or correcting grammatical and semantic errors). What I would do is supplement the wiki's development through means I mentioned in the OP.

The premise of your opposition is seriously lacking in fortitude, seemingly being a product of ignorance of the MediaWiki software, which is valid and understandable. I only point this out due to the nature of the point: Being an authoritative information repository and being a wiki are not even remotely mutually exclusive, especially with some specific wikis in this context (wikis documenting manga series and such). As I pointed out in the OP, you and other experts would have full reign over what is and isn't posted on the wiki as administrators; you quite literally would be able to undo any edit you deem to be nonconstructive, of course, so long as you're willing to check up on the wiki from time to time, as you do the forum. With three dedicated administrators in you, Walter and Griffith, I can't see how that would be a terribly difficult task. To assert that the two are mutually exclusive is an insult to the many high traffic and reliable encyclopedias that are both authoritative and wikis.

It also seems your perception of wikis is mostly derived from what you've seen with Berserk Wiki; I'm willing to bet it's roughly your only experience with wikis, save for Wikipedia. Is Berserk Wiki terrible because anyone can edit it and scanlation readers have indeed done so? Yes, I'm inclined to agree, as I know scanlations are drastically inferior to official translations in most cases. Is that at all indicative of some immediate failure of a SkullKnight Wiki? No, not at all; that's likely additional ignorance of the MediaWiki platform, which is okay. I don't mean to come of as disrespectful or anything, and if I am, I'm sorry. I say that most of your points seem to understandably stem from ignorance simply because of how easily remedied they are by the MediaWiki platform. I'll go into detail.

Your seeming disdain for scanlation readers like myself, as a decades-long expert loremaster on the series, is valid, justified and understandable. However, using the fact that the wikis you have encountered in particular are bad as a result of being accessible by anyone is a moot point. If you and your fellow admins deem it necessary, unregistered access can easily be blocked, which will surely diminish a significant amount of incorrect edits to the wiki. If you want to take it a step further, you could link the registration to the main forum, like what Westeros.org does, which would only thwart away even more scanlation readers from adding fallacious content to the wiki and more or less ensure that only reliable editors are allowed on the wiki. Anything else can be swiftly undone by an admin, or even another reliable user, with ease.

As competent as you and Walter are, I highly doubt you're the only Berserk loremasters in the world; in fact, I know such an allusion to be false. (I'm sure you weren't alluding to that at all; regardless, it still contains a similar message.) In spite of that, holding the site's content to the highest regard, to the point of only allowing a few users (pretty much just the site administration) to edit the encyclopedia, is a great virtue to have, in my opinion, one that I initially thought was indicative of someone who would have no trouble undoing the edits of scanlation readers and such; it seems like something that wouldn't be too different from forum moderation to me.

In short: I think a mass majority of your points are remedied by the MediaWiki software. You're basing your understanding of wikis on a wiki not only lacking a dedicated following, authoritative administrators, and strict registration rules, but also in its overall capabilities, due to being hosted by Wikia, Inc., arguably one of the worse wiki hosting sites on the web.

Should this still be up for discussion, I recommend reading up on the MediaWiki software and its capabilities (on self-reliant wikis in particular) and maybe checking out some authoritative wikis to see what's possible with administrative and community dedication. You and Walter could still have full control over the content and such with a wiki, while still allowing other SkullKnighters to edit. The encyclopedia suffers from a squished content space and, ironically enough, lacks severely in overall info, compared to sites like Avatar Wiki, UESP Wiki and Narutopedia, which all thoroughly fill every nook and cranny of information there is to be filled, which is what encyclopedias typically aim to do, rather than merely providing a glossary of sentence-long entries; ironic because the site encyclopedia, in its current state, actually has less information than the Berserk Wiki. A wiki, in the Vector or Monobook skin, would offer much more content space for information, reader-aiding templates and further extensions to the overall wiki platform. A good model for what you seem to have in mind is Westeros.org's A Wiki of Ice and Fire, which blocks unregistered access and is comprised of only reliable editors, all while not taking the condescending approach of only admitting two people deemed to be all-knowing loremasters and encyclopedia contributors.

(As a side note: Another thing that kind of rustled me earlier was that, for all of your efforts, only a select few would actually read any of your informative additions to the encyclopedia, relative to the amount of people who would still visit and be mislead by Berserk Wiki. It sucks to know that Berserk Wiki would still garner more page views and thus, spread more misinformation and confusion throughout the community, by virtue of being a wiki and thus being a drastically superior search engine optimizable platform to the outdated, basic encyclopedia format.)

Should this no longer be up for discussion, and your post have been a conclusive "no", that's fine. Regardless, I appreciate that you actually entertained the proposal. Oh, and thanks for the welcome.
 
Nevermind the proposal. I can already see where this is going and why it's going there.

Thank you, to all who have and will participate in the discussion and poll. :)
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Emeratu said:
Being an authoritative information repository and being a wiki are not even remotely mutually exclusive, especially with some specific wikis in this context (wikis documenting manga series and such). [...] To assert that the two are mutually exclusive is an insult to the many high traffic and reliable encyclopedias that are both authoritative and wikis.

Well I guess this is an insult then? Sorry.
Besides, it won't really be less work for me to have to assess and correct every little thing instead of doing it myself in the first place.

Emeratu said:
As competent as you and Walter are, I highly doubt you're the only Berserk loremasters in the world; in fact, I know such an allusion to be false. (I'm sure you weren't alluding to that at all; regardless, it still contains a similar message.)

Actually, that's exactly what I meant (although I wouldn't call myself a "loremaster"). My original reply wasn't very clear in that regard so I expanded on it, but you were likely already replying. In short, I wouldn't trust anyone else to participate in a Berserk knowledge base. Maybe that makes me come across as an arrogant dick, but that's how it is. Sorry if that offends anyone.

Honestly it makes me feel bad that you went into so much effort to make a case for a wiki format because it's just not going to happen. I know full well the value of wikis, but Berserk is a series that has an uncharacteristically high rate of misunderstanding and misconceptions attached to it. Believe me, I wish it weren't the case.

Emeratu said:
Should this still be up for discussion, I recommend reading up on the MediaWiki software and its capabilities (on self-reliant wikis in particular)

You wouldn't happen to work for the Wikimedia Foundation by any chance? :schnoz:

EDIT:

Emeratu said:
Nevermind the proposal. I can already see where this is going and why it's going there.

Thank you, to all who have and will participate in the discussion and poll. :)

I went ahead with my response despite this new post, to clarify what I meant. Anyway, thank you for going through the trouble of making this proposal in the first place. I do hope you stick around to discuss the series with us.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
It's a good idea, honestly — just not for us. And even though I don't agree with the wiki format being the best, I do appreciate you bringing up the topic, because it's been too long since someone forced our hand into thinking about how a revamped Berserk Encyclopedia should be structured. It's needed, and it's overdue (much like a revamped Encyclopedia!)

Putting aside the issue of who would be writing and maintaining all of the entries in such a proposal, I don't think the way wikis are structured is the best way such information can be presented. They just make it easy for anyone with a keyboard to launch one and start filling up entries. Fundamentally, I think Berserk needs a guide for readers, not merely a dumping ground for information. And I'm speaking more for what I hope to achieve with a renovation rather than the current encyclopedia. What I have in mind doesn't really exist right now, wiki or otherwise.

Emeratu said:
As competent as you and Walter are, I highly doubt you're the only Berserk loremasters in the world; in fact, I know such an allusion to be false. (I'm sure you weren't alluding to that at all; regardless, it still contains a similar message.)

We aren't trying to be egotistical. We've been around for a while, and have seen a lot of people come and go. There really aren't that many reliable people who have withstood the test of time. Many people fall into Berserk, many get very knowledgeable of it very quickly, and then for whatever reason they'll leave, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, we're still here, still studying the series.

The encyclopedia suffers from a squished content space and, ironically enough, lacks severely in overall info, compared to sites like Avatar Wiki, UESP Wiki and Narutopedia, which all thoroughly fill every nook and cranny of information there is to be filled, which is what encyclopedias typically aim to do, rather than merely providing a glossary of sentence-long entries; ironic because the site encyclopedia, in its current state, actually has less information than the Berserk Wiki.

Well, as it was made in 2003, we've never really tried to live up to the information volume of other series' wikis. The first encyclopedia (which represents most of the work that's still there today) was created long before wikis were a dominant force on the Internet, becoming the status quo for how to document a series for fans. I created it because I had a lot of free time in college, and there was no similar resource available (same as this website and forum, really). "Encyclopedia" has always been a misnomer for what I was setting out to do, which certainly wasn't to cover "every nook and cranny" of Berserk. For that, I'd rather people just studied the series better than read character and volume summaries written by someone other than Miura.

Anyway, certain sections are "squished" for a reason. I prefer a reference guide approach rather than the endless character entry pages of wiki pages. It's why I've put more time over the years into updating the Manga, Timeline and Glossary sections than the others. Simple, informative and functional.

(As a side note: Another thing that kind of rustled me earlier was that, for all of your efforts, only a select few would actually read any of your informative additions to the encyclopedia, relative to the amount of people who would still visit and be mislead by Berserk Wiki. It sucks to know that Berserk Wiki would still garner more page views and thus, spread more misinformation and confusion throughout the community, by virtue of being a wiki and thus being a drastically superior search engine optimizable platform to the outdated, basic encyclopedia format.)

Yeah, it sucks. Those who want to know more will always seek it out though.
 
I think it's a good Idea and I appreciate all the thought and research put into it, but I understand the mods apprehensiveness to it. In many ways it may cut down on repeat questions (such as the moonlight boy, can Guts become an apostle, The Beast of Darkness, etc.) but perhaps an FAQ can take care of this too. Anyway, good suggestion, don't lose heart.
 
Aazealh said:
Well I guess this is an insult then? Sorry.
Besides, it won't really be less work for me to have to assess and correct every little thing instead of doing it myself in the first place.

Actually, that's exactly what I meant (although I wouldn't call myself a "loremaster"). My original reply wasn't very clear in that regard so I expanded on it, but you were likely already replying. In short, I wouldn't trust anyone else to participate in a Berserk knowledge base. Maybe that makes me come across as an arrogant dick, but that's how it is. Sorry if that offends anyone.

Honestly it makes me feel bad that you went into so much effort to make a case for a wiki format because it's just not going to happen. I know full well the value of wikis, but Berserk is a series that has an uncharacteristically high rate of misunderstanding and misconceptions attached to it. Believe me, I wish it weren't the case.
Don't feel bad. As I alluded to in the OP, I had a feeling this proposal would have a low acceptance rate, if for any reason in particular, because I'm 'unproven' in a way and coming out of nowhere with it; I felt it was worth a shot regardless, because the final result seems great (in my head).

I'll admit, that definitive 'no' in "it's just not going to happen" deterred me quite a bit, you being a co-webmaster and all, but I'd still like to discuss this a bit further, in spite of the seemingly inevitable conclusion of the proposal.

(Just looked at the following after typing it and thought to myself, "Good grief." Sorry for all of these walls of text.)

"Berserk is a series that has an uncharacteristically high rate of misunderstanding and misconceptions attached to it." Undoubtedly, a byproduct of misinformation spread from more prominent sources and scanlations and, at times, even Miura's writing style in general (in my opinion); I agree. This is why I feel material written by authoritative people who have talked about the lore for years, maybe even decades, deserves, at minimum, higher results in Google queries (higher than what most other information compiling interfaces garner). It comes off as self-defeating egotism, not because you think you and a few others are the only ones active on the Sk.net capable of correctly documenting the lore and such, but because, in spite of your goal—correctly documenting the lore and its many constituent subjects, all while avoiding misunderstandings and misconceptions in your content—and your self-esteem, you're still willing to opt for a platform that will ultimately have relatively poor SEO, and consequently have no real impact on the aforementioned issues that plague the community. I'm not a terribly technical person, but I know that, more likely than not, whatever you and Walter have in mind (if anything atm) won't be as optimizable as the wiki platform, as said platform seems to have been designed in a manner that lends itself to SEO.

It seems you've seen a lot of misconceptions held by fans over the years, and that they've taken their toll on you; fostered a distaste for scanlation readers who lack other immediate sources of correct information. Don't you want your highly vaunted understanding of the lore to be shared with the community; with the many misinformed fans? With wiki software, I'm willing to bet that the material you generate in the future will stand a higher chance of being properly spread throughout the community than it will with whatever you all have in mind atm. That's an assertion based on general search results pertaining to popular subject matters of all genres. (... Unless your only concern is the production of legitimate material, and you have no real care for the distribution of it.)

Walter said:
We aren't trying to be egotistical. We've been around for a while, and have seen a lot of people come and go. There really aren't that many reliable people who have withstood the test of time. Many people fall into Berserk, many get very knowledgeable of it very quickly, and then for whatever reason they'll leave, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, we're still here, still studying the series.
I honestly wouldn't even mind if you all completely blocked all user access to the wiki, save for yourself, Aazealh and whoever else you two trust (Griffith, puella, etc.) and still used the wiki format. I'd be lying if I said my main gripe with opting for quite literally any encyclopedic interface other than that of a wiki isn't the inferior search results it will gain. Obviously, it would be nice if it was a community effort, but that's not really the biggest issue. Good points have been raised as to why this is something that can't be crowdsourced, in the general sense. I just want the most reliable and comprehensive material to have as far of a reach as possible, which seems most possible with MediaWiki.

Aazealh said:
You wouldn't happen to work for the Wikimedia Foundation by any chance? :schnoz:
Haha, nah, I don't work for them. I just have some experience with their wiki software and see value in its optimization capabilities and relatively easy to navigate, sleek interface. As the interface is highly customizable, I can really see it being easy to mimic the aesthetics of SK.net as well. I know it's antiquated, but the current encyclopedia just doesn't possess a similar look to the main forum site. Even the default Vector skin of a wiki (i.e. the main skin at Wikipedia) is more in-line with the style of the forum site, in my opinion.

Aazealh said:
I went ahead with my response despite this new post, to clarify what I meant. Anyway, thank you for going through the trouble of making this proposal in the first place. I do hope you stick around to discuss the series with us.
I will. In time, I'll try to deviate from scanlations altogether by buying all of the available volumes, but I likely won't be doing that anytime soon, so you'll have to bear with me and correct any misunderstandings or misconceptions I've picked up.

Walter said:
Putting aside the issue of who would be writing and maintaining all of the entries in such a proposal, I don't think the way wikis are structured is the best way such information can be presented. They just make it easy for anyone with a keyboard to launch one and start filling up entries. Fundamentally, I think Berserk needs a guide for readers, not merely a dumping ground for information. And I'm speaking more for what I hope to achieve with a renovation rather than the current encyclopedia. What I have in mind doesn't really exist right now, wiki or otherwise.
Really? The categorization feature and additional CSS templates that can be created and implemented typically supplement the guiding aspect of wikis quite well, in my opinion.

This seems a variable issue; i.e., some wikis just are poorly organized, from my experience. I'm mainly a proponent of using the MediaWiki software because of its SEO capabilities (obtaining the second place result for general Berserk Google queries (e.g. 'Femto', 'Casca', 'God Hand', etc.) with MediaWiki seems viable, which would be a stellar position for encyclopedic material written by you all in the future).

Walter said:
Anyway, certain sections are "squished" for a reason. I prefer a reference guide approach rather than the endless character entry pages of wiki pages. It's why I've put more time over the years into updating the Manga, Timeline and Glossary sections than the others. Simple, informative and functional.
Well, can't argue with that. Not that the same thing isn't mostly achievable with a wiki (endless character entries aren't necessary).

You would be able to do as you see fit a wiki. Most wikis blindly follow the conventions set by the grandfather Wikipedia. Unless you have something on par with the original world changing integration aspect of FaceBook in mind, I think it's possible for you to do whatever you want with MediaWiki software. UESP doesn't blindly follow a lot of conventions set by Wikipedia and it's doing just fine with its own unique set of rules. Just because others are doing it with their wikis (e.g. endless character entries, location entries, chapter entries, etc.) doesn't mean you have to do it with yours.

Just a thought, based on the likely false premise of you believing that your wiki has to be similar to others.

ApostleBob said:
I think it's a good Idea and I appreciate all the thought and research put into it, but I understand the mods apprehensiveness to it. In many ways it may cut down on repeat questions (such as the moonlight boy, can Guts become an apostle, The Beast of Darkness, etc.) but perhaps an FAQ can take care of this too. Anyway, good suggestion, don't lose heart.
The pros certainly outweigh the cons, as far as I can see. Take a scenario where a previously answered question is asked again on the forums: Instead of linking to a past thread or giving a rehashed answer and then reprimanding the inquiring user for not using the search function, just link to the site wiki, which would then lead to a page view. And so goes the gradual self-referential search engine optimization of the wiki, which, in conjunction with some popular SEO techniques exclusive to wikis, and maybe further referencing on /r/berserk, would lead to potentially drowning out the misinformed Berserk Wiki in Google results.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Emeratu said:
As I alluded to in the OP, I had a feeling this proposal would have a low acceptance rate, if for any reason in particular, because I'm 'unproven' in a way and coming out of nowhere with it

Who makes the proposal doesn't matter. It's just not like we'd never thought about it before you came around.

Emeratu said:
I'll admit, that definitive 'no' in "it's just not going to happen" deterred me quite a bit, you being a co-webmaster and all, but I'd still like to discuss this a bit further, in spite of the seemingly inevitable conclusion of the proposal.

Man, I wonder what you're like when you're not deterred.

Emeratu said:
Undoubtedly, a byproduct of misinformation spread from [...], at times, even Miura's writing style in general (in my opinion)

I don't like your opinion. :miura:

Emeratu said:
I'm not a terribly technical person, but I know that, more likely than not, whatever you and Walter have in mind (if anything atm) won't be as optimizable as the wiki platform, as said platform seems to have been designed in a manner that lends itself to SEO. [...] I'd be lying if I said my main gripe with opting for quite literally any encyclopedic interface other than that of a wiki isn't the inferior search results it will gain. [...] I'm mainly a proponent of using the MediaWiki software because of its SEO capabilities

The best platform SEO-wise is Wordpress, same as it's been for years. Not that Drupal or Joomla are too shabby themselves. Wikipedia's stellar search engine results aren't just due to its software, you know.

Emeratu said:
I will. In time, I'll try to deviate from scanlations altogether by buying all of the available volumes, but I likely won't be doing that anytime soon, so you'll have to bear with me and correct any misunderstandings or misconceptions I've picked up.

You should understand that what I hate most about people who read scanlations is that they don't financially support the author.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Emeratu said:
Is there anything I can potentially do to change your minds? Site donation, perhaps?

You know, I'm rarely at a loss for words, but I'm not sure what to say here. I just don't understand what's in it for you, if you really aren't a shill.

Anyway, sure, everyone's got a price. For the right bribe donation, I'll make sure we use MediaWiki and even wrestle control of the site away from Walter if need be. And I'll get started on it right away, too. The question is, what price are you willing to pay? $500 ain't gonna cut it, we're talking grands here, and many of them. PM me with your offer.
 
Aazealh said:
You know, I'm rarely at a loss for words, but I'm not sure what to say here. I just don't understand what's in it for you, if you really aren't a shill.

Anyway, sure, everyone's got a price. For the right bribe donation, I'll make sure we use MediaWiki and even wrestle control of the site away from Walter if need be. And I'll get started on it right away, too. The question is, what price are you willing to pay? $500 ain't gonna cut it, we're talking grands here, and many of them. PM me with your offer.
No need for the speechlessness. I was just testing the waters, seeing what may help jump-start the project. Interesting response, but sadly, I don't have that kind of money to just 'donate' on a whim (:(), nor do I want to see that happen.

The only thing in it for me is seeing an idea I feel is neat, necessary and optimal come to fruition. It may seem a small and odd benefit, especially since I wouldn't be actively involved, but I thought I made it clear that I really just want to see the creation of an easily accessible (SEO-wise) and reliable Berserk wiki (specifically using MediaWiki, as sites like Wordpress aren't even encyclopedic platforms) run by competent fans. I shill you not.

Just was curious as to what responses that would garner. I realize my persistence is likely becoming annoying; I'll move on now.
 
There's nothing stopping you from undertaking it yourself on a separate site and encouraging fans contribute input. If you do, I wish the best of luck.
 
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