User blog:ZDee/Important: New Wiki Policy

Hello, fellow Londoners of the Fallen persuasion!

Please remember: story snippets quoted here from the game may no longer exceed 250 characters. Editing Guidelines has been revised to include this new policy. I thank you for your time in reading this message, and I welcome your future cooperation! :)

Question & Answer time!

Q: Don't the quoted bits already stop at 250 characters? That's what I already see! A: Visually, yes. Technically, no. What you see is cut off at 250 characters. If you try to edit a page, though, you might discover additional words when you view the page through the editor screen. The extra characters remain in the wiki's system. They are undigested, still.

Q: There are more words to be had?! A: Is this a trick question? :P Anyway, yes, they sometimes lie within the database like fossilized remnants of great dinosaurs past, and they can be uncovered with the editor screen. The excess words are to be deleted.

Q: Why are those words excessive? A: Legal issues warrant their removal. Oh, but not like a literal warrant of thrill and terror. No one came to my house, battered down my door, screamed obscenities at me, and searched my premises for hidden characters... That would have been exciting! In actuality, the administrators of this wiki had a friendly exchange with Alexis, Chief Narrative Officer of Failbetter Games (the developer team which crafts Fallen London for your pleasure). We arrived at the mutual conclusion that paste-bucketing large chunks of the game's copyrighted stories here placed the wiki in a precarious position.

Q: What are you doing to secure the wiki's position? A: The introduction of the 250-character limit is here for that purpose. We're also digging out the characters who rest beyond the borders of 250 and giving them a proper burial. Highlight them and send them to their final reward with the Delete key.

Q: T_T A: Chin up. They shall be reabsorbed by the virtual ether and reincarnated as roaring new awesome dinosaur words. ...I, uh, mixed way too many analogies in this newsletter.

Q: I can still see the deleted characters in a page's History by clicking certain revisions! What will you do about that loophole? A: The administrators will delete the page itself, remove the rascally revisions, and resurrect the page sans rascals.

Q: Seriously now, were legions of people reading the wiki to sate their unquenchable craving for stories instead of playing the game? A: Nope. I understand why people might suggest that as a possibility (I've even considered it myself), but it's simply not true. The wiki is not a suitable replacement for the experience of playing through the game and claiming its stories as your own. The Total Page View statistics strongly indicate that readers come here to learn how to navigate from the beginning of a story to its climax and its conclusion. Many of those new to Fallen London (and veterans who make new accounts) seek the wiki for assistance through the first stage of the game. This wiki is a guide first, and a melting pot of spoilers second.

Q: I use the editor screen to read stories in their entirety here. I've already played those stories and logged them to my Fallen London journal, but my journal is a bleeding mess! I've forgotten certain stories, and I need to read them here to refresh my memory of the wonderful adventures I've had in the game! I can't even replay stories because they're locked to me now! A: Know that both Failbetter Games and the editors here empathize with you! The wiki is implementing a synopsis system. For those pages with quoted snippets which lack important narrative information, summaries will be written (by you and me -- anyone!) for them. This way, key portions of a story can still be reviewed by readers.

Q: What summaries? I don't see any summaries! I need my summary fix! :( A: This is what makes a wiki shine. Through joint effort of the player community, we can fill in the blanks ourselves. Please write summaries for pages which need them (story climaxes, conclusions, revelations, etc.) and code the summaries into the articles. Alternatively, post your summaries in the Comments section, and other editors will code them. Notice how I said "other editors"? When you contribute in any way to the wiki, you become an editor! :D You may fulfill your editing role anonymously or infrequently, but your help is always appreciated here.

Q: I don't really know how to edit material in the wiki, but I still want to help. What can I do? A: Excellent sentiment! If you've already read the Screenshot Tutorial for Editing and you're still unable to edit pages properly, contact an Admin or any active editor through their Message Walls. They'll try their utmost to teach you. For those editors allergic to coding, just put your advice, quotes, summaries and sundry in the relevant Comments and Talk sections. Another editor will code.

Have you browsed through the Guides? You may find something of interest to you. A few of the guides are incomplete, so please aid if you're able. Suggestions for guides are also accepted; post ideas or drafts for them in the Guides' Talk space or an Admin's Message Wall.

This page may be updated in the upcoming weeks. If vital information is added, the title will be amended to "Important: New Wiki Policy (Updated Month?/Day?)" to let you know.

Enjoy your Hallowmas!