Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-61022-20150909141417/@comment-61022-20151014161941

Getting back on point:

As for ADour's point on keeping current. That's why we aren't putting a ban on comic book summary updates. People can still go in an update those. If it's a matter of people not having access to the comics, getting a comic book summary is the best way to know what's going on presently from all angles. They're not going to get that from a character profile that focuses specifically on the activities of that character. I would think that someone who wants to know what's going on and doesn't have access to the comics is more interested in a summary of each issue than just a paragraph or two about one specific character.

However, I would concede to adding an editorial blurb at the end of these character profiles that address Secret Wars and All-New All-Different. Telling the readers that the information will be updated as soon as concrete details are made available, and then directing them to read issue summaries on specific comics that said character appears in both Secret Wars and All-New All-Different. That way, they can go to those comic summaries, read up on that info and check back later once the ban is lifted. And because there is ambiguity as to who's who, we can put a disclaimer that once everything is said and done that information might not be applicable to the character in question.

Again, I always stress on the idea of "measure twice, cut once", or more importantly get it right the first time -- at least as "right" as you can get when it comes to fiction. If you can't explain how a story arc goes from beginning, middle and end, then it shouldn't be added until it's over. My apprehension about adding All-New All-Different is because Secret Wars is still unresolved, and I am sure a LOT of the things going on in those titles are going to make a lot more sense once Secret Wars is over, and I am loath to adding incomplete information. Being current should not come at the cost of accuracy. Doesn't matter how big a deal something is, unless the facts are accurate, we may as well be writing speculative BuzzFeed Listicles instead of an online encyclopedia.

As much as everyone is himming and hawing about it now, I think people will appreciate being able to add a chunk of complete information over fragmented and unresolved bits of information and then waiting another few months to be able to unravel and explain it. And as I said, if it's a matter of updating the character profiles for others, I think they would appreciate the information being as complete as possible. So writing things down and copying and pasting it into the character profiles when Secret Wars is over is doing people a better service than trying to do the ANAD stuff now and back filling the Secret Wars stuff.

But again, I don't see why people can't wait another week or two until the new handbook comes out. As I've stated before all of the above is subject to change one more information becomes available. We're regularly evaluating the situation.

On that subject, maybe I should make my position more clear, because when I say "all-or-nothing" I mean we don't do anything we can't clearly explain. Obviously, as the event winds down to a close we're going to be able to better understand what's going on. I think the new handbook is going to help clarify a lot of that. Lifting bans as it becomes irrelevant to withhold information due to story gaps having been filled.

My view on the Secret Wars and ANAD situation is this:

First and foremost, I'd like to see the handbook identify the realities that are being dealt with in Secret Wars. If we have that key information, I think we can all agree on lifting the ban on all the Secret War stories that are happening outside of the main event. Going a step further, titles that involve those characters in ANAD would be lifted as well, as most of the Battleworld and Warzone stories and similar titles have little to do with the main event.

Secondly, when it comes to ANAD, moritoriums on edits for the main characters involved in the Secret Wars event shouldn't get edits until the event is over. This includes every main character in the primary Secret Wars event (So the entire Fantastic Four, both Spider-Men, Star-Lord, Jane Foster-Thor, Captain Marvel, and so-on)

And another thing, everyone is talking about Secret Wars #8 coming out in December. It's not. It's release date is November 25. That is a little over a month away. You're telling me you can't wait a month? We've already gone almost the entire event and people are getting antsy about waiting another month? Again, I maintain that if you keep your own notes, come November 25, you can copy and paste it into the profile no problems. It's complete, it's accurate, and the event is over. The argument that we have to wait until December for Secret Wars to resolve itself is a straw man argument. These nebulous visitors that apparently can't get a hold of comics (which again, I'm going to call bull on that one. Ethics aside, if you really want to read it that badly, you can find it online) waiting another month isn't going to kill them.