Board Thread:Administrative/@comment-61022-20130619233120

Hey guys, just tossing around some more ideas. This time around I'm inquiring about page lengths and if we should stick with having separate pages for expanded histories or just have everything in one specific page.

The reason why I bring this up is because I've been taking a look at wikis for other long running franchises. Namely Memory Alpha (Star Trek), Teletran-1 (Transformers), The Tardis Datacore (Dr. Who), The X-Files Wiki, and Wookipedia (Star Wars).

And the major trend that I am noticing is that these wikis have long and very detailed profiles for their major characters. Here are some links of prime examples:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/James_Kirk http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(G1) http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Fox_Mulder http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker

It seems to me that the going trend with the other sites is to include every appearance of the character and covering even various character traits at length (such as their romances and interactions with other characters) and in other cases apocryphal data (such as non-cannon books and media for said franchise).

I thought I should point this out as the other wikis don't seem to have the same concerns about page length that we do. So I'm wondering if we should open a discussion regarding the length of articles.

The two problems that come to my mind where people would have issue of this is:

(1) Length of information - people complaining about not being able to find specific points about their favorite characters. To which point, I would say I don't think we should be catering to people who are too lazy to actually look and research information. The page layouts are quite organized. I would take a Marvel Handbook approach, Marvel almost nearly lists every appearance (without the benefit of footnotes either) without concern about people not reading entire articles, so why should we stress either?

(2) Page loads - Which I'm wondering why this is an issue? I wager the only people this is going to effect are those with slower internet connections (IE Dial-Up) or perhaps a dinosaur of a computer.

I say that it is my view that these two items are limiting or complicating the full listing of information to accommodate a very small (all be it vocal) minority when it comes to browsing the site.

My other contention on this point is that if people want an abridged easy to read profile, Marvel does have their own Universe Wiki that covers "Just the important stuff". I think we are in a unique position to be lengthy. Look at the Unofficial Appendix, those guys are VERY length. But as far as site layouts go, it's pretty basic stuff. I think we can bridge the gap between Marvel's official wiki and the Appendix (whose writers work on the Official Handbooks) by providing readers with something that looks as impressive as Marvel's own website, but is as lengthy as the Appendix.

The other thing is that I'm finding that with the expanded history sub-pages, a lot of those pages can get grossly out to date since unless you really know that they are there, nobody other than maybe the original author is going to go in and update them.

If there are any other specific reasons I am missing please feel free to enlighten me, and please give me some of your thoughts and opinions. 