Forum:The most important issue currently facing the wiki

Drop whatever you are doing. Not a single edit should be made to anything other than this discussion page until the issue is resolved. I am, of course, exaggerating, but only slightly.

The issue is our lack of uniformity among what should be fairly homogeneous articles. Basically, every weapon article should look VERY similar to almost every other weapon article with the same going for perks, maps, etc. We currently have policies for weapons, characters, levels, and perks, but they are nothing more than loose guidelines. We need strict policies, practically templates, to use for each type of article. To anyone who is wondering why I feel so strongly about this, it is because it will make articles neater, far easier to improve, and make the wiki far more professional and reader-friendly. Basically, my proposal entails drafting a template policy for each type of categorical article. An extensive (but probably not complete) list of examples includes guns, equipment, perks, characters, singleplayer levels, multiplayer maps, killstreak rewards, attachments, and factions. I don't know that a vote is necessarily required at this time, so I suppose I'm just looking for some agreement and helpers at the moment. Imrlybord7 23:08, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

I agree. Actually, this has been on my mind for some time, although I believed to ratical for the wiki to handle. I'm glad theres someone else that thinks this way. Dolten  Let's Talk  23:11, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

People are focusing way to much on categories and a LOT less on Mainspace. TheManOfIron 23:09, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

Per Dolten. We also don't want to have to sort all this stuff out while Black Ops articles are being created, so this I believe is a priority. - 23:13, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

I propose to ACTUALLY make them templates. As templates have to be followed. Also, say all weapon pages, there all going to be laid out the same, so why not make a template for it? Dolten  Let's Talk  00:11, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Thoughts? Heres my template for Weapon articles: http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Weapons#Gallery Dolten 1164610-433px usmc logo svg large.png  Let's Talk  00:18, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * That only complicates editing for beginners. Darkman 4 00:19, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * I guess that alone makes my idea shit. Dolten 1164610-433px usmc logo svg large.png  Let's Talk  00:32, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

So what your saying is that we should have a standard layout for each type of article in the mainspace? Rambo362  00:17, August 11, 2010 (UTC)


 * That is correct. Dolten 1164610-433px usmc logo svg large.png  Let's Talk  00:18, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

You guys are being way too overdramatic about this. Most of our pages are fine. The rules guidelines are enough. Darkman 4 00:19, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Most of our pages, sure, but not all of our pages. (Just a few that come to mind: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8) But, if you notice something, the problem is that the pages aren't following our currently established guidelines in the first place. The pages that are already following our guidelines and rules are just fine, and slapping on more requirements for them to go through won't solve a thing if so many other articles remain as infractions against our current layout guidelines. 01:01, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Good point. Plus, we'd have to update all of the current pages to fit the "new" style, which is simply too much of a pain. It isn't worth the effort. We should focus on updating a few pages to the current style and let it go. Darkman 4 02:52, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Isnt the Manual of Style supposed to cover this issue? No?  Talk  00:32, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * It is. Making stricter guidelines isn't going to help. Darkman 4 02:52, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

I agree with Darkman. The articles are fine. 00:36, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

I also disagree. I think they're fine. Besides, even if we did make them all identical, they'd eventually just drift back to what they are now. Shotrocket6 02:57, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

The issue isn't so much the lack of uniformity; it's that some articles don't follow the establihed layout. We can fix up the articles that don't follow the same style. Implementing a layout means changing all the articles to conform to it, and that still leaves articles behind, thus not really solving anything. --Scottie theNerd 03:16, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Is this even an issue? I'd like to see some examples to see what we're looking at. LITE992 03:53, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

I don't understand what is wrong with the Pages.Talk 16:16, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Did you see Character button while making a new article? The same buttons should be for weapons, characters and maps in game. And, there is layout selection menu (Standard layout and Blank Page) while making new article. Buttons and layouts are intended to automatically create infobox and sections in article. 13:38, August 12, 2010 (UTC)

It isn't necessarily an issue with section titles and sequence (although that can be a problem on occasion), the issue is with what is actually written within those sections. I think we need to come up with more concrete criteria as to what information should be presented in certain sections of articles. Imrlybord7 18:03, August 12, 2010 (UTC)

I don't think anything's wrong. 19:46, August 12, 2010 (UTC)

Per Darkman 4. The articles are fine. 19:49, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

Per Darkman 4. There's nothing wrong with the articles, this isn't much of an issue.

I created new section only because it was impossible for me to edit under TSTK's edit. Anyway, lets just leave the good pages alone for now and fix the bad ones so they look good and then work on making them look the "same". Like, there's some pages where there would be a section title and I have to scroll down to see the text. It's annoying and looks bad and those need to be fixed. But other than that, most pages look fine and should stay the way they are untill we fix the bad pages. Beastly20 23:24, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks to whoever deleted the new section. Beastly20 23:40, August 14, 2010 (UTC)