Encyclopedia Malfadorica (Wiki)

[LazarusLong42]

All right, I admit it, I'm a dork.

After watching the action in the Acronym Dictionary thread, and having Geo mention an Encyclopedia Malfadorica, I decided to create it. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm doing all the work http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I've set up a Wiki to serve as our Encyclopedia Malfadorica. If you've never used a Wiki before, think of it as an Online encyclopedia that *anyone* can edit. And with lots of cross-links. To link to another article, all you need do is put the other article's name in brackets.

If there's a question mark in front of what would be a link, the article hasn't been created yet... so go ahead and do so. And if you add a link that hasn't been created yet, you can create that, or someone else may do so...

I think you get the picture. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I hope you like your Encyclopedia Malfadorica.

Oh, yes, the link. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Encyclopedia Malfadorica (http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/)

Eric/LL

[Edit]

If you'd like to see a large Wiki in action, try the WikiPedia at: http://www.wikipedia.org.

[ October 26, 2002, 04:19: Message edited by: LazarusLong42 ]

[geoschmo]

Cool! One thing, I don't see how to create a user id.

Geoschmo

[LazarusLong42]

There's a "Sign In" link down near the lower right of each page.

[Suicide Junkie]

This appears to be case sensitive. That could cause some trouble when you end up with many variations on the same word:
"PBW", "Play by web", "Play By Web",
"SE4", "SE IV", "Space Empires 4", "Space Empires IV",etc ...

PS: You need to get a branch out into the Mods, Strategies, and Interface navigation areas.

I see a nice setup, where you start with a description of the main window, and for any button on the SE4 screen, you can go to another page which describes that new window... almost like playing SE4!

[ October 26, 2002, 05:36: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Alrighty, then.

I've added a bunch of topics under "modifications" already.

Just to keep things simple, I reccommend only linking to the singular form of words if you are referring to a definition.
Use the plural if you are referring to a list.

Eg: "modification" (def.), vs "gold mods" (list of mods)

[ October 26, 2002, 06:39: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[dogscoff]

Dear God, what have I started?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

SO, what kind of stuff can we add? Just items from the game or things from the broader SEverse of the forums, other websites and forums..?

I also can't see how to acquire a userID. I've tried the "sign in" box in the bootom right but it assumes you already have a userid and password. Where can I get those?

[ October 26, 2002, 16:21: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[Suicide Junkie]

"facility" needs quite a few definitions written for its references

http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/facility

[tbontob]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
[QB]Dear God, what have I started?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

QB]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, it is a mega-project! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[geoschmo]

Yes, it's a mega project, but the cool thing is with this wiki anybody can assist, and you don't have to do a lot. You can simply add a single definition and be a part of this momumental project. It's a truly community thing. Thank you Laz for setting this up. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Andrés]

After clicking in a couple of links all I can see is (color coded!) HTML code.

[CombatSquirrel]

Wow,

Ohdee cool. I can only imagine what this will look like in 6 months...

Combat Squirrel

[dogscoff]

Ohdee cool. I can only imagine what this will look like in 6 months...
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I know, just wait 'til I get my hands on it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Seriously, LL or S_J or *someone* - how do I get a username & password?

[TerranC]

I'm going to be spending all my free time here... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[TerranC]

Umm... D, you don't need a username to edit. Just click and type. SJ and I've added about 20 entries now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[geoschmo]

Yes, you can edit without a user name and it will show your IP address as the person doing the editing. If we can ever figure out how to get user ids we can log in and it will list your name by your edits, like it did for Lazarus on his.

[dogscoff]

woohoo!

[geoschmo]

Eureka! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

To log in simply type your username in the box in the lower right and hit enter. However, because thisis a WikiWikiWeb, only "WikiWords" can be used as a user ID. To be a valid wiki user name it has to be a single word run together with multiple caps. For example, LazarusLong, or GeoSchmo. No password is required.

GeoSchmo, er geoschmo http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[TerranC]

how do you sign in to this thing?

Edit: Shoo... so easy yet so hard.

[ October 27, 2002, 02:36: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[jimbob]

Very fun!
Just a note, I couldn't find most of the information without diving into the "recent changes" section. How do you get to all the info from the "front page"?

[TerranC]

You'll have to click a lot, especially the titles.

Me thinks this way is better, to let it find out thread by thread.

[LazarusLong42]

I've left the front page open to editing. If someone wants to start up a list of "Places to Start" or a simple categorization like that found at Wikipedia, be my guest http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[geoschmo]

As more information gets added some sort of structure on the front page will be nice. However you can also use the search box at the top. Just type in the word you are looking for. For example currently typing "Space" gets three entries:
</font> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Space Empires IV</font> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Space Valkirie</font> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Space Vikings
</font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[ October 27, 2002, 02:53: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Also, the information that gets entered needs to be verified, and the pages edited when mistakes are discovered. I've seen lots of fascinating claims about SE IV 'features' that are not documented in the manual or any 'history' update file or any other official output from MM. For example, I recently saw someone post in another thread that Psychic races have higher default defense vs. boarding (crew quarters have higher boarding defense for Psychic races, in other words) than other races. Source? Who has tested and proven this? I've also seen claims that troops and fighters inherit the experience level of their transport or carrier. Again, proof? Who has tested this? And just now I read a post by Oleg that 'skips armor' weapons ignore the Emissive Armor ability. Who has tested this?

[ October 27, 2002, 20:15: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[LazarusLong42]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Also, the information that gets entered needs to be verified, and the pages edited when mistakes are discovered.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Baron, the great thing about a wiki is that anyone can edit it. If you feel a claim is false/unproven, you can post a notice about that to the page, and you or someone else can provide proof or disproof. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

LL

[Suicide Junkie]

I recently saw someone post in another thread that Psychic races have higher default defense vs. boarding (crew quarters have higher boarding defense for Psychic races, in other words) than other races. Source? Who has tested and proven this?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That was me.
And it had already been determined that the player who was asking was using P&N v3.1. Psychic races in that mod are given modded crew quarters that have additional defense ability added on.

[Skulky]

We should go through the newbie guid, Devious strategy guide and the modding 101 (although i bet SJ just did taht), also what about http://home.earthlink.net/~petemmer/

its a strat help place. I think the cantina should be at least mentioned in passing.

also a newbie section and a strategy general info sections would be nice, or do they just go under the SE4 umbrella?

EDIT: OMG HOW SICK IS THIS! I JUST STARTED PLAYING AROUND, WHaT IS THE DIFF B/T a minor change a major change?

[ October 28, 2002, 03:58: Message edited by: Skulky ]

[TerranC]

Ok, methinks some people are getting to crazy with links. I don't think there needs to be a description for every mod, PBW game, and component in SE4.

[Skulky]

Methinks its an encyclopedia so there! :-D

[dogscoff]

Ok, methinks some people are getting to crazy with links. I don't think there needs to be a description for every mod, PBW game, and component in SE4.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I do. And more besides. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Skulky:
We should go through the newbie guid, Devious strategy guide and the modding 101 (although i bet SJ just did taht)<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Please clarify your statement.

?Fyron's Quadrant Mod is a good example of an interesting map modification, it is an attempt at replicating ?FTL travel for use with any mod and/or set of players.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And who posted this? FQM is not an attempt at replicating FTL travel. The map that does that would be the FTL Map, which was made by SJ.

[ October 28, 2002, 08:44: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
?Fyron's Quadrant Mod is a good example of an interesting map modification, it is an attempt at replicating ?FTL travel for use with any mod and/or set of players.
And who posted this? FQM is not an attempt at replicating FTL travel. The map that does that would be the FTL Map, which was made by SJ.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You can probably work out who by looking at the Version history for the article. But it really doesn't matter who wrote it. If it's wrong, change it. That's the beauty of Wiki. It's anarchy in it's purest form. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Geoschmo

[ October 28, 2002, 13:41: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Ok, methinks some people are getting to crazy with links. I don't think there needs to be a description for every mod, PBW game, and component in SE4.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, how much space is available on the server hosting the EM? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

PS: HEY! Who went and deleted the whole "Gameplay Mods" entry?!?

[ October 28, 2002, 16:41: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Well, how much space is available on the server hosting the EM? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

PS: HEY! Who went and deleted the whole "Gameplay Mods" entry?!?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Currently it's on Lazarus' web server. Not sure how much space he has, but I am sure it won't be a problem. Eventually we will probably move it to the PBW server.

The Gameplay Mods article was not deleted SJ. There were just no pages linking to it. The "modifications" page was trying to, but it was actually looking for "Gameplay mods", plural. I have corrected this now.

We don't need articles for the plural and other forms of every word. You can make you linke like this </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">[gameplay mods|gameplay mod]</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">, and it will show up as "gameplay mods" on your page, and link to the "gameplay mod" article.

Geoschmo

[Suicide Junkie]

Ah. That's good to know.

I was thinking of using singular forms to link to definitions, and plural forms to link to a list.

so [gameplay mod] would be "a set of replacement datafiles...", and [gameplay mods] would be "P&N, Devnull, UM, Proportions, etc..."

[geoschmo]

That's not a bad idea SJ, but I was just following what Lazarus had said to be consistant. There is no reason you can't have the description of the gameplay mod and then in the same article afterwards list some examples of gameplay mods. I think that is more consistant with a regular encyclopedia, which is what we were going for. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Geoschmo

[ October 28, 2002, 17:22: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[LazarusLong42]

SJ: I see where you're going with that, but I think that "List of gamplay mods" would be a better title. That serves two purposes: (1) it becomes an organizational point and (2) it distinguishes the entry more thoroughly from "gameplay mod".

How's that sound to everyone?

[Suicide Junkie]

How about [mod list] instead? Shorter, and easier to remember / type exactly.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
How about [mod list] instead? Shorter, and easier to remember / type exactly.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like it. One article with a list of all known mods, organized into the four type Groups.

Geoschmo

[Ed Kolis]

This thing is damn addictive - I started writing an hour ago and still I've got things to cover! Every time I read or write a new entry it opens up 3 more things to write about! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[geoschmo]

Ed, you are doing a great job. Everybody is. I think this is going to be an amazing resource.

One thing though Ed. Please don't take this as a critisism. But you have added a couple pages that were already there. Boarding Parties, there was already a Boarding Party. Malfador, when there was already a page for Malfador Machinations. You can do a search for exsisting pages. Sometimes the page is there and we just need to modify our link to pick it up. You can put [Malfador|Malfador Machinations] For example, or [Boarding Parties|Boarding Party] to link an alternate spelling to an exsisting page.

Geoschmo

[TerranC]

heh. So many plugs, so many errors http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

I believe that Abbreviations were to be left out? or can we go crazy?

[geoschmo]

Terran, I don't know. I thought we were trying to avoid separate articles just for abbreveations, or plurals or alternate spellings. But with all the people working on it maybe absolute consistancy is impossible. I certainly don't want to come off as the Encyclopdedia police or anything. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Geoschmo

[Skulky]

The FQM/FTL error was mine, signed as chocolatefro, so sorry, i thought i knew what i was talking about, but i didn't. But i'm sure you've fixed it so its all good right?

EDIT: I didn't want to take the liberty of doing this so, Laz, can we have a strategies page on the first page too? This seems to be a hot topic around here, however is it too divergent from teh focus of the encyclopedia? I think its fine but your call.

[ October 29, 2002, 05:39: Message edited by: Skulky ]

[LazarusLong42]

Skulky/CF: What I've done is created an "Interesting Links" page. It'll be the start of our first index. If you like, go ahead and place a Strategy section on there, and links to major strategy articles. I'll place a link to that page on the front page.

Geo: Ooh, but I'll be the police! Sort of at least http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

It's generally preferable not to have two separate entries for the same thing. i.e. mod and modification. What happens is that those two pages get different content, and some people link to one but not to another.

HOWEVER--what you can do (I've just looked into this) is include one page in another. They don't have a redirect script, but this works just as well. Edit the current entry for "mod" to see the necessary code.

[geoschmo]

I have created a simple Alphabetical Index (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/Encyclopedia%20Malfadorica) of pages in the Encyclopedia. Nothing fancy. It doesn't get updated automatically, so if you add a page you can either edit the index, or wait a few days. I plan on updating it occasionally until we figure out if it's possible to do it automatically.

Geoschmo

[Val]

Like the alphabetized listing, but one question...

Where is the letter V ? Has it been removed from the official alphabet again? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[geoschmo]

Doh! Sorry Al, I mean Val. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Val]

Glad you saw the true humor behind that one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I would to have hated to have to chnage my signature again!

[CombatSquirrel]

Who did the post on Imperial Ego ?

That is brilliant !!

Combat Squirrel

[Ed Kolis]

Gaaa... I see one big problem in that post already... You say armour, I say armor... You say centre, I say center... Looks like we'll need a LOT of crosslinks that say "Cultural centre: See 'Cultural center'" or something like that... I sure HOPE Wiki is not case sensitive... don't want to see anything like "Fighter: see 'fighter'"!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[geoschmo]

Ed, Wiki IS case sensitive. And we could end up with separate pages for 'Fighter' and 'fighter' if we are not careful. Actually, we could end up with 4 separate pages if you throw in 'Fighters' and 'fighters'. This is why Lazarus has been trying to establish some consistant standards early on.

Geoschmo

[ October 29, 2002, 20:22: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Regarding the "Armor" vs "Armour", and other such spelling issues.
IMO, the best way is to spell it the way it is spelt in the game. Anybody who is looking these things up will probably use the spelling they see on their SE4 window http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Skulky]

What are the standards? lower case no plural? that sounds right but im not sure and if that's so i've already violated that.

[LazarusLong42]

Right. Standards for article titles are:

Lowercase (unless (1) something's normally capitalized or (2) there's some other good reason for capitalization, as in Alphabetical Index (a very important page) or Imperial Ego (because it's talking about Ego and makes sense))
No plurals (again, unless something would make less sense without. "resources" and "shields" come to mind.)
No abbreviations
American spelling

Of course, if you say "armour" or "colour" in the *text* of your article, we won't complain. I think I need to post these in a "Standards" page http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Skulky]

Here's a good thread for general info

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=005518;p=12#00 0166

[Ed Kolis]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Regarding the "Armor" vs "Armour", and other such spelling issues.
IMO, the best way is to spell it the way it is spelt in the game. Anybody who is looking these things up will probably use the spelling they see on their SE4 window http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yay, I get to be an American chauvinist pig and get away with it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[dogscoff]

From the Population growth entry:


the population of every planet is increased every turn
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">TC, are you sure about this? I only get a population increment every tenth turn (at the beginning of each new year) in my games.

[Fyron]

That is Proportions DS. In normal games, it grows at the listed growth rate / 10 each turn.

[dogscoff]

Thanks IF. Reading this thread I'm beginning to think I should play less proportions.

[dogscoff]

*Bump*

Is it me or is interest in the EM waning? entires have been getting less and less frequent, but there's still so much to be added.

This encyclopedia could serve as a really cool faq and introduction for newbies - not just to the game but to the community and culture that surrounds it. It could also serve the rest of us as a handy place to store and retrieve knowledge without having to trawl through the forums.

So c'mon, people, ANYONE can add to or edit it easily and instantly, and there's a wealth of information still unwritten. Even if you only correct someone else's mistakes or expand a little on something already written or just add in your own name and webpage, you will have made a contribution.

[Suicide Junkie]

I think it just needs a link to the page (http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/) to be kept on top http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/

Extra! Extra! Get your Encyclopedia Malfadorica here!

[CombatSquirrel]

I'm going to keep dropping in things... at least once I know something for sure, that is.

CombatSquirrel

[TerranC]

I think I'll just edit things for now... no entry is safe from me...

[Quikngruvn]

Man, this thing is addicting! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif I need to stop adding stuff for now before it chews up my whole day....

Quikngruvn

[Ed Kolis]

Originally posted by Quikngruvn:
Man, this thing is addicting! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif I need to stop adding stuff for now before it chews up my whole day....<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hey, I said that first! No fair! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Skulky]

basically im way to over stressed to do much anymore, plz add to my beatign the racials thread

[Andrés]

Someone should dig out information fomr the HTML manual, these forums, the many advise text that have ben written and star copying it all into the encyclopedia.

[Quikngruvn]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Hey, I said that first! No fair! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then it's unanimous (and still true)! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Quikngruvn

[Ed Kolis]

Say, how do you go about starting one of these things anyway? I'd think that other 4X games and such could use something like this... Encyclopedia Hydrargyrorum* anyone? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

*for those of you who don't know, Hydrargyrum is the Latin name of the element mercury, or quicksilver, which is the developer of MOO3... no I didn't know, I looked up the Latin name of the element on Google!

[LazarusLong42]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
*for those of you who don't know, Hydrargyrum is the Latin name of the element mercury, or quicksilver, which is the developer of MOO3... no I didn't know, I looked up the Latin name of the element on Google!<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I knew. But then I have a degree in Chemistry, which would be an unfair advantage here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif It's where the Hg symbol comes from. Hydrargyrum. It literally means water-silver. (Hydros, water; argentum/argyrum, silver.)

However, given that Quicksilver is singular, it should just be Hydrargyra, not Hydrargyrorum. '-orum' is the plural genitive.

[Atrocities]

How do you add stuff?

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
How do you add stuff?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How about reading the instructions on the encyclopedia site, or read over the early Posts in this thread. If you still have questions then ask them.

Geo

[dogscoff]

How about reading the instructions on the encyclopedia site, or read over the early Posts in this thread. If you still have questions then ask them.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OoOooOoOOOooOoh!
*Dogscoff raises an imaginary handbag.


How do you add stuff?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Go to any page and click "edit" or click on a question-marked link. If it asks you for a username just type in your name, making sure you have at least 2 capital letters in it. No password necessary. Use square brackets to create links.

[Atrocities]

How about reading the instructions on the encyclopedia site, or read over the early Posts in this thread. If you still have questions then ask them.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I did read the instructions, I kept getting a 404 error.

[dogscoff]

Come see the amazing Encyclopedia Malfadorica - now with haiku!

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
I did read the instructions, I kept getting a 404 error.[/QB]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ok, then perhaps a more complete description of exactly what problem you are having would be helpful. Your original question was too vague and didn't mention a 404 error at all. Complete the following sentance:

"Hi sorry to bother you, but I have a question i don't see answered anywhere. I have read the instructions in the wiki and the Posts in this thread, but I am having trouble editing a post. Every time I _____________ I get a 404 error. Anybody have any suggestions?"

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[solops]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
*Bump*

Is it me or is interest in the EM waning? entires have been getting less and less frequent, but there's still so much to be added.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have been playing this game for a bit over a year and this is the first I have heard of the EM. Checked it out....verrrry interrrresting....

[capnq]

I have been playing this game for a bit over a year and this is the first I have heard of the EM. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">EM has only existed for less than a month. You couldn't have heard of it before then, unless you have the Temporal Knowledge trait. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[solops]

Originally posted by capnq:
[QUOTE] EM has only existed for less than a month. You couldn't have heard of it before then, unless you have the Temporal Knowledge trait. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Drat! You have found me out. Yes, this temporal attribute keeps me quite confused, as evidenced by my Last post...I think...

[Skulky]

I didn't design my next race with it for that very reason. Just too damn troublesome. Its much easier to be religious and blindly follow a set of concentric circles on starships.

Also, heres the thread of newbie ish ness

[Suicide Junkie]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
I think it just needs a link to the page (http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/) to be kept on top http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/

Extra! Extra! Get your Encyclopedia Malfadorica here!<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[dogscoff]

*After a few days' absence, Dogscoff checks out the recent changes page of the EM...

*Blink Blink... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Arkcon's been busy... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Well done Arkcon! Quality articles, and lots of 'em too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
*After a few days' absence, Dogscoff checks out the recent changes page of the EM...

*Blink Blink... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Arkcon's been busy... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Well done Arkcon! Quality articles, and lots of 'em too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry guys, I went a little spaz over the holiday. See I was away from my computer. But when I got home, my cousin had brought his laptop ... into the kitchen ... with wireless modem ... while I could cook!

Marge, they let me sign checks with a stamp! ... a stamp, Marge ...

Sorry, I channeled Homer Simpson for a minute there.

[dogscoff]

Sorry guys, I went a little spaz over the holiday. See I was away from my computer.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No apologies necessary, I was just (pleasantly) surprised to see such frenzied activity on there after the slump the EM suffered a while back. Keep at it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Sorry guys, I went a little spaz over the holiday. See I was away from my computer.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No apologies necessary, I was just (pleasantly) surprised to see such frenzied activity on there after the slump the EM suffered a while back. Keep at it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No more pie ... no more ...

Thus spoke the Eric Cartman inside me. I have got to cool it, I have work to do.

You all know what's going to happen on December 26th-30th 'tho ....

[Baron Munchausen]

There's a fair amount of duplication, judging by the alphbetical index page. Seperate entries for boarding parties and boarding party, for example.

[TerranC]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
There's a fair amount of duplication, judging by the alphbetical index page. Seperate entries for boarding parties and boarding party, for example.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll fix that.

Edit: All duplicates that already had the same information down was deleted. I fixed the links linking to those pages to lead to the correct ones. What I will not fix is the duplicate entry for Suicide Junkie http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif and the Warp point and warp-point since they are two entirely different things.

Another Edit: I'd like geo or Lazarus to do something about the alphabetical index, since it seems obsolite now. I don't want to carelessly delete it, fearing retribution from Lazarus http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

More Edit: Good job, Arkcon, and thanks for editing the spelling errors http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ December 02, 2002, 23:33: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by TerranC:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
There's a fair amount of duplication, judging by the alphbetical index page. Seperate entries for boarding parties and boarding party, for example.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll fix that.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Too true, I fixed some, but I wasn't sure about others. Good job TerranC and thanks.

Originally posted by TerranC:

Another Edit: I'd like geo or Lazarus to do something about the alphabetical index, since it seems obsolite now. I don't want to carelessly delete it, fearing retribution from Lazarus http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

More Edit: Good job, Arkcon, and thanks for editing the spelling errors http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I feel the same way about fixing some errors. Duplications and such. At the beginning I didn't really know what I was doing. I'm thankful that someone is willing to fix some of my mistakes.

I used a spell checker when I edited, so that why some errors were fixed. A guy at work saw some other ones MS Word couldn't notice.

The process of change continues

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by TerranC:
Another Edit: I'd like geo or Lazarus to do something about the alphabetical index, since it seems obsolite now. I don't want to carelessly delete it, fearing retribution from Lazarus http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The actual alpabetical index I have been updating is on the Encyclopedia Malfadorica (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/Encyclopedia%20Malfadorica) page. If you look at the Main Introduction page (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/), in the body of the greeting is a link to an "alphabetical index". That link actually takes you to the "Encyclopedia Malfadorica" page. I updated that yesterday. It's should be up to date now.

There is also a page called "AlphabeticalIndex" which is something I played around with early on to find a way to automatically script a dynamic index, but it never worked right. I stopped updating that page. I asked Laz to delete it but he must have forgot. I just now edited it and made it link back to the "Encyclopedia Malfadorica" page to avoid confusion.

Geoschmo

[ December 03, 2002, 13:45: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[dogscoff]

Continued from Official Image Collection thread.

Should the WIKI be used to plug your projects, dogscoff?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Why not? Other projects have entries, my project just hasn't been released yet. I realised when doing the neo-standard pages that the expansion pack would need it's own entry, so I put that page together in order to have something to link to. Once I release the pack (this week hopefully) I will alter the entry so that it's about something available now and not something available in the future.

[dogscoff]

I mean I wouldn't mind going to a boarding party!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hehhehhehheeeeee! I think we may have found the replacement for the Cantina thread when the health inspectors shut it down! Imagine a full scale drunken party that just Boards ships, takes them over, eats/ drinks them out of supplies then moves on to the next one - kind of like that rogue party in HHGTTG.

As long as it doesn't start boarding other threads...

[TerranC]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Hey, if someone is going to go to the trouble of creating and editing pages for the wiki, and they have a mod or website or whatever they want to plug on a page, by all means have at it. It's only fair afterall.

Just keep it clean of course, and don't go editing all the pages putting banner ads on them or anything. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Just keep your plug relevant to the page it's on and we'll have no trouble with it.

Geoschmo<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bah... I still think that the WIKI should be used as a true encyclopedia...

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by TerranC:
Bah... I still think that the WIKI should be used as a true encyclopedia...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, I am not suggesting using the wiki to advertise their cookie delivery service. It should be SE related afterall. But if we are taling about all things SE, then it's appropriate to have a page describing an SE mod. Isn't that what we are talking about, or did I miss something?

Geoschmo

[geoschmo]

Hey, if someone is going to go to the trouble of creating and editing pages for the wiki, and they have a mod or website or whatever they want to plug on a page, by all means have at it. It's only fair afterall.

Just keep it clean of course, and don't go editing all the pages putting banner ads on them or anything. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Just keep your plug relevant to the page it's on and we'll have no trouble with it.

Geoschmo

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
[qb]There's a fair amount of duplication, judging by the alphbetical index page. Seperate entries for boarding parties and boarding party, for example.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">but isn't there a real difference between them? I mean I wouldn't mind going to a boarding party!

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by TerranC:
Bah... I still think that the WIKI should be used as a true encyclopedia...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I dunno, lot's of people are haveing fun with it. I know I am.

[dogscoff]

The way I see it it *is* a true encyclopedia. A little informal, but no less an encyclopedia for that. OK, it's not a "normal" encyclopedia, but that doesn't mean a thing. Normal encyclopedias are aimed at different markets and have hundreds of years of boring, stuffy tradition behind them. This is an encyclopedia for us, by us. Why should we have to observe someone else's rules when writing it? As long as it's informative and accessible to us and to newbies, that's all that matters.

For example, the Imperial Ego article might look like a bit of a laugh, but the only reason it's funny is that it's true. Building triple-mollies and parking battlemoons on black holes for chuckles is the kind of thing we do- it's the kind of thing this game does to people. Us older players appreciate seeing it on screen, and any newbies stumbling upon it will get a flavour of the culture which surrounds the game.

I guess it comes down to whether you want the wiki to be an Online manual and faq recording the dry facts and mechanics of SE4 or whether you want to expand it into something which documents the subculture (which is what we really mean when we talk about the SEIV Community) that has grown up around it.

And if you're not sure where you stand after reading the aobve paragraph, ask yourself this: Do I continue to play SE4 for the game itself or for the Community?

Anyway, the wonderful thing about the wiki system is that chaos reigns, and from the chaos shall come order. There's plenty of time for the EM to evolve, and in the end it will naturally take on the form that the majority of people want to see- whatever that turns out to be.

BTW, this isn't intended as a rant, a flame or a lecture, it's just me emptying my brain onto my keyboard. Please don't take offence or assume I'm telling people how to think or what to do.

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by dogscoff:

BTW, this isn't intended as a rant, a flame or a lecture, it's just me emptying my brain onto my keyboard. Please don't take offence or assume I'm telling people how to think or what to do.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, if there's a problem with it -- just edit it out. And the author will edit back. Endlessly. Or until one or the other gets a life. Word of warning 'tho -- you'll be waiting a long time for me to get a life. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[LazarusLong42]

Just went and looked at the page today and... wow. Y'all are doing a most excellent job. Now I just need to get the poor thing moved over to the PBW server.

I wonder if MM or SG has taken a look at this. I'd love to hear Aaron's opinion http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Eric/LL

[Suicide Junkie]

IMO, the Wiki should definitely be a full encyclopedia of SE4, but it also has the potential to be much more.

It also should always have a link to it kept at the top of this thread, as such: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by LazarusLong42:
Just went and looked at the page today and... wow. Y'all are doing a most excellent job. Now I just need to get the poor thing moved over to the PBW server.

Eric/LL<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I noticed it was getting a little slow to load. I was almost afraid to touch it least it break ... almost http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ December 11, 2002, 21:53: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Ho do you 'move' an encyclopedia from the Wiki site? Does it produce a 'package' of some sort or do you have to manually download the pages and set them up? I thought Wiki was there to provide the various information soures created on it. Is it only supposed to be an 'editing' system and most people copy the finished product off of it?

[geoschmo]

Baron, "Wiki" is just a freeware software package that people can load on their servers. There is no centralized database of all wiki encyclopedias or anything. The SE4 wiki currently is on Laz's personal web server, which IIRC has a lower bandwith than the PBW server.

Geoschmo

[ December 11, 2002, 23:44: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[LazarusLong42]

Actually, my web server probably has significantly higher bandwidth than the PBW server (because it's hosted, and has burstable badnwidth). I think the main reason for moving it to the PBW server would be to have a centralized, more memorable location for it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Eric

[Arkcon]

{BUMP}

I'm bumping up this original mention of the Encyclopedia Malfadorica because I often link to it -- and people seem to think I wrote it or something, and that's not true at all. Credit where credit is due. Check out some early Posts.

OT: Oh, /. says the the original Wikkipedia has now surpassed 100,000 articles. I'm starting to use that more and more. Which may not be a good thing.

[ January 23, 2003, 15:07: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[dogscoff]

Hoo... wierd. Just looked at the "recent visitors" page, where everyone has listed when they first made changes to the Malfadorica. Here are the dates:

Lazarus Long: 25 October 2002.
Suicide Junkie: 26 October 2002.
TerranC: 26 Octobre 2002.
GeoSchmo: 25 October 2002.
Dogscoff: 27th October 2002.
EdKolis: 28 October 2002.
KrsQk: November 22, 2002.
ArkCon: November 28, 2002
GrowlTigga: 27 February 2003 (actually 'Tig, it's the 28th)

Anyway, all 9 dates are in the Last week of the month. What are the odds of that happening by chance?

There must be something about the end of the month that compels people to join the Malfadorica crew. Something about the phases of the moon maybe? omething about payday that inspires us with an urge to be generous with information?

Spooky...

[ February 28, 2003, 16:46: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[TerranC]

See TC dust off thread. See TC bump up thread. See TC Grinning.

The Encyclopedia Malfadorica is now a year old!

Everybody, Let's celebrate by adding/editing/contributing more to it!

TC blows a noisemaker in front of everyone.

[ October 26, 2003, 02:49: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

*drops two tons of popcorn everywhere.*

i didn't even know there was a thread for it.

[ October 27, 2003, 21:16: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
*drops two tons of popcorn everywhere.*

i didn't even know there was a thread for it. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Aw now see ... it had to start somewhere. Nice to see the name LazarusLong on the top page again.

I link to the Encyclopedia Malfadorica often in my Posts. (No really) People sometimes think I wrote it ... and want to know what I can do to speed up access when it gets slow. (Huh What Who me?)

So credit where credit is due. Read this thread.

Stop by. Click some links. Do a fuzzy search for a random word. Pick a topic and see what links to it ... do that repeatedly until you've been all over the place. And most importantly, fill in some holes.

[Arkcon]

blows kazoo *Tweet*

*Ahem*

Happy 2nd Birthday to the Encyclopedia Malfadorica.

There's lots of new stuff there, SJ is using it as a central location for some crucial information about SE4 by Committee. I created a table of contents just for that info in particular {here} (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/Complete%20list%20of%20PBC%20topics). Or you can always just try a {random page.} (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/RandomPage)

[EDIT]

I forgot to mention -- fill in some dead links if you can.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yaay!

[TerranC]

Yaaay!

[dogscoff]

Wow, the Malfadorica seems to be fixed!

Yayyy! I can start entering all my wierd random crap again. Happy joy.

[Arkcon]

Huh? It was broken at some point?

[Caduceus]

It has been down for quite some time, I had written it off...

[geoschmo]

Actually I'm pretty sure it's never been down. What happens is there is something funny about the way links to it work. If you click a link to it once, you get an error page. If you then click the same link, or even just hit refresh, the page comes up. Someone posted around here what causes it, but I can't remember what it is.

Of course there might have been the occasional actual short down time now and again, like with all websites. But no extended outages.

[dogscoff]

Yeah, what Geo said. Initially you'd get a cryptic error page, but refresh would restore normal operation. Today I went straight in. WHether that has anything to do with switching to firefox since Last using the Malfadorica, I don't know. I guess I could spark up IE and test, but you know I'm not sure I can be bothered. It's far easier for me if everyone else in the world just installs firefox.

I'm thinking about using the Malfadorica to publish some notes about the O&amp;C universe. Should I? The PBC notes (very entertaining, BTW- I'm even more tempted to join PBC now) would appear to be a valid precedent (I've been criticised for using the malfadorica to 'plug' my projects before) but would anyone want to read it?

[Suicide Junkie]

For me, Mozilla leaves a little bit of crud at the top during its first try at the first page, but it's usable without refresh.

IE still does the wacky page, then refreshes to normal operation.

[geoschmo]

Who in the world would complain about anything anyone wanted to post in the Encyclopedia??? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif If they don't like what you posted, they can just not read those pages. As long as you aren't inserting banners and irrelavant links in a bunch of other pages then put what ever you want up there. Heck, post your entire fiction collection on there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Arkcon]

geoschmo said:
Heck, post your entire fiction collection on there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



You know, if someone wrote a short story, and put it on a page, with links within the story to relavant articles in the Encyclopedia Malfadorica, that would be pretty useful.