Apolyton and CivFanatics up for deletion on Wikipedia

[Bill3000]

Originally posted by Asher
Delete 'em both. No place for game sites on wikipedia.

Except there are in fact gaming site articles in Wikipedia. GameFAQs is probably a good example, and I don't see an article for deletion there.

[Asher]

Wasn't the same logic used against the CFC deletion? And what happened to the site used as an example there.

[Bill3000]

Not exactly.

The example in particular is Serebii.net, the largest english-speaking pokemon fan site. (Though with Smogon.net increasing in popularity, it's becoming debating, but they both fill different niches anyway) While it is certinaatly large, it has no connection with pokemon by itself. It hasn't done anything that had generated coverage by the media outlets. Ultimately, Serebii.net is only notable for its coverage of the series and its community - nothing unique. A forum community by itself is not notable - and a fan site with just coverage like this deserves a link on the subject in particular, (A link to Serebii.net on the pokemon article) but not its own article. I'm not suprised that serebii.net was deleted - I visit that site often, (Sue me, I like the pokemon games) but it really doesn't offer much outside of a community and news for the game.

However, the difference with GameFAQs is that it is notable. Other than just being a large site, it's owned by a credible site, most likely has had newsworthy articles in the past, etc. GameFAQs and its asssets was purchased by CNET for $2.2 million. I'm pretty sure that's quite different from serebii.net, which cannot say the same thing.

The problem is that most articles about fan sites talk not about the material of the fan site, but of the community. A forum community by itself is not notable, true - there is no point in saying what happens in a particular forum. The CFC article is plagued by this, as well as the forum articles that are indeed characterized by this.

What's important is how unique the forum is through what it offers - e.g. services other than just a place to hang around and talk about the game. Apolyton sure has that - democracy games, connections with the developers, members of the forums becoming developers - and is rather unique compared to most forums. How notable is this depends on the media coverage it has - and Apolyton has indeed had media coverage in the past.

I've added stuff to the Apolyton article, but I havn't put in citations yet. (no time when I put it in, plus I don't know where exactly to get the citations anyway)

Besides, although it doesn't apply to Apolyton, or even CivFanatics, there simply are some forums which gain notability from the simple fact that they are huge. Gaia Online is sadly a case of this, as the forum is of horrible quality but it's the largest English speaking forum.

[Solver]

Yep, Apolyton is notable not because of its community per se, but because of its very close ties with Firaxis (and Stardock), exclusive content pertaining to the franchise, members being taken on as developers, etc.

Of course, the Apolyton article on Wiki was also suffering from attention on the community. It mentioned forum games and the OTF, which are things maybe deserving of a one-sentence mention in another section...

[Dale]

Originally posted by Solver
Yep, Apolyton is notable not because of its community per se, but because of its very close ties with Firaxis (and Stardock), exclusive content pertaining to the franchise, members being taken on as developers, etc.

What about BHG?

Anyways, Poly doesn't need an article in Wikipedia to be great. I wouldn't bother with it since Wikipedia is a low-brow semi-validated site of information. Doesn't deserve to be called an encyclopedia as far as I'm concerned, no where near the same league as Columbia and Brittanica.

Dale

[Terra Nullius]

... and furthermore


CFC DELETA EST 1

[MarkG]

as it is not apropriate for owners/staff members to contribute to our wiki entry, i... kindly urge apolytoners to improve it

we're not a simple fan site. on top of our already mentioned role of the community, Apolyton (and it's Settler servers ) have also had an active technical role in supporting development and post-launch support of civ games for years now, from posting ctp2 patches days before the official site to hosting beta testers forums to other unannounceable things....

btw, on the issue of print mentions, on top of the stuff in the Recognition page

http://apolyton.net/about/10/125/

most recently there was an article on ApolyCon in CGM

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=156997

more info can also be found in the History section

http://apolyton.net/about/10/126/

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Terra Nullius
... and furthermore


CFC DELETA EST 1

Unfortunatelly, it is not yet deleta, but definitely it is delenda.

(deleta - destroyed, delenda - ought to be destroyed)

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Dale
Anyways, Poly doesn't need an article in Wikipedia to be great.

agreed, but since it's there already for 2-3 years now, and given the opportunity that has come up, it would be nice if the community produced a complete, balanced and accurate article

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Heresson
Unfortunatelly, it is not yet deleta, but definitely it is delenda.

(deleta - destroyed, delenda - ought to be destroyed)

imho, the CFC article should stay but be re-written

[Heresson]

I didn't mean the article, but CFC itself

[Unspeakable Horror]

Did they close your frog threads?

[Heresson]

Yes. Bastards!

[Terra Nullius]

Originally posted by Heresson
(deleta - destroyed, delenda - ought to be destroyed)

Oooh! I sense a pedantic frog wot needs a batterin'

... maybe then you'll get the yolk.

[Heresson]

I need sex