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[Araph]

Hey, everyone! There are a lot of people around here who enjoy worldbuilding, it seems, so I figured this would be as good a venue as any to start at.

I'm planning on creating a community worldbuilding project, as the title says. The idea is pretty simple; there's a wiki-like-thingy that tracks relevant information (users, locations, historical figures, events, etc.) and can be added to by any participant. People can up-vote or down-vote submitted articles based on things like how well they're written, whether they conflict with existing lore, and so on. When enough people have agreed that an article is good, it gets accepted as canon and can no longer be edited by non-moderators. Participants can discuss articles on a adjacent forum.

After spending the better part of last year learning about web programming and related things, I feel I'm competent enough to finally try my hand at a bigger project like this. (By that, I mean I already have most of the basics of the home-written wiki software working on a testing server.)

Currently you can register an account, log in and out, submit articles, edit articles, up-vote and down-vote articles, and find articles based on type. I'm still finishing up the differences between types and tracking edits, but aside from that it's nearly functional as a whole.


I have a few questions for everyone here who might be interested in contributing: what sort of features would you like to see in this? By that, I mean...

• What information about each entry should be tracked? Currently there's type (as in, for locations the type might be 'settlement' or 'landmark'), location (general regions; think of it as tracking that 'Rorikstead is in Whiterun Hold', for example), and names.
• What should be voted on for determining canon? Right now I'm thinking just writing quality and whether or not it conflicts with prior canon.
• What categories should there be for articles? Currently I have Locations, People, Events, and Creatures, but I'm sure there are more that should be there.

With the meager funds of a shiftless seventeen year old, I can pay right now for a year of web hosting once it's working. My current plan is to finish the basics and put the site up this week, if all goes well.

So. Anybody interested in building a world of storied legend together?

EDIT:

There's a website. Check it out here.

[Dansmithers]

SO MUCH YES!

[Araph]

SO MUCH YES!

I'm glad someone likes the idea!

Also, updoot on progress. I've got a linking system working, where you can place simple links into text anywhere in an article like so:

Code: [Select]

|category|article title|and it will automatically generate a link to the article you mentioned when you look at the actual entry. The category (as in, 'location' or 'person', etc.) tells the script which table in the database to look at. None of you probably care to hear this, but I'm really happy with how well it works.

In addition, we currently have some basic categories (location, creatures, people, and events) that finally accept article submissions, editing articles, linking to other articles, and voting on writing quality and canon coherence. All that's left is a modification to the linking script that will allow headings in articles, adding basic informational pages (as in an 'about' page and instructions), and finding forum software; after that, it's ready to go!

[Furtuka]

Sounds fun

[Dansmithers]

SO MUCH YES!

I'm glad someone likes the idea!

Also, updoot on progress. I've got a linking system working, where you can place simple links into text anywhere in an article like so:

Code: [Select]

|category|article title|and it will automatically generate a link to the article you mentioned when you look at the actual entry. The category (as in, 'location' or 'person', etc.) tells the script which table in the database to look at. None of you probably care to hear this, but I'm really happy with how well it works.

In addition, we currently have some basic categories (location, creatures, people, and events) that finally accept article submissions, editing articles, linking to other articles, and voting on writing quality and canon coherence. All that's left is a modification to the linking script that will allow headings in articles, adding basic informational pages (as in an 'about' page and instructions), and finding forum software; after that, it's ready to go!

Wait, are you coding this yourself? Holy hovercraft!

[Araph]

Wait, are you coding this yourself? Holy hovercraft!

Yep! HTML, PHP, and a little bit of JavaScript.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

wow, this looks excellent, I can't wait for this to go live!

[Araph]

I haz a website.

Time from start of project to (very basic) working site: 6 days.

Make an account and say something on the forums to let me know you're there! Or just make up articles and see what sticks. Be prepared for anything you write to potentially get edited by somebody else, though (this is mentioned in the About page).

[Furtuka]

Er... I registered but I accidentally hit the keyboard and messed up my password as I was registering and now I don't know what it was.

Edit Oh nevermind I guess the only thing to do is reregister with my backup name of TheFurtuka

[Araph]

If you'd like, I can fix the password. Should I?

[Furtuka]

Eh it's fine, I already made a new one.

[Digital Hellhound]

The vote-approving of creations sounds like an excellent idea. Interested, though Bay 12 alone might not provide a very sizeable community.

[Araph]

Interested, though Bay 12 alone might not provide a very sizeable community.

B12 is a start, though. Only a small fraction of the general populace of these forums might join, but it'll let me see where there are holes in the system and patch them up before trying to bring in other people. It also seems like it'd be a good idea to start with a small group of people I know aren't a-holes while the world is still entirely unformed.

[Dansmithers]

BUG REPORT-Editing always takes you to the 'person' editor.

[Araph]

BUG REPORT-Editing always takes you to the 'person' editor.

Fix'd. Turns out I forgot to change one variable when copy-pasting.