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[Justyn]

Last night, I started adding information on rocks and minerals to the pages on the wiki, detailing what exactly the rocks and minerals are and how they form. I took mostly pages that were, with the exception of templates, all but blank. For example: The Malachite page before, and after my additions.

A little bit ago, Albedo, an assistant admin, deleted the additions, in one case simply all but blanking a page rather than let real life information, quote: "muddy up", unquote, the page (his words).

So, my question should be simple: is the wiki better served by having potentially useful and interesting information not directly related to Dwarf Fortress but still on topic to the page, or by having pages that are almost completely blank but having no information not directly related to Dwarf Fortress?

[Capntastic]

The wiki is for the game itself- it can exist fine without real world info copy and pasted from Wikipedia.   You could even link to the wiki article at the bottom.

Though I pretty much stopped reading the wiki when everyone decided adding stupid jokes to every page was a good way to move forward.

[Justyn]

The wiki is for the game itself- it can exist fine without real world info copy and pasted from Wikipedia.   You could even link to the wiki article at the bottom.

The information wasn't copied from Wikipedia, I wrote it specifically for the pages at hand.

[Capntastic]

My apologies, rephrase that as 'information that could otherwise be found on Wikipedia'.

[Tilla]

Wikis already exist for RL information, this one should really just be about how it applies to Dwarf Fortress.

[Shiv]

I'd put a link at the bottom just to let people know that such things are real.  Some things are obvious such as iron, copper, slate, etc., but I never knew 'bauxite' was a real mineral until I clicked the link and it brought me to the bauxite page.

[Dakk]

The wiki is for the game itself- it can exist fine without real world info copy and pasted from Wikipedia.   You could even link to the wiki article at the bottom.

Though I pretty much stopped reading the wiki when everyone decided adding stupid jokes to every page was a good way to move forward.

^
This.

[ManaUser]

Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea, in principle, but it should only be a very minimal amount, like one or two lines, and clearly set off from the game-relevant content. My reasoning is that (to me at least) it would add some value to the game just to have even the roughest idea what orthoclase or marcasite is. In the game, they're just yellow rock and a white rock, which doesn't go very far to help my visualize my grand hall lined with orthoclase pillars.

Having a link the the "other" Wiki is nice, but I don't think including a capsule description in the article itself would be amiss. It's not like the rock articles are excessively long at present...

[Kogan Loloklam]

The real-life information is somewhat topical, since Toady did base some of the mineral properties and spawning locations in reality. It couldn't hurt to have that information in.

I agree with you Justyn. The Wiki should be a repository of game-pertinent information. Just because it can be found at another Wiki doesn't mean it isn't pertinent.

[Dakk]

I do agree that listing real life info on the minerals is not the DF wiki's purpose, but if doesn't bog down the pages with loads of unescessary info, I don't see why it couldn't be added. Three or four lines of real life reference couldn't hurt anybody, I think. That said, if someone is willing to add it in, then hell, let them.

[Kagus]

I think it would be quite nice to have a little snippet of the real-world information on the various minerals.  I've always found that stuff fascinating.

However, it should be kept completely separate from the in-game info, so as to avoid confusion.  If it's in its own little section of the page then I'd be fine with it, but having it in the game-relevant section could lead to some uncertainty.

[bombcar]

The wiki is for empty DF2010 pages and revert wars, not for useful information.

[zwei]

It's not like the rock articles are excessively long at present...

They don't have to be ...

I mean, goal of wiki is not to have long articles. It is no have comprehensive articles. And for rocks, simple fact sheet is enough. Hell, single row in some table (with sorting!) rather than article seems more than enough.

There are other aditions that wiki articles can use, of course. For example, raw definition for each stone as found in current raws.

Though I pretty much stopped reading the wiki when everyone decided adding stupid jokes to every page was a good way to move forward.

Are you refering to Elven quality stuff and fluff?

[Kogan Loloklam]

Here are the links of all the stone changes that were made:

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:White_chalcedony&direction=prev&oldid=95950 (not good. Not separated by section)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Brimstone&oldid=95927 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Olivine&direction=next&oldid=95902 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Sandstone&oldid=95618 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Quartzite&oldid=95625 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Gypsum&oldid=95622 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Mica&oldid=95582 (good)
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php?title=DF2010:Malachite&oldid=95566 (good)


I don't play Revert wars. Instead I decide to trust/not trust a wiki. Here's what I had to say in reply to the edits:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User_talk:Albedo#.22Real_World.22_Flavor_text_in_Stone_Pages

Edit: AND... God forbid Toady ever makes poisonous stones actually poisonous. Remember, he based his stone off of real world information, and toxicity is one bit of real world information that can, plausibly, make it into the game. Just ask the new HFS.

[dennislp3]

I know I usually look at the real world uses of whatever materials or rocks....I am picky and try and make walls out of actual wall style stones and stuff