A lot has happened in the meantime. MinutiaeMan and I got together to actually start building an open-source Star Trek encyclopedia. We very quickly decided to use existing software, since this would save an awful lot of time. We started out with TikiWiki, but that was a bit too overloaded with useless features, and a really cluttered look.
The site now runs on MediaWiki, the software behind the WikiPedia. It works like a charm, and looks a lot better.
Basically, Memory Alpha is striving to be a completely open source cooperative Star Trek reference database. Everyone can contribute and edit articles. And as far as we know, there has never been a similar Star Trek project on the web.
We feel the site is now ready for it's public beta, and we would like to invite you all to participate. The two of us have been setting up some basic rules, templates and examples, and I can say that it's already highly addictive
URL: Memory Alpha (the rest is pretty self-explanatory)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but MinutiaeMan probably has a few things to say as well
No.. it's not SPAM.. we're asking for betatesters. And no, it will not enlarge any part of your body
Posted by Kazeite (Member # 970) on :
Whoa... you mean, whatever I write it will go into encyclopedia?
Wow
That's... big Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
It's also not spam because we're not posting this announcement on any other message board yet. We trust you guys the most in terms of Trek sensibility.
Basically, Harry and I have gotten the basic framework and most of the documentation for the website set up, but we now need to have a relatively small group of people who can help us get the ball rolling with actual new pages -- but people we can "trust" to be sensible when it comes to Trek information.
We're really still not sure where the line is going to be drawn in terms of canon and non-canon... but I believe that's covered in our read-me page for beta testers on the site. Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Which, BTW, should really be read by everyone before contributing. Just browse around for a bit (especially in the supporting documents) to get an idea of how to contribute.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Hey now... surely more people than Red Admiral, Spike, and Kyle are interested in this stuff? Come on, people, get contributin'! Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
Wow. That's pretty nice. I think I may get around to contributing to that myself (assuming I can figure out how).
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
The "how" is the easy part. Just click Edit This Page on any existing page, or else click on a red link to create a new page. (Red links are just links to pages that haven't been created yet.)
Definitely read the FAQ and "Read Me" pages first to get a feel for things, but after that, just try it out! Since anyone can edit things, it's easy to fix mistakes. Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
Okay, I submitted a Wells-class entry. (Who didn't see that coming? )
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
*raises hand*
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
You see, Kris, Krenim here is Flare's resident time-travel nut. As is evidenced by his name, which is the same as the everyone's favourite crazy timeline-messing aliens.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
oooooooohhhh....
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Yay! I did an entry for USS Destiny.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I did an entry for myself!! Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
Have you considered adding information from novels and comics? With a proper indication of the source it shouldn't be too confusing.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
We're definitely including lists of novels and comics and stuff.
But as for integrating that with the entries for Trek television... the problem is that it'll be too easy for the uninitiated contributors and readers to misinterpret and start using that as evidence to support other stuff. And then we'll start getting all sorts of wild speculation and so forth... Plus there's the problem that Kirk would've lived for ten thousand years, Starfleet would have three million starships, and there would've been galactic armageddon happening somewhere every other month!
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Besides.. I'm slightly concerned in how much detail we are allowed to write about those novels. Obviously, copyrights are with Pocket Books and their writers, and they probably wouldn't like it if we had detailed synopsis of every single pocket..
It'd probably have to end with the back-cover blurb text with some "interesting notes". That way we would also avoid the avalanche of non-canon information.
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