Talk:Official Server Tribe Directory

Does this belong on the wiki?
This doesn't feel like it belongs on the wiki. This could get very bloated, very quickly and would be better off on the steam forums. Anyone else care to comment? Doctor Arson (talk) 08:01, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I felt the same way I added a note to the admin notice asking peoples opinions about this page but I removed it when I noticed the user who made it is a Curse staff. --SharpShot gif (talk) 08:59, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Curse staff or not, I definitely want to hear your questions/concerns - always! They're important and appreciated. BriannaMCR (talk) 12:49, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Hey, Doctor Arson! I understand your concerns, and I'm glad you spoke up so we could talk about it. Tribe/Guild Directories are nothing new to Gamepedia wikis, as we also have Directories on both Wowpedia and the SWTOR wiki. The Tribe Directory provides a more organized way for players to view Tribes, and it isn't burdened with the constant need to "bump" or repost recruitment threads (as you'd see on a forum). The Directory also encourages those who typically wouldn't edit or participate in wiki contributions to improve their Tribe pages! I do agree with your original point - that this could get messy quickly. The key to keeping it organized is staying proactive and monitoring the Directory regularly, which I plan on doing. In the end, the wiki is about what the community wants - as long as players are interested in the Directory and feel that it's a valuable resource, we'll do our best to make it work. Any thoughts on this? I value your opinions! BriannaMCR (talk) 12:48, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Didn't get a notification for this, weird. Anyway I'd argue that guilds in WoW and SWToR are different than tribes in ARK. Those MMO servers support thousands of players while official ark servers can only have 70 on at a time. As a result the guilds in MMOs can get quite large and having a place to find contact information for guild leaders is a good idea. ARK is still in "alpha" and the tribes that exist today are unlikely to exist 6 months from now or whenever the next major server wipe happens.


 * Also as it stands right now I think you're going to ruin into more problems by encouraging people unfamiliar with wikis to post here. Everyday several pages have to be deleted because new or anonymous users post on here like it's an open forum or looking for technical support. There needs to be a clear indication before posting that this is not the correct place to ask for support/questions or contact the developers.


 * Either way, I think more people need to comment on the tribe page issue before a decision is made. --Doctor Arson (talk) 08:06, 8 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for replying! You're right - for ARK (or any MMO Guild/Tribe Directory) there's going to be an issue with Tribes disbanding or becoming inactive. Currently, there is no feature in the game to keep track of Tribes or to view which Tribes are active - which is why the Tribe Directory has grown so rapidly in the last few days. At the present moment, ARK players are searching for a place to browse Tribes and recruit new members - the Directory assists with those initiatives. When/if future in-game Tribe Directory features become available, we can reevaluate where the Wiki's Directory stands; it may be worth updating, it may be worth condensing, and it might even be worth removing entirely - there's no way to tell! What we do know is that there is a current need for a Directory, and the Official Wiki can help with that. As a community resource that prides itself on information-sharing and game knowledge, the Wiki is a great place to learn about and explore new Tribes.


 * To address your other point - yes, new users are creating pages with ARK-related questions. They are also sending game support emails to Gamepedia, Curse, and even our social channels. This problem existed before the Directory, and it will continue to persist. Our Wiki has become such an awesome resource for players that it's often associated with the game's development team! All we can do is direct users to the proper channels for their game issues and questions. That being said, encouraging new users to edit the wiki in a constructive way is important, and the Directory has encouraged new users to learn wiki editing! It's nice to see new editors using the Help Wiki to improve their Tribe pages.


 * I like your idea of including an indication somewhere that wiki pages are not the correct place for support questions. I'm going to see if we can get this implemented in some way! I'll keep you in the loop. :) BriannaMCR (talk) 13:11, 9 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Did you have any luck with the "indication somewhere that wiki pages are not the correct place for support questions"? If not, I think there might be a MediaWiki template that we can edit to include it on the edit page. -- IllegalOpcode (talk) 22:40, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
 * And my two cents about this page: I think it's a great idea! Due to the freedom in ARK, I think a wiki page is an ideal place to describe your tribe, the challenge will be maintaining it, but between various tribe members, BriannaMCR, and other editors I think that won't be a problem. We could always introduce some kind of decay if the tribe page isn't updated maybe once per month... could be another job for a certain bot. -- IllegalOpcode (talk) 22:45, 30 July 2015 (UTC)