User:Espyo/Pikmin Wiki welcome

Hello, user! If you did not join Pikipedia from the August 2014 Pikmin Wiki – Pikipedia merge, then feel free to ignore this page.

Welcome to Pikipedia! If you're here from the merge (or "move"), that means you're already familiar with Pikmin and wiki information, so I'll spare you those details. The two wikis merged into Pikipedia for the simple reason that the community was never meant to be torn apart. This merge is finally letting us be what we were always meant to be: a big, organized, and harmonious community. Now, you might have some questions about the move. I'll do my best to guide you on the change, so that the experience is as least jarring as possible. If you have any further questions, please, ask away! — {Espyo^T} 09:35, 21 August 2014 (EDT)

Short version: Pikmin Wiki is moving because the community was always meant to be in one place. Nothing will be lost, and minimal changes will happen. Don't worry about it.

Why did we move?

Short version: Because the two wikis right now have always wanted to be together, and it's finally happening, away from Wikia.

It's a long story, but basically, a long time ago, a Pikmin wiki was created on wikia.com. It steadily grew with a group of fans that kept contributing to it. Eventually, Wikia, the host, started losing its edge, and started focusing more on the money, and less on the users. It was a bit of a rough time for editors. Quite a few wikis moved out to their own independent domains soon after, including some big ones. NIWA, the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance, provided us with a new place to be at. We moved, and we gently grew here on Pikipedia.

Eventually, Pikmin 3 news came about. Fans who wanted to contribute to a Pikmin wiki searched on the internet and... found the old wiki hosted on Wikia. That host was meant to be abandoned, but all the years we put behind it gave that result a higher priority on internet searches. ...Eventually, the old wiki grew, and Pikipedia was left behind with only the most dedicated fans. Because we lacked in number, we couldn't really gather much Pikmin 3 information, and thus, after a while, two completely different wikis were alive: one with Pikmin 3 info, more fans, but less quality control, and the other with no Pikmin 3 info, less fans, but with a more detailed and professional goal.

This was never meant to be the case. The community was never meant to be split in two! At one point, I was contacted by the Pikmin Wiki admins about the possibility of a merge. At first, we thought about having everybody go on Pikmin Wiki, but after some more discussion, we agreed that Pikipedia is the way to go. And that's why you're moving! The fandom is finally together, and now we can have the best of both worlds: the power of the masses, with loads of content that would take us years to write on our own, but also the quality, attention to detail, and technical output provided by Pikipedia! I can safely say this wiki will grow to be one of the best wikis in the world, and it's all thanks to the community's entire efforts.

Why couldn't we merge on Pikmin Wiki instead?

Short version: Wikia is not a very good host. It was the one that caused all of the split problems in the first place.

The reasons that made us split all those years ago are still in play to this very day. Going to Wikia would be to throw away all that we fought for, and give in to abysmal conditions. We'd be on a wiki with no freedom to grow, no attention to detail, no... quality. It'd be less of a wiki and more of a run-down weird site place... I know you've grown there, and that's fine, but Wikia is not a good environment for wikis to strive in. Communities, maybe, but not wikis.

We didn't blackmail the Pikmin Wiki administrators into coming here. It was unanimously agreed that staying away from Wikia is the best option. If you want to know what we talked about on that day, as well as a more detailed explanation of our past, and the reasons why we split, you have the transcript here (warning, it's a long read). As you can see, all administrators worked hard in order to bring the community together.

What happens to our edits?

Short version: You won't lose anything. Pikmin Wiki edits are still here, safe and sound.

This is a merge, in that the content Pikmin Wiki editors wrote will be merged with the content Pikipedia editors wrote. Everything you did will be kept intact. We successfully imported every edit the Pikmin Wiki editors have made. Except... it made the edit history on pages a bit wonky... But never mind that, nobody ever uses the history, and at least the records have been kept, and all of your hard work hasn't been wasted.

Pikmin Wiki and Pikipedia are different. What features did we lose?

Short version: Some features are different, but most of the changes aren't that bad.

Not many. I can count with a single hand the amount of good features Wikia has.

Live editing

On Wikia, you can edit the text and get feedback live. By this I mean that when you write text, you see it exactly as it appears on the page. On Pikipedia, you have a simpler editor. This loss isn't necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, you won't miss out on much: the only thing you have to learn is that a link to an article is done like so: [[Red Bulborb]] (which ends up as Red Bulborb). That's it; all other editing features are as simple as this. Secondly, Wikia's editor breaks stuff sometimes... If you know wikitext well, try looking up a page on a Wikia, you might find that it broke stuff with fonts and such. Also, we're always available to help with any doubt regarding the editor, and if there's a massive community request to bring back the old system, we can install an addon on Pikipedia to bring back the functionality you're used to. But as you'll learn, you won't really need it!

Blog system

The blog system is... well, it's a different way to implement a feature that's already standard in wikis. No normal wiki has discussions like Wikia does. When you want to communicate with somebody, you use a talk page, like User talk:Espyo. To comment on an article, use the corresponding talk page, like Talk:Red Bulborb. The Wikia way of using a chat mural is a bit splattered, and although it's more seamless, it's not really a thing most wikis would need. You might find the regular system we use different, but not necessarily worse. It could take a small bit of time to get used to, because you have to indent your replies, but there are help pages on the wiki that assist with that.

Avatars and achievements

What to say about these... They're mostly cosmetic things that treat the wiki as if it were a forum or a game, respectively. There are mixed reactions about these features through the internet, but either way, we have no way of bringing them to Pikipedia. They aren't that useful to begin with. An avatar helps identify you, but so does a regular signature (which you can put on a talk page by typing ~~~~). As for the achievements, they might be fun and sometimes useful, but they're not very diverse, so you won't really miss them that much after a bit.

Look

Wikia's look is different. It's more squished, and normally has more useless gadgets attached to a page. The look on Pikipedia flows more freely, but it's certainly different. It'll take a tiny bit of getting used to, but after just a few days, you'll see how it's nothing special. Plus, we have a style very similar to most wikis (including Wikipedia), and wikis are generally very customizable using the power of CSS, but that's an advanced feature with which you'll have to ask an admin for help. Just rest easy knowing that this isn't a bad design, nor a weird one – if anything, Wikia's design is the odd one.

Cursor

We won't bring back the cursor, but this has a simple explanation, and a fortunate workaround. On Pikipedia, we plan to have a wiki that's professional, but also strongly oriented towards the community. This community ranges from casual to professional players, and from young to old fans. Truth is that most older and professional fans are not fond of the cursor, as they're seen as a bit childish and unnecessary. In addition, cursors are quite an outdated fashion. In order to please everybody, we had to get rid of Pikmin Wiki's cursor. However, here's the thing: if you really like the cursor, there is a way to bring it back, and what's better, you can use it anywhere. I'll provide some instructions on how to install a cursor on this talk page. If you want to use the cursor daily, just follow those and you'll be good to go. This way, fans who want the cursor will be able to enjoy it freely, while fans who don't want it won't have to be bothered by it. How's that for a massive win-win?

Other tiny things will also be changed, but it's always on the community's best interest. If you want to know more about a change, feel free to ask any admin. Oh, and remember that your feedback helps. So if you like or dislike a feature, let us know!

Pikipedia is more professional. Will we have to be all uptight and professional now?

Short version: We aim to have professional pages, but other than that, we're incredibly loose and informal. Just relax!

No way! We want to have the content on our pages be more professional. This includes having a more organized look, a streamlined flow to it, no grammar errors, proper use of styles, etc.

But this doesn't mean we're all uptight and such, like people in business suits, ties and briefcases. That's ridiculous! What is seen on the articles is a professional documentation of the Pikmin series, but the community itself is just a bunch of happy and informal players! On the chatroom, there is a lot of freedom (there are some minor rules, but they're the usual: don't be mean, don't spam, etc.) and informality. On talk pages, same thing. The general ambience of the wiki may feel that there's pressure to be professional, but underneath, we're all chill.

But will this mean that you have to employ the utmost quality and skill in order to edit? Well... no, not really. If you're not familiar with English or wikis, or for any other reason, can't provide content in the quality format we prefer, that's ok. Remember, we're all humans, and the quality is just a goal, not a requirement. We won't be bothered if you don't type in perfect English, or if you forget to italicize a game name, or stuff like that. Please, just focus on contributing. Leave the professional bits to the more professional users. If you can follow the guidelines fully, that'd be amazing, but if not, don't worry. Just be yourself, be free, and contribute! Don't let that mean "professional" thing scare you.

What about the general feel of the wiki? It feels more limiting than Pikmin Wiki, right? It's not the case. Pikmin Wiki is more loose, in that the line between wiki and community is blurred, but this is only brought to the surface because of things like the integrated talk pages (the murals) and the achievements. On Pikipedia, we don't have those because they're not needed or feasible, but it makes it look like the wiki is less... fun, right? Again, that's only the outer shell of it. You don't have murals, but you have talk pages. You don't have achievements, but they're not really needed (read above). The general feel might be that we're more closed, uptight, and only focused on the page contents, but always remember that that is not true. We have a chatroom, talk pages, a forum, etc., and all of these are almost rule free.

There is another point: Imagine an image, where Pikmin Wiki might have the caption "Some Pikmin under attack!", while Pikipedia might have "Pikmin under attack." This naturally feels like here, we want to sound cold, but think about it. On game content documentation (which is likely where that image example is), we want to be an encyclopedia, not a photo album. Imagine people coming from any other wiki, and suddenly stumbling upon that happy caption. They'll think we're just a bunch of kids who don't take this seriously! But the truth is that we all do take it seriously! So while it may feel like we're being stone-cold writers who can't even add an aesthetic exclamation point, just know that it's because of consistency, and our aim to professionalism. Again, it makes the wiki feel more uptight, but it all makes sense, and is not actually a big deal when you think about it.

As a wiki, we aim to have the content readily available. Imagine you're a fan playing through the game for the first time, and are having trouble somewhere. You read the wiki in an attempt to find out what to do. Would you rather find the answer right away, in a clear and organized manner, or be swarmed with loads of community fun-time gadgets in an article that's all over the place? That's our methodology. The "fun" aspect of the community will never die. The only difference is that it's not embedded inside the articles. Content is content, fun is fun, and we have a defined line between the two of them. Don't believe me? Explore the talk pages, and chat around on the chatroom. In addition, notice how we like icons, tables, bullet points, infoboxes and images. They're not exactly what you'd expect from the big burly bad guys who only type away mechanically, are they? You'll see how we're all just players aiming to have a fun time, in the end.

I don't like the background, though...

We have an actual decent background now!

Short version: It'll change, don't worry.

Oh, don't worry about the background. We've been meaning to change that for years. Remember that Pikipedia was small because of the split. Now that it healed thanks to the merge, we can finally go about implementing a new background. A good one! We also have some tiny things we want to improve, like the favicon (icon when you save the wiki on your favorites), so don't worry a bit about it!

What do I do now?

If you're a reader, nothing! Just enjoy the ride, and please avoid going to Wikia.

If you're an editor, help with the merge!

• Begin by grabbing any article from this category (use this if you don't feel like browsing) and read the merge box at the top.
• If the article has a Pikipedia and a Pikmin Wiki version...
  • Open both versions, preferably on different tabs or windows. Find the best bits of the Pikmin Wiki page (the one ending in "/merge"), and put them on the Pikipedia page. This means regular content, not stuff like the page's layout. Remember to pay close attention to things like trivia, too.
  • Grab all categories from the Pikmin Wiki version of the page and add them to the Pikipedia version. Obviously, don't add duplicates.
• If the article only has a Pikmin Wiki version...
  • If it has any templates that aren't working (they appear as yellow links), check similar Pikipedia pages to see what templates to replace them with. If Pikipedia has no template for what the page wants (like infoboxes for specific Pikmin 3 things), then leave the template as it is and we'll sort that out later.
  • If its text is poorly written, or the page is badly organized, either fix it, or add a {{Clean}} template so that somebody will fix it later (it helps to provide a reason too, like {{clean|Several instances of "pikmin" need their P capitalized.}}).
  • Take a quick look at our categories, and try to categorize the page as best as you can. Choose the most specific category possible (for instance, category Treasures is more specific than category Pikmin 2).
• In all cases...
  • If the template at the top of the article says the name of the Pikmin Wiki article is different, either discuss the final name on the chatroom or talk page, or leave a {{todo}} template warning people that a decision on the article name needs to be taken.
  • Check the top of the article. It should have a {{game icons}} template, or there should be a template somewhere that already places it. This template is responsible for adding the game numbers to the top-right corner of the page. If these don't exist, add the template.
  • Use the {{button}} template when referring to buttons.
  • Italicize game names. To italicize something, place two apostrophes (') before and after it, like so: ''italicize''.
  • Check videos. Wikia video embeds should be converted to use EmbedVideo.
• Once you're done, remove the {{merging}} template, and work on a new page!

Remember these bullet points:

• If you have any doubt, you don't have to face it alone. Just jump on the chatroom real quick and ask away! Don't worry about being annoying – if you're using your efforts to help with the merge, that only means your contributions are appreciated, and the people online will help you with whatever problem you have.
• The most important thing is preserving the most information possible. It's best to include too much info rather than too little. If there's an interesting bit of information on the Pikmin Wiki page, and you forget to pass it to the Pikipedia page, it'll get lost forever! So don't forget anything! If you included info that is redundant or didn't matter, it's ok, because somebody will clean it up later.
• If you're not comfortable handling an important merge, feel free to skip it. Some other user will do it later.
• In the case of conflicting information (e.g. Pikipedia's 2-Player Battle page claims the layouts are picked from a list, whereas the Pikmin Wiki page claims they're randomly generated), you can ask on the chatroom for the right information, or you can leave the Pikipedia information, and then add a {{todo}} note to the top of the section, pointing down that the Pikmin Wiki page says something different. Somebody will come along and set things straight. e.g.: {{todo|The Pikmin Wiki page says the layouts are randomly generated, instead of being picked from a list. Specify which one is right.}}
• Please don't be biased. It'll only ruin the information. Do not remove Pikipedia information because you think the information at Pikmin Wiki is better, just because it was the wiki you grew up in. Likewise, Pikipedia editors will not assume only their information is correct. When it comes to deciding which wording is best, just don't over-think it.
• It helps if you can provide a summary for your edit ("Merged the page."). It's not very important, but it keeps things tidy in case we need to check the history later. You can also list which things you kept/removed.
• You can always check out some of the already-merged articles to get an idea on how things work and what to do. You should also check existing articles for things that belong to a well-defined category, like treasures. Examples:
  • 2-Player Battle
  • Abduction Den – Challenge Mode level articles should be like this.
  • Abstract Masterpiece – Treasure articles should be like this.