Hi folks,

I've been silent on the recent "site expansion" discussions (Should The Acaeum expand? and Should we move The Acaeum to a Wiki?), mostly out of procrastination.  I've got some free time now so I thought I'd post a lengthy reply.

Firstly, the site update is almost done. I've been saying that for a while, but I really mean it.  There are a number of submissions I'd like to shoehorn in under the wire before publishing, but I might just publish what's finished and be done with it.  I can always publish another update in two weeks if I choose -- I'm the admin!

For the record, here's what a site update consists of nowadays:

1) Community submissions.  As many of you are aware, I sold my entire collection last year, so any new website material needs to come from the community.  I keep a folder with the backlog of submissions, and plow through them when I can.  Some submissions -- usually the "unexciting" ones and/or the ones that take a lot of work on my part -- may languish in the Archive folder for a good while.  I'll get to them eventually, I promise.  Thankfully, there's not too many submissions in there at the moment.

Please note that I miss quite a few forum postings.  Besides which, I rely on my Archive folder to keep things organized and prioritized.  If you want something to appear in the main site, you need to send it to me in an e-mail.  There's been a few snide remarks in the past few months (no names) about "I mentioned such-and-such years ago but it never got in to the site" or "such-and-such never gets corrected".  I can pretty much guarantee that I never received an e-mail about the issue.  Or I asked you for more information, and you never responded.  Ya'll know who you are; enough on that.

2) Updated item valuations.  The Valuation Board has pretty much been derailed lately, which is at least partly my fault.  We're looking to get this back on track very soon.  While the current documentation on the Board states that you shouldn't ask to join (you will be invited), I'm willing to offer a current moratorium on that.  In plainer English: if you'd like to join, please PM or e-mail me. I can't promise that everyone who applies will be accepted, but I'm more interested in getting the Board up and functioning again.  You'll probably be put on "probationary status" for a while until you prove yourself.  

On site expansion:

I'm not a big fan of the Wiki format, mostly for the same reasons that have been posted by others already.  Too many hands in the pot tends to make the water dirty.  The concept of a Wiki assumes that everyone will put forth their altruistic best in compiling a body of information.  Just like communism.  However, the concept ignores two big problems: 1) few people are altruistic, 2) you'll never get a concensus on contentious issues.  Like the woodgrain print sequence, or the market value of an orange B3.

However, I'd be happy to indulge those who'd like to see if such a format could work.  If anyone is seriously interested, I'll establish a subdomain (www.wiki.acaeum.com) that you can control, and you can install whichever Wiki software you'd like in there.  Run it however you choose.  After a period of time, we'll re-evaluate how it's doing.  Contact me in this thread or privately if interested.

On expansion of the site through other avenues:

This has always been predicated on the interest, enthusiasm, and time commitment of community members.  In the recent polls, I noticed quite a few of you saying things like "I'd love to see 2nd Ed AD&D" or "Runequest" or a "D&D Fanzine" subweb.  Several of you have offered to "help", but no one wants to actually run the project.

Frankly, guys (girls), that's the only way you're going to see a new subweb.  Somebody has to step up to the challenge.  However, you do have at least five advantages over starting your own website from scratch:

Any approved subweb is granted your own server space on The Acaeum, for free

Any approved subweb also gets its own discussion forum with you as the moderator

You get a "subweb creation manual" and all the necessary graphics.  This saves a LOT of time and shortens the learning curve

You don't have to go it alone!  If three of you want to tackle this together, I can give you all moderator access, and suggestions on how a group can edit a subweb

The scope can be as small or as large as you think you can handle.  While a "Dark Sun" subweb might seem too small to warrant its own distinct website, it's perfect as a subweb of The Acaeum

The trail has already been blazed.  You don't have to invent the wheel, you just have to be willing to learn how to ride the bike.  You don't have to have a complete collection of whatever it is you want to cover; that's what "community help" is for.  Get the structure together, create some pages with lots of "Scan Needed!" placeholders, and the community will help you fill in the blanks.

As I've stated before, I don't have the free time to add anything additional to the site, other than the occasional site update as is occurring now.  However, I continue to be open to any suggestions for additional subwebs.  There have been a few nibbles, but no one is currently working on any new ones.

As a corollary to this, the offer remains open to other websites who'd be interested in converting to a subweb.  I've offered before and the respective webmasters have declined, but the offer's still there.  I was reminded to mention this due to the recent demise of Matthias Bock's website, which is no longer online.

I think that about covers my thoughts.  Replies and flames welcome.

Foul

As threatened... the site update is now published.  Note that the valuations have not been updated since the last time; hopefully we can get some new data in there shortly.

Also, I plan on updating again in a few weeks with a handful of submissions that didn't make it in this round.

Enjoy!

Foul

Scott,

I am still browsing through the pages to have a look at the update.

I would like to publicly thank you for the acknowledgment of the Dr.Strange image find related to the cover of the woodgrain D&D.  

Jason W.

Wow! You even managed to squeeze in the Domesday sold at Gencon!
Looks like some more scans added to the periodicals section.

Great Update!

I am quite positive about the attached wiki idea and will PM you. The poll took it a little out of context. The proposal was never to convert the Acaeum to Wiki - but have an attached site that would allow a lot of members (that don't have the time to commit to full subweb project) to contribute item description pages from time to time.

I think it is worth a try - and if it doesn't work, we should accumulate a fair amount of data which would be ported to the Acaeum proper or subwebs.

Cheers, Jeremy

Having the wiki only open to users of the site, with a public audit trail of changes made, should go a long way to keeping the idiocy of the public wikipedia management issues out of any Acaeum-based wiki.  Hopefully?

grodog wrote:Having the wiki only open to users of the site, with a public audit trail of changes made, should go a long way to keeping the idiocy of the public wikipedia management issues out of any Acaeum-based wiki.  Hopefully?

It'd be interesting to see what happens to the valuations if they are wiki-fied.

Hi everyone,

You will recall our recent discussions on the future of the Acaeum and what we would like to see on the site. Well we went ahead with a Wiki project - not the dramatic changes that were suggested in the polls, but a Wiki attached to the Acaeum that we can all use for our RPG research.

The Acaeum is one of the strongest communities of RPG players and collectors on the net. We have a wealth of information hidden away in our forums. The wiki gives us an ideal easy-to-use system whereby we can start getting this information into an organised format and start towards that holy grail of an up-to-date RPG encyclopedia.

One of the concerns that forum members voiced is that we may lose control of quality and content with such a project. For that reason we have limited editorship to Acaeum forum members. So this is our site and our project and belongs to all of us here at the Acaeum. And it is a very easy system to use! After your first hour, you will probably be able to scan and write a new product page in 15 min. Do one a day. Do one a week. Put in one of your favourite series or product lines. I am finding it a lot of fun. In addition, I am reading again many of those modules, which were just sitting on my shelf gathering dust.

grubbiv has introduced the wiki here: viewtopic.php?t=7604  with instructions how to get started.  This thread (in The Acaeum Distributed Computing Project Forum) will be used for discussions / suggestions etc. One important thing to point out about the wiki is that each product page has a 'discussion' tab. This tab will be used for research. So if something in a page does not look right, either post it on the 'Sticky Wiki' thread or start a dialogue directly on the product discussion page.

Here is an example, in the page for Heroes Vol 2, No. 1, I have no idea who the cover artist is. Here is a link to the product page: http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Heroes_2%281%29   Click on the top tab 'discussion' to see my question.

The great thing about this wiki project is it is so quick and easy to navigate. You can search by game, company, person, setting or year. We will add 'genre' when there are more items.  Also, the goal is to eventually add very simple descriptions of what the item contains and what it is all about. Here are three samples from the pages I have written:  

http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Tree_Lords
http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Lords_of_Creation
http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/High_Fantasy

So if you have the time have a look at our Acaeum Wiki and have go at making some item pages. There is a good deal of satisfaction in being able to create a product web page. But I warn you it is addictive!

HermitFromPluto (Jeremy)