Forum:Official lore content from external sources

Project:
Adding a subsection to the “Information Sourcing” section of the MoS. External in-universe content

If it complies with the rules regarding canon and valid sources, in-universe lore content from official external sources (websites, blogs, Twitter, mobile apps, interactive content, etc.) is allowed to be copied to the wiki. Such content can be useful to this wiki for information completeness and backup reasons. In order not to disrupt the main articles and to give an added value to the wiki, the following rules should apply to the content:
 * added as on subpages, except in some argued case;
 * transcribed verbatim as far as possible;
 * clear links to related internet pages are included if applicable;
 * the layout and the organisation should be reader-friendly;
 * the disparate content that relates a single story is to be aggregated on a single page;
 * the content can support the relevant main articles with direct wikilinks.

Argumentation:
I will try to make this part as simple and comprehensive as possible. I will separate my arguments into several sections. The main purpose of this project is to supervise with clear rules the addition of in-universe content provided by external but official sources such as BioWare blogs, Twitter stories, mobile apps and interactive content. It should be limited to IN-UNIVERSE content which gives information the LORE. Most of the “gameplay” or “behind the scenes” information is already present on the wiki in relevant gameplay or trivia sections. Even if some of the lore content is already mentioned in the main articles, it is interesting to copypaste such information for a lot of reasons. As a wiki we try to create an encyclopedia about the ME universe. It should be as extensive as possible and including this in-universe content is therefore necessary. This type of content is meant to be put on subpages in order not to disrupt the main articles. For now, we're only speaking of a few pages (Datapad mail, 4 or 5 Twitter stories, N7 Operations, ANN messages, and that’s it). If we proceed this way, it shouldn't hurt the wiki in any way. As stated by a developer this type of content was meant to be canon. Accordingly, it has the right to be present on the wiki. However, discrepancies are possible and some information may not be relevant to every playthrough (just like information that we can find in MP content), in which case this should be mentioned in relevant trivia sections. As this sort of content exists only on the internet or in apps, the developers can decide to remove it from their servers for one reason or another, which is not the case for regular content (games, comics, books, movies, etc). If the info is one day deleted, it is crucial that the wikia provide access to the content. Without this backup, some canon content could be lost. For example, without our editors, the mails sent in ME3 Datapad (the mobile app) would have been lost. Another example (even if not the same type of content) is the MEG game. Most of the content of the game has been lost because we did not document it in time. We have precedents where subpages were created for verbatim/copypasted sections of specific in-game content (such as Shadow Broker files, e-mails, unique dialogue) and non-series content (Cerberus Daily NEws, solcomms Twitter feed, Datapad mail, etc). For the coherency of this wiki we should therefore be allowed to create similar pages for similar content. At the moment most of this type of content is linked in the main space of this wiki (with some omissions that should be corrected). However, most of this content relates a “linear story” which is dispersed across many different support/web pages. Hence, it adds to the wiki's value to aggregate all that information on a single page. It will be easier for wikia readers to understand and enjoy the story (and even learn about it in the first place). Such aggregated pages are a great opportunity to write valid lore content in a nice and readable form. Moreover, such subpages can provide direct wikilinks to the main articles. And all the links for the huge amount of external pages/content would be concentrated to a single subpage (in a good layout). It’s nicer, it’s easier. As the support for this type of content is different, every project would need a specific discussion about the layout, its place on the wiki, etc. This new section in the MoS only provides guidelines for the discussion. Each project of this type will be able to focus on organisational/presentational issues rather than more “existential” topics (can we, should we put this content on this wiki?). With this addition, projects will be easier to discuss and implement.
 * General:
 * MEWiki as a complete encyclopedia
 * A few subpages only
 * Canonical content
 * Archiving useful content
 * Consistency
 * Reader-friendly
 * Leave room for each project

Discussions
The proposal is now open in discussion before the vote. The main purpose of the discussion is to improve the wording of the MoS addition regarding what we try to accomplish and regarding the precedents present on this wiki.--DeldiRe (talk) 10:23, December 15, 2013 (UTC)