The Dreamland Chronicles Wiki project…
So I had an idea.
Actually my buddy Kevin gave it to me by accident.
We were talking about the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Remember the comics that used to come out?
With the characters. Their wieght, height, dimensions, powers, back story, appearances, etc.?
Well…they can do that now with the Wiki sites.
With about 200 characters and places in Dreamland now…I was thinking it’d be fun to get a site up where we can add backgrounds and history to the world. Really flesh it out a bit.
And in the process…have some fun.
I know a lot of you are great storytellers. I’ve seen your fanfiction. It’s wonderful.
And this would be a way to reach into this world and we would establish some history, rules, and such.
What do you guys think?
Sound like fun?
If so…would you prefer we set something up on my site?
If so…I’d like to have it be by registration only. So not just any passerby could mess around with it.
Or do you think we should do it on Wikipedia?
I’m open to any and all suggestions.
Scott
UPDATE:
We have a wiki up here. Let’s see if it works.
Don’t do it on Wikipedia, I’ve been editing that site for years and my experience tells me it is quite likely going to fail (most of the stuff you want to see in wiki probably won’t meet Wikipedia’s notability rule)
Having it on your own site allows for direct control of content & quality – I suggest that you keep it here.
– Fr. Maurer
I would suggest starting a WikiProject (www.wikia.org), since — like it was said above — most of the stuff won’t meet notability. But some of the really insignificant stuff on a particular topic can be put on a WikiProject.
I don’t know a whole lot about wikis; I’ve edited Wikipedia a couple of times for minor spelling/grammar issues, and that’s about it.
But this sounds like a fun project! I’d say keeping it here is probably best if the site can handle it, or perhaps use cbies’ suggestion if not.
I am assuming when you mentioned “registration”, you weren’t referring to a paid membership kind of thing. I love this idea, and I’d love to contribute, but even a modest paid membership is beyond my means right now. Somehow, in my effort to make ends meet, the ends keep getting farther apart …
😉
Totally not paid.
Just saying anyone who wants to add or edit needs to register with an email account. So we can keep away people who just pass by and change everything for fun
Sounds like a good idea. If you have dedicated enough fans, it will be filled with articles for every character, object and setting. This will not work on Wikipedia, so it’ll have to be on a wiki site or hosted here.
I’m curious as to if you’re going to allow the readers to establish the backstories, of if this will be a wiki simply reporting on established canon. If the readers write backstories, how will conflicting stories be sorted out?
Having worked on fan wikis before, I’d suggest hosting it here and not on Wikipedia or Wikia. Wikipedia has those notability rules and Wikia has a terrible ad situation. Hosting here gives you more control.
Neat idea, by the way!
There’s also Google Sites…
I figured that was what you meant, but I wanted to make sure.
Count me in! Writing stories I’m not so great at, and I can’t even draw a good stick figure. But character details? I have 30+ years of experience creating D&D (and virtually every other system out there) characters to draw on for that …
Put it on a subdomain here like wiki.thedreamlandchronicles.com, or set it up on Wikia. Hmm is right about Wikipedia removing articles on notability issues, and the editors and administrators tend to suggest moving articles focusing on minutae of episodes and fictional characters to external wikis.
I’d suggest putting in here on your site, and yeah I like the registration thing. As it progresses maybe pick the most notable things, the headlines of Dreamland if you will, and put together a Wikipedia and wikia page as well, just to make Dreamland as accessible as it can be for, y’know, when the movie comes out and the entire world is searching for a path to Dreamland.
Keep it here! More control, better visibility!
I also vote for having it here and not on Wikia (I edit the Transformers Wiki, and we had endless trouble with Wikia changing things without consulting the community first, not to mention the adverts, so we moved to independent hosting).
Wikipedia isn’t going to work – all the pages you make will be deleted in no time because of ‘notability’. I would want to suggest Wikidot.com which is a great wikifarm with lots of options and very easily editable. It’s possible to use a custom domain, and it’s also possible to let members apply for membership or use a specified password to give users the option to join in.
I’ve got two wiki’s there, and so far they only manage to surprise me with more options and less problems. Very great site!
I’d like fans to grab random background characters and add some fun backstories and names.
Also…for the main characters we’ll do the same. But I’ll be more involved to keep them true to the story.
Ok. Great.
So I’ll host it here.
Um….how do I do this?
You might want to get in touch with David Willis of Shortpacked! ( http://www.shortpacked.com ), as he helps run and host the Transformers Wiki ( http://www.tfwiki.net ). One of, if not the biggest fan-run Wikis not on Wikia.
Gah, see my below comment. I’m a bit new to how the commenting works on here.
Scott, you need to be a little bit careful about ownership of intellectual property if you’re going to let all of us contribute ideas to your story universe. I think this is a lovely idea, and you may well be able to make it work, but one reason most authors (and this includes webcomics) don’t take story suggestions is that, if you ever publish anything based on an idea that is not your own, you run the risk of being sued for intellectual property infringement. I must confess to not being an expert on this but I’d hate for you to get burned! A quick example of the issue and a solution (in a different domain): Zend Framework Contributor License Agreement.
Having said that, good luck! 🙂
Taking Ness’ suggestion. I’ve set up a wikidot.com site.
Let’s see if this works.
http://thedreamlandchronicles.wikidot.com/
That’s a very good point, Dave.
For one. I’m not looking for story suggestions. But letting others join in and flesh out characters and worlds I never would.
But…as that could lead to something that quite possibly will make it into the book…I’ll see what I can do about putting up some “legal” on the site.
Thanks
Creating bios for the minor characters sounds FUN.
If anyone wants to give it a try…please do.
Well, I sure would 🙂 If only to take a look every now and then 🙂
Scott, I have seen a wiki project done for a webcomic called Erfworld ( http://www.erfworld.com/ ), and one thing of note there was that users are allowed to speculate, and to place that in a separate section from canon events. This sounds like something similar to what you are proposing to set up for your comic, so it may be worth inquiring with folks there too, or at least seeing how that system has worked out so far.
Everyone here needs to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies immediately. HILARITY.
Oh, and the wiki, very cool.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, NOW PEOPLE!
sounds like fun. I love to write look forward to when we can get registered and start
You should all be able to jump in right now and have fun.
I think there’s more to it than that; I still can’t edit anything.
– I’ve created an account on WikiDot.
– I’ve (just now) applied for membership to the Dreamland WikiDot site.
Hopefully that’s the right procedure?
❓
For all those who want to join, we are currently structuring and finishing the layout for the wiki. Give us 2 more weeks and you can start adding content to the wiki.
Thanks!
Um…the buttons for site navigation have vanished…
Even more important – you can’t view comics anymore 🙁
http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/2009/08/18/page-935…/
Different background, at least back/forward links but no comic.
Opera 10 here
tryed to set up an account say cant send email. what am I doing wrong?
I’m a heretical Monk on Errant Story, Memory Alpha contributor, and Wikipedia Contributor. More relevantly I have 4 of my own Wikis that I use for Universe data for my own novels.
1) Don’t even try it on Wikipedia. I guarantee you that they will not like it.
2) There are a few that use Wikia but I see no sense in that.
3) Do like Poe and Impy do on ErrantStory, run your own.
4) Yes, a Wiki is the ultimate writer’s notebook. I even have a Wiki running on my Vista Laptop,
5) Self-host it or make it co-resident with your comic site. The overhead is low.
6) My story sites are a directory down from my WP main sites. The biggest poroblem is getting the themes to match.
7) Send me email.
BTW, do you know that SMF integrates with WP now and so does MediaWiki.
I think it’s a great idea. Other comics, like The Gods of Arr-Kelaan, have wikis.
Well, this is probably not news, but the wiki seems to be up and running! Unfortunately, my inexperience thwarted my efforts to contribute last night – I logged on, and tried to edit and create some new content, and I saw a bunch of brackets and plusses and things in a text box, and decided to back out before I broke something.
So, for us poor n00bs that don’t really know anything about how wikis work, could someone maybe create a newbie tutorial (or link to one) that shows how that stuff works? Thanks!
Will do when I have the time
For those who havn’t noticed, you can apply to become a member of the wiki now. When me or one of the other moderators has a chance they will aprove your membership (this is done to remove bots from the wiki)
UPDATE:
TheHOW TO EDIT PAGES Page is currently being worked on. More to come soon
http://thedreamlandchronicles.wikidot.com/how-to-edit-pages (or in the HELP WIKI menu)
More soon to come
Thanks! I’m looking forward to overcoming my cluelessness and contributing!
😉
Just looked through the wiki. Very nice. Helps those who have not been following the comic from the beginning.
Today’s vote incentive was pretty sweet. Nicodemus’ pose reminded me of a pin-up, which is a pretty hilarious thought.
Nancy spent the longest time looking over the Elven Turret this morning. She finally pronounced “one of the drawings is WRONG!”
Listening to her explanation was something. I looked at the drawing and finally saw what she was saying. Look at the two middle drawings, the ones of the detail of the interior stairs. In the bare stairs you can ascend or descend in continuous circles. The drawing with the exterior wall sketched in you cannot. The top stairway is turning the wrong direction.
Scott, could you use a very young and precocious editor? She’s driving me bonkers on spring break this week.
Why does the castle need a bakery?
The castle in the vote incentive, sorry. 🙂
That last panel hauntingly reminds me of when Sam Witwicky died and encountered the ancient primes within the matrix in “Revenge of the Fallen”. Epic win, dude.
If we have any tropers here, the wiki over at TvTropes could be expanded as well.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDreamlandChronicles
For those people who signed up for the wiki but didn’t get acces, my apolegies. I kinda forgot to check the registrations. All registrations that looked ok (and not from people who don’t read the comic) have been accepted. If you have questions about you aplication being denied or taking a long time. Send a mail to geusensAThotmailDOTcom explaining your problem.
Greets,
Omegon – Dreamlandchoronicles Wiki Project Administrator
sounds like fun. I love to write look forward to when we can get registered and start
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