Wiki.jonathancoulton.com:Editing guidelines

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This page is a statement of principles. For instructions on editing, see Help:Contents.

Statement of Purpose(s)

or, a house divided

(For the underlying premise of this section, I am indebted to the writer and blogger Nicholas Carr.)

Question: Is JoCopedia

  1. a wiki (which allows anyone to add any sort of content) or
  2. an encyclopedia (which allows only content that is notable and serious)?

Answer: Yes.

JoCopedia is meant to serve as a repository for all sorts of information relating to the music and the legend of Jonathan Coulton. But Coulton's own dedication to the cause of Creative Commons, allowing his fans to become, in a very real sense, his collaborators, makes it not only futile but actually counterproductive to omit or ignore the contributions of his fans.

In JoCopedia, "official" JoCo information (such as song lyrics, discography, and concerts) and fan-submitted content (such as music videos, remixes, and parodies) coexist peacefully but separately.

If what you are adding is:

  • ...something created by JoCo fans, which can be broadly defined as anything derivative of JoCo's work, please place it in the "Videos" or "Other Fan Content" page for the song from which it's derived (for example, the Videos or Other Fan Content pages for Shop Vac).
  • ...an opinion or a discussion point about a topic, please place it in that topic's Discussion page (also known as its "talk page"). (This includes any wish-lists or to-do's for JoCopedia itself.)
  • ...information about a specific fan, please place it in that fan's User page. If that fan is particularly notable for some reason, there may be cause for that fan to have his or her own JoCopedia page (for example, Emily, of Code Monkey Dance fame), but please limit these pages to fans who have contributed in some significant way.

Pages on topics that are deemed non-notable or irrelevant may be nominated for deletion. (Sorry.)

Sprawl

or, the apple tree analogy

As a rule of thumb: If Wikipedia covers it comprehensively, we probably don't need to.

In the words of our founding father (pbuh):

Basically, JoCo is an apple tree. The trunk is the man, the branches are albums, and the apples are songs. The birds, bugs and parasitic fungus are the fans, flocking to the tree. The inspirations, references etc are the roots of the tree, and collaborators such as Hodgman and Paul & Storm are the other apple trees nearby.

Basically, our wiki is looking at the tree from ground level. We obviously see the trunk, branches and fruits, and see the fans coming to feed on the fruit. We see the other trees nearby, if only briefly. But we don't really look at the roots, though we know that they're there. So basically, what comes from JoCo, and what comes from that, I'd call notable enough to include articles on the wiki. The inspirations and references merit a quick link, but going into detail is derailing it a bit. And collaborators get a mention, but obviously not as in depth (ie we're not going to make an entire section on Paul & Storm's songs as well).

Sourcing

When uploading a file to the wiki, include the name of the file's creator, as well as a link back to where it was found (if appropriate).

When adding information, provide links and references to the sources to which you referred (where appropriate).

Specific page outlines

Please see the following before you create/edit one of the following types of pages: