User talk:Iquander

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] 30 Greatest D&D adventures

Hi Iquander, welcome to Wikipedia! I noticed all the additions you've been making to the various D&D module-related articles, which is most welcome. I hope you stay here at Wikipedia and make lots more value-added contributions. If you happen to be the same Iquander of the Greytalk mailing list and Paizo Publishing, I know you will have an immense set of knowledge to contribute to the encyclopedia, and it is exciting to have you here!

If you are that same Iquander, there's a small matter of Wikipedia guidelines that I should bring to your attention. Specifically, you may want to avoid adding references / links to Dungeon or other Paizo publications and Web sites. See here for a guideline on this, such as point #3 that you should not link to sites you own or maintain. The references to the "Top 30" article you have been adding don't technically violate this guideline, as they aren't "external links" per se, so I wouldn't advise doing anything radical like going through and removing the references you have already put in. But you may want to be careful here to stay within the Wikipedia spirit of NPOV. The standard / good Wikipedia practice in situations like this is to add a comment or suggestion to the Talk page of the article in question and allow other editors (presumably who can be objective) determine if the reference / link regarding your company or its products is proper for inclusion. Another similar guideline you may want to be aware of is Wikipedia:Autobiography.

I don't mean these comments in any way to put you off contributing enthusiastically to Wikipedia, which I sincerely hope you will do! If you'd like to respond to my message or ask any questions, please feel free to do so on my own User talk page. Again, glad to see you here on Wikipedia. Cheers! Fairsing 15:20, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Your message to me:Hey, I noticed you've been changing all of the 30 Greatest D&D Adventures references tags to "Erik Mona, James Jacobs, et al". That effectively removes all of the links I built that point to Dungeon Design Panel, which I think is an interesting little page (although probably more POV than other articles I will post in the future).

Any particular reason you did this? I'm still trying to get the hang of how to contribute to Wikipedia vis a vis dos and don'ts, so if there's something I'm missing, please let me know.

Thanks!

--Erik Mona Iquander 22:14, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I actually noted why I did so on one of the pages, I just didn't think to post something here--sorry for the trouble. Anyway, nothing personal on the change--I just think that "et al" is more formal & encyclpediac, plus I'm not sure a list of creators assembled for a single purpose (to write one article) is really within the scope of Wikipedia. I'd be willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, should the panel work on, & be credited for, more projects, but there are a number of folks on here that would call for its deletion immediately, based on the reasons I gave. You might consider changing it to "Category:Dungeon Design Panel" & then add the link to each creator's page, but I'm not sure even that would fly with some people. Like I said, nothing personal against you or any of the other creators, there are just certain conventions & such to be aware of on Wikipedia. I'll wait until you decide what to do before I add anymore "te al's." You'll also notice that i changed how the ref was written a bit. Wikipedia:WikiProject Role-playing games has adopted the following format for references:

Books, modules, supplements, boxed sets, etc Author or editor. Title of product (publisher, date). Available online:URL, if applicable Articles in periodicals, or works within an anthology Author. "Title." Periodical or anthology title issue# (publisher, date). Available online:URL, if applicable Online sources Author. "Title." Available online:URL Anyway, thanks for becoming a Wikipedian, Erik. I look forward to seeing more of you on here. Cheers! Robbstrd 22:46, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome!

If you're not Erik, I apologize in advance (but really--who else goes by "Iquander"?). Anyway, it's good to see you on Wikipedia. You might want to consider joining Wikipedia:WikiProject Role-playing games, or read up on some of the stuff that's already been hashed out over there. I've actually been considering starting a Greyhawk Wikiproject. Interested?--Robbstrd 01:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Your July 6 message

Thanks for your note on July 6 on my talk page. All the factual detail about Greyhawk, its history, etc. is certainly legitimate for you to add in, and I noticed you've been making a bunch of additions over the past few days, which is great! Thanks for that, and for the many valuable contributions I know are to come in the future. In terms of your questions regarding avoiding the NPOV problems inherent in commercial conflict of interest situations, here are some of my thoughts:

• Referring to events / facts about the setting that have been published in a TSR/WotC-published module, sourcebook, rulebook, etc. is almost always going to be fair game. Where possible, please use a citation to indicate which publication you are taking your facts from. In general, we haven't done as good a job as we should have in this regard on the Greyhawk articles, and I'm as guilty as anyone of that, but it would be good if we could take this to the next level. This might be especially important for yourself, to avoid the error of inserting your own personal interpretation of Greyhawk history into the encyclopedia rather than what should be included: the "official" published history. Discrepancies in published canon (one official publication says one thing; another contradicts it) should be noted as such in the article rather than you (or any other editor for that matter) stating an opinion that one version is "correct" and another is wrong as fact.
• You are smart to avoid editing articles about yourself and/or Paizo and Paizo products, but if you see factual errors in those articles, or want to suggest additions to them, you can certainly add your comments to the article's talk page without any worries whatsoever, and let other editors make the call as to what to move into the articles themselves. I would recommend you also follow this policy regarding articles on publications for which you are an author, co-author, or have any direct financial interest (e.g. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Faiths and Pantheons, etc.).
• References to Paizo publications like Dungeon magazine or Dragon are probably a gray area. Certainly you should not create external links to Paizo-controlled Web sites (or other sites on which you are a key editor or administrator). You might consider avoiding references to current / recent issues of Dungeon magazine or Dragon, because that could potentially be interpreted as commercial promotion.
• Not to appear self-contradictory, but when in doubt, Be bold! Wikipedia will be greatly enhanced by your presence here and the knowledge you can contribute.

These are all just my own personal suggestions; I hope you find them helpful. Again, welcome to Wikipedia! Fairsing 22:39, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:WikiProject Greyhawk

I didn't want to edit your user page, but i thought I'd let you know that the link is dead. Oh, wait--I'll make a redirect!--Robbstrd 19:56, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deletion drive

I added a comment over at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Erik Mona in your defense. I doubt the article will be deleted, as the reasons given looks to be rather weak.--Robbstrd 22:28, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Greyhawk article targeted for deletion

Baklunish Basin has been proposed for deletion. If possible, please comment at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Baklunish Basin. Thanks. --Robbstrd 17:49, 3 September 2006 (UTC)