User:JediRogue/Identity classwork

I use GuildWiki alot for class Course website for some background stuff

Blog posts relating to Guild Wars and Guild Wiki

 * first blog post on subject of rules on gwiki
 * nature of gwiki as a community
 * online games as a third place
 * uh oh the beerocrat

for my midterm!
In class last week I asked you to identify an example of a group that had made rule changes in response to an event or individual. Using either that example, or another one of your choosing, discuss the development of rules in a specific online community or forum, and the relationship between identity and that system of rules.

It’s very easy for me to discuss the development of rules in GuildWiki because I was one of the people involved in making the rules.

The first thing, I should explain is that these are not actually rules but “policies” or guidelines for users. These guidelines cover things from the correct formatting of articles, to policies that describe how to resolve conflicts and policies that expand on the rights of admins.

Changes to these policies are proposed in a variety of ways in a variety of places. Wikis have a talk namespace where users discuss content separate from the content itself. Discussions on formatting may arise from a user complaining on a talk page about how information on that page is presented. Discussions may also begin on the talk pages of users involved. Discussions also arise on the talk pages of the issue being discussed.

The way issues are discussed is common to all policies. But the course of the discussions vary based on the issue in question.

Formatting policies are very specific. They are all subpolicies of a large policy: Style and Formatting (http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/GuildWiki:Style_and_formatting). It is designed to ensure that the information presented on the wiki is presented in a clear and uniform manner.

Discussions on formatting vary greatly. One long-standing issue was the format of armor screenshots in the armor galleries. The Elementalist Canthan armor page (http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Elementalist_Canthan_armor) is a great example.

Armor in Guild Wars is separate from function. Armor is also only available from crafters. Since it is expensive, players like to see what the armor will look like before they buy it. Our galleries are where people usually come to see it. We show the armor from all sides, on both genders, and a sample of what sections of the armor are dyable. Early creators of the galleries felt that presenting the armor screenshots from an /attention posture would show the armor clearly and make sure that no parts would be harder to see because of the different stances of the classes and genders.

Many argued that showing the /attention posture was misleading because it does not show the armor the way it will actually hang on the characters in the game. http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Bexor/1#Pose_for_Armor_Images

Discussions are frequently calm and reasonable. Seasoned users have learned that they can more easily influence things with calm logical arguments and know that simply yelling an opinion without arguments will get their comments dismissed. And this is true for any discussions on the wiki. We have policies that guide how we interact with each other.

One of the earliest policies I wrote started out in direct response to actions taken by some of the other users. Vandalism would occur and instead of simply dealing with the vandalism, some users would challenge the vandal, giving them attention. (User_talk:172.214.112.129)

Understanding that many vandals are acting because they desire such attention, I started to write up my thoughts on how we should be dealing with vandals. I didn’t initially expect it to become policy, and simply wrote it up in my userspace (a section of the wiki where I can put my own content).

It began as a simple rant about how we spend too much time dealing with vandals. It wasn’t written as a policy, just my own musings on the subject. However, people began to notice it and someone suggested it be moved to a public namespace (GuildWiki namespace holds policies and proposed policies) and rewritten as a policy.

It was then moved into public namespace and others began to add more to it. It was meant to be broad, covering things like trolling, returning vandals, and even where to post discussions on the bannings of vandals. My thoughts were developed maintaining the original spirit of the policy while clarifying and expanding them.

Points were discussed, making sure people agreed on the wording and the validity of points. This occurred on the talk page. This particular policy was not particularly controversial and was moved from proposed to accepted policy with ease.

Other times policies take longer to become accepted. Sometimes it takes a long time to hammer out the wording. Other times people argue over the need for the policy at all. And plenty of times policies are revisited as new users join the wiki or situations unfold that lead us to realize that a policy is lacking.