GuildWiki talk:Criteria for deletion

Delete vs Keep

 * Moved from Talk:Refund point

I hope I'm not implying any bias by being the article's creator, but this reason for deletion ("We track the game as it is, not as it was") seems a little silly. If items or skills began disappearing and were accordingly removed from the wiki, new players using the wiki might not know or believe that the items/skills ever existed. I checked the policies and I don't believe this is listed as a reason for deletion anywhere; moreover, is Guildwiki not meant to be a repository of knowledge for all things Guild Wars? Pardon the clichéd term, but to say that something doesn't belong in the wiki just because it is no longer in the game but once was seems almost a little Orwellian to me.

P.S. If this is an acceptable reason for deletion, then the Denravi Sword article should be reviewed as well. 404notfound 19:38, 13 August 2006 (CDT)
 * the denravi sword still exists in the game, my monk has one. no one has any refund points. this point has been argued quite a bit. i, personally, agree that we should track the historics, but with a historic tag like the unfavored tags, but the community doesn't agree. --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 19:41, 13 August 2006 (CDT)


 * Items and skills have disappeared from the game and they have been removed from the wiki, hasn't seemed to cause much confusion. --Rainith 19:45, 13 August 2006 (CDT)


 * None of which changes the fact that the very narrow criteria in criteria for deletion do not include one word about things no longer in the game. If the admins want a different deletion policy, they can either discuss it among themselves or allow a public vote, and then update criteria for deletion to conform to the new criteria. -- Gordon Ecker 00:47, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * See Talk:Frozen Chest and Template talk:Legacy. --Rainith 02:09, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * I do agree that if we are going to say "historical content should not be kept" then it should be codified in GW:DEL. However, I do not feel as strongly now as I once did about deleting historical data. I do wonder if it makes sense, in some cases, to keep certain information. Let me clarify my point:


 * I do not believe we should include information in skill articles about how a skill used to work. This applies to articles on items or missions or anything else in the game.
 * I'm not certain whether we should keep articles that explain a term that may be available on the internet that relates to Guild Wars but is no longer in use. For example, if Kurzick/Luxon faction was removed then I'm not necessarily opposed to the article Faction (Kurzick) or Faction (Luxon) remaining.


 *  &lt;LordBiro&gt;/&lt;Talk&gt; 03:54, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * I'd also throw in an exception to the updated policy for any obsolete information that has relevance with regards to plot, lore or backstory such as removed quests, the Luxon and Kurzick settlements and various holiday events. -- Gordon Ecker 06:20, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * Couldn't hurt, could it? Guild Wars has its own lore with Stuff That Used To Be. Might be interesting, just give it a bit tag screaming "This article refers to items/events/NPCs that have since been removed from the game; this information is no longer accurate, and only serves for posterity" or something like that. Got your bases covered that way. Of course, I'm contradicting my own "just because it's interesting doesn't mean it's relevant"-theory there, but I forgive me. --Black Ark 06:39, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * Backing up indent because narrow columns are hard to read ...
 * This subject has been debated many times; this isn't the first, and certainly won't be the last. To help reduce the frequency of these debates - or to at least contain them at one location, I do feel that the documented policies should be updated to better document the defacto policies of past practices.
 * My view on keeping articles vs. deletion is that we're a game guide and fansite - but I don't recall the site ever claiming itself to be a "repository of knowledge for all things Guild Wars". As such, here's my take on what to keep and delete:
 * Articles that describe game mechanics, quests, missions, skills, weapons, armor, etc - anything that can be utilized currently - should only contain information relevant to the current state of the game.
 * Keep Articles that describe special events and the related items and NPCs - documenting the event to which they were related (if an item or NPC becomes a regular component later, just document the current state, don't mention 'introduced in' such and such event - also, do not add in NPCs retroactively, only NPCs that were adequately documented during the event should be kept).
 * Keep Articles describing weapons that have been fully removed from the game, mentioning that they are no longer available (items still remaining should not be documented as 'changed' or 'nerfed' as of such and such date - just their current stats should be shown).
 * Delete Articles describing game mechanics that no longer exist (such as Refund Points, etc).
 * Delete Articles describing no longer relevant strategies (such as Book Trick, etc).
 * To me, it's more important and informative to document what's relevant to current players - strategies and game mechanics that are no longer relevant to the game do not serve any value to newer players except to confuse them with no longer relevant trivia. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 11:21, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * I moved this here since it is more to do with general policy on deletion than it is to do with refund points specifically.  &lt;LordBiro&gt;/&lt;Talk&gt; 11:34, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * I agree that articles describing game mechanics should only contain information regarding the current state of the game. I agree with every point you make Barek, except that I do not agree that having an article on refund points that is clearly marked as historical will confuse readers.


 * As I said above, if ANet were to remove something that plays an important part in the game at present I no longer think I can justify omitting that from the wiki completely. The reason for this is that so much documentation outside of the GuildWiki exists that is not as well maintained as our documentation. I would rather a reader came here and found out that refund points no longer exist than they came here and thought we did not bother writing about refund points.  &lt;LordBiro&gt;/&lt;Talk&gt; 11:42, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * What if a user has heard mention of such things as Refund Points or the Book Trick, and comes to Guildwiki for answers? You'd expect us to know these things. And we do. Or... we did. --Black Ark 12:10, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * I agree with Barek in most points, but I also think that we should keep articles which some players might search for. Especially new players might be interested in the removed chests or book trick as they are mentioned in numerous other fansites. We can easily delete such articles as the useless NPC near Fisherman's Haven who was removed from the game as no one will probably search for him anyway. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] (talk) 12:38, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * You'd better not be talking about Crafter, that guy is awesome! A lot of people are interested in the mystery of Gwen or whatever, I have to be honest, my care factor for her it pretty low. But Crafter, now that's a real mystery, this guy in the middle of nowhere selling armor, but not all armor, only certain types for certain professions. Why is that? How did he decide whom he'll craft armor for, why is he standing just there, wouldn't he get more business in town? I think that was one of the first articles I ever edited, it was and still is the primary reason for my continued existence here! If he did pack up and leave that would only serve to further his mystery, we should really have a category for Crafter lore but there wouldn't be enough articles to put in it, indeed that's how mysterious he is!


 * Ok think hard, how are you going to tie this in with the actual issue being discussed here...!?...Well firstly I think that the Book Trick is incredibly well known in the game, I think the GuildWiki would be poorer for not documenting it. (Just keep watching this space, I'll somehow tie Crafter in.) I mean people still say Tombs occasionally and our article documents it previous incarnation. Just because something has been removed from the game doesn't mean that people don't still refer to it.


 * Either way I know where I'm going to when I get home from work tonight, to Stingray Strand and see if Crafter is still there. Even if he has gone I won't be disappointed, the mystery and his mystique only grows and his memory will live on in the hearts and minds of those he has crafted for and of course his legend will be documented on the GuildWiki, as it should be. This would have to be the best thing I've ever written on a discussion page, I'm taking my pants off right now! --Xasxas256 21:14, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * Not Crafter, the NPC found between Fisherman's Haven and Sanctum Cay that never even had dialogue. Though, suprisingly, there are more of those NPCs out there, one I ran into the other day in Twin Serpent Lakes. Another was in Talmark Wilderness. Anyways, I've always been a "knowledge is power...and interesting" guy, so I support legacy and I think I did in the last discussion we had about it. -Gares 22:17, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * So you're telling me I wrote all that crap for nothing? /shakesfist. Seriously that's all I've got, that and perhaps /bangsfistondesk and /putsfistthroughmonitor. Although if I did that it might become a removed item, I wonder if they'd document that here at work. I forgot about the interest factor, I also think that it's interesting to see what was. --Xasxas256 22:30, 14 August 2006 (CDT)


 * Barek's proposal is very well thought out, and I strongly support this becoming policy. I would support an outdated information article that briefly summarizes popularily-referenced, yet non-existant information in the game, like the book trick and refund points. The articles deleted due to the push to document only the current state of the game could simply redirect to that single outdated info article.


 * Justification: if the wiki only documents the current state of the game, "refund point" and "book trick" no longer exist in-game, and thus should not exist on the wiki. However, no matter how the game is updated, outdated information does truly exist in-game, and thus should exist in the wiki as well.


 * &mdash;Tanaric 23:29, 14 August 2006 (CDT)