Improving the general AH page on the wiki

[Petike]

Well, here's the deal : We should reorganize the basic Alternate History topics page of the wiki (the first in the Start Page list of categories) into more manageable bits, i. e. chapters or sub-sections. It's currently a smorgasbord of various topics in alphabetical order. I think a lot of newbies are probably getting lost a bit while finding the topic they'd probably have interest in. So, if no one objects, I'd like to reorganize the page into a series of more transparent lists.

A simple example :


==== AH writing tips ====

Alternate History Clichés

Alternate Geographic Names

Alternate Terminology

Historical Misconceptions

Max's First Law

The Citroen DS Incident


==== Countries and nations frequently appearing in AH ====

Afrikaners

British Empire

Byzantine Empire

Confederate States

Third Reich

Ottoman Empire



The stuff about battleships, etc. would go in a "technology" section, the Draka, Race, ISOT, For All Time in the "notable non-AH.com AH" section (or some such), Jared Diamond, History Books and Futurology Books would go under "Useful Literature", etc.

Do you like the idea ? Should I give it a go ? Please vote on the poll.

[Petike]

P.S. If there will be at least 10 "Yes" votes, I'll do it.

EDIT : Ah, scratch that foolhardy assessment of mine. By the rate people actually visit the Wiki discussion, I could be waiting here for months. :( So, I'm taking that single Yes vote at face value and I'm going to restructure the page.

However, you can still use this thread in order to talk about the changes, voice your opinion, etc. Any comments and/or suggestions are welcomed.

[Petike]

Ha ! 5 "Yes" votes. Gaining confidence already. :cool: I'll finish the rest of the basic "repairs" tomorrow.

[The Wandering Poet]

It's a good idea... perhaps we should use this thread if people have any ideas the might improve the wiki...

[Petike]

It's a good idea... perhaps we should use this thread if people have any ideas the might improve the wiki...

As I said : Of course you can.

Currently, I'm thinking of moving some of the stuff into the Resources section, since it would better fit in there. The stuff about technology and bibliography are hot candidates, since they don't fit in with the rest thematically. I've already moved the 1066 POD page to the PODs and did other minor adjustments to the page in the early afternoon. I really want to preserve every single page written so far, but some of them really need to be moved to more appropriate sections, since the general topics section was slowly becoming a universal dumping ground for everything. And it should serve as an introduction to AH and its concepts, first and foremost.

[Jasen777]

Moving stuff is fine. I did alot of that a few years ago when I was active on the wiki and was a bit of a namespace nazi.

[HellHound01]

I'd love to see the Shard Worlds and Sandbox stuff reorganized..... see some of its a bit dated, but its right up there with the brand new stuff. So its a but confusing.

[Petike]

I'd love to see the Shard Worlds and Sandbox stuff reorganized..... see some of its a bit dated, but its right up there with the brand new stuff. So its a but confusing.

TBH, a lot of the stuff on the Wiki is dated. :p But I'm grateful for whoever keeps updating the stuff about TLs, etc. At least I don't have too much work. And, mind you, I don't feel all too comfortable writing or rewriting the wiki, I'm more of an organizer (because of my annoyingly pedantic approach to things). ;)

17 Yes presses on the poll. Pretty good.

[Petike]

OK, the Great Restructuring and Refurbishment continues and I'm pleased to announce I finally managed to put the General AH page into a spiffy enough state. :cool: I've also moved all the "useful historical and scientific facts" originally listed there to the Resource section. They just fit it better, IMHO. Generally, I'm trying to give the Wiki a more user-friendly and logical navigational structure. I also gave the Start page some minor refurbishing, it looks less chaotic now, even though I changed absolutely nothing of its content. :D

[Thande]

Great work, Petike.

I have a suggestion: how about we reform the Timeline Classification Project by splitting it? I think it'd be better to have one table for full-length timelines and another for the WI questions and discussions.

[Petike]

Great work, Petike.

I have a suggestion: how about we reform the Timeline Classification Project by splitting it? I think it'd be better to have one table for full-length timelines and another for the WI questions and discussions.

I'm for it. You can do it yourself, if you like. I'm not all too familiar with that article.

[Kome]

Mhmm, good job your doing on the wiki Petike.

[Petike]

Among other things, I've moved the slang page from the OT section to the AH.com Lore chapter in the General Alternate History section. It's more handy to have it there than among the real off topic topics (:p) listed in the OT section. I think newbies will be interested in the acronyms first and they shouldn't be forced to search for them among the board's many, many memes and running jokes. ;)

[The Wandering Poet]

Among other things, I've moved the slang page from the OT section to the AH.com Lore chapter in the General Alternate History section. It's more handy to have it there than among the real off topic topics (:p) listed in the OT section. I think newbies will be interested in the acronyms first and they shouldn't be forced to search for them among the board's many, many memes and running jokes. ;)

Do you think we should sort some of the running jokes as that page is starting to get a bit big. Perhaps we could have an "old" and "still active" running joke sections?

[Petike]

Do you think we should sort some of the running jokes as that page is starting to get a bit big. Perhaps we could have an "old" and "still active" running joke sections?

It's up to you and the rest of the gang. I'm not focusing on the OT section anyway.