The Front Page

[Jebus]

Yea I know, Amka's very busy. I was just wondering if there was any plans to bring the front page back to it's former glory.

::awaits the obligatory "there's a front page?" jokes::

[Jayelle]

The girl on the front page looks like someone I know...

[Dr. Mobius]

Why do we even have a front page? Yeah, the new graphics look kinda cool, but it was dead even before the crash.

[eriador]

Haha.

I just checked the front page last night... For the third time ever!

I don't really see what the need for a frontpage is. All it needs to be is a redirect to the forum (hey, it might not look as good, but it will be less confusing), though returning the homepage to it's former glory could also work.

[Jebus]

Why do we even have a front page? Yeah, the new graphics look kinda cool, but it was dead even before the crash.

It might have seemed pointless, but the content and the links on the front page are exactly what a lot of people are looking for when they do searches for Ender's Game. If we want to attract new members to the community and take full advantage of everyone who does a websearch for "ender's game", we need a good front page.

Instead of talking about making "wikis" we should be focusing on adding content to this website.

[eriador]

Heck, we could make the frontpage a wiki with a good looking main page. It would provide a good structure for good content. I think wikis are a good idea.

[anonshadow]

I think we should concentrate on making our site look good before we expand to wikipedia.

And, if we're going to expand to wikipedia, we'd better have more to say than "Ender's Game message board."

You are aware that a wiki was made maybe four or five months back and got deleted, right?

[starlooker]

Seriously, it would be nice to be connected to a good quality webpage again. It's like going from driving in a nice, relatively new car to driving in something that gets you reliably from Point A to Point B but without any of the frills.

Not that I noticed it until you pointed it out.

[off-topic]
Jebus, you've had your avatar so long that I'm generally not even aware of it anymore. It's just kind of pweb background. But every now and then I'll glance at it and it totally takes me by surprise. Like, "Oh, yeah. I forgot that was there." And then I stare at it for a minute until it goes back to being part of the background.

[/off topic]

[mr_thebrain]

personally i think the new front page has the potential to be better than the previous version. just need the content.

[Jebus]

So what stuff could we add?

One Harry Potter website has a list of all the characters and stuff to appear in the series, something like that could be done with a bit of a collective effort.

[anonshadow]

We could also have a synopsis of each book... maybe we could throw together some theories?

Or even well-written fanfics on some of the characters who don't have much background info?

[fawkes]

(Pardon me for butting in) Might I suggest a timeline? I just started Shadow Puppets, and was a little confused as to how much time had passed (Reason for coming to the site, actually).

[anonshadow]

Good suggestion! Very good suggestion. That always confused the hell out of me, too.

We could also engage in the ever popular satire.

[starlooker]

From what I recall on OSC's views of fanfic, we probably couldn't even write it about less developed characters (those who know his views better, correct me if I'm wrong.)

But a timeline to replace the old one, character profiles, synopses, would be good. Also, I liked the dictionary of enderverse slang.

[neo-dragon]

(Pardon me for butting in) Might I suggest a timeline? I just started Shadow Puppets, and was a little confused as to how much time had passed (Reason for coming to the site, actually).

That's a good suggestion, but it might be difficult since (as you've noticed) Card is rather vague about the passage of time in the Shadow series. For instance, I don't think it's ever stated how much time passes between SotH and SP, and Card is the first to admit that he's not good at keeping track of the passage of time or the correct ages of his characters. In fact, he gets his fans to help him out (see Shadow of the Giant acknowledgements). A precise timeline could be tough, but I guess there's probably enough info for a reasonable approximation. Plus, if it's good enough, Card might actually make it official and put in the next book, and those responsible would get credit for sure.

[Paul]

You are aware that a wiki was made maybe four or five months back and got deleted, right?

I got the idea that was an article on the REAL wikipedia, about the website philoticweb, not a wiki itself....

Someone want to clear this up....

sides, even if we do get a wiki, it doesnt have to be a normal one.... The front page doesnt have to be part of the wiki...

[ValentineNicole]

I agree. The frontpage and main site aren't exactly the reason I come to pweb; however, it is exactly as Paul said. People that find this site through search engines are looking for content about the book. If the content isn't really entirely there, why would they even look at the forum? Typically if a site isn't hugely developed, neither is the forum.
On that note, if anyone needs any help compiling information for the site and getting it back up to speed, I'm more than willing to help out in any way I can. Maybe if we can get a small group of people to help develop information and then get it approved by the mods, we can push it along a bit.

[eriador]

So what stuff could we add?

One Harry Potter website has a list of all the characters and stuff to appear in the series, something like that could be done with a bit of a collective effort.

We could also have a synopsis of each book... maybe we could throw together some theories?

Or even well-written fanfics on some of the characters who don't have much background info?

ardon me for butting in) Might I suggest a timeline? I just started Shadow Puppets, and was a little confused as to how much time had passed (Reason for coming to the site, actually).

We could also engage in the ever popular satire.

But a timeline to replace the old one, character profiles, synopses, would be good. Also, I liked the dictionary of enderverse slang.

A Wiki would be a great way to allow everybody to author this information and also provide a great way to organize all of the stuff that I'm sure this community could put together without too much work.

One note: A wiki is a website using the wiki way of managing content, that is, allowing users to edit and create it. Wikipedia is one specific wiki, whose goal is to create a wiki-powered encyclopedia. A page on wikipedia (like the thing that was deleted) is not a wiki. A wiki would be something at philoticweb.net, a part of the site, just like the forums.

[LilBee91]

There already is a wiki, though it is lacking content. I found the EG and ES timelines (finally) in an archive. Really, just the old stuff would be nice to have back. I would be happy to help out, if needed.

[anonshadow]

Here's me with the not being wild about that idea.

[Paul]

I agree. The frontpage and main site aren't exactly the reason I come to pweb; however, it is exactly as Paul said. People that find this site through search engines are looking for content about the book. If the content isn't really entirely there, why would they even look at the forum? Typically if a site isn't hugely developed, neither is the forum.
On that note, if anyone needs any help compiling information for the site and getting it back up to speed, I'm more than willing to help out in any way I can. Maybe if we can get a small group of people to help develop information and then get it approved by the mods, we can push it along a bit.

*looks around* oh you are talking about me... hehe, not used to seeing my first name...

PWeb is extremely unusual in the fact that it has an very underdeveloped main page, but a very mature forum. Like Nicole said. Typically if a site isnt very developed, neither is the forum.

But, if a website has a decent community. It has the ability to creat ALOT of content for the main page... With such an active community, we could do just about anything....

a wiki would just be a very efficient way of doing this. but it is not the only way.

On pweb v2, there was an encyclopedia that was not able to be edited by users, but there was a link for adding new content. Plus, when ever the community created anything, it usually got put on the main page. The epic and the drawings jump to mind....

In some ways, pweb was a proto-wiki, in that most of its content was community created... now putting in some wiki software would take a load off amka, by automating the whole process.

Now, i understand if amka is unable to get that set up, but geez it would be so cool.... Hey, amka, you do have a whole forum load of people willing to help out... all you have to do is ask!!

[eriador]

We should link to that wiki from the front page, and some of us truly devoted nerds should head over there, get accounts and add content.

(BTW, I registered, and I plan on taking some time to write up some stuff that has no information in it. Please don't make me be the only one.)

[Paul]

(BTW, I registered, and I plan on taking some time to write up some stuff that has no information in it. Please don't make me be the only one.)

i would love to, but unfortunately, time is not something that i have much off. Architecture school sucks up most of that....

[eriador]

[offtopic]Sparkie, you're in architechture school? Awesome![/offtopic]

I'm probably going to use the thanksgiving break to do it, 'cause the family I'm having over is gonna be no fun.

[Eddie Pinz]

Is there anyway to get any of the content back from the main page II ?...becuase I was always pleased with the main page...after a couple of months of just passing it by...it was always fun to fool around in the encylopedia and stuff...especially since it has been so long since I read the books...

[Paul]

Is there anyway to get any of the content back from the main page II ?...becuase I was always pleased with the main page...after a couple of months of just passing it by...it was always fun to fool around in the encylopedia and stuff...especially since it has been so long since I read the books...

I was wondering the same thing. What happened to the mainpage, did it get lost somehow, or did it just get taken down to make way for the new? Surely there's a backup somewhere, right?

If its gone, than that is almost as sad as a fire in a library.

*grunts at eriador* unfortunitly yes.... Err, i turned a 5 year program into a 6. I was tired of school years ago...

[LilBee91]

I don't remember who it was that posted a link to the forum archive, but here is one of the main page. I think a lot of the information is still there.

[Violet]

Here are the timelines Lilbee was talking about: http://web.archive.org/web/200410311728 ... es.phtml?2

And here's the epic: http://web.archive.org/web/200411010546 ... ry.phtml?1

[Paul]

oh, thats good that they didnt get lost...

but looks like we still lost all the work that had been done on epic part 2. oh well.