Editing Category talk:Mods

Cranked out this outline/draft.--[[User:Carlthuringer|Carlthuringer]] 10:40, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
Cleaning up talk. Leave current info in, see history for old stuff. --[[User:Carlthuringer|Carlthuringer]] 07:17, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

== Community Guidelines ==
[[Dwarf_Fortress_Wiki:Community_Portal#N|N]] is for Names. New pages should be singular nouns wherever applicable with few exceptions.
[[Mod]] Should probably redirect to [[Mods]] which seems to follow well with [[Creatures]], [[Skills]], [[Buildings]] as a category comprised of many similar items. [[Mod]] currently redirects to Template:Mod.
:[[Main_page]] has been linked to [[Mods]] instead of [[Modding]]--[[User:Carlthuringer|Carlthuringer]] 07:17, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

I propose that [[Modding]] be copied and moved to [[40d:Modding_reference]]. [[Modding]] might then redirect naturally to [[40d:Modding_guide]], which can link to [[40d:Modding_reference]].

Then [[Modding]] will have sub-category [[40d:Modding_reference]] and also link to [[40d:Modding_guide]]

===Unofficial Naming Conventions===
Editors have run into a similar confusion with other topics where "theory" vs "examples" tended to muddy each other. The solution was to create "design" articles, pages whose ''sole'' function was to act as a repository and showcase for user-created examples, their personal spin on the topic. See [[trap]] vs. [[trap design]], or [[bed]] vs. [[bedroom]] vs. [[bedroom design]], each of which have specifically different content, the game item vs theory vs examples. So that would suggest changing the name of that article from "Mods" to "Mod design", to keep it parallel to other articles. And the search word "mods" could then redirect either to here, or to the Category or the Guide. As a thought.--[[User:Albedo|Albedo]] 14:19, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
:I agree with your assessment on this, Albedo. --[[User:Briess|Briess]] 15:14, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
::So you're saying that 'Mods' should be moved to 'Mod design' and contain examples of such? But unlike [[bedroom design]] Mods is a rather broad topic with many subjects, like graphics sets, tweaks and cheats, new species, and so on.
Right now I'm actually considering whether we might clean up the rest of the articles left in the 'Mods' category, then try reconciling them with the growing [[Modification:]] namespace and the [[40d:]] namespace.
I actually realize that rather than 'Mods' perhaps 'Modification' is a better topic to match up with 'bed' and 'trap', re: this discussion here. Then we might work on knitting together these disparate lists of mods.--[[User:Carlthuringer|Carlthuringer]] 07:17, 14 March 2010 (UTC)


== Pages linked to [[Mods]] and [[Modding]] ==
[[Main_Page]] Links to [[Modding]]. (Note all the other categories grammatical leaning: Dwarves, World, Buildings, Modding, Items, Interface. Wouldn't the plural noun 'Mods' fit better, logically, in that table than the Gerunnd 'modding'?) Furthermore, [[Modding]] is an index of token references, which won't help new players one bit, IMHO.
It should probably link to [[Mods]].
:[[Mods]] are finished products, not a discussion of "modding", which is what most using that word in the Search function are looking for. "Modding" should link to the [[Modding guide]], which should then, in turn, link users to all the other related articles, like "mods"...  (& see comments immed below) --[[User:Albedo|Albedo]] 13:53, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

[[40d:Civilization]]

[[User:MaxVance/Main_Glade|The Elf Forest Wiki]] Huh. Anyways, it's mostly a copy of [[Main_Page]]

[[40d:Wizard]] Linked by the Gerund form 'modding,' evidence for the redirection argument.

[[Mods]] "If you want to know how to create Mods, see [[Modding]]." Except that [[Modding]] doesnt' tell you how to create mods, so good luck, there!

[[User:Mason11987/All_Categories]] A list of all the categories.

[[User_talk:Briess]] Part of discussion suggesting a custom namespace, 'Mod' to cover all mod-related pages on the wiki. Sounds like namespace nightmare, what with the 40d namespace beginning to propogate and become standard.

:(cont'd from immed above)
:...I think the title of this subsection points to one of the current problems - that users might type in "mod" or "mods" or "modding" to Search for a "How to" article, but NONE of those lead to it. When I created that green "M Category:Modding" template, I also created a redirect for the word [[mod]], since that's the word in the template, " <nowiki>{{mod}}</nowiki> ".  (It made more sense to me than any other template name at the time, and fewer letters to type).
:Similarly (I'm guessing), when the user ([[User:Nate879|Nate879]]) later created this category (and Thanks to them for doing so!), they created a redirect for the word [[modding]] to more easily navigate back to this page, since the article name is " [[:category:modding]] " and that ''cannot'' be used as a link (it turns invisible unless typed as <nowiki>[[:category:modding]]</nowiki>, as any category tag does!)  That may have made sense at the time, but it doesn't work for users now seeking information on "modding".
:And that's what started the problem. When a user types in "mod", they get the template (wrong), so they then type in "modding" and find themselves here. And that's why the (inappropriate) stub article on modding exists on this page. (That, and no one has ever created links TO the [[modding Guide]]! HINT HINT!)
:So, currently...
::* [[mod]] redirects to the template itself.
::* [[mods]] redirects to a list of completed, user-created mods.
::* [[modding]] ''(at the time of this writing, but not for long)'' redirects to [[:category:modding]], which lists anything that has been put in this category using the " <nowiki>[[category:modding]]</nowiki> " tag - which is all the mods ''plus'' articles on [[token]]s etc., etc.
:And that last is what's fueling the problem.  So I'm going to Be Bold and fix that, at least,  redirecting "modding" to the "modding guide". I suggest that most of that "article" be copied/pasted to the Modding Guide (and/or in part to the top of the [[mods]] page, which '''DESPERATELY''' needs some explanation and a "How to"), and also that some Disambig-style comment be added to the top of this article (this wiki uses few formal "disambig" pages - see [[block]] or [[brew]] for what we need here, rather than [[pike]] or [[pool]]).  All that should be here is a comment on how to use the category tag, similar to comments on the [[del]] category page.  Users who want to help should find appropriate articles to add links to the [[modding guide]], which can now (as you read this) just be linked via the word "modding".--[[User:Albedo|Albedo]] 13:53, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
::A number of modding articles have already been moved into the Modification namespace; since it's listed as a content repository, any search should bring up those articles if a redirect doesn't already exist. --[[User:Briess|Briess]] 15:14, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
::To summarize as to what should happen...
:::*[[mod]] and [[mods]] redirect to [[Modification]]
:::*[[Modification]] starts with a disambiguation block that directs users to [[Modding_guide]] or [[List_of_Mods]], if they're interested in those.
:::*[[modding]] redirects to [[Modding_guide]].
:::*[[:category:Modding]] contains subcategory [[:category:40d:Modding_reference]]
:::*[[:category:Modding_reference]] has articles about tokens and such moved to it.
:::*[[:category:Modding]] takes up all guide-like articles about how to mod various parts of the game, such as graphics sets, cheats, etc. Completed mods don't go here, only guides and reference materials.
--[[User:Carlthuringer|Carlthuringer]] 07:17, 14 March 2010 (UTC)
== Modification namespace ==

I'm gonna go ahead and create a little template box for mods (Name, version, last updated, download link, etc) and then start making pages for everything in [[Mods]]. --{{User:Syzgyn/Sig}} 20:18, 12 March 2010 (UTC)