Tolkien Gateway:Meetings/12 October 2008/Transcript

From Tolkien Gateway

<AuletheSmith> looks like the only thing on the agenda is the Tolkien vs. Jackson series of articles
<KingAragorn> OK welcome the Tolkien Gateway's eighth meeting, with only AuletheSmith and KingAragorn in attendance
<KingAragorn> have you read the articles?
<AuletheSmith> briefly
<KingAragorn> first thoughts?
<AuletheSmith> i definitely agree with Mith; very snobby and fineckity. to be perfectly honest I'm struggling to find a redeeming feature
<KingAragorn> ye it's quite in depth but it is very Tolkien sided
<KingAragorn> I suppose then we agree they all need a rewrite?
<AuletheSmith> it's in depth and yet it's no where near being a complete catalogue of differences, and never will be
<AuletheSmith> At least, I'd actually suggest they be deleted
<KingAragorn> really?
<AuletheSmith> I think were they on wikipedia they'd violate the "No original research rule", I don't think they'll ever be complete or balanced and I can't think of why anyone would bother to read them
<AuletheSmith> Just reading our articles on the books and movies respectively is enough for people to realise that yes, there are differences
<KingAragorn> yeah
<AuletheSmith> I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh - I just realised you wrote them :/
<KingAragorn> no I didn't write them. have a look at the talk page of any of them
<AuletheSmith> oh, good
<KingAragorn> the original author was very into Tolkien
<AuletheSmith> it's interesting that they were originally on lotr.wikia.com, which I've always had a less mature, more "fanboy" tone
<AuletheSmith> aren't we all? :P
<KingAragorn> yeah that wikis more film based
<AuletheSmith> but yeah fans often have a tendency to become overprotective and I think this article will necessarily suffer from that
<KingAragorn> so you think we should simply delete the articles? Not rewrite or anything?
<AuletheSmith> well, maybe it would be better to say that I see little chance of it being brought to the standard of this wiki's best articles.
<AuletheSmith> i realise completely removing the content is perhaps a bit drastic
<AuletheSmith> but what ways do you think we could improve it?
<KingAragorn> well we'd basically have to go through it all and rewrite it so its more balanced
<KingAragorn> what do think about their actual titles?
<AuletheSmith> sounds like an essay title
<KingAragorn> Mith doesn't particuarly agree with them
<AuletheSmith> there's also an issue of prominence, it's hardly feasible to include ever scene from the book which isn't in the movie
<AuletheSmith> so perhaps it would be better to lose these articles but move the more prominent differences to a section in the film articles called "major deviations from the novel"?
<AuletheSmith> which i see they already have :P
<KingAragorn> :)
<KingAragorn> ye, the rename sounds good - I think we'll pick this topic up when there are more people next week, before we decide on anything
<AuletheSmith> it's probably worth noting as well that the series of articles is almost entirely orphaned
<AuletheSmith> okay
<KingAragorn> yeah it was difficult enough to link them in the articles they are already linked in
<AuletheSmith> I don't suppose there's anything else
<AuletheSmith> oh actually
<KingAragorn> yeah, unless you want to discuss anthing else?
<AuletheSmith> i notice you have a bot running on lotr.wikia.com
<KingAragorn> well it's here now too
<AuletheSmith> oh even better
<KingAragorn> ye have a look here http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/User:KingAragorn_Bot
<AuletheSmith> I've been exploring the possibility of writing a bot which would create and add a template to all the year articles. think you could point me in the right direction?
<KingAragorn> well I could use mine to do it
<KingAragorn> unless you want your own, then I can help you make it
<AuletheSmith> no by all means, there's no point in reinventing the wheel
<AuletheSmith> so yeah if it's not too much trouble I'll get working on a template then we can talk about it on your talk page later?
<KingAragorn> yeah sure
<KingAragorn> I was just gonna say, request it on my talk page
<KingAragorn> anything else to discuss?
<AuletheSmith> nope
<KingAragorn> Okay, the Tolkien Gateway's eighth meeting is now officially closed.
<AuletheSmith> well i'll go do some editing then
<AuletheSmith> please excuse me if I got a little opinionated for my first meeting :P
<KingAragorn> It was nice talking to you AuletheSmith, I trust you'll come back next week?
<KingAragorn> oh done worry, opinions are good for such meetings
<AuletheSmith> i will endeavour to
<KingAragorn> *don't
<KingAragorn> good I'll see you next week then
<AuletheSmith> next week