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Complete logs of all the proceedings of meetings can be found here. For older logs, try here. New logs are generally added within a few hours after the meeting ends.
September 5, 2009 minutes
- Status of ABXY
- We will be working with Howard Ha to help grow our website.
- His first task is to help with the acquisition of GamerWiki, which we would like to own and operate by the end of September.
- Procyon will keep everyone updated with news as it develops.
- Site traffic
- We have had our traditional "back to school" dip in traffic, but we are still growing well and are doing much better than last year at the same time.
- We exceeded 1,000,000 pageviews last month.
- MediaWiki updates
- Prod rolled out updates to MediaWiki (v. 1.15.1) and extentions over Labor Day weekend, including the MultipleUpload extension.
- Of most importance were various security related fixes. For a full list of new features, see the MediaWiki changelog.
- Wikia tools
- Opinions were given on Wikia's new rich-text editor, created for the purpose of making editing easier. Consensus from those that knew of it was generally negative, due to it not using templates and leaving weird markup behind.
- Wikia's category helper tool was mentioned, and while met a more positive reception, may not be ultimately useful for us given the large amount categories we employ.
- Policy changes/additions
- It was brought to everyone's attention that we have some new policies, as well as changes to an existing one.
- Scope, Languages and External links are all in the Proposed policies stage, and would benefit from discussion and/or changes made to their pages.
- Collapsible elements in guide Tables of Contents is still an open issue on the staff lounge.
- Installing the Gadgets extension
- Skizzerz has suggested we install this extension, which would enable administrators to write JavaScript tools, which users could then enable/disable from their preferences.
- It was noted that scripts would have to go through a verification process before being added to the official Gadgets for the site.
- MMO guides
- It was noted that MapleStory brings in a huge amount of our traffic, and ways in which we can further capitalize on MMO traffic was discussed at length.
- Many ideas were advanced with regards to creating another "MapleStory":
- The hard work of a dedicated admin is necessary, e.g. IsaacGS' contributions to MapleStory.
- MMO communities may be turned off by not having their own, independent space, meaning they would rather contribute to MyMMO.com rather than strategwiki.org/MyMMO.
- Creating sub-domains or sub-wikis (somewhat like a wiki farm) was suggested as a way to entice MMO communities and give them a greater feeling of autonomy.
- Some issues inevitably arose:
- How would being structured as mymmo.strategywiki.org as opposed to strategywiki.org/mymmo affect technical issues, such as navigating between guides and search engine results?
- How much leeway would be given to stray from core StrategyWiki styles and guidelines?
- Giving certain rights to be used solely on one guide would require either separate wikis or a specific (probably not yet written) extension.
- Firefox site-tracking
- It is beneficial for our users to install a site-tracker add-on to Firefox, which lends more importance to our pageviews, much like Nielsen boxes do for television.
- Alexa-only add-on
- Combination Google, Alexa, and Compete pagerank add-on
August 1, 2009 minutes
- Business with Echelon
- We cannot get in contact with Echelon, therefore the expectations of our potential investor/partner have soured.
- Steps are being taken to establish Abxy LLC as the institutional owner of StrategyWiki.org.
- Domains are now held under an account established on Abxy's behalf.
- Abxy has filed for trademark of "StrategyWiki".
- Based on his actions (or inactions), it may be that the future of StrategyWiki is of little importance to Echelon.
- Licensing
- Pros and cons of a switch from GFDL to CC-BY-SA license are discussed, with general consensus that we have more to gain by switching.
- A vote is called for switching licenses: 7 in favor, 0 against
- Tekken reskin
- The Tekken ad reskin was a success thanks to Teddy and Prod
- New site skins
- Teddy is working on a new look for both ABXY and StrategyWiki in hopes of creating an updated, more cohesive and more intuitive interface.
- A link to a mockup is provided and preliminary thoughts are discussed.
- To give Teddy some feedback (especially on color scheme, typography, spacing), PMs (on ABXY?) and the Google group are the preferred contact methods.
- Some discussion of how well the two sites are integrating commences with the outcome that although there is little crossover at this point, it is the goal of both sites to become more integrated with each other.
- Evaluation of past month
- This is a new feature of the monthly meetings where we reflect on the events of the last month and give opinions on what we should start, continue and stop doing.
- The floor is opened for individual comments.
Specific issues
- Staff inactivity
- It is noted that activity from staff members has dropped in the last few months.
- The general response is that everyone is rather busy this summer (jobs, school, preparation for both, etc.).
- Specifically, there is a call to action for the milk project and a general increase in activity for issues on the staff lounge.
- Prod will look into reactivating the MultipleUpload extension.
- Collapsible elements for use on guide Tables of Contents is discussed, and generally approved with the understanding that non-JavaScript users will still have access to the full Table of Contents through the link in the Header Nav and on the main page.
- YouTube/external links
- Najzere's opinion is that linking externally, especially to YouTube, for walkthrough information is potentially damaging to StrategyWiki's viewership.
- In a couple more updates to MediaWiki (v. 1.16), functionality for embedded videos will be available and use of the feature will be discussed at that time.
- Cons to linking externally: it takes users offsite, helps the competition, and in the case of videos reminds users that there is a "prettier" ("better", to some) way to get the information we provide.
- Pros to linking externally: highly detailed information need not be compiled and maintained by us, in the case of videos, it can make understanding of complex or detailed actions easier to understand.
- The debate is lengthy; in the end the general feeling is that the issue hasn't hit critical mass yet, video walkthrough sites aren't killing us yet, so we can start on an external links/YouTube guideline, but it isn't a major concern at this time.
- Specific instructions for current problem areas (mainly Deus Ex) is to move YouTube links to the talk page and get content written.
- In general, we don't want to duplicate walkthrough information in external links.
- Relaxing standards for Featured Guides
- The question of why the standards for Featured Guides are so strict was raised, and the general consensus was that only the best of the best should be on the main page, and we don't want too many.
- Some alternatives were suggested, such as a monthly "Spotlight" for really good guides, and the ability to promote guides to completion stage 5 without promoting them to featured status.
- Further discussion of the "Spotlight" option will be on the forums.
- Current partnerships
- The question of whether we're getting as much as we're giving for some of our partners (specifically Bulbapedia) was raised.
- It was explained that they are linking to us nicely, as can be seen on their main game pages (for example, Red and Blue), and any concerns were alleviated.
- It was tentatively suggested that a partnership with the Final Fantasy Wiki be attempted, though it is unlikely, since they have a strong walkthrough section of their own.
- Staff solidarity
- The issue of presenting a united front to users was brought up.
- It was generally accepted as a good idea to limit arguments in front of users, and to instead start a new dialogue on the administrator's talk page.
- If any staff members are having issues with other admin that they feel aren't being resolved among themselves, they are urged to contact Procyon either on or offline.