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Halopedia:History: Difference between revisions

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==Notability: Early 2006==
==Notability: Early 2006==
{{main|Halopedia Media Mentions}}
{{main|Halopedia Media Mentions}}
The site began to be recognized in early 2006; it was mentioned in a section of the Tahlequah Daily Press newspaper of Tahlequah, Oklahoma on February 20, 2006 ([http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/features/local_story_051130651.html article]).
The site began to be recognized by the international community in early 2006; it was mentioned in a section of the Tahlequah Daily Press newspaper of Tahlequah, Oklahoma on February 20, 2006.<ref>[http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/features/local_story_051130651.html '''Tahlequah Daily Press''': ''Old Man Winter freezes out Halo tourney'']</ref> The site eventually was recognized by [[Bungie]] as a reliable, yet unofficial source of Halo information for the [[Halo Nation|Halo community]]. This recognition prompted Halopedia's membership to increase by 300 percent over several weeks.<ref>[http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=news&cid=7690 '''Bungie.net''': ''Halopedia Knows'']</ref>


Perhaps Halopedia's best recognition to date was on the front page of the [[Bungie]].net website on February 14, 2006. A fan submitted article about Halopedia appeared on the front page of the website, prompting Halopedia's membership to increase by 300 percent over several weeks.
<!--
/** The following is for the future, just in case Wikipedia has an actual article about Halopedia. If there is an article about Halopedia, remove this hidden tag and restore the below paragraph **/


Still, notability is not something Halopedia has acquired in a major sense; Halopedia's article was deleted from Wikipedia because the site is not considered notable enough to pass the site's notability standard. A Wikipedian user and a Halopedia user, [[User:Aranho|Aranho]], added Halopedia back into Wikipedia. However, it was once again deleted.
Still, notability is not something Halopedia has acquired in a major sense; Halopedia's article was deleted from Wikipedia because the site is not considered notable enough to pass the site's notability standard. A Wikipedian user and a Halopedian user, [[User:Aranho|Aranho]], added Halopedia back into Wikipedia. However, it was once again deleted.
-->
==Server Problems: Mid 2006==
Halopedia's growing community began to present a major problem for its creators; the site's growing size was producing a bill in excess of $150 a month for server usage. Throughout May, June, and July, the site would be sporadically down, until it finally went offline for several weeks.


==Server Problems: Mid 2006==
Eventually, Halopedia had to merged with halo.wikia.com, a formerly rival wiki simply referred as Halo Wikia that did not have the same issues. Despite the process of having to manually import every article from the original Halopedia (referred to as old.Halopedia due to its temporary filename), the site ultimately benefited with several new active users.
Halopedia's growing community began to present a major problem for its creators; the site's growing size was producing a bill in excess of $150 a month for server usage. Throughout May, June, and July, the site would be sporadically down, until it finally went offline for several weeks. Eventually, Halopedia was merged with halo.wikia.com, a formerly rival wiki that did not have the same issues. Despite the painstaking process of having to copy every article from the original Halopedia (referred to as old.Halopedia due to its temporary filename), the site ultimately benefited with several new active users.  You can actually read what lead to the migration [[Halopedia talk:History/Archive1|here]].


==Halo Wikia==
==Halo Wikia==
[[Image:Wikiold Logo.png|thumb|The Old Halo Logo]]
[[Image:Wikiold Logo.png|thumb|The Old Halo Logo]]
Halo Wikia was started on 15 June, 2005 by [[User:Akashe|Akashe]].   The user is no longer around to answer for his actions.   It is unknown whether Akashe wanted to start a new site to compete against the old Halopedia or that he just didn't know of Halopedia's existence. Whatever the reason, without the support of other users, Halo.wikia.com slowly died out, with Akashe last posting on June 15, 2005. The site would remain a dead wikia until it was merged with, and became Halopedia.
Halo Wikia was started on 15 June, 2005 by [[User:Akashe|Akashe]]. The user is no longer around to answer for his actions. It is unknown whether Akashe wanted to start a new site to compete against the old Halopedia or that he just did not know of Halopedia's existence. Whatever the reason, without the support of other users, halo.wikia.com slowly died out, with Akashe last posting on June 15, 2005. The site would remain a dead wiki until it was merged with, and became Halopedia.
 
==Introduction of social tools: Early 2008==
In March of 2008, Halopedia was one of the few wikis of Wikia having to experiment a social tools system and a new skin. Part of the reason behind these features is for Wikia to experiment the extensions and finding out the accessibility and usefulness of the tools. The implementation of the social tools includes the point system, an editing system that rewards users points for editing.
 
At first, the social tools proved to be useful in Halopedia and a significant number enjoyed the features and was motivated to improve the wiki. However, the social tools created major problems with vandals and concern about the site's quality. The point system unfortunately encouraged most new users to contribute unneeded additions to the articles, such as adding random spaces and line breaks, fixing spellings one word for each revision, and unnecessary and redundant content. This caused deterioration of quality in Halopedia and widespread activity of point system abuse.
 
The administration team sought to resolve the matter by limiting the rewards to only mainspace articles, uploading the first avatar to the user's profile and for signing up to Halopedia. Though a significant number of the community were uncomfortable by these changes, they would later realise that the changes made were necessary to restore Halopedia to its quality state.
 
==From 2008 to 2010==
{{Quote|Know your Halo history by studying Halopedia, and make sure you’ve finished all three games, and have played all the multiplayer maps a lot. |Rob Adams<ref>[http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?cid=16876 '''Bungie.net''': ''Breaking In - Rob Adams'']</ref>}}
Halopedia experienced a great year in 2008, now featured with social tools. Though it met some controversy in the past, the social tools motivated the Halo community to continue improving and expanding the Halo database. Eventually, those who opposed the implementation of the social tools adapted and enjoyed the features. From 2009 to 2010, Halopedia underwent multiple design changes whereby the site would alter its appearance to a specific theme. These changes made it possible for the site to pay tribute for the release of ''Halo 3: ODST'' and ''Halo: Reach''.


==Points System==
==Domain change: Late 2010==
In March of 2008 Halopedia was given a new skin and points system.  This turned out to cause major problems with vandals and concern about the site's quality. When the points system was introduced it also caused a huge edit decline.  As a result the administrators decided to change the points system so the only way to earn points was to sign up, upload the profiles 1st avatar, and edit. This caused a huge uproar amongst members, even causing some of them to leave the site entirely.  Eventually most members got over it but,  some (though very few) continue to complain.
In mid-August 2010, Halopedia's hosting service, Wikia, introduced a new mandatory skin change codenamed "Oasis" along with the removal of Monaco skin, and an update of the terms of use to the Wikia community. Declared as maintanence burden, Wikia defended its position for the removal of Monaco skin and offered the community a chance to experienced the new skin. Though the skin is described by Wikia as "sleek" and helpful to newer users, it faced a lot of opposition from the majority of the Wikia community. Many veteran contributors express burdensome accessibility and that some of its features are unneeded. In addition, the veteran contributors felt that the updated terms of use greatly restricts creativity and community freedom of each wiki, something the Wikia community had enjoyed when using older skins.


==New Wikia skin and move-off: Late 2010==
After a community consensus initiated by [[User:Nicmavr|Nicmavr]], Halopedia was supported by a majority to move back to its independent domain, halopedian.com, on October 17th, 2010.
In August 2010, Halopedia's hosting service, Wikia, announced a new mandatory skin change, to a new look nicknamed "Oasis". The new skin is described by Wikia as "sleek" and helpful to newer users. However, the skin change faced a lot of opposition from the majority of wikia's communities. Many older contributors express that it is hard to use and many of its features are unneeded and unwanted. As a result of the skin change, some users proposed to move their wikis to another wiki farm or independent domain. Halopedia being one of these wikis, successfully moved back to its independent domain on October 17th, 2010.


==Current==
==Current==
Currently, Halopedia continues to grow in anticipation of many new projects planned for the Halo universe, such as ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and [[Greg Bear]]'s [[Forerunner Trilogy]]. Although Halopedia frowns on speculation in its articles, its talk pages have become a central place for speculation and discussion of the upcoming productions.
Currently, Halopedia continues to grow in anticipation of many new projects planned for the Halo universe, such as ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and [[Greg Bear]]'s [[Forerunner Trilogy]]. Although Halopedia frowns on speculation in its articles, its talk pages have become a central place for speculation and discussion of the upcoming productions.


Halopedia currently works closely with several related sites, such as [http://h2wiki.halowiki.net/wiki/Main_Page Halowiki.net], a wiki project devoted to the multiplayer aspects of the Halo games.  
Halopedia currently works closely with several related sites, such as [http://h2wiki.halowiki.net/wiki/Main_Page Halowiki.net], a wiki project devoted to the multiplayer aspects of the Halo games.


Halopedia has been regarded as relatively accurate and reliable among Halo fans and website forums, many of which cite Halopedia's articles as sources of information.
Halopedia has been regarded as relatively accurate and reliable among Halo fans and website forums, many of which cite Halopedia's articles as sources of information.
==See also==
*[[Halopedia talk:History/Archive1|Migration history of Halopedia]].
==Sources==
<references/>


[[Category:Help|History]]
[[Category:Help|History]]

Revision as of 16:19, October 21, 2010

Beginnings: 2004-2005

Halopedia's original logo.

Halopedia, originally known simply as "Halo Wiki," began on November 4, 2004 as a project of user AgentSeethroo, with the help of Porplemontage. Built as an offshoot of his then clan, the BlackBoxRepublic, it quickly attracted a small following of users.

To help the growing wiki, AgentSeethroo appointed several other Administrators to assist in the maintenance of the site, namely Buz and Dragonclaws.

Becoming ambitious, AgentSeethroo and Porplemontage created Gamer Focus: a wiki network/gaming site. Because of the recent creation of Halowiki.net, the wiki's name was changed to "Halopedia," and moved to www.halopedia.org, where it became part of the wiki network alongside a Cheats wiki, an overall Video Games wiki, and a Super Mario wiki.

Due to lack of interest, the Cheats wiki and the Video Games wiki closed and the wiki network eventually shut down, leaving the remaining sites, including Halopedia, as stand-alone sites. Throughout 2005, the site continued to grow as the user list expanded to a little over 150.

Notability: Early 2006

Main article: Halopedia Media Mentions

The site began to be recognized by the international community in early 2006; it was mentioned in a section of the Tahlequah Daily Press newspaper of Tahlequah, Oklahoma on February 20, 2006.[1] The site eventually was recognized by Bungie as a reliable, yet unofficial source of Halo information for the Halo community. This recognition prompted Halopedia's membership to increase by 300 percent over several weeks.[2]

Server Problems: Mid 2006

Halopedia's growing community began to present a major problem for its creators; the site's growing size was producing a bill in excess of $150 a month for server usage. Throughout May, June, and July, the site would be sporadically down, until it finally went offline for several weeks.

Eventually, Halopedia had to merged with halo.wikia.com, a formerly rival wiki simply referred as Halo Wikia that did not have the same issues. Despite the process of having to manually import every article from the original Halopedia (referred to as old.Halopedia due to its temporary filename), the site ultimately benefited with several new active users.

Halo Wikia

File:Wikiold Logo.png
The Old Halo Logo

Halo Wikia was started on 15 June, 2005 by Akashe. The user is no longer around to answer for his actions. It is unknown whether Akashe wanted to start a new site to compete against the old Halopedia or that he just did not know of Halopedia's existence. Whatever the reason, without the support of other users, halo.wikia.com slowly died out, with Akashe last posting on June 15, 2005. The site would remain a dead wiki until it was merged with, and became Halopedia.

Introduction of social tools: Early 2008

In March of 2008, Halopedia was one of the few wikis of Wikia having to experiment a social tools system and a new skin. Part of the reason behind these features is for Wikia to experiment the extensions and finding out the accessibility and usefulness of the tools. The implementation of the social tools includes the point system, an editing system that rewards users points for editing.

At first, the social tools proved to be useful in Halopedia and a significant number enjoyed the features and was motivated to improve the wiki. However, the social tools created major problems with vandals and concern about the site's quality. The point system unfortunately encouraged most new users to contribute unneeded additions to the articles, such as adding random spaces and line breaks, fixing spellings one word for each revision, and unnecessary and redundant content. This caused deterioration of quality in Halopedia and widespread activity of point system abuse.

The administration team sought to resolve the matter by limiting the rewards to only mainspace articles, uploading the first avatar to the user's profile and for signing up to Halopedia. Though a significant number of the community were uncomfortable by these changes, they would later realise that the changes made were necessary to restore Halopedia to its quality state.

From 2008 to 2010

"Know your Halo history by studying Halopedia, and make sure you’ve finished all three games, and have played all the multiplayer maps a lot. "
— Rob Adams[3]

Halopedia experienced a great year in 2008, now featured with social tools. Though it met some controversy in the past, the social tools motivated the Halo community to continue improving and expanding the Halo database. Eventually, those who opposed the implementation of the social tools adapted and enjoyed the features. From 2009 to 2010, Halopedia underwent multiple design changes whereby the site would alter its appearance to a specific theme. These changes made it possible for the site to pay tribute for the release of Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach.

Domain change: Late 2010

In mid-August 2010, Halopedia's hosting service, Wikia, introduced a new mandatory skin change codenamed "Oasis" along with the removal of Monaco skin, and an update of the terms of use to the Wikia community. Declared as maintanence burden, Wikia defended its position for the removal of Monaco skin and offered the community a chance to experienced the new skin. Though the skin is described by Wikia as "sleek" and helpful to newer users, it faced a lot of opposition from the majority of the Wikia community. Many veteran contributors express burdensome accessibility and that some of its features are unneeded. In addition, the veteran contributors felt that the updated terms of use greatly restricts creativity and community freedom of each wiki, something the Wikia community had enjoyed when using older skins.

After a community consensus initiated by Nicmavr, Halopedia was supported by a majority to move back to its independent domain, halopedian.com, on October 17th, 2010.

Current

Currently, Halopedia continues to grow in anticipation of many new projects planned for the Halo universe, such as Halo: Reach and Greg Bear's Forerunner Trilogy. Although Halopedia frowns on speculation in its articles, its talk pages have become a central place for speculation and discussion of the upcoming productions.

Halopedia currently works closely with several related sites, such as Halowiki.net, a wiki project devoted to the multiplayer aspects of the Halo games.

Halopedia has been regarded as relatively accurate and reliable among Halo fans and website forums, many of which cite Halopedia's articles as sources of information.

See also

Sources