With Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 2 now out, we're adding lots of new info to the wiki--which is great! However, I think we need to address how to handle the many "sidebars" that are included in the book. We never added the ones that were in Volume 1, and I think we should follow the same practices for Volume 2. I think adding them in their entirety may come a little too close to copyright violation, since the book's value is completely in the images and text (unlike the codex entries in the games, where the game's value is primarily in gameplay). I think we need to set limits to how much of the book we're going to reproduce on the wiki verbatim, and I think that limit needs to be to not reprint these side texts. I think it's more than enough to disseminate their info onto relevent articles, paraphrasing the info, with occasional small excerpts when appropriate. --♫ Kelcat Talk 23:19, May 16, 2015 (UTC)
- Whatever seems the most feasible and least troublesome is fine by me :) I have added a few WOT2 sidebar entries that seemed to me to add meaningfully to existing lore/language understanding or else helped to flesh out several NPCs' backstories with some much-needed information, here and here. I'd like to keep those articles extant if possible, but I agree that transcribing everything is unnecessary. If some sidebars are particularly useful and informative, however, I think they might be worth adding. Visitors to the wiki might attempt to search for some by their WOT2 sidebar title rather than in more general articles, for example.
- Thank you for mentioning this, Kelcat! I hadn't participated a great deal in managing WOT1 sidebar entries and I wasn't certain what was preferable :) --WardenWade (talk) 03:33, May 17, 2015 (UTC)
- I'm unsure if we should have any at all, since it may be difficult to distinguish which are important enough to have, but if we did keep these or add any others, they shouldn't be called Codex Entries as they don't actually appear in any codexes and aren't labeled as such in the book. ♫ Kelcat Talk 07:15, May 17, 2015 (UTC)
- Yep, I don't think we should have any either. I think since this is a printed work, we need to be careful about transcribing whole swathes of text directly onto the wiki. Anything information that's pertinent we can try to paraphrase, and if that's not feasible we can direct the reader to the book. While I'm here, if anyone notices any text in articles that's a direct copy/paste it would be great if it could be removed or have a clean-up tag placed on it.
Loleil Talk 17:09, May 17, 2015 (UTC)
- That sounds fine. If we did keep any of these sorts of articles, would there be a preferable way to identify them otherwise? Regarding the ones I created personally, I wasn't certain what would be best and had only listed them as codex entries as a place to start. I'd be happy to reassign them to something more appropriate if preferred. Thanks! :) --WardenWade (talk) 01:34, May 18, 2015 (UTC)
- Yep, I don't think we should have any either. I think since this is a printed work, we need to be careful about transcribing whole swathes of text directly onto the wiki. Anything information that's pertinent we can try to paraphrase, and if that's not feasible we can direct the reader to the book. While I'm here, if anyone notices any text in articles that's a direct copy/paste it would be great if it could be removed or have a clean-up tag placed on it.
I think it would be best at this point to not have any. The one on Shianni would work really well on her article--I know you've added some about it, but the part about her personality and how hard it is to find her a match would be an excellent addition. "Where Willows Wail", the actual lullaby in common could maybe be added to Ferelden- maybe the Culture and Society section. The elven version is already on Elven language. --♫ Kelcat Talk 04:11, May 19, 2015 (UTC)
- That sounds fine, and thank you, Kelcat and Loleil! :) --WardenWade (talk) 17:06, May 19, 2015 (UTC)
One of the previous descriptions for the book's content I read on this site said that the book also had info on lands outside of Thedas. To anyone who has read the book, is it true?--173.55.131.241 (talk) 23:35, May 21, 2015 (UTC)
- I'm only about halfway through, but I don't think there's anything about lands beyond Thedas. Almost the entirety of the book focuses on specific people, and there aren't any sections devoted to regions. --♫ Kelcat Talk 03:09, May 22, 2015 (UTC)
- There is very little about lands beyonds Thedas: It is mostly about explorers and people who have dared to sail east of the waking sea and north of the anderfels. And what they had to tell was very sparse. No detailed lore and knowledge about new civilizations, cities and cultures, which I was looking forward too. --NobleHumanRocks (talk) 17:53, May 23, 2015 (UTC)