IDEAS

Have an idea for the Homestar Runner Wiki? Here's the place to post it:

Rating

I think we should have some kind of rating system for the Emails. Almost like a poll. Maybe like this:

Overall: Great
Great (2)= Joebob, Fredy
Good (1)= Bobo
Ok (1)= Larry
Bad (0)=

It would go under the Additional Information box. What do you think? ~CB

Meh, I tried that once. People hated it. -- Jesters "been there, done that" OfTheMoon

Wikis aren't well-suited for collecting or representing that sort of information. There's a great ranking system out there with over 50,000 votes: http://starbase.globalpc.net/~bhz/cgi-bin/strongbad/vote_count.cgi?sortby=8d

We ought to link to it from the StrongBadEmail page. We could even provide a link to each email's vote page in its description (the voting links are like so http://starbase.globalpc.net/~bhz/cgi-bin/strongbad/3index.html#sbemail74 )

I know that one of the things I most wanted when I first discovered the Strong Bad emails was a guide to the best emails--something this site lacks as far as I can tell. --- Glen Davis

Yup, this site does lack a rating feature. This site is a knowledge base of information. Not a rating system. It's as simple as that. And we won't be putting links to that site anywhere but on HomestarLinks. -- Tom

I disagree. Knowing how thousands of other people evaluate the emails is objective information appropriate to a knowledge base. It would not distract from the purpose of this site--it would enhance it considerably. People (especially beginners) want to know which emails are best, and that's not an unreasonable desire. If this site adds such information, it becomes that much more useful as a guide to the world of Homestar. Anyway, that's all I had to say. I won't engage in a prolonged discussion about this. If the community has made up its mind I'll just deal with it. --- Glen Davis

New Site

I'm excited for things to come. A lot of people have donated already, leading me to believe that you guys are really committed to this thing. To be honest, I figured most of you would just say, "Okay, let's just take it down." Instead, you've helped me to realize how important this place is for all of us. I'm starting to think about what the new site could be like. I want to throw a few ideas out and see what you guys think.

(1) I've personally never been very happy with 'Tavi (the wiki engine we are using to run our site). It just doesn't have very many features and isn't very customizable. I'd like to go with a more robust wiki script like [Twiki] (I'm also open to suggestions of better wiki engines). The Twiki pages themselves aren't much to look at, but check out [this site] for an idea of what kind of fun stuff we can do with layout and style. This would be a big project, since it would probably be impossible for me to simply migrate the data. It would require moving all of our content to a new place in a new format -- by hand. But, after witnessing "The Great Strong Bad Email Reformatting", I think the fine people on this wiki are capable of anything. This would also require starting early to ensure that this site can stay available during the migration.

(2) Another idea I've had is to try and widen the distinction between factual knowledge-base information and opinion/discussion/chatter. Stu has suggested to me that the best way to accomplish this may be to set up a forum. The wiki would still be the main focus of the site, but the forum would take a backseat role as a place where we can chat about Homestar Runner in a more informal setting. The forum could also more easily accomodate polls and other opinion related stuff, so the wiki doesn't get cluttered up with forum-type stuff. Conversly, we would not want to post any wiki-type information on the forum. I've been to fan forums that list easter eggs and transcripts. They can be fun, but good luck trying to find the easter eggs in an older cartoon like StrongBadEmail/guitar. They will be buried fifty pages deep in some Strong Bad Email updates section. We would want to keep transcripts, easter eggs, etc. on the wiki so they are organized in the best possible way. The forum would be strictly for chat, conjecture, and as a support to the wiki in facilitating discussion and polls about wiki content.

What do you guys think about these two ideas? --JoeyDay

Let's chat about it here: /NewSite

Counter

I think we should have a counter at the bottom of the main page, like "You are the unidecillionth person to view" "this site" or something like that.

Users Viewing / Syndication

Perhaps a 'users viewing this page' at the bottom of everything would be sweet. Also there would be making a program that basically takes the site and alerts you when one is updated. I've seen this done with webcomics before, where it just tells you when the page is updated. Also, a list of pages that are not referred to would be nice. And a popup stay-on-top chat proggie would ROCK. It would help communication between users a lot and would REALLY help taking down trolls quickly.
-Warmaster129

Yeah, it would slow down the wiki, but Idon't see how it would crash my computer. I gue4ss a less-slowed down type would just alert you when the recent changes list updates. -Warmaster129

I don't think that adding RSS would slow down the site in an appreciable way, unless a few thousand users suddenly subscribed (unless I'm seriously underestimating JoeyDay's hardware). And under no circumstances could it possibly crash your computer. I like the chatbox idea -- something like [deviantART]'s Shoutbox or [Everything2]'s Chatterbox. But this would require some coding on JoeyDay's part, so I'm hesitant to request it. Remember, any change you request means more work for our generous benefactor. -- InterruptorJones

Warmaster, sorry it's taken me so long to notice your request. We're looking at switching to a different wiki system when me make the shift to our new domain. The software we're thinking about using is called Twiki, and it offers a plugin that will give us an RSS feed (See it at [TWiki:WikiRssExtension]). --JoeyDay

Updates Archive

I like the idea of keeping a log of updates on the site, but of course the list is going to grow to flood the page after time. I propose we archive the section by month, or by season. Any thoughts? -TheBigKnife
Discuss at: SiteUpdates

Allow Voting

We should be able to vote in polls on the fourms right? Well I think so. I need to vote sometimes. I mean, what's the deal of having polls on the boards if we can't vote in them?

Yes sir, Mr. Nelson339. Everyone is allowed to vote in the polls on the forum, provided that he or she registers. In order to do this, simply click on the "Register" link on the top right of the main page of the forum. -- Tom

Music

I think you should add music from homestar runner.com every time you are on a page fhq

Wiki Future


I think it would be a good idea to list upcoming changes to the wiki. Then we'd always know what's coming! -- JestersOfTheMoon

That what this page is for! -JamesGecko

Flash cartoons

what about flash cartoons that people on wiki make? like the could be under the fan stuff part and we can all watch them and laugh and cry (or stare blankly at the screen). they could be what we think should happen in free country, usa --homsarianwarlord

I'm not really sure I understand what you are saying, but there's nothing stopping you from making a flash cartoon and putting a link for it in you UserSpace. -- Tom

Or in WikiFanStuff. This is a wiki, knock yourself out. - FireBird

Nothing to do

This wiki is getting less enjoyable because there isn't anything to do. This is why Heir_of_Lindeen left. It is like once an email or toon comes out, in five minutes all the Easter Eggs are found and the transcript is done. This used to be a place where everybody got to help in some way, but now there is nothing left to do. I don't know how to fix this, but pretty soon this wiki won't be much fun. (No offense.) - FireBird

Did you know the word "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian "Wiki wiki," which means "super fast"? I hate to be the one to break this, but [wikis do evolve]. There are even websites on the topic of [wiki science]. You might want to check some of them out. Did you ever read our meta description tag? "This is a wiki that will eventually contain everything you would ever want to know about the Homestar Runner flash cartoons created by the Mike and Matt Chapman." That's the idea here. I suppose it applies to each and every person individually: just because one feels that the Wiki contains everything they want to know, doesn't mean everyone else has the same feeling. -- Tom

I guess that makes since. - FireBird

I find all kinds of things to do... If you look, there really is alot to be done. --Hobophobic

I just joined, and I made a page on AweXomeCross. - CanKicker

Character Gallery

I think that each character should have a subpage that has pictures of them. Queen Of Town

Make the sub-pages. Add the pictures. I'll help out if you start it off! --Hobophobic

I started! I couldn't find any good pictures for the KoT, though. Queen Of Town

Easter Eggs and Fun Facts

I think that we should seperate Easter Eggs and Fun Facts - Mystery Helper

Why? There are headings seperating them already. And that would just add another page to the several that someone would have to navigate for each toon. -- Tom

Page Titles

It seems like this is something that has been pretty much over looked, except for with Strong Bad e-mails. Many of the toons, games, etc have some pretty noteworthy page titles. It's a fairly big job but I'm sure we could get it done in less than a day. --Hobophobic

Okay, now... where to put them? Should we list them on the bottom of the Toons page and the Games page? I'm not so sure that would look good. But where else? If we put them on the individual toon pages, it wouldn't follow the format we currently use. I like having the toon pages and StrongBadEmail pages match. -- Tom

A few idea's for where to put them;
As for games, these pages are far from being standardized so there really isn't any one place for the page titles. --Hobophobic

I like the additional information one best. For Strong Bad Is In Jail Cartoon, we are going to put "The Bighouse!" Now as to where...

Additional Information


Like that? Or on its own line uner the link to the toon?
Page title "The Bighouse!"

I'm not sure which I like better. -- Tom

Personally, I like my first idea, putting it right under summary. If it goes under Additional Information I'd have to say either your second option or at the very top.

Additional Information


Might have to take this one to the polls. --Hobophobic

Nah, no need for that. It's a small thing. I like your most recent addition the best. I'm going to add it to the projects list as that. -- Tom


WikiProjects

This would just list all of the current major projects that people are working on. Just like The Brothers E's Projects Page except not just The Brothers E's personal projects. Things like standardizing the transcripts or my idea above would go here.

That's kind of what this page is for. Sort of. You could make a subpage of this page for it, that would be good. Yeah, I like that. -- Tom

I don't know about a sub page of WikiIdeas. It's not so much an idea anymore once it comes to fruition. It doesn't really have any one page to be a sub-page of. I'm going to create it as it's own page and link it from the main page. --Hobophobic

Cool. I like what you did. Everybody, check out WikiProjects. -- Tom

Banned IPs

I don't think you need to put that there. That could be a danger to someone. I think. Couldn't you just put their user name? - CanKicker
P.S. One little question. Whats the difference of putting the double parenthasees around your user name and just putting your user name?

I doubt its harmful... after all in IRC (the applet wikichat link at the top of the page is IRC, by the way) you can see the IP of every user regardless. and IRC is not dangerous, so i doubt the banned IP page is. - lue of sky

What do you mean CanKicker? Dangerous to whom? Dangerous how? I'm curious as to why you are bringing this up as a new user. Have you had a bad experience in the past with IP addresses? We couldn't put a username because most of those IP address never had a username, they were just trolls or spammers. Besides, every person that edits a page has their DNS address visible in the history of that page. Yours is "66.169.167.174.ts46v-12.otne2.ftwrth.tx.charter.com" and mine is "ool-44c427c9.dyn.optonline.net". Try it out by clicking the "View document history" link on the bottom of this page and then hovering your cursor over both of our usernames. In response to your other question, double parenthesis around a word or phrase creates "free links" as opposed to a WikiWord or "WordsSmashedTogether". I highly recommend you read the pages linked to in WikiGettingStarted for further clarification before you edit pages. -- Tom

Wiki-to-go

The wiki should be downloadable for sprint PCS vision cell phones and be under applications.-Nelson339

Uh... -- FireBird

Yeah... I really don't know what you're talking about here, Nelson339. What would we have to change? -- Tom

Nothing. -Nelson339

So... why did you bring this up at all? If we don't have to change anything, isn't it working already? -- Tom

That was easy. - FireBird

Actually, Nelson means that it should be WAP-enabled. I've tried to get the wiki before on my phone, and the first page came up fine. Any other pages, due to PHP, would give an internal browser error. -KP

Holidays

Should we put a something up on the main page every holiday like

Happy Fathers Day from the Homestar Runner Wiki!

-- FireBird

I doubt it. This is an international site, you know... Not that it'd matter much... - lue of sky

Good point. -- FireBird

Drawings/How to Draw

how about a how to draw section?
we could even email the bros. chaps for their input- Homsarian Warlord

Three things. One, we already have a How to Draw section. It's in WikiFanStuff. Two, the Bros. Chaps probably wouldn't answer it. And Three, your username is KingofHomsaria, not Homsarian Warlord, says the Document History. I suggest checking out WikiGettingStarted to understand how to do things around here. -- FireBird

sorry forgot what my un was --KingofHomsaria

Switch to Invisionfree

Please switch the forums to invisionfree! I cant get my account active on phpbb boards!
But I can on invisionfree forums! -Nelson339

Nelson, we've been over this before in the HelpDesk. You account was manually activated. We are quite happy using phpBB, and will not be switching to anything else. -- Tom

Mass E-mail

Could we start a mass e-mail to Strong Bad? Like, we think of an e-mail to send him, and everyone who wants to send him the e-mail in different wording? We could sign it "The HRWiki Members" or something. Anyone think this is a good idea? -- FireBird

I wouldn't suggest you sign an email "The HRWiki Members". Pretty much because you aren't every single member of the Wiki. If you wanted to sign it "A member of hrwiki.org that decided to email you independently from the rest of the Wiki" or "FireBird, hrwiki.org member" that would be okay. -- Tom

Mailbombing TBC seems like a pretty bad idea to me. It would get their attention, sure, but it would probably just tick them off. -- InterruptorJones

Good point. Forget it, it would tick em' off. -- FireBird

Mellow Mushroom


There's scarcely a mention of Mellow Mushroom on the wiki... being done by the BC, and modeled heavily after hr.com, I think it deserves at least a page... I could see how its OT, but I think it would be of passing interests to fans, and should be documented. -Piscez (needs to register, too lazy)

Hmm. It's the Homestar Runner Wiki. We really only want to have Homestar Runner realated stuff. I know, it's kind of related, but it's like that other online toon that Matt Chapman did the voices for. Or that time The Brothers Chaps played football with that guy. We could mention it somewhere, maybe on the links page, maybe with a tiny two line description, but I'm not even sure about that. -- Tom

Really. We need to keep this Homestar Related stuff and not drift apart from our point. We could, however, link Mellow Mushroom from The Brothers Chaps page. -- FireBird

Okay, fair 'nuff.

Email "complexity" rating


How about rating each mail by how much background knowledge you need to understand it? Some mails are hilarious, but simply incomprehensible if you're not familiar with the SB/TBC world. The idea is to create some kind of "roadmap" for people unfamiliar with SB to get them acquainted.

Of course, you might simply suggest watching all emails, starting from number 1, but people would quickly give up, especially when considering that the first emails aren't that convincing, neither in quality nor in humor.

This is intentionally a rough draft of the idea to see if it sounds appealing to anyone in the first place. -- EboMike

Interesting idea, EboMike. I'm not really sure how applicable it is, or how we could do such a rating. It would seem to me that each toon's "complexity" depends on the individual viewer. I don't think any kind of universal "complexity" could be agreed upon. I mean sure, it's funnier when you watch StrongBadEmail/tape-leg before you see StrongBadEmail/personal favorites, so then you'll get the "tape-leg 2" joke. But I think that's covered in each toon's easter egg page. Just like in StrongBadEmail/cheatday, I'm sure those who remember StrongBadEmail/morning routine got an extra chuckle out of some parts. And those parts are listed on the StrongBadEmail/cheatday/EasterEggs page. Do you understand what I'm getting at? -- Tom

I think if someone doesn't get something, they'd just better watch them all from the beginning. It's they're fault if they're slowbees. That's kind of the point of inside jokes... if you waste your time watching them enough, you get the reward of picking up the little cool stuff. Piscez

Welcome message

Should we have a welcome message on the main page? -- FireBird

Nah. I think we just removed it, actually. It was kind of tacky. Maybe you could spruce up the one on the Is this your first time here? page? -- Tom

Timeline

I think it'd be interesting to have a chronological timeline of when each toon was added... I realize this would be rather a large project, but maybe it'd be possible in the Wiki format. Just a simple list of everything in the toon menu (including SBE and TGS and MAM, etc) with at least the month it appeared. This could possibly also track changes to menus, games, etc. Just kind of a chronology of the site, which would go back to its very beginning.
Maybe its too much work, but people are complaining there's nothing to do :-) Piscez

SiteUpdates. -- FireBird

Well, SiteUpdates is an exact record of everything since a particular date. I'm thinking what Piscez is talking about would really be just guesses, since we can't be for sure. -- Tom

Well, if we could narrow it down to the month, or even just chronological order... it'd be helpful for tracking the evolution of inside jokes. But really its quite dorky and pointless, I'll understand if no one cares to do it :-) Piscez


Mistakes

As you all know, we already have an easter egg spot with every cartoon, why dont we have amistake section i.e strong bad's chair squeaking like it was on pavement when it is on a yellow rug.Thank You- Kingofhomsaria

We call those Fun Facts. It's kind of a catch-all catagory. They can be weird things you noticed about the toon, or more information about something mentioned in a toon. And I think I've seen that one about the rug somewhere. Yup, in Rejects/Stool. I don't think you need to add it to every toon where the get-up-noise is heard though. However, a filmography on the Stool's page would be cool. -- Tom


Character Evolution

The character pages seem pretty sparse... wouldn't it be interesting to have a picture of each character as they evolve? Like a picture of their debut, and then one of every significant change up to the current style. Would anyone object if I started compiling this? Would it be better as a seperate page within each character's page? -- Piscez

I think a seperate page would work best. I had originally thought that putting it on each character page would be better, but I changed my mind. The single page would work to show every character developing together. Small similar-sized images placed next to each other, with descriptions of what toons they are from would be ideal. Maybe even in a table. This page could be linked to from the Main Characters page. By all means, feel free to get to work. -- Tom


Admin page sample

You know, I'm wondering what the admin page looks like! You should make it a sample admin page for the non-admins! Editing it without being an admin could be trolling!-No Loafing