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Dawn Puff
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>>8752
Alright, some thoughts here:
I have a few problems with the template proposal. The template format of races - as it currently stands - shows a list of races from a variety of settings without any sort of context, categorization, or organization. Nautil, Nedynvor and Nevrean are right next to each other, but all appear in completely different quests. How do I know that Lohrke and Engsami exist in the same setting, but not Nevreans? Similar problems appear with just a bighuge list in a single article.
Rather than alphabetically, it seems to be that the most intuitive way to group races is by setting and origin. If I'm looking for information about the Journey setting, I'm not interested in Gobbos, but a 'Races of Layridin' template would be invaluable.
I have two proposals that I think would address the need for a centralized 'Races' hub while providing context and organization to wiki-users searching for information:
1) One Template with Subcategories
Some quest authors already have a format like this for their series, one-shots, etc, and it seems to work pretty well. Divide up the races by setting of origin rather than simply spitting them out in alphabetical order; that way, if I'm looking for information about the Layridin setting, I can look at the bottom of the Lohrke page and see Engsami, Nedynor, and Shocker Crab all under the header of 'Journey Quest'. Convenient!
This proposal unfortunately presents problems for crossover settings or settings that borrow from other quests - Cutebold Slaughter Fest is a prime example. I just gave Lohrke as an example of a Layridin race, but they also exist in CSF alongside Sergals, who would be listed under the Vilous setting, and Cutebolds, whose origins lie in the depths of /tg/. We would either have to accept the possibility of repeat entries in the template (and the possibility of rapid template inflation) or accept that we have to leave some quests hanging.
2) Multiple, setting-specific templates; one Races category
We would create a single [Races] category for all races, for the handful of individuals who are not looking for setting-specific information, but are just genuinely curious about what sort of critters are in the /quest/ world. This would be the full extent that an attempt to centralize races would go - all other effort in races would go into localized spheres of influence. We would create, for example, a 'Races of Cutebold Slaughter Fest' template that could be found on the CSF page linking to the species, a 'Races of Layridin' template to hook together critters from that continuity, etc.
The problem with this proposal is the possibility for a bloated number of templates on the species pages themselves - do we need a template for every quest that randomly has another NORTHERN SERGAL! reference? Do we need 15 different templates on the Cutebold page?
In any event, I disagree with the idea of smashing all the races down onto a single page. I would consider it horrible to lose an article like the Lohrke article ( http://www.tgchan.org/wiki/Lohrke ) because it had to be trimmed down to fit a one-paragraph blurb on a massive wall of text.
I think I am going to tentatively suggest proposal number two - just one single category tag for all races, with the actual organization taking place in localized templates for related species.
Whatever proposal is taken, I suggest we limit any sub-organization to very race-intensive settings, rather than using templates as a sort of list of every setting that race has ever appeared in.
I propose each significant race have its own article, but perhaps settings that don't have bountiful information about their races could be crunched down into a 'Races of X' article. The Lohrke article I mentioned earlier is a great example of a single-page race article, but we might want to do something like a single page for the races of The Icon.
Wow, that was a mouthful. TL;DR: blah blah blah related races go together blah blah blah templates for each setting blah blah blah pages for individual races.
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