Forum:The Howling, getting a little out of control
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.
"a forum where all contributors to this wiki can solve problems and create fixes for continuity holes, speculate, discuss trivia, and offer up theories on continuity and other points of trivia, rather than engaging in these discussions in articles or on article talk pages." Is The Howling's description.
I'm thinking of specifying it a little more to be "with regards to articles on this wiki", as there seems to be an increasing trend of using The Howling as a general forum with posts for example:
- Who do you want to play the doctor
- What would YOU like to see in Series 6?
- Saddest moment in Doctor Who?
- Favourite least favourite RTD stories
The original idea for the Howling was to stop people pondering on the talk pages of the articles (or on the articles), but all parts of this wiki should still be used towards the view of working on elements of this wiki. It's basically the same reason why we don't allow fanfiction here, there's other places for that, and for the forums there's plenty of other Doctor Who Forums out there; Gallifrey Base, Doctor Who Online are two that come to mind.
I don't spend a huge amount of time in the Howling so I'd like to hear others' opinions on this, would the deletion of the more general forum-esque type topics like those (though not limited to) above make for a better experience? --Tangerineduel 14:44, July 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Yeah, the general forum stuff would be best kept to websites completely dedicated to forums. For us it can just make extra work and can also sometimes clog up the recent changes which is kind of annoying. It it's just a poll type question like "Which is your favourite Doctor?" then that shouldn't be there. That's not included in the list above, so shouldn't be there. It doesn't come under fixing continuity holes, nor is it speculation about anything, it isn't a discussion of or trivia itself. (other than the debate as to which is the most popular Doctor) and it isn't a theory on continuity. Polls and such shouldn't be there. The Thirteenth Doctor 20:38, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
- I'm in two minds about. I think it good as it is, as it lets people express their views and ideas about the Doctor Who universe with other Doctor Who fans, and have general discussion about the Doctor Who Universe, even if if it polls. However it does get annoying on the recent changes list. What we could do is open up another section in the forums, where people can have a general discussion.
- The Howling would then become a place to ask question, such as Wookipedia's Knowledge bank ([1]). This would have strict rules about general discussion not being allowed etc. The new page in the forums could then be protected, or changed, so it does not show up in the recent changes, like the templates and any page beginning with 'Tardis:' Mini-mitch 22:06, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
- I'm sorry guys it was me who was responsible for like 98% of those forums I won't post another like that ever again sorry again for screwing up the howling that way . Winehousefan, 09:27, July25, 2010 [UTC]
- I'm somewhat against having a general discussion forum.
- Having the forums on this wiki is for discussions and other stuff relating to this wiki, other general stuff can go elsewhere. People should be coming to this wiki to read, edit and be involved with creating this wiki, if we had a general forum I just worry that people will come just be on the forums, as I've said there's other sites for that.
- The Knowledge Base idea has merit, but we've got a lot of 'unknowns' and other elements which usually have lots of answers even if you stick to canon and my concern is it'd just turn into the Howling 2.0. Even with rules it still might devolve into something of a heated discussion over which bit of canon answers a question adequately. (I'm sure we could all come up with questions that would have multiple answers). --Tangerineduel 14:22, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
