DoomWiki Month in Review (Issue #22)

[Xymph]

After months of heavy activity, the one true wiki has now entered the summer doldrums, with July bringing fewer than two dozen new articles (and almost half of those created by Afterglow).

I did however complete my Compet-n project, with scripted updates directly from the Compet-n database of record tables for all WADs, their maps, the categories, and all speedrunners from the one-timers to the record record holder. :)

 

Here is the list of new articles:

 

Core Content

 

Flat and texture mixing

 

Doom games

 

The Lost Levels map skeletons, plus statistics and updated map views for all Doom 64 levels
Supplies (Doom Eternal)

 

Ports etc.

 

Doom Patcher
 

Mods

 

100 Lines
Covert Operations
Ghostbusters Doom 2
Istanbul

MetaDoom
Number One Kill
Number One Kill Extra
ZooM

 

People

 

Chris Bilski
Edmundo Bordeu
Justin Madigan
Stefan Maes
Blain Newport
Joel Poston (Submerge)
Cameron Prosser
Jay Townsend (Jayextee)
Craig Wessel (Talon)
Andrew Wood (Corax)

 

Previous Issue

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Xymph
moved MetaDoom

[taufan99]

While July did not seem to be the most active month in DoomWiki.org, we sure did get some surprise by the SNES DOOM source release after 5 months of waiting.

This month, let's get more contributions from everybody!

[Gez]

MetaDoom is a mod.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Did not expect to see gameplay mods popping up here, pretty nice.

[Chip]

Hey! I mentioned the Lost Levels needed an article a few weeks ago! 4 days later they made the articles! I think I might be a soothsayer! 

 

[Redneckerz]

Only one entry from my end (Doom Patcher) but its not because of holiday: Working through said holiday is one, private matters are two.

 

New things will follow soon, one article will take some time to craft, but i have a few entries in mind. To be continued.

[Xymph]

Uhh, 19 days before your post I already mentioned to be working on them, with a reminder that same day. They went up three days later. Nothing magic about it, just project planning and execution. ;-P

 

48 minutes ago, LiT_gam3r said:

Hey! I mentioned the Lost Levels needed an article a few weeks ago! 4 days later they made the articles! I think I might be a soothsayer! 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Xymph

[taufan99]

46 minutes ago, LiT_gam3r said:

Hey! I mentioned the Lost Levels needed an article a few weeks ago! 4 days later they made the articles! I think I might be a soothsayer!

Giving suggestions is one thing, and contributing by yourself is another.

I've seen you just made an account there sometime ago. Nice next step, I must say. Though you also may need to learn about editing wikis, in which case it can be a bit complex, depending on what kind of contribution you'd like to add.

Trust me, it feels great being a direct contributor.

[Chip]

4 minutes ago, Xymph said:

Uhh, 19 days before your post I already mentioned to be working on them, with a reminder that same day. They went up three days later. Nothing magic about it, just project planning and execution. ;-P

Oh, I was just making a joke. I'd imagine it had been in the works for a bit at that point. 

 

[Redneckerz]

48 minutes ago, InDOOMnesia said:

Giving suggestions is one thing, and contributing by yourself is another.

I've seen you just made an account there sometime ago. Nice next step, I must say. Though you also may need to learn about editing wikis, in which case it can be a bit complex, depending on what kind of contribution you'd like to add.

I think the biggest challenge is being concise and formal. The DoomWiki is, well, a wiki :P Its supposed to be written from an academic point of view, so as neutral as possible. When something is stated as if it were a fact, it has to be cited and/or sourced. This latter part is, in my experience, the most challenging part of any wiki entry. How do you source something? What has to be cited? What if a program or maps history is convoluted? It happens more often than you may think. But its in this convolution where the most interesting stories are held. Such as finding out that Chex Quest 3, a ZDoom based standalone, has had a semi-official version on GZDoom.

 

Fortunately, DoomWorld maintains a lot of older pages and so does Archive.org. Sometimes, it requires actively reading the source code to understand what the function of each code segment is. In others, it may come in handy to contact the authors themselves (if available). This is often the case with programs they make, or screenshots they have posted. Requesting permission is always a good courtesy.

Every author on DoomWiki has his, hers or their own line of expertise. You can guess mines :P but it should be clear that none expertise is better than the others. Without the Python libraries like drawmap.py, Level layouts would be a lot more work to describe. Without people like Getsu Fune or Afterglow, we would not have advanced level descriptions or a broader focus on underrated aspects of Doom. As long as it has a relationship to our favorite Demon's game, it should be on the wiki, is my opinion.

This is not directed at you personally obviously, but i feel the above mantra lays down pretty well what an average article requires. I am obviously not talking about the more advanced mechanics employed by Xymph, Gez, Ryan W and others - Using Python scripts to draw maps or automate level stats and what not.

48 minutes ago, InDOOMnesia said:

Trust me, it feels great being a direct contributor.

Yeah, its very nice that i have to remove all your edits and tag them with ''InDoomNesia is talking about SNES Doom again please ignore'' :P

Just kidding. Good to have you onboard!

44 minutes ago, LiT_gam3r said:

Oh, I was just making a joke. I'd imagine it had been in the works for a bit at that point.

If you do consider writing an entry, feel free to private message me and i can lend you a hand in crafting one :)

[Endless]

I tried to contribute a little bit with a few stubs and images over there and ended up getting a scolding for my absolute lack of care and practice in wiki editing. My bad, but someday I'll learn and help a lil bit, I really like the work that goes into that wiki <3 

[Redneckerz]

5 minutes ago, Endless said:

I tried to contribute a little bit with a few stubs and images over there and ended up getting a scolding for my absolute lack of care and practice in wiki editing. My bad, but someday I'll learn and help a lil bit, I really like the work that goes into that wiki <3 

You made the Wadzine so obviously you have some writing chops :)
Same as with Lit, feel free to message me and ill help you out :)

[Dimon12321]

That one is funny.
 

Spoiler

 

[Redneckerz]

4 minutes ago, Dimon12321 said:

That one is funny.
 

  Hide contents

 

Oh you got me!

 

Full disclosure:

• The Eternity Engine page has all its features ending with a . However, most other ports affected by the DEHEXTRA change, do not.
• So when i changed it for Eternity, i briefly had a lapse of judgment and thought that the Eternity page should be like the others. Hence the ''Whoops''.
• Xymph however spotted the difference and that i did it right first time around, unwhoopsing my whoops and raising another dot somewhere else.
• So now i have written commentary for each of the four pictures with each of the four points made here.

:P

[Xymph]

12 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

Full disclosure:

• The Eternity Engine page has all its features ending with a . However, most other ports affected by the DEHEXTRA change, do not.
• So when i changed it for Eternity, i briefly had a lapse of judgment and thought that the Eternity page should be like the others. Hence the ''Whoops''.

That's what I figured indeed. :)

[Redneckerz]

2 minutes ago, Xymph said:

That's what I figured indeed. :)

Good thing you are the gatekeeper around the halls of the Doom Wiki archives, Xymph! Thank you.

 

^{But yeah that inconsistency threw me off. Its the same with the references code underneath the external links. Where should it be? :P}

[Xymph]

30 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

Good thing you are the gatekeeper around the halls of the Doom Wiki archives, Xymph! Thank you.

One of them. Others include Quasar, RyanW and Gez (sorry if I forgot some).

 

30 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

But yeah that inconsistency threw me off. Its the same with the references code underneath the external links. Where should it be? :P

Not sure what a tongue smiley implies, should I clarify this or not?

[Redneckerz]

17 minutes ago, Xymph said:

One of them. Others include Quasar, RyanW and Gez (sorry if I forgot some).

I mean't this more as the gatekeeper of spelling :) But you are right. They do a lot of work (RyanW in particular is probably not the most known name on DoomWorld, but he is quite a living fossil on the DoomWiki. (I am sure he will appreciate this little jab.)

17 minutes ago, Xymph said:

Not sure what a tongue smiley implies, should I clarify this or not?

Haha no, you don't have to. It was a tongue in cheek reference because one of your edits was to move the references section after the external links, when prior, it was before.

[Xeriphas1994]

On 8/8/2020 at 2:10 PM, Redneckerz said:

^{Its the same with the references code underneath the external links. Where should it be? :P}

 

IIRC in the early days, "External links" came last because that's what Wikipedia did, so users would find it familiar. More recently, certain citation sections have grown complex (example), so if someone reads the page start to finish, we want them to encounter the links before hitting the wall of text and stopping.

 

This is only my opinion, and because it's a usability question rather than a technical one, the variety of opinions is undoubtedly wide. :>

[Quasar]

3 hours ago, Xeriphas1994 said:

 

IIRC in the early days, "External links" came last because that's what Wikipedia did, so users would find it familiar. More recently, certain citation sections have grown complex (example), so if someone reads the page start to finish, we want them to encounter the links before hitting the wall of text and stopping.

 

This is only my opinion, and because it's a usability question rather than a technical one, the variety of opinions is undoubtedly wide. :>

Mainly for that reason, I've tried to advance See also, External links, Sources, References as the preferred order of end-article sections. :)

[Xymph]

3 hours ago, Quasar said:

Mainly for that reason, I've tried to advance See also, External links, Sources, References as the preferred order of end-article sections. :)

Oh, must have been rather silent advancement, as I wasn't aware of that. :) I thought See also, Sources, External links, References was the recommended order.

 

The main reason I move References to the end is because I find them similar to footnotes in a book, which are at the end of the chapter or page. And also because of the numeric bullets indenting, which looks better at the end than in the middle of a series of sections with regular bullets, which are less indented.

[Redneckerz]

5 hours ago, Quasar said:

Mainly for that reason, I've tried to advance See also, External links, Sources, References as the preferred order of end-article sections. :)

 

1 hour ago, Xymph said:

Oh, must have been rather silent advancement, as I wasn't aware of that. :) I thought See also, Sources, External links, References was the recommended order.

 

The main reason I move References to the end is because I find them similar to footnotes in a book, which are at the end of the chapter or page. And also because of the numeric bullets indenting, which looks better at the end than in the middle of a series of sections with regular bullets, which are less indented.

See that's what got me confused: The order of sections was ever so slightly different.

 

Now that i know ill make sure i follow suit with the preferred order of sections :)

[Gez]

"See also" and "External links" are IMO a thematic pair (I mean, "See also" can be thought of as "Internal links"); and "Sources" and "References" are another thematic pair (attributing where the information came from), so "See also", "External links", "Sources", "References" is a logical order. I suppose "See also", "External links", "References", "Sources" would also work; but References makes more sense as the last section, for the reasons Xeriphas and Xymph said.