OK. Here's a few tidbits from the Sysops discussion last night that might clear up some things.
Featured Articles
OK, this is something that's a bit... loose. We've got a list of new articles that we'd like to feature, but we need votes.
Also, we need you all to nominate articles you think are deserving of putting on the front page. Granted, we'll have to review each, to make sure there's no glaring issues with them, but if a Sysop downchecks a page, they have to say WHY, and once the author has corrected those problems, the nomination can be resubmitted.
We really don't want this to be a favoritism/popularity deal; instead we want to showcase what you can do with the Wiki, for the sake of any new folks who might want to know. So please, keep that in mind when nominating.
Going forward, we'd like to showcase 1 or two character articles, 1 story, 1 or two super/villain group writeups, and possibly one other category per month. So you see, we'll need a decent pool from which to choose. That's where you all come in.
Look for nomination tools soon, including a link at the top of each page that will, when clicked, fill out a Nomination entry on the talk page and toss it into the appropriate category.
The Unused/Large Image Purge
Basically, we're trying to trim disk space and bandwidth use. Right now the hosting plan that Virtueverse (and Unionverse!) are running on is fairly cheap, and Kadekawa is able to front the cost without any trouble.
However, the database is growing, quite quickly, and eventually we'll have to think about going from the Shared Virtual hosting that we have now to a Dedicated Hosting plan, which will cost a lot more (mainly because it also would mean we'd not be sharing the physical computer with other sites, but also we'd have people on call to fix things that went wrong with the software/OS, which right now we have to do.) It stands to reason that, if we don't enforce some kind of limits to storage used or file sizes transmitted, we'll hit that limit sooner, rather than later. This is why we're now enforcing these policies, to make it possible to keep the costs of running the system under control.
Donations
As cool as putting up a Donations button would be, there's just too much hassle in implementing it. Technically it'd be easy, but in the eyes of the Government, it would not. See, as a private citizen, Kade would have to disclose all donations received as Income, and be subject to taxes on it all. He (or, we) could incorporate, but then we'd have to hire a bookkeeper. Either way, it would mean that money donated would NOT go to maintaining the site, but instead to prove that we were running the site and not money laundering or some other thing. So, that's a no.
Integrating with ParagonWiki
This is STILL being debated, and we've yet to even hammer out the direction we'd want to do this. Instead it seems that TonyV and his folks are looking at Virtueverse as a kind of prototype for their own cross server fan Wiki, which I think is great. Granted, we've not done THAT much talking, he and I (if any at all), but from the posts I've read from him, this is the direction he's going. If we, the Virtueverse community (that includes all of you!) want to take part, we can. But it's not a requirement, and as of right now Virtueverse is not going to be Wikia'd.
Upgrades and Technical Stuff
OK, THIS is where we're running into some snags. Our Admin says that the database needs an upgrade, badly, both MySQL and MediaWiki. Also, because of the version, the processor of our little virtual server is running close to or at capacity. This is why occasionally you'll try to load a Virtueverse page, and the browser will time out. Also there are some memory management issues that are causing problems, which I'm told will be resolved with an upgrade. In the meantime, a shut-down/restart of the sofware every couple of days seems to be keeping the memory issues from getting too bad.
In regards to the upgrade, because we don't have a redundant server (cheap shared virtual hosting, remember?), we will have to actually take Virtueverse OFFLINE in order to perform this. We will probably redirect the URL to a "Maintenance" page on another system someplace, as the web server software will also be taken down as part of the upgrade.
We're looking to do this sometime next month, and are considering the next Double XP weekend, when people will be busy leveling up their characters. We'll post the announcement as to when, for how long (expected), and so forth at least a week prior, so you'll have time to make any of those pressing edits that you've been meaning to get to.
Sysops
Right now our Admin is performing all of the back-end maintenance on the system, and if something were to happen to them, or they decide that they need a vacation, we'd not have a system admin to watch the server and correct issues. Now, a couple of the sysops have experience in running servers in general, but not Linux or MySQL/mediaWiki in particular.
So, if anyone is interested in helping in this regard, contact me or any of the other Sysops. It stands to reason that you'd be doing this for no pay, purely out of love of the game, the fan base, and the Wiki; also this job would probably eat into your play/sleep time. So do keep that in mind.
The "Admin"
A lot of discussion has arisen out of the decision of our Admin to remain anonymous. We're not changing that policy. However, when it comes down to policy, know this: ALL of the sysops that we currently have have signed off on those policies, and anyone who has issues with those policies can rail at any one of us, as if we were the ones handing the edict down. Because, let's face it, we are.
The sysops are the face of the Wiki management. The Admin runs the server. We're keeping Admin anonymous so they don't get distracted from running the server, in order to deal with discussions over policy or whatnot. Otherwise, the server might break, we'd have no Wiki at all, and... well you all understand where that would lead.
Where's Kadekawa and How Come He's Not Involved?
Kade is very involved, he's our financier. However, he does not have the time to be directly involved right now, and for the immediate future, as he's busy with a project that could make or break his career. Travel, meetings, reports, etc... basically his work has consumed his life right now, and he's in no position to break away from that to jump in to what's going on with Virtueverse.
Also keep in mind that this was a volunteer community project from the get go, and that it was very much a "lets just wing it" deal at the beginning. No real rules, no real structure, we'd all learn as we went along. And we have. It still is a community project, and the end goal is to provide a resource for the Virtue and Union communities that they think is useful and fun, and that adds, not detracts, from their City of Heroes gameplay.
That is what ALL of our motivations are. We aren't out for personal gain, or aggrandizement, or cool points with the various cliques. We just want to keep this Wiki running so that all of you can use it.
Kadekawa is one such volunteer, prbably the most important because he's providing the server space. Our Admin is another, and I and the other sysops are as well. So is anyone who offers to help with editing a page, or do spammer patrols, or offers up templating advice, or anything. The fact that one of us has handed off work to another isn't really an issue, because we're all in it together.
