Director of Brand Strategy
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First off, I want to thank Hank and the rest of the Paizo staff for the shoutout for the PathfinderWiki project. Your assistance and support has been invaluable in getting the site up and running and we're well on our way to being the most comprehensive (unofficial) resource of canon from the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.
To anyone who is discovering the wiki for the first time because of today's blog, I just wanted to clarify and add to a few of the things Hank mentioned.
First, allow me some humility by permitting me to state that I do not run the wiki. I am one of three administrators of the site, but it's a community effort and aside from a few sysop privileges I have when signed in, I am no different than any other member of the community.
PathfinderWiki was originally started by Finerion last March and moved from his personally owned server to Wikia last month. Wikia is the world's largest wiki hosting service for fan-created wikis and hosts such popular resources as WoWiki, Wookieepedia, and Memory Alpha (the Star Trek wiki).
As a Wikia-hosted site, there are ads which are placed on every page by the hosts to cover their technical costs and such, but these can all be removed simply by creating an account and signing in. Unfortunately, the banner on the PathfinderWiki main page is there no matter what you do. But when you sign in to see nice clean pages, you're already set to make some contributions to the site!
I have found, as both a GM and a player, that writing articles on the wiki is a great way to really delve into a specific topic. So when I made a character from Rahadoum, I read everything I could find on the nation and then compiled what I had just learned into the article you see on the site. This way other GMs and players can take advantage of my research and I have one simple place to look when I have my own questions instead of having to repeat the process.
Furthermore, as a GM, I also discovered that I have a much more thorough understanding of a place or an NPC if I've spent a few minutes writing in my own words as much about it as I can. Working on the Sandpoint and Aldern Foxglove articles, for example, were invaluable to the first two adventures of Rise of the Runelords.
In any case, I know I can get longwinded about the wiki. Probably best I channel that into writing some new articles! But I'm happy to answer anyone's questions about the site and hope to see a lot of new contributors to the community now that we've been given our own illustrious entry in the Paizo Blog. While the wiki is already a great resource, it's only as good as the community makes it, so I urge everyone who uses it for their own games to contribute even a little bit.
The wiki keeps getting better and is often helpful to fill in the blanks for knowledge Golarion. It's Golarion galore. (A verbal attraction once noted must be repeated.) Kudos, Yoda and everyone who contributes.
Well, Portella,
When I first show the Wiki, a few hours ago, I was shocked.
Its quality was excellent. But what was shocked me was the material. I never thought that something like this could be ever allowed officially.
Then I read the blog in PAIZO, and I was shocked again.
My warmest thanks to PAIZO. I consider this as the best proof you do care about your costumers. I wish you the very best.
Congratulations Yoda8myhead and I will help in the best way I can.
Dimitris
S
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i*seoni walks quietly to hank and whispers on his ear* "Hank! You spelled Galarion instead of Golarion."
*Seni smiles to everyone and leaves the room.*
EGADS!!! To paraphrase a culturally relevant tagline: "Who edits the editors...?"
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Director of Brand Strategy
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When I first show the Wiki, a few hours ago, I was shocked.
Its quality was excellent. But what was shocked me was the material. I never thought that something like this could be ever allowed officially.Then I read the blog in PAIZO, and I was shocked again.
My warmest thanks to PAIZO. I consider this as the best proof you do care about your costumers. I wish you the very best.
Yeah, even before the release of the Community Use Policy (which the wiki is now complaint with, to the best of my knowledge) Paizo was incredibly supportive of the project. Now that we've got an official policy for using their IP in free online resources, we won't need to bug them (quite as much). I look forward to seeing your contributions!
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Also, for anyone who wants to start with some simple wiki articles, I have a list of articles that only have been mentioned one or two times in My user page feel free to click on any of the red links and start typing away! I even have the source written down, so that you don't have to search for it!
Yoda - compliant. (Given today's spelling theme.) Complaints were in another thread.
I'm surprised nobody's commented on the good-looking Eva Widermann...illustration that was chosen for today's blog.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Yoda - compliant. (Given today's spelling theme.) Complaints were in another thread.
I'm surprised nobody's commented on the good-looking Eva Widermann...illustration that was chosen for today's blog.
Yes, I greatly enjoyed posing for her so she could draw my portrait. She made me look older than I am, but who's compianting?
Hee-hee. Now complaint is giving you troubles. Probably from thinking about Eva.
Bad time of the day to let me decide anything: I'm in that afternoon coma phase. Maybe a nap and a fresh pot of coffee will knock it out.
Yeah, even before the release of the Community Use Policy (which the wiki is now complaint with, to the best of my knowledge) Paizo was incredibly supportive of the project. Now that we've got an official policy for using their IP in free online resources, we won't need to bug them (quite as much). I look forward to seeing your contributions!
Totally! Everyone working on this is doing really great stuff! And it's SUPER helpful, not just to GMs and folks looking for an entry point into Golarion, but to us in keeping all of our facts semi-straight. SO yeah, keep up the incredible work all!
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Great work, Big Y!
I'm totally behind projects like this (as a gamer and a librarian). Good work with references, too (and I'm glad that you're including ISBN for every title -- that's not a given in every Wiki I've seen). :)
Thanks for the support Asgetrion! We include ISBN because it's easily searchable on just about every online bookstore or library database I can think of. While we give links back to Paizo's webstore on product pages, we want to direct people to where they can buy this great stuff on as many pages as possible. So when can I look for your first edit?
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Thanks for the support Asgetrion! We include ISBN because it's easily searchable on just about every online bookstore or library database I can think of. While we give links back to Paizo's webstore on product pages, we want to direct people to where they can buy this great stuff on as many pages as possible. So when can I look for your first edit?Great work, Big Y!
I'm totally behind projects like this (as a gamer and a librarian). Good work with references, too (and I'm glad that you're including ISBN for every title -- that's not a given in every Wiki I've seen). :)
Exactly, but even though all libraries and librarians understand why bibliographic description is so important in terms of identifying titles (especially if multiple editions of the book have been published), not all publishers or bookstores seem to understand it. One of the examples is Hero Games; I tried to find the ISBN for Fantasy Hero (Hero System 5th edition) on their site, but in vain.
I'm far too busy to contribute at the moment (I barely manage to find time for writing and running games), so I won't make any false promises. But if I'll have some extra time on my hands, I'll contact you, because it'd be really nice to help with this project! :)
(BTW, the organization of articles under categories/portals looks very logical, too -- very good job there!)