Forum:Quiz Question

Forums: Index > Rin's Travel Agency > Archive > Quiz Question

TacticAngel TALK 04:17, June 15, 2012 (UTC) Community, The wikia community has reached out to us with the offering/question/option of adding another name-space to the FFWiki: Quizzes. If you would like an example of what this might look like, I was offered the following: http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/PlayQuiz:Diablo_III_Quiz Now, my disposition would be somewhere in the area of complete indifference to very understated dislike of the idea, I thought I would open up the discussion for moderators, admins, and users alike to chime in and offer their thoughts. I think, particularly with our trend away from walkthroughs and other silliness, that this might be out of place, bust it goes back to the indifference thing for me every time. Perhaps it could be argued, hopefully effectively, that this would add something to our wiki, so please, discuss.

		Keltainentoukokuu - OH YEAH AWESOME TALK - Keltainentoukokuu 04:33, June 15, 2012 (UTC)
		Why are walkthroughs silliness? The interface of that looks like something made for smartphones. If we had two different "versions" of the site, one for smartphones and one for computers (we sort of already do, but we can't influence it much), then I think that would kind of work...since you can't actually edit the wiki on a smartphone, just read it... It could be a kind of go to FFWiki to check up newest FF news and play some quizzes for 5 minutes while on the bus thing. But it really doesn't look good on a computer screen.

		TidusTehSacrificer357 - "Don't you run, needles!" TALK - 04:42, June 15, 2012 (UTC) - Vote at the Fayth's Dream Arena!
		Side note: You can edit on an iPod; you just have to paste "?useskin=monobook" on the end every time. Pain in the ass, but it is possible.

The interface of that looks like something made for smartphones.

I can use the feature perfectly well on two different browsers for two different operating systems on a laptop, as well as an android smartphone. I'm forced to believe that interface is pretty versatile. I don't think there's any issue about the application's interface.

you can't actually edit the wiki on a smartphone

You can still browse it, which is what, like 99% of the total of the wiki's visitors do.

Overall, I think this is an idea as good as the "Random Quote of the Moment"; the "Dragon's Neck Colosseum" or the "Did you know that..." features and I'd always place them on the same shelf. - Henryacores^ 17:56, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

		Jimcloud TALK - 18:15, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		I, for one, welcome the idea of quiz space to our wiki. I really liked the one FFXIclopedia used to have, and I used it pretty often. There's a lot of fun and interesting trivia that can often go unnoticed in the series, especially because of the wide number of games it contains. Of course, on the other hand, I'm also a major quiz and trivia buff, so I guess you can take what I say with a grain of salt >_>

		Jeppo TALK - 19:14, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		I have some reservations on the idea of a "quizspace". Don't get me wrong, I like quizzes as much as anyone, and I have actually set a couple of FF quizzes in the past, but at the moment I feel that such quizzes should belong on the userspace. The example shown on Diablo's wiki looks very, very amateurish if I'm honest. I also think that having a quizspace may make some editors focus their efforts on that instead of the mainspace.

		Catuse says at 19:24, June 16, 2012 (UTC) "Somewhere a zealous god threads these strings between the clouds and the earth, preparing for a symphony it fears impossible to play. And so it threads on, and on, delaying the raise of the conductor's baton."
		HOW DARE YOU CALL WALKTHROUGH-SPACE SILLINESS! Nah, just kidding. I'm a little irritated that it's only 5 questions long (though ... that's the Diablo quiz, perhaps quizzes here could be longer? I dunno.), but it can always be added alongside Featured stuff, DYK, DNC, RQ, etc. Heck, we could possibly use DYK as a source of questions... assuming, of course, that we can rotate out questions at our will (couldn't figure out how to do it at Diablo Wiki). RE: smartphones, it's all about using the right tool for the right job. Taking a quiz or checking a boss's HP isn't as "fancy" as editing. Computers are fancier than smartphones. It's pretty obvious this was meant for that sort of thing, though -- which makes sense, since Wikia says 20% of viewers of Video Games Wikia view it using smartphones and that number's always going up. Edit Conflict: I had a similar complaint on Tactic's talk page, however now that I think about it, if FFWiki's quiz is as short and ah, inane, as the Diablo quiz was, people might play it for 5 minutes and then forget all about it. I still would rather we have a long and good quiz that distracts from the mainspace, though, since 99% of these people aren't going to edit it anyways.

		Keltainentoukokuu - OH YEAH AWESOME TALK - Keltainentoukokuu 19:35, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		Because people using smart phones miss out on the interactive element of the wiki (if you can't edit you can't vote in DNC or anything then can you, albeit I didn't know about the monobook thing), that's why I thought that adding an interactive element that they can also use might be more incentive for people to check back to the FFWiki. I'm no expert but I assume that visitors from smartphones don't more often come to read the longest articles we have, just to check something quickly. Like if we had "daily quiz" and then we have news, then that's incentive to check regularly even if you didn't want to read a long article from a phone. I don't think that Diablo quiz looks nice outside from using it on a phone though... Jeppo said it, it looks amateurish. I'm wondering would it look too different from the rest of the site, like something just tagged on.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/ScatheMote/AnotherSmug.png

		ScatheMote - 19:56, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		I like the idea of the quiz; I don't like how it's implemented at all. The interface feels rather slow and choppy (at least on my aged computer). I also agree with the negative points about its aesthetics and amateurish design. JC also mentioned to me in the IRC that it might be something that we have no control over, as there doesn't seem to any history anywhere. If we have no control over it, then it's pointless and our quiz will be as mundane and dull as the Diablo Wiki's. And I'm not a big fan of it being only editable by admins; an expansive and well designed quiz needs the attention of the entire community, and questions should have to be fed to the admins to put into the quiz. Because these problems, I am very hesitant to put it into place here. We can always design a quiz through normal MediaWiki code. I still like the idea of a quiz and I don't want it to go to waste just because WIkia didn't implement it all that well.

Without wanting to properly read this entire topic:

1. Not being able to edit on the default skin on Smartphones while still being able to do on monobook is ridiculous.
2. Someone mentioned how this is in the same category as DNC and random quote: I would disagree.

The random quote of the moment and the DYK trivia maintains itself. I mean... users just add stuff to it when they notice something cool. I don't think users spend their time adding to it. The same with trivia; people usually add things if they find it interesting. The DNC does have some maintenance, but it's all done by staff and held regularly for the benefit of the wiki.

The quiz requires people to think up questions, and perhaps design it including images and everything else. It would take a longer time to create and isn't just something "additional", people would have to create with that as their focus alone. I don't think we should encourage that.

Of course, I don't know how it works entirely. Whether you add a number of questions, and then those taking the quiz randoms from a group, you make a number of quizzes (I started the Diablo one twice and saw the same question), but I don't think this is worth users time.

Whether it is beneficial to the wiki, I don't know, but I feel creating the quizzes would take time (and encourage taking time) from users to create them. 79.69.196.99 19:58, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

		Jimcloud TALK - 19:59, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		Nope. Never mind. I would like to flip my position completely now. Upon looking more closely at the Diablo quiz, unlike the Endless Quiz once featured in FFXIclopedia, there is no way to submit or edit or remove questions (I can't even find a way to check the history), and furthermore, there appears to be some sort of adlink thing at the end of the quiz where they're linking to three different things that I guess they're advertising? To me, this sounds like a way to introduce ads to registered users, which is something I would call.. frustrating. That said, I can deal with the latter, but Wikia will have to implement the former before I change my position on this. Not being able to change anything about something on our space without submitting it to Wikia for approval is not my idea of a good time.

		Keltainentoukokuu - OH YEAH AWESOME TALK - Keltainentoukokuu 20:08, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		I've heard the Harry Potter Wiki has a daily quiz via Twitter that is popular among people. That's not a terrible idea is it? We don't have a Twitter following though, but even if not via Twitter, people like things like that. It can be encouraged to use the wiki to find the answer even. Like a little treasure hunt.

		Catuse says at 20:18, June 16, 2012 (UTC) "Somewhere a zealous god threads these strings between the clouds and the earth, preparing for a symphony it fears impossible to play. And so it threads on, and on, delaying the raise of the conductor's baton."
		That's actually a pretty good idea. We have a Twitter but it hasn't been used in almost a year and a half. We have not one, but two Facebook pages, both unused. And if nobody has the password to either, we could always use Blogspace (don't like this idea) or use Javascript (which would be a good idea... but does anybody here know Javascript?) This quiz feature seems rather meeeeeeeeh, for all the reasons mentioned above. How hard can it be to make our own, and do it like the DYK, where people can come up with questions when they feel like, rather than actively working to make it better (which, as several users pointed out, takes lots of time).

		Keltainentoukokuu - OH YEAH AWESOME TALK - Keltainentoukokuu 20:31, June 16, 2012 (UTC)
		I feel iffy about having links to those dead features on the mainpage. Either revive them or drop them, I say... I think we could have a good thing going if there was interest in forming some kind of social media staff to do it. Sure there's the argument that it would take time away from editing the mainspace buuuuut why does it have to be either or... There might be people who don't care about editing, but would like to do social media stuff. Then everyone's skills would be utilised and no one would lose out! But that's only if there was any interest; it's bound to fail if you just try putting something together with a half-interested management. Another thing that would be fun would be to have like a contest of any kind and a winner wins a prize wheeeeeeee. But that's probably illegal, you know, stupid laws.

I personally have no interest in the wiki becoming a thing outside of the wiki itself. I don't think the wiki should have a Twitter, a Facebook, or maintain a YouTube "personality".

All wiki things should be on-wiki. Plz? 79.69.196.99 22:32, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

Social Networking is one way to generate more readers to the wiki. More readers means more editors, and more editors means better wiki. It's practically free advertising for us.

Anyway, after reading everybody's views, it seems like the quiz is a good idea that's been very poorly implemented. Is it just me, or am I getting an incredible feeling of deja vu? Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 22:50, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

EDIT: In fact, if we ever restart the Twitter Feed and Facebook updates, I've got a few ideas on what to do. For example, on Twitter if we limit our feed to wiki updates (such as Featured Article, Featured Image, DNC, new walkthroughs etc.) any Final Fantasy news via Shinra News, and maybe the odd trivia thrown in for good measure (like a weekly quiz question?) then I think that it would be a big hit. I don't mind helping out on the twitter side. Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 23:02, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

That seems like a pretty good idea. If nothing else, it makes the main page, which currently links to not-updated social networking thingies, more professional.

We should probably also link to pertinent RTA topics in there that newbies can give their opinions on, e.g. deciding colorschemes and stuff. It would be helpful to have their opinions, too.C A T U S E 23:10, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

I would like that if it worked as smooth as you say. For it to work nice wouldn't they all need to update the same time in both Twitter and here? Like probably no big deal for Diablo to update both Twitter and main page for featured article, but what about Shinra News?Keltainentoukokuu 23:22, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

Technically it's possible to make it so he doesn't even have to update the main page, but that's not the point. As for Shinra News, somebody with the password can do it every time somebody updates Shinra News. It's not as though that happens often.C A T U S E 23:26, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

But as 24h Twitter coverage is not possible a lag between the two could still look bad, nobody wants any "hey guys have you heard of these yesterdays news!" tweets. One potential upside having Twitter following could be that when there is news people might tweet us even? And then we could be like, hey news! And update. I have to say though I don't really know much about Twitter. Keltainentoukokuu 23:39, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

There's a way to automatically post something to Facebook from Twitter/Twitter from Facebook. Would there be a way to post something to Facebook/Twitter from wiki? That would be sexy.

Can anyone make a script? No? Oh. 79.69.196.99 23:42, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

Maybe not here but if it works then some other wiki might have it where we could get it, or Wikia staff might know. They always claim they will help if you ask, so who knows huh. If we had an active Twitter could we then like "affiliate" with Wikia Gaming Twitter or official Square Enix Twitter, or something like that? *Twitter noob*Keltainentoukokuu 23:48, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

w:forum:index - for all your "help me staff members" needs.C A T U S E 23:51, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

(EDIT CONFLICT) Well, we can do the best we can to minimise the gap between wiki update and Twitter update. Either way, there should be a few people who can update it, preferably spread over different timezones. Facebook included. Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 23:57, June 16, 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, so then when something is updated five different people all try and get onto it as fast as they can. 79.69.196.169 19:16, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

Out of interest, does anybody know who knows the password for our Facebook and Twitter accounts? Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 18:08, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

I'm guessing Bluerfn.Keltainentoukokuu 18:10, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

Well, what I propose is that we trial it, get about three or four people to help update Facebook and Twitter and see how it goes for about a month. If nobody likes/follows them, or if the gap between wiki update and Facebook/Twitter update is too long, then we will know that is isn't working and we'll just scrap it and remove the links off the main page. I would say an acceptable "gap margin" is about 3-4 hours. If we can keep to that (or better it), and if we really push and advertise the feeds on the wiki, then it may come off. Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 18:21, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

I use Facebook very frequently if that helps. I can update things for you. Tia-Lewise 18:26, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

I think we're on to something here. Here's HPWiki's Twitter feed. As you can see they have birthdays of characters and such also listed out, along with HP events (similar to Shinra News? probably.C A T U S E 18:40, June 18, 2012 (UTC)

I like that idea. I'm in the process of creating a forum thread on how we are going to implement it all. Jeppo (Talk | contribs) 19:11, June 18, 2012 (UTC)