Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

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Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki
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Hi All,

I'd like to talk to you about this wiki's address, which is a little unusual. Memory Beta is not a wiki about canon Star Trek, but it has the URL startrek.wikia. That means if someone is looking for the mainstream facts, they are quite likely to get confused and lost. The wiki also contrasts with Memory Alpha in not having its URL match the Memory Beta name.

So we need to switch the URL from startrek.wikia to something more Memory-Beta specific. One possibility is memory-beta.wikia.com, but other variations could work too. Startrek.wikia.com will be used to point to a portal for all the various Star Trek wikis on Wikia. The update to the main domain name will happen on February 4 and the old domain will stay as a redirect until March to allow everyone to update their bookmarks.

I know this is a change, but it will make a big difference in helping people find exactly what they want among all of the great Star Trek wikis on Wikia.

Thanks, - sannse (talk) 10:06, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I see no reason to change anything. Memory Alpha was there first, but it didn't get this URL, Memory Beta did. The information that Memory Beta provides is no less valid or accurate, in general, than the information that Memory Alpha provides. The only difference is that Memory Alpha sticks to the canon (except for TAS) and Memory Beta doesn't -- that doesn't mean they deserve preferential treatment or deserve to be treated like they're the "real" Star Trek wiki while we are not. We're both legitimate Star Trek wikis, and Memory Beta makes it clear on its opening page that it deals in novels and comics and games as well as the canon. -- Sci 15:11 28 JAN 2009 UTC
I must admit I am skeptical about the move myself, and it really was a cock-up by the people who assigned the URL in the first place. While I don't buy the fact that visitors are confused by the URL's by the various sites as all four (five?) Trek related wikis have their "mission statement" emboldened on the Main Page. However, if this move was to guarantee more traffic for Memory Beta then I reluctantly support it, but I doubt it. But, I suppose its out of our hands as everything seems to have been decided. --The Doctor 15:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
As a total aside, MA got its URL because that was its URL pre-Wikia. When Wikia "absorbed" it, the URL was simply transferred over. -- sulfur 16:36, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Hrm... thought. Currently, [[w:c:startrek]] links to Memory Beta from other Wikia wikis. Will that stay consistent, or will that change to something else? -- sulfur 16:56, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Good point. Presumably, that would now link to this portal page, so the links would have to be updated manually. --The Doctor 18:30, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
We will set it so they continue working. So [[w:c:startrek]] will still direct here as it did, as well as the new interwiki based on the URL. If that has to change any time in the future, we will help with finding and fixing links, but I don't think that will be needed - sannse (talk) 09:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

It is rather unfortunate the opening statement does indeed seem to imply we are some sort of second rate wiki compared to the real Trek-wiki: Memory Alpha. However I can see the logic in our current url being used for a portal to all the various Trek-wikis. I would hope that when that change is made the portal page doesn't do a good a job of making Memory Alpha sound important and Memory Beta some silly nothing... --8of5 17:46, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

While I understand the underlying reason of having consistent addresses (btw - why doesn't someone take over memory-beta.org?), I doubt that a mere number of 3 ST wikis justifies a "Startrek portal"... changing the address is quite a big step, and I'd rather favour a permanent box or something right at the top of all of MA, MB and the fan-fic wiki - a box that will in brief words explain the purpose of the three different wikis. (Gosh, are we wiki-users conservative.... ;) -- Tkhobbes 21:41, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
For what it's worth, it sounds like a very strange idea to make "startrek.wikia.com" a portal page (with the reasoning that, apparently, our userbase suddenly no longer knows how to find their favourite wiki), while at the same time keeping the "startrek" interwiki links pointing to MB.
On the other hand, I'm sure we (at MA) wont go out of our way to make our own main page a portal for every obscure Star Trek wikia that someone got approved and then lost interest in after two weeks (Note: This description definitely does NOT include MB or STEU ;)) - so if Wikia wants to have a startrek portal page, it will be somewhere at *.wikia.com. Still, I wonder if shoving a well-established wiki aside will really be in the interest of any of the parties involved. -- Cid Highwind 23:35, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
As a "newbie" to this site, but a life long trek fan, I had no problem distinguishing between Memory Beta and Memory Alpha. I think we need to leave the links the way they are, rather than making things more confusing. Another thing to remember is that many of us in the world get to where we want online by means of search engines, like Google. If the site were changed to a new location, it wouldn't necessarily appear at the top of a search as it does now, because 'hits' on the searches determine which pages appear on the search results screen. Sometimes change for the sake of doing it is not always the best thing. – Commander Phoenix 19:20, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
I'm going to agree that the URL change seems rather pointless.--Long Live the United Earth 20:23, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
If it wasn't for this very problem, I might never have found this site in the first place. Keep it. – AT2Howell 02:58, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Cid, the URL for the portal will be http://entertainment.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek . There's the start to the portal there now, although startrek.wikia won't point to it just yet. Tomorrow's change will just make startrek.wikia redirect to memory-beta.wikia, which will stay in place for about a month. That will give Google time to reindex, and everyone time to change their bookmarks. -- sannse (talk) 20:03, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

<sarcasm>See everybody its nice to know that the opinions of the users and visitors of Memory Beta are listened to and appreciated by wikia.<sarcasm> Not even one word of acknowledgment to our concerns :( –-The Doctor 20:49, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
I thought this was a discussion, and that we had a choice in the matter. Apparently, they were "telling us in the form of a question." Bureaucracy makes me sick. --TimPendragon 21:55, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
I think it was a "informing us in a way that invited discussion" thing.--Long Live the United Earth 22:14, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
My day job is working in government beaurocracy-- this makes me feel like I'm still at work! :( :( :( – Commander Phoenix 03:17, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
BTW, does this mean Wookiepedia is the next in line? I'm sure they are "misusing" the starwars subdomain just as much, if not more, seeing that there are about a bazillion different Star Wars wikis: w:Category:Star Wars. I'm sure contributors over there would be very interested in knowing that, but I couldn't find any active discussion about it. If not, what makes starwars.wikia so special in contrast to startrek.wikia? -- Cid Highwind 11:32, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

We are reading and considering all comments. But yes, this is something that has to happen rather than a matter for community vote. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear enough in my original message.

Our usual pattern of URLs is for the canon wiki to have the most obvious URL (as Wookieepedia does), and in retrospect we should have set startrek.wikia to redirect to Memory Alpha when they moved to Wikia. That is not meaning any disrespect to Memory Beta, or to any other non-canon or fanon wiki, but a having the URLs as consistent as possible helps everyone. The portal should be a good compromise that helps people find all the Star Trek wikis as easily as possible. -- sannse (talk) 17:52, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Just for curiosity reasons - when you say this "has to happen" - who is in charge of deciding this? -- Tkhobbes 20:46, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
A lot of people at Wikia were involved in discussing what was needed. The final decision was Gil's (Wikia's CEO) . -- sannse (talk) 16:45, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
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