WikiBound:General Update 2024
Hello to all editors and readers of WikiBound. As you might have seen recently, there have been a lot of changes going on recently in terms of the state of the site and how we are presenting content to you. Over the past several weeks, we have been hard at work behind the scenes to bring WikiBound up to date and make it better than ever before, which has come with a large list of changes. There is a lot to go over, but it is all very important. Reading each section below is highly encouraged as decisions made will impact all users.
New hosting
WikiBound has parted ways with the Grifkuba network after 14 years of service. We thank Grifkuba and its various members for their years of effort. This leads to our new hosts System Theta. Through System Theta, WikiBound anticipates to have more consistent uptime, faster loading times, and most importantly: No more advertisements on site. Period. We truly believe this is the best course of action moving into the future for our users to have the most optimal viewing experience.
New ways to connect
WikiBound has historically been split with Discord use between NIWA and the wiki group ABXY. Instead, there is now a dedicated server for WikiBound editing, which can be joined by reading WikiBound:Discord. Having a dedicated Discord allows for more detailed conversations, more casual discussions, and hopefully fewer notification pings!
New tools
With better hardware and software comes better tools for users to use. Some of the examples of new features WikiBound has are as follows:
This tool helps editors complete links they're trying to get to while they are typing.
Syntax highlighting for editing is finally here!
Logged-in users can now hide the site notice banner at the top of pages, until it gets changed.
- Better spam protection
For a more secure, stable, and spam-free experience.
This is only the start of features being added to WikiBound. If you'd like to suggest any new ones, let us know on the central talk page or our Discord.
New text license
Formerly content on WikiBound was released under the Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. This license did not provide a lot of protections for WikiBound and its editors, and current staff have considered it to be too open-ended. Fortunately due to the open nature of the BY license, this has led to a complete re-licensing of all site content on WikiBound. Instead, starting today (April 29, 2024), ALL WikiBound written material is being hosted through the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Ultimately, this gives both contributing editors and WikiBound more control over how their work is used, ensuring that their work stays within a system that requires attribution (credit) for their work, as well as better enabling the site to take action against people who are attempting to plagiarize the hard work of its contributors. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 is also a more commonly used license, which allows for more material to be shared across various wikis and websites. This upgraded license is also somewhat more internationally friendly, which can help expand our editor base to be globally inclusive.
New file management
The files on WikiBound formerly used a two header system, with manually written descriptions, categories, and a dozen licensing templates. Instead, this system has been replaced with the new File template, which helps users automatically license and categorize files based off their inputs. This system will automatically be added to all new uploads, and its use will help keep site materials organized. Please take a look through the documentation for this template in order to best learn how to use it. As the system continues to be implemented, some category structures are also shifting to be more representative of the materials they cover.
Staff reorganization
Previously since 2020, WikiBound staff had four primary staff positions: Editor-in-Chief, Bureaucrat, Administrator, and Oddball. Starting today, these positions will be dropping to three: Bureaucrat, Administrator, and Oddball. The reasons for eliminating the Editor-in-Chief position is due to observation that the role both here and elsewhere is often turbulent, meaning a lot of time is spent deciding the next Editor-in-Chief instead of more productive wiki contribution, as well as the belief that having a specialized "board of directors" where each member tends to have a primary strength is a more inclusive, democratic, and sensible pick for our platform. At the time of writing, the two Bureaucrats are Trig Jegman and Ultimate Toad.
New designs
Plans are underway to update WikiBound's existing skins, change it's default viewing skin, and add some new options for viewing as well. Some templates and the main page may also be changed. We hope for a cleaner viewing experience this way, as well as hopefully adding a native dark mode or dark mode options for editors. Want to suggest changes to the viewing experience? Tell us on the central talk page or our Discord.
Message from the Staff
We want to thank all editors, readers, and Mother fans for their continued support over the past 14 years of WikiBound's time on the internet. With these new changes being implemented, the future looks very bright for the site to be the best it has ever been, and to continue to be the best resource on all things Mother. For those not yet a member of the site, we hope you will choose to join us on this journey. For those that are, we can't wait to see what pages you'll make next.
—Trig Jegman and the rest of the WikiBound team.
