I just meant that it's quicker, that's all. As for the wikis, there are usually enough people on the sites that when something inaccurate pops up, it's corrected pretty quickly, especially when it comes to things like Trek.
ST Chronology Updated Version???
- Thread starter bionicbob
- Start date
I still use the Chronology and Encyclopedia.
I do as well.
I would prefer that there still be hardcopy/bound/printed version of these books despite the existence of Memory Alpha/Memory Beta or whatever. Those websites are fine and all, but they are transient. What if the site crashes? I still have the book on the shelf. Then there is the issue of users being able to manipulate the content at pretty much anytime for pretty much any reason. I don't like the potential degrade of information content that implies. I don't need access to inaccurate info just because some fan in Sphincter Falls, Wyoming takes issue with the latest interpretation of this that or the other.
You'll get my books when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands.
I would prefer that there still be hardcopy/bound/printed version of these books despite the existence of Memory Alpha/Memory Beta or whatever. Those websites are fine and all, but they are transient. What if the site crashes? I still have the book on the shelf. Then there is the issue of users being able to manipulate the content at pretty much anytime for pretty much any reason. I don't like the potential degrade of information content that implies. I don't need access to inaccurate info just because some fan in Sphincter Falls, Wyoming takes issue with the latest interpretation of this that or the other.
You'll get my books when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands.
Most likely, its contents will be restored from backup within hours. What if your book falls apart or is lost in a fire? You'd have to buy a new one; you couldn't just reload a backup.
But any inaccuracy introduced by one user can be corrected by anyone who catches it, so wikis tend to be self-correcting. In a printed book, errors are permanent, such as "Neela Daren" and "ShirKahr" in the ST Encyclopedia and "Joseph Boyce" and "Constellation Class" in the ST Concordance. Errors in print can be perpetuated for years, even decades, until a new edition or new book comes along to correct them -- by which point the errors will probably have been repeated in other sources. On a wiki, an error or falsehood can be corrected in minutes.
Of course wikis have problems, but so does every other reference source in human history. Just because two formats are different doesn't mean that one is intrinsically superior to the other. It just means they have their own distinct strengths and drawbacks.
^ "ShirKahr" was used again as you said, it was the name of a Miranda class ship in "Tears of the the Prophets".
Exactly, and during the frantic days of two or more books per month, the Star Trek Office had mandated that whenever authors and editors had a question while writing/editing, the ST Encyclopedia and Chronology should inform their research, and be treated as definitive. At one point, author corrections made to novel manuscripts (that disagreed with those two non fiction resources) were being corrected back to the wrong spellings in the interest of attempted conformity.
I love my Encyclopedia, but I admit I haven't picked it up in years. And mine is the first edition. I would have picked up that second one they made, but I didn't like that the new stuff was added in an addendum; I thought that was pretty dumb. So I waited, but a new one never came. They definitely need an ultimate version. And I'm excited for the new technical manual.
Regardless, there needs to be a definitive version.
there are 3 versions, a first, a second and a 2.5 with the addendum. likewise, i refused to buy the 2.5 ed, wanting a proper 3.0 version.
Hey, hey, hey, pal; no denigrating the good people of Sphincter Falls here...go to TNZ for that!
Sounds like a good place for Denise Crosby to go to for "Trekkies 3", though...
Accommodation is tight, I hear.
Which is why there is no 3.0 version. If a book doesn't sell despite the publisher compromising on format to keep the price affordable (which is what the Pocket folks told us was happening when 2.5 came out), there isn't going to be a next one.
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