What happened to Memory Beta?

[TheAlmanac]

The only good fan wiki left is the Transformers one... they were wise to get off Wikia when they could.

Wikis with a smaller hardcore fanbase (and far less power-tripping) can still be fun. I've done a fair amount of editing on the Indiana Jones Wiki recently, where the more laidback attitude is a serious advantage.

CaptainMike took over MB and turned it into his own petty fiefdom. I occasionally go back and add things now and then, but avoiding CM's abuse is a headache.

I only edit Real World articles there anymore--adding and updating author entries, mostly, and even then just once in a while. He doesn't seem to pay attention to those.

 

[KRAD]

Yeah, there was a time when I used both Memory Alpha and Memory Beta as a resource, but I've found that MA is more useful than MB, even for tie-in stuff.

 

[Leto_II]

In my experience, the Doctor Who wiki is also run by humorless admins more interested in their own proclamations than anything else.

The first Battlestar Galactica Wikia-site was exactly like this too, with the head admin (Joe Beaudoin, Jr.) having an extremely narrow view of what constituted "true" BSG, and dickishly insisted on segregating comics and novels set in the RDM-continuity into a completely separate, unrelated "reality" (unlike Memory Beta, which, while acknowledging that the Trek TV shows and movies have primacy, still treated offscreen sources as a legitimate extension of that same reality).

Basically, he hated the novels and comics, and viewed them as hackwork (and probably still does).

 

[JD]

I and several others here (@Sci @JD and @Mr. Laser Beam to name a few) used to post at memory beta all the time back when it was known as the non-canon Star Trek wiki. Speaking for myself, Captain Mike's attitude and at times, dare I say, his sheer fucking hubris, was enough to make me leave and never look back. It was once a very fun, friendly place to congregate and share your obscure Star Trek knowledge or keep updated on the latest releases. Captain Mike sucked all the fun out of it with his obsessive behavior and abrasive attitude.

I've created a few articles for MB, but never get involved in the behind-the-scenes stuff. I might be an administrator, I'm not sure actually.

I think MB has too much information now, most of it contradictory. I'd like to disambiguate the character article pages into something like the Star Wars wiki does, the canon information on one page and information from the novels in another.

Memory Omega never really took off which is a pity, although I would prefer it as it omits information from Star Trek Online and the other video games.

People are including stuff from the games on Memory Omega? I thought the whole point of that one was that it was just books and comics?
I keep meaning to work on more articles for Memory Omega, but I always forget about. I keep hoping more people would come over there, because there only seems to be about 3 or 4 people working on it.

 

[Jarvisimo]

I mean I'm proud of some of my edits on memory beta (hopefully still there!), on the Cardassia war, on Garak, and others. Now curious to see if so

 

[David cgc]

The first Battlestar Galactica Wikia-site was exactly like this too, with the head admin (Joe Beaudoin, Jr.) having an extremely narrow view of what constituted "true" BSG, and dickishly insisted on segregating comics and novels set in the RDM-continuity into a completely separate, unrelated "reality" (unlike Memory Beta, which, while acknowledging that the Trek TV shows and movies have primacy, still treated offscreen sources as a legitimate extension of that same reality).

Basically, he hated the novels and comics, and viewed them as hackwork (and probably still does).

Now that BSGWiki is coming back, it has become even more finely divided but, without knowing of any behind-the-scenes drama, I rather support it. The BSG Wiki is keeping track of two entirely contradictory mainline continuities in the 1978 and 2003 shows, and the fact they it comprehensively aims to include multiple conflicting comics, novels, and video games, I think having multiple duplicate articles for each ongoing, self-contained concern is probably the way to go (it's basically a less elegant version of Wookiepedia's "Canon" and "Legends" tab system), rather than the smashed-together jumble on MB.

 

[JD]

Yeah, the whole smashed together jumble of Memory Beta is my biggest issue with it, and it lead to me getting into a massive argument with a bunch of the editors on there when I said I thought it would be better to separate everything. If I remember correctly that incident was actually part of what lead to the creation of Memory Omega.

 

[Extrocomp]

People are including stuff from the games on Memory Omega? I thought the whole point of that one was that it was just books and comics?

DS9forever said that Memory Omega "omits information from Star Trek Online and the other video games". The word 'omits' means 'leaves out'.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I really do miss the old days of Memory Beta. I much preferred it to Alpha, back then, all things considered, but since most of the other mods have either drifted off because of real life, or been driven off due to conflict, it really has become a one-man show, and that's unfortunate. I still pop in and edit things when I can, but it's spotty and dealing with differences of opinion over there is always a battle.

MA administration, honestly, has seemed to go a lot more draconian the last few years, as well.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Yeah, Memory Alpha moderation seems to have picked up a weird and questionable quirk or two as well - I remember seeing a link on the page for The Enterprise War that linked to the Memory Beta article for the Pergamum, which is a page that doesn’t presently exist. When I tried to delete it, it got restored, on the basis that such a page might exist in the future. I just didn’t consider it worth it to make an issue of it, but... Here we are, several months later, still no MB Pergamum article, and the link is still there.

 

[Bell'Orso]

OK, so I took notice of the recent drama on MB, then came here (oh my, it's been a while) to see if anything is being said about it here, and saw my name being mentioned. So I thought I would point out one small thing: I was made an admin by Mike because I kept bugging him about moving / merging stuff and I guess he was fed up with that and wanted me to do it myself.

However, I never saw myself as an admin. I can't keep a community going. I'm more of a fixer. All I want is to add and / or correct info in the database. And I myself have been told off by Mike plenty of times, so you can see why I wouldn't want to be more deeply involved. I'm completely onboard with Sci.

 

[Extrocomp]

OK, so I took notice of the recent drama on MB, then came here (oh my, it's been a while) to see if anything is being said about it here, and saw my name being mentioned. So I thought I would point out one small thing: I was made an admin by Mike because I kept bugging him about moving / merging stuff and I guess he was fed up with that and wanted me to do it myself.

However, I never saw myself as an admin. I can't keep a community going. I'm more of a fixer. All I want is to add and / or correct info in the database. And I myself have been told off by Mike plenty of times, so you can see why I wouldn't want to be more deeply involved. I'm completely onboard with Sci.

Hi Bell'Orso. Can you please remove the protections captainmike has placed on the namespaces of the Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped stories? He put these namespaces under protection because he thinks they are not actual stories, but merely "anecdotes" or "chapters".

I have countered each one of his arguments on the talk page and on the deletion page, and I've explained that they are complete stories, but captainmike remains unconvinced (I don't think he's even read the book). Other users have agreed with me. Captainmike has also indicated that he doesn't like these stories because they are parodies, but since they are licensed parodies, I believe they deserve a place on Memory Beta.

 

[Therin of Andor]

When I tried to delete it, it got restored, on the basis that such a page might exist in the future. I just didn’t consider it worth it to make an issue of it, but... Here we are, several months later, still no MB Pergamum article, and the link is still there.

Nah, that is a sensible way to do it. I have often added info when I noticed a link on MB going nowhere, but on a topic that I was knowledgeable about. Without it being a link, it goes unnoticed.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Nah, that is a sensible way to do it. I have often added info when I noticed a link on MB going nowhere, but on a topic that I was knowledgeable about. Without it being a link, it goes unnoticed.

Yeah, that's pretty standard.

 

[Bell'Orso]

Hi Bell'Orso. Can you please remove the protections captainmike has placed on the namespaces of the Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped stories? He put these namespaces under protection because he thinks they are not actual stories, but merely "anecdotes" or "chapters".

I have countered each one of his arguments on the talk page and on the deletion page, and I've explained that they are complete stories, but captainmike remains unconvinced (I don't think he's even read the book). Other users have agreed with me. Captainmike has also indicated that he doesn't like these stories because they are parodies, but since they are licensed parodies, I believe they deserve a place on Memory Beta.

As I have stated, I really do not want to get involved in any disputes over policies over at MB. So unfortunately I will not be messing with article protections, sorry.

My advice is to just keep your heads down and cherry-pick the edits you can and want to make.

 

[JD]

DS9forever said that Memory Omega "omits information from Star Trek Online and the other video games". The word 'omits' means 'leaves out'.

I know what omits means, I thought he said he would prefer it it if omited stuff from the video games.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

To address NetSpiker's concerns, there's an ongoing discussion (not an argument), over at https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Memory_Beta:Pages_for_deletion/Warped_sections . If anyone would care to weigh in with an opinion, it would be much appreciated.

I don't want NetSpiker getting shafted because there's only Mike commenting, and my own position is divided on the issue.

The main crux of the issue is whether the "episode summaries" in Warped can be considered individual stories as in a fiction anthology, or if they're just that, "episode summaries" in an "episode guide" for a fictional season. The book is presented as a reference book, the same way Federation: The First 150 Years is, though as a parody. A fictional reference, which normally doesn't get separate articles for individual sections. But if they are just episode guide sections, then the separate articles for Phase II episodes from Phase II: The Lost Series that weren't published as full scripts should also probably be removed. We can't have it both ways, and it feels like Mike wants to. So more input would be appreciated.

 

[JD]

Is Memory Beta just completely ignoring Picard? I looked around on the pages for Picard and Riker and didn't see any mention of anything from Picard, Picard: Countdown or The Last Best Hope there.

 

[Christopher]

Is Memory Beta just completely ignoring Picard? I looked around on the pages for Picard and Riker and didn't see any mention of anything from Picard, Picard: Countdown or The Last Best Hope there.

I've found its coverage of a lot of recent things to be spotty at best. I've come upon a number of articles that were out of date and didn't mention things from the past few years' worth of books and comics.

 

[Starbreaker]

Memory Beta is not a person or a company. Go make the edits!