Talk:Main Page/archive/2013/07

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New Wiki section Encyclopedia of Space Travel terms and topics related to KSP ("Encyclopedia" for short)

Considering everyone's desire to add pages defining every single concept and term used in KSP or this Wiki, we might want to make a section dedicated to that.

This would include some pages that contain lists of terms, but also have some pages dedicated to a single term of worthy note, like rocket engine or jet engine.

Each term should mainly be documented in context to its use in KSP, but for educational purposes would also include contrasting to real world rocketry and space travel, and a link to the usually more detailed, and technical, Wikipedia article on the real world equivalent.

The goal here would be to provide both a knowledge base, make it easier to read and write documentation (not having to worry about vocabulary issues), and to provide a way to make learning the game via this wiki a fun educational exploration of the concepts around space travel.

The easy way to expand this over time is simple: If you are a regular contributor, maintainer or moderator, and have to look up a term, and it's not in the encyclopedia, it should be recommended add it in the appropriate place in the encyclopedia.

The end goal of this project should be that exploring the documentation on this Wiki and learning about space travel in the process of planning your next KSP should be as fun and captivating as playing KSP. This will encourage users to spend hours planning fun and complex missions, and really learning about space travel in the process. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ruedii (talkcontribs)

Do you mean some kind of general "table of contents", split up into sections (mathematic terms, part types, spacecraft types, guides, etc.)? Because what you are saying is basically the purpose of this wiki. There is however no central "starting place", that is true. --dgelessus (talk · contribs) 15:46, 29 July 2013 (CDT)
Hmmm, there is already terminology with quite a list of terms. Although many pages are lacking categories which automatically would generate a list of terms of that kind (like Category:Physics?). Also you can search easily for a term (which would I define as “starting place”), so if you wondering how liquid fuel engines work, you can search for that. Of course if it is missing but you think there should be one and you have no idea about this topic (that why you were searching it here) it is hard to let other (maybe experienced) editors know about that missing article. — xZise [talk] 16:22, 29 July 2013 (CDT)
While it could be handled by various methods, either using the category system, or even using a separate wiki namespaces. The articles would obviously use a separate standard for writing method than for the direct game reference, as it would focus on general concepts, theories and terminology to provide the user with a better understanding of the general concepts behind space flight, as opposed to focusing on the information about the in-game assets in KSP, and functioning as a reference guide. The pages would have a generally different writing style than the in-game asset ones. However, as you mentioned, we may want to work on better organizing what we have before setting a roadmap to flush it out with new stuff. Do you think I should write a roadmap for better organization, and adding of category systems. I'll probably place it in my user namespace until it's flushed out, then see about moving it. Generally what I am proposing does, as the two of you suggested, consist of organizing the information we have, making it easier to find, setting more detailed standards and templates for future material, and flushing it out with more information.--Ruedii (talk) 22:54, 29 July 2013 (CDT)