Memory Alpha:Announcements/Star Trek release announcement

May 8th, 2009 saw the release of, the latest Star Trek film, produced and directed by J.J. Abrams. Memory Alpha has been preparing for the release for some time now, creating articles on the actors and production staff involved in this new adventure. But now, it's time for new in-universe content to be created...

So, what does this mean for you, the editors and readers of Memory Alpha?

Spoilers
As our says, Memory Alpha contains spoilers for all released material.

However, because the release of took place nearly simultaneously across the world, the community has taken the decision to lock the English edition of Memory Alpha to editing from 2000 UTC on May 6th until 0400 UTC on May 9th, in order to allow the users of Memory Alpha time to see the film without having to worry about being spoiled before it was (technically) released.

With the site now reopened, we warn all readers and editors that articles will contain spoilers for . Articles which contain spoilers should carry the following banner:

to alert you to the fact that information from the new film is present on that page. Articles where only a small section is of relevance will also have the following notation:

as a final reminder.

A warning, though: we may not be able to catch everything. With the level of editing we are anticipating, some things may slip through the net. So, if you still haven't seen the film, remain cautious.

Articles
Characters who exist in the "Prime" timeline (i.e. the timeline of The Original Series) who have extensive information from the film to be added currently go on a separate page, with the disambiguator (alternate reality).

Discussion is still ongoing following the film's release, and an channel specifically for this purpose (#memory-alpha-spoilers) has been created, so that the ordinary #memory-alpha channel remains as spoiler-free as possible. Any relevant or useful information from the channel contributed during the lock-down can be found on a Ten Forward page. Discussion will likely continue in both venues, as well as talk pages generally. Anything policy-shaping will be communicated as widely as possible.

This will not happen overnight, so we ask that you take care when adding new information. Remember these key points:


 * Check to see if what you're adding is already on the site - see if you can improve what's there if so!
 * Check you're putting it in the right place and under the right name
 * Above all, check what you're writing is accurate!

Remember, there is no rush, no need to be the first person to write something about a character. All work gets edited by someone at some point. A well-considered, well-written contribution is much more rewarding (and much more helpful to other users) than one dashed off in thirty seconds without so much as a spellcheck!

We are expecting things to be extremely busy over the next few days and weeks, and hope you will bear with us as we all absorb the events of the film, and work out how they fit into the grand scale of Star Trek.

Apart from that, we hope you enjoy the show, and may The Future Begin...

-- The administrators and editors of Memory Alpha, 07:56, 9 May 2009 (UTC)


 * For the version of this announcement that appeared before the release of the film, see /prerelease version.