User:Logan 5

Approach and Identify

 * Major Contributions:
 * I wrote a ton of stuff for the Ferengi main page, and created or did major edits on lot of the pages that are particular to that species. I also did a lot of work on Nog but so did a lot of other people.


 * Transporter is the most recent major article I helped on. I especially like organizing the larger articles into better structure for reading.  The nature of a wiki like MA is that lots of users tend to tack or paste things onto articles and not always into the best places for future reading.


 * Aside from those 3 articles, all of which are now Featured Articles I've done this and that on species like Trill and Cardassians and some characters like Jadzia Dax and Minuet.


 * Minor Contributions:
 * I like to fill out characters and references from overlooked early-season episodes such as, , or , as well as forgotten mid-series TNG eps like or .  Most of my DS9 stuff is 3rd season onward.  I also dig scanning episodes and movies for glimpses of rarely seen species, like Caitians, or Kasheeta, or Zaranites.


 * Next Big Project
 * I'm thinking...


 * Favorite series:
 * Next Generation


 * Favorite species:
 * Trill, Andorians and Ferengi


 * Least favorite species:
 * Cardassian, Romulan.


 * Species that should be more developed in the next show or movie:
 * Bolians, Betelgeusians, and Saurians


 * Why my user page is so lame with just text and all.
 * Because I do website stuff all day. This is my time.  It's MY time down here!

Memory Alpha
It's my user page, right? I gotta say I like Memory Alpha. Of course it's easy to admit that on Memory Alpha. Elsewhere in my circles it would draw jests at the least, derision if we're lucky and in the mood for some bloodsport.

Even so, and still, it's a cool project. Mostly because it tends to draw a particular type of person: one who obsesses with detail over things and has decided to focus at least part of that on the world of Star Trek. And count me among them. Oh yes.

I get a kick out of seeing articles grow and people I've never met contribute. It's a poor substitution for other pursuits I neglect, but that's no judgement on the work or the quality of it. Check out, as a for-instance, Miss Langford's House of Pleasure. Totally useless article in just an existential sense of the thing. But I wrote it, and within a few days someone else has added a picture and a link and so it begins. Where else?

But why do it? We can't kid ourselves it's actually important. But maybe some day when Paramount starts a new Trek series, they'll realize we've already written their bible for them and all the references they need to avoid confusion and contradiction, interesting places and aliens for story ideas, and such.

How hard is that Paramount? Think you cand do that? Maybe it's pandering to Trek fans, but it will make the series better. It could provide a richly detailed setting for your characters and you can create drama from...characterization maybe? It's just a thought.

"On Screen"
Colony. What is up with this laaaaaaame page? This could be so much more.

And I swear I'll get to it one day...

Who's a fellow got to bribe around here?
Let's talk a little about the Ferengi shall we? These guys get no respect. In all the history of MA how many Ferengi articles have been featured articles? I count zero. Why? you ask. Because people just don't like the Ferengi. Not all of the articles are perfect, granted. But the species page has been nominated more than once and rejected each time for new reasons while other species pages, with far less content and far less referential material, are passed through. Clearly we have an anti-Ferengi mindset. Why is that? Well, a few reasons: First, the Ferengi aren't the most admired species in Trek history for sure. Second, they are featured in more than a couple of the "Worst. Episode. Ever." debates and not without reason. But overlooked in all of this is the fact that the Ferengi represent one of the best efforts by producers to create a race with a real difference in values. It seems pretty evident they succeeded given that practically no one relates to the Ferengi and yet the reward is relegating them to the "what a lame species" pile of Trek history. C'est la vie. //13-Sep-05
 * Congrats to the voters who actually had the lobes to vote the Ferengi article (and before that the Nog article) as an FA. Huzzah!

Minor threat
I'm not sure but I don't think that the FA process gets a lot of attention from most users. That's a shame because I think it's one of the coolest things about MA, the ability to really highlight certain aspects of Trek and generate content from all kinds of users.

One of the things I don't like about it though, is that a lot of users tend to focus on what I think of as easier articles. Mostly these are minor characters that people really like because of the episode they were in or what have you. They don't require as much research, don't have as much content, and don't offer a casual user as much opportunity to explore MA. A lot of times there's nothing to add to the character that you can't get out of someone saying "yeah, and then this other character did X". There's no insight into the character, the universe of Trek, or anything beyond a recap of the plot or actions on the screen. It's a fine distinction that I haven't managed to convey successfully to a lot of users but, seriously, the idea that any article has FA potential is a bit like saying anyone can be a novelist, or President. It's a nice sentiment, but if we have any standards about things it's just not true.

More to the point, just because an article reads well and is complete doesn't, in my mind, make it worthy of FA. There has to be something more there, and in a lot of cases there isn't. But people like what they like so what are we to do? //02-Dec-05