How ok is it if I create lists of links or info about canon?

[sqbr]

Having just discovered this comm I thought I'd use it to ask about the two main questions which stop me editing.

When I can't find information on a subject and have to look it up myself I like to create a resource listing what I've found to help anyone else in the same boat. Fanlore should be a perfect place for this, but I find myself unsure as to whether or not my particular approach would be welcome.

First: How much information about canon should there be on pages about a fandom? I tend to know much more about canon than fandom for the stuff I like, and SOME info about canon is necessary to understand discussions of fandom, but I never know how much is too much. Are there examples of pages which get it right to work from?

Second: I'm a maths major. I like writing lists, in this cases lists of cool/relevant stuff I've found. But the Fanlore pages I've read seem more to be walls of text scattered with references rather than resources.

EDIT: Lists seem to be ok, sweet!

For example: For a long time I couldn't find any collected info about fancomics.
I made a page at Comixpedia with all the ones I could find (this is the old version).

Someone deleted the list. I was annoyed, but eventually inspired to create my own community to post them into, and then made a less list-y entry for this wiki which just links the community and some other places to get started.

Would my original list-y type of entry be unwelcome? Or would it be ok if I made it's own page "List of Fancomics"? (There's no point making a Category since none of them have their own page)

Specifically, would it be ok if I created a list of fanart gift exchanges and challenges? It took me ages to find any, and I'm sure other people would be interested, but I'm not sure Fanlore is the place to post such a list.

Are there any places on the wiki that would benefit from some of my link-collecting list-making tendencies? I make no guarantee that I'll be inspired to work on them but you never know :)

Comments

[rodo]

I think you should take a look at the way fanzines are added to the wiki, the lists are generally subpages of the fandom, so a list of fancomics could be a subpage for fancomics.

Any other thoughts?

[aethel]

agreed. Also, adding a shorter list of "notable" fancomics on the main page would not go amiss.

[sqbr]

Ok, cool, thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

I think lists are okay if it's information that is best conveyed in list form? Some existing lists:

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Usenet/List_of_Newsgroups
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Story_Tropes_By_Fandom
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Newsletter/Newsletter_Communities

Specifically, I think a list of exchanges and challenges would be v. useful! ;}

[sqbr]

Cool, thanks. Will get to it when I'm over this cold :)

[msilverstar]

Definitely go for listings of fancomics and of fanart gift exchanges and challenges listings. Lists are great!


Check out: http://fanlore.org/wiki/Remix

The individual remixes are not really worth a whole separate page unless there's something vital going on with them. I wish there was an automated way to stick them in the specific fandom page as well, but I don't think there is without individual pages.

[sqbr]

Yes, type of work vs fandom is one of those tricky categorisation things.

[sqbr]

Thanks. I guess I'll make the list and see how long it is!

Vis a vis canon--my best recollection

[cesperanza]

I'm not affiliated with the wikicomm, so I'm only speaking from what I remember of discussions I had as a Fanlore contributor, but I think that the consensus was that Fanlore wants LESS rather than MORE canon to the extent to which that door, once opened, could lead to a lot of duplication of extant factual canon wikis and even wikipedia (which has pretty detailed canon pages on loads of fannish shows/films/artworks/comics etc.)

The goal of Fanlore is to document fan activity, products, and communities rather than the OBJECTS of fannish attention, so that--like, as other commentators said: lists of zines, awesome; lists of all the events in canon where X happened; less awesome.

Now as you say, though, some canon is necessary to understand fandom, but I'd say a good rule of thumb is to write about the fannish thing and then tell only the amount of canon you need to explain it. So, like, if the thing you're writing about is a story or a vid or a controversy, the top level thing is to document THAT, and then say, only secondarily, "This story, like many popular stories, was a rewrite of episode x" or "That controversy wot I have just documented happened because of Issue 7, where..."or whatever. That seems safest to me, rather than trying to hit a fandom's "important" canon points without reference to fan ac; if they're important to fandom, there'll BE fanac and the fanac is the point, you know?

*hopes I've been clear and/or haven't beaten that horse to total death*

Re: Vis a vis canon--my best recollection

[sqbr]

Thanks, that has made it clearer.

[kass]

(Speaking purely as a periodic contributor :-)

How much information about canon should there be on pages about a fandom? I tend to know much more about canon than fandom for the stuff I like, and SOME info about canon is necessary to understand discussions of fandom, but I never know how much is too much. Are there examples of pages which get it right to work from?

My sense is that we're supposed to be aiming for a balance which is more fandom than canon. For instance: Stargate Atlantis has a page on wikipedia (here) which is full of canon information. So there's no need to replicate all of that info on Fanlore, because it exists in non-fannish spaces like Wikipedia. The Fanlore page on SGA, in contrast (here) has a couple of paragraphs about canon, and then a ton of material on the fandom.

That said: I think it's always easier to edit an existing page than to start a new page from scratch. And I think you're right that some canon knowledge is necessary for understanding the fandom. So I would say, if you know more about a given canon than about the fandom, put that on a page and see what happens! Other people may add to it, and maybe some of what you write will eventually be edited out as the canon/fandom balance shifts, but those aren't necessarily a bad thing.

[sqbr]

*nods*

Thanks.