Forums > Senate Hall archive > SH Archive/Why was the Knowledge Bank purged?
I wanted to see if there were any follow-ups to a comment I left in a thread there some days ago, only to discover that almost all of the threads have been deleted sans the three newest ones. Just what happened and is anything being done to recover and restore all of that information? 24.3.94.134 19:40, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
- Hey, there. Off-topic posts, posts that broke the KB rules (seen at the top of the KB), or topics which the answers were found by searching the site, were deleted. If you are unable to find the answer to your question in the article on Wookieepedia, please ask your question on the talk page of that article. If it is more of a general question, and one which does not go against the established KB rules, then please post a new KB thread. Thank you, Greyman@wikia(Talk) 19:51, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
- Wait, wait. I heard that the point of the KB was to move such questions off talk pages, hence {{Talkheader}}. Perhaps we should clear up this mess more formally since we're apparently not in agreement about this. Atarumaster88
(Talk page) 22:58, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
- Ya, even though it may not look like it, we are in agreement, Ataru. I simply just didn't explain my thoughts thoroughly enough, I guess :P All I meant about taking it to the talk pages was that I saw/see a lot of forum threads that were/are speaking about missing info in articles, or questions about ambiguous statements present in articles, etc. etc. An example of this could be, "Source X says this event happened in year A, but source Y says it happened in B...what's up with that?" These types of questions are more suited for article talk pages, rather than the KB. However, "lulz, Vader wears blak! What r UR thinks on that?!" don't belong anywhere near an article's talk page :S You're right, Ataru, in that the site needs to discuss this more formally. What you wrote at WP:M is my thoughts as well, especially where you said "At the very least, we need to establish some tougher rules on the KB that would allow administrators to delete "discussion board" topics." It's kinda…wrong…when I open up the KB and see a forum titled "What is Star Wars?". Seriously, for anyone curious, per the current KB rules, read the article. What Ataru has suggested should be talked about at the next Mofference, or at the very least a CT thread needs to be started. Because, right now, we have admins who are way too worried about stepping on toes to delete KB threads like "Omgz, Vader iz Lukkes dad!!!?", and then admins like me (who are plenty) who won't hesitate to delete forum threads that break, or go against, the current KB (or whatever other forum) rules. I don't mind operating in a gray zone sometimes, but it's been proved in the past that gray zones and Wookieepedia don't mix too well. Any other thoughts about opening up a "revamped KB rules" vote to the entire site? Either through a Mofference or CT? Thoughts? Complaints? Threats to kill/maim/destroy ;) ? Greyman@wikia(Talk) 00:34, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- Wait, wait. I heard that the point of the KB was to move such questions off talk pages, hence {{Talkheader}}. Perhaps we should clear up this mess more formally since we're apparently not in agreement about this. Atarumaster88
- Complete agreement here, now that that fog has been cleared. I was a little confused as to what he meant on talk pages, but the KB is in serious need of cleanup (or deletion :-) ). At the very least, we do need a better established set of rules. The ones we had weren't bad, but (hopping on my soap box here) I really don't want to see this encyclopedia turned into a discussion board for Star Wars with every bored individual spamming the KB with useless questions. That'd be a very sad day, IMHO. If we decide we want the KB, fine, but let's keep it on a very tight leash. Atarumaster88 (Talk page) 03:31, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- Complete agreement here, now that that fog has been cleared. I was a little confused as to what he meant on talk pages, but the KB is in serious need of cleanup (or deletion :-) ). At the very least, we do need a better established set of rules. The ones we had weren't bad, but (hopping on my soap box here) I really don't want to see this encyclopedia turned into a discussion board for Star Wars with every bored individual spamming the KB with useless questions. That'd be a very sad day, IMHO. If we decide we want the KB, fine, but let's keep it on a very tight leash. Atarumaster88
- The answers might also have been moved to the archive of old KB threads. —Silly Dan (talk) 20:01, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
- While that's generally a good bet, this time around all threads in question were outright deleted, rather than archived. jSarek 20:16, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
- Many of the deleted KB threads were perfectly legitimate. For example, "What are these Jawas smoking?" was a legitimate question about the canonical state of affairs in the Star Wars universe. After the question had been answered, the thread could have been locked down and archived, but deleting it was unnecessary. -LtNOWIS 01:33, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- All this hubbub about cleaning up a forum (something most admins aside from Greyman and Ataru rarely do) isn't necessary in the least. It's all done now, so who cares? If you do, come up with some rules and start a CT instead of whining. Graestan(Talk) 01:46, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- Exactly my point above, Grae. Thanks :) Greyman@wikia(Talk) 02:00, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- It's generally unheard of for admins to delete legitimate discussions, instead of closing them down and archiving them. -LtNOWIS 02:12, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- I stand by my statement. Go make some rules if you want to claim they are being broken. I've certainly never seen you managing any forums—the whole process can involve archiving, archiving to other forums (very common), and deletion. Graestan(Talk) 02:17, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- NOWIS, you seem to have this idea that I deleted some of those KB threads out of spite or anger, or something else that's entirely not true :P I spent a good hour and a half looking through every KB thread that I deleted, and seeing if they broke any of the current rules laid out at the top of the page. Don't confuse me doing some house cleaning, with abusing my administrator tools. Out of all the admins on this site (aside from those who never do anything administrator-like at all) I'm probably one of a handful who feels quite sternly that abuse of authority is a big big big big big (should I continue?) no no. So, please don't imply that I abused my authority, since it just clearly is not the case at all, in any way/shape/form. Anyways, like I've stated above, a CT of sorts, or community discussion, needs to take place in order to clamp down on what is appropriate for the KB. You, NOWIS, were the one complaining just yesterday in IRC that the current KB rules were Culator's own opinions and desires, and that you were all for coming up with new rules. So, if it's that important to you, why not start a CT which allows for some revisions of the rules? If a CT does start, then I'll be happy, since it will be one of those rare CT's that are beneficial to the site. Greyman@wikia(Talk) 02:21, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not accusing you of bad motivations, but I do think that some of the questions asked in the deleted KB threads were legitimate, and deleting them was thus unfair to the questioners, and simply unnecessary. Some of them didn't break any rules. And frankly, this idea that "if I don't like the rules I should come up with some of my own" is misplaced; I haven't said anything about the current KB rules in this discussion. -LtNOWIS 02:42, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- I specifically mentioned your comments in IRC; no where did I imply comments on this forum. I'm well aware that you didn't mention that here, but your views have been expressed elsewhere for people to see. Anyways, it appears that Ataru may be heading this KB revamp up, or it may just wait until the next Mofference. Until or if that revamp occurs, this is pretty much over for me; I'll reserve any comments/questions/concerns for that CT/Mofference since I feel like I'm speaking into a blackhole here. Graestan's first comments on this discussion page summed it nicely. Greyman@wikia(Talk) 12:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not accusing you of bad motivations, but I do think that some of the questions asked in the deleted KB threads were legitimate, and deleting them was thus unfair to the questioners, and simply unnecessary. Some of them didn't break any rules. And frankly, this idea that "if I don't like the rules I should come up with some of my own" is misplaced; I haven't said anything about the current KB rules in this discussion. -LtNOWIS 02:42, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- It's generally unheard of for admins to delete legitimate discussions, instead of closing them down and archiving them. -LtNOWIS 02:12, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- Exactly my point above, Grae. Thanks :) Greyman@wikia(Talk) 02:00, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
- All this hubbub about cleaning up a forum (something most admins aside from Greyman and Ataru rarely do) isn't necessary in the least. It's all done now, so who cares? If you do, come up with some rules and start a CT instead of whining. Graestan(Talk) 01:46, 2 June 2008 (UTC)