Talk:IDICanons:Home

Memory Alpha is a useful resource for Star Trek, but it restricts itself to the TV show and films. Non-canon sources are barely brushed upon, leaving the vast majority of Trek material untouched. The reason for that is that non-canon sources sometimes contradict each other and later episodes. While I understand the reason for this rule, I thik that a Wikicity based on the concept of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinatons would not be redundant. Would anyone be interested in this?

I recently was given over a hundred Star Trek novels, mostly the Pocket books based on the original series. I also read most of the new novels within a year of their publication. As I read through them, I would add the characters, places, ships, and races to the Wikicity. In this way I would support the early growth of the Wikicity. Other non-canon sources, such as the RPGs and periodicals could be added as well.

You may ask, "how is this more than an expansion of Memory Alpha?" Memory Alpha tries to be the be-all and end-all of Trek resources. This wikicity would have much more shades of grey:

- Rather than become an annoyance, contradictions between different sources would be noted and explored. - Entries for sources would include fan response. This would be similar to reviews, but would be kept in the abstract. (Some readers feel that...) - Reasonable extrapolation would be encouraged, though it too would be kept under its own heading.

I'm of two minds about so-called "fanon." Fanon is unlicenced content made by fans, nowadays usually posted on the Internet. My personal feelings are that well thought out fanon can be just as good as licenced products. On the other hand, it's hard to draw the line between canon that fits into the grand scheme of things and fanon that doesn't. At the very least, fanon should be clearly marked in the same way that biased articles or those with spoilers are.

I would apprecate feedback about interest level and fanon, or any other comments you have.

-Chops

I think a place for non-canon content is important, but I have a licensing question. Wikicities are GFDL. Memory Alpha is Creative Commons by-nc (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/). If this wiki were to exist, would making it compatible with Wikipedia or with Memory Alpha be more important? Angela 10:39, 9 Mar 2005 (GMT) I have no problem with either, but I think I see your point: anything made under Wikicities would never be able to be merged in with Memory Alpha, if they later decided to expand their focus. "Intelligence," a member of Trek BBS suggested (http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=4122283&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1) that I contact Memory Alpha about adding non-cannon as a "language." I'm going to do that now. --Chops 02:53, 15 Mar 2005 (GMT)