Category talk:Using SimPE

I took the liberty of setting up this new category as a means to start organizing articles that are traditionally though of as tutorials. As there is not much organizational structure to this site yet, I agonized over the titles, the article itself etc. etc. I am aware that it is important to set the tone at an early stage but in the end I thought it was better to actually try something & to build from there. I'm looking for feedback on all of this so that I don't veer off in the wrong direction. Thanks --Tatiana 20:20, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

SimPE Tutorials

If we're going to fill this with just tutorials, the name should be changed to "SimPE Tutorials". If it's going to have other pages, a subcategory for tutorials (with that name) would be very benificial. What direction are we going with this? Jaxad0127 11:16, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Why tutorials at all?

My question is, Do we really want/need tutorials on the wiki? As far as I understand it, this wiki would be considered a companion site to modthesims2 (as they're both run by the delphy), which already has a lot of tutorials.

Why store the information twice? Why not just link to the tutorial section of modthesims2? Moving all the tutorials from MTS2 to here would be a large task, and a drain on server space.

To me, at least, the wiki should be the information database, and modthesims2 seems to be the file sharing (for lack of a better word) and help place, which would include tutorials. Trezero

Wikis were made for Information Sharing

I believe that the idea of a Sims2Wiki is really exciting. One of the reasons for this belief is that a wiki is an excellent way to share information of the 'tutorial' type. IMHO A wiki is far superior to even the best forum setup in this regard. I would envision that, over time, the Sims2Wiki becomes the authority source for this information. Likewise, a setup like that used by MTS2 is an excellent way to disseminate content (downloads). I see the two as companion sites but I see a shift of the tutorials to the wiki. While this shift will take some time, I believe that it is inevitable. The information will only be stored twice, while the transition is in progress. I agree that this may take some time but can be accelerated depending on how easy this wiki is to use & how much attention it gets. --Tatiana 14:32, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Exploring the Definition of Tutorial

I will assume for the moment that 'tutorial' type information will be part of the Sims2Wiki. Since it is really early in the life of this wiki it is probably a good time to bring up the use of the word 'Tutorial'. When you explore the sims community through the forums, the word tutorial is used to group all types of things; list of instruction, tips, guidelines, etc. If you go with the definition that a required component of a tutorial is Some method of review that reinforces or tests understanding of the content in the related module or section. there are actually very few real tutorials out there.

Is this an opportunity to start categorizing articles by using 'correct' terminology or are there more advantages to just sticking with the word 'tutorial'? If correct terminology is used, you will be able to partition/classify information better. This becomes more valuable as the volume of information grows. You will also be able to avoid future discussions about bad terminology. On the downside, there will be a bit steeper learning curve for the community & categories will be sparser at the beginning. If the term 'tutorial' is used the community will initially be more comfortable with the familiar usage & the category itself will not be as sparse in the beginning. With this decision, there will always be questions from 'purists' asking why you have tips under the heading of tutorials. My personal preference would be to go with the correct terminology from the beginning but I wouldn't loose sleep over the decision to just use 'tutorials' as a global umbrella. --Tatiana 17:30, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

Back to the issue

To be honest, I've never seen any kind of purist complain about a tutorial, either on MTS2 or anywhere else. ;)

But this is a bit off the subject. As I see it, the real issue is where the rather large library of "lists of instructions" should be located: On MTS2 or here on the wiki. I personally would like to see the tutorials stay on MTS2, if only because they're posted as threads, to which people can reply, ask questions, and discuss the subject more deeply.

Plus the minor fact that I don't really want a 12 MB tutorial loading in my firefox window. I've tried it with PDFs; it doesn't work. --Trezero 18:09, 27 July 2006 (EDT)