Talk:Department of Godplayers

Bwuh?
Given the lack of mission reports you mentioned, may I ask where all your information about the history of this department is coming from, and would you please add links to your references? (Do you know how the wiki code for references works?)

~Neshomeh 15:37, May 25, 2013 (UTC)

The bit about the DG collapsing and getting organized into a Division was already on the page when I started, though I admit I can't find it anywhere in the stories.

The abbreviation of "Department of Godplayers" into "DG" was, admittedly, my creation, but it follows from abbreviations like DF and DIC. If you want me to say that there was nothing official there, I will, but I'm not sure what else the abbreviation would be.

The bit about the Strangler Fig leading the DG and overseeing them when they became part of the DMS was a result of me misreading something on the ESAS site, and I'll fix that; it turns out the leader of the DG is, like most of the information about the DG, unknown.

The bit about the Department of Emergencies becoming part of the Special Operations Division was on the Department of Emergencies wiki page.

I took special care in saying that I have no idea why the DG collapsed, or exactly what they did on their missions other than the obvious killing-of-OP-Sues matter, because, like you said, there's not a lot written about them.

George is mentioned here: Sebak is mentioned here:

No, I'm not sure how the wiki coding for references works, by the way. I've only ever used it to fill in when a "source needed" option appears.

If you can't find anything about the Division of Godplayers either, I'll restructure the page to remove all references to it, and if you can find something, it would make a good source if I can get the code to work. I just kept that information in because I didn't want to go against continuity, and since the bit about the DG becoming a Division had been around this long without anyone correcting it, I had thought there must have been something around that I just hadn't read.

Outhra (talk) 16:46, May 25, 2013 (UTC)


 * In general (although I can't remember this specific instance) any instance of departments shutting down or turning into divisions springs from the time we were creating the PPC Manual. A lot of those decisions were made by myself and... either Neshomeh or Araeph. At the time, there was no Wiki, so we were attempting a process of reconciliation of dispersed and disagreeing source material. That's where, to take a random example, the three divisions of DAVD - Action, Intel and Medical - first took shape. We also, I believe, turned A/V into a division at that time.


 * Of course, a lot of the reconciliation work never made it onto the pages. I have distinct memories of uniting all the Special Operations-type groups into one department, but it's not listed... Huinesoron (talk) 20:28, May 25, 2013 (UTC)


 * Granted, there aren't going to be story references for a lot of the merger/closure business, unless someone wrote about them after the fact (e.g. the Special Operations Division). Most of that came out of discussions that basically went "Hey guys, this doesn't make sense right now. Let's fix it." "Okay!" It would be awesome if those discussions could be uncovered and linked to for posterity, though. Also, maybe there are links to be turned up in researching all the other pages this one is drawing from&mdash;ESAS, Emergencies, etc&mdash;and then those pages could have links, too!


 * hS, I think it was mostly you and me who worked directly on the Manual. I don't remember who else was involved originally. I do remember that there were discussions on the Board about at least some of the changes we made&mdash;I specifically recall starting a couple threads about flash patches for departments that didn't have any.


 * I don't remember talking about Godplayers, but the List of Departments has Godplayers discontinued and merged with the DMS, no mention of becoming a division. Unless I'm imagining things, didn't you do a lot of work on that page, hS, based on information in(tended for) the Manual? I find some discussion about other mergers on that article's Talk page, but not about Godplayers. That seems to be where Araeph was involved, though...


 * If it were solely my decision I'd have merged the Department of Godplayers with the Bad Role-play Department, but that's just because I associate the term "godplayer" with RP. *shrug*


 * As for the abbreviation, I think DOG should stand because it's funny ("dog" is "god" backwards). Anyway, the only really solid rules (which I think we also started with the Manual?) are that for Action departments, the abbreviation is all-caps whether there's an O or not (and it is preferred not to add them for the most part, but there has always been at least one notable exception in DOGA); for Infrastructure departments, a lower-case o can go in to distinguish it from similarly named Action departments; this allows us to easily spot the difference between the DF/DoF, DI/DoI, and DP/DoP at a glance.


 * And finally, for making a reference section and links, it may be helpful to refer to another page that has them, such as Makes-Things' page. You'll need to use Source Mode (if you aren't already) to see how it works, but basically you create the external link as usual, then stick it between  tags in the spot you want the little numbered box to appear in the article. At the end of the article, create a  ==References== header, and under that put the tag  . Your links will show up there, in the order they appear in the article.


 * I suppose it may be possible to do references in Visual Mode, but I've never tried it, because I hate Visual Mode with the fiery passion of a thousand supernovae.


 * ~Neshomeh 22:46, May 25, 2013 (UTC)


 * P.S. It just occurred to me most if not all of the discussing I referred to would have taken place prior to 2008, when the Board started saving stuff. I mean, we got the wiki in 2007, which (I suspect) killed the Manual project, so all of that happened way before we had any kind of permanent record. *headdesk* So, yeah, I'm just gonna shut up about this now. Sorry.


 * ~Neshomeh 23:03, May 25, 2013 (UTC)
 * Mm. The Wayback Machine has various copies of the front page saved, with the ability to read the messages thereon - but only back to basically the switchover (I think they have one in 2007). If you check the old address (disc.server.com), there are heaps of copies of the front page - but no scrolling back, /and/ no reading of messages. Sigh.
 * Anyway... who says the manual is dead? It ought to be a snap to update and finish, now we have the Wiki to collect all the information in advance... Huinesoron (talk) 08:20, May 26, 2013 (UTC)


 * Not dead, eh? Hm, tempting... could get rid of all that improper capitalization, what on Earth was younger-me thinking.... We might have to call it Edition 2.5 or maybe even Third Edition, though, what with everything that's different since the last go. The Board of Flowers has changed, what, twice since then? The Manual still lists the Lichen, for goodness' sake. Well, maybe in the fall; I've got too much going on this summer.


 * (I still think the Department of Godplayers abbreviation should be DOG.)


 * ~Neshomeh 17:32, May 26, 2013 (UTC)


 * Wasn't the manual thing briefly revived a couple years back? I remember it being a project that kinda ground to a halt. I'd be for bringing it back though - could be fun. Ekyl (talk) 18:49, May 26, 2013 (UTC)