Forum:Freedom of the Thought

Because of recent events I have now restarted to take into account the problems of our wiki. We have a major problem, the NotCanonFriendly template. It has taken away from freedom of thought. If we keep within the confounds set by the Halo Universe, we will have ever changing rules and ever changing ideas. Thus I am calling for a disband of the NotCanonFriendly and am proposing an Overboard Template. This idea will allow more freedom to thought and ideas. This means that Fanon will be allowed to go beyond the set canon. Star Wars Fanon has this sort of thing, now they allow more, but this is a step in process to allow Freedom of Thought on this wiki. Others feel that this will allow for more users to be able to write how they want. More on that template, template overboard will be placed on pages that go over board. This template will, if voted yes to allow, will only be able to be put on pages by users that we determine to be allowed to. Also with this new template, new users won't feel discouraged to write because we deem them as rule breaking. As we can tell from the United States freedom of Thought allows the US to move forward in the world, is this true for all countries that allow for this. If we allow this, I can only see a brighter future for Halo Fanon. Thanks H*bad (talk) 03:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * This language is extremely misleading. The administration of the Halo Fan Fiction Wikia does *not* condone manipulation of thoughts at all, and we will never restrict of thought. This sounds dictatorship-like and Nazi-like, how the two aforementioned entities often attempt to distort the minds and thoughts of their subordinates. At Halo Fan Fiction, however, we reserve the right to maintain Halo-related and canon-friendly articles in the article namespace and users may host non-Halo-related and canon-contradicting articles under their user namespace. We do not condone restriction of "Freedom of Thought". Furthermore, your example with the US is completely biased - the US does not force its citizens to maintain a certain pattern of thought, and neither do we. However, using your example, the US also does not allow us to yell out that we are terrorists in the open public, although it is perfectly legal to think that but not express that superficially. We maintain a similar policy here; you may think whatever you want but you may not post whatever you want in the article namespace. When I posted a non-Star Wars-related fiction at SWFanon, a StarCraft fiction, it was immediately deleted. I could not even move it into my own user namespace. Thus, we are even being more liberal here. An elucidation in my comments below. Regards, RelentlessRecusant  'o the Halopedia Team http://images.wikia.com/rainbowsix/images/7/73/GDI2.jpg TALK • MESSAGE 19:37, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * My message was not from an Administrator point of view, it was from a user point of view. It's something that you need to learn, no offense. But the contradiction rule was so that everyone could be happy. I used to think the way that you do and then I had an epiphany that not every agrees with what I have to say. And same for you. Again I mean this in the highest of respects, but it's just something that has to be done. Oh and sorry I didn't point out that it was from my user point of view, but I figured that me not writing we the administration, since if I did that then it would show that we had talked it out. Sorry for any confusion, thanks: H*bad (talk) 20:23, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Had an epiphany? You created the rule. We abolished it. When I became aware that the rule was not an agreed upon thing, or something Relentless was even aware of, him and I got rid of it. At the time, you were no where to be seen (I hadn't seen you on in some time), so we didn't have the chance to talk it out with you. And before you go handing out lessons, I think you would do well to learn that we administrators are a team. That means that rather than, on a whim, coming on and doing whatever the heck you feel like, you need to talk to the rest of the administrative team, or maybe, I don't know, one of us? And I don't want to hear the excuse of us not being on. I was on IRC almost all day, and RR was on most of the day. Certainly, this little epiphany of yours could have waited for a few minutes. You spent so much time posting and explaining to each initial response, but you didn't spend more than a few minutes in IRC to say "this is going to be dealt with" and then leaving again. I grow tired of coming to the site, wondering what to expect. I can no longer come onto the site expecting the day to go normal, because every day, H*bad might have done something else without telling anyone what or why he was doing it. This is just another example. I am porposing that this policy be immediately rejected until what time that the administration has had time to talk it out and refine it. And the next time this is proposed, I want no flowery words or false analogies or red herring, just the straight up proposal. If you want this passed, H*bad, I want you to do it without manipulating the users.
 * -- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 03:59, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

For (8/1 admin)

 * 1) This will allow for Freedom of Thought.--H*bad (talk) 03:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 2) I'm in --[[image:Photoshop_attack.png|35px]] Spartan-064 ,≈≈Ω≈≈De ma kh is http://www.wikia.com/skins/common/progress-wheel.gif Reporting [[Image:Private first class.jpg|25px]] •  Contributions   03:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) -- 03:51, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 4) I always thought that the idea of "Your fanon doesn't follow the exact canon (which often contradicts itself) it must be killed" was a way too severe restriction on creativity in general, and I agree about how it can scare away the newbs sometimes. ((Wikipedia:WP:BITE might be a good guideline to adopt) Tesfan 04:00, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 5) Give the newbies a chance! ;D -- The State(Our Decrees and Law)(The State Alchemists we've enlisted)[[Image:ROY!.jpg|25px]] 04:58, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 6) I am with you guys.Eaite&#39;Oodat 05:54, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 7) I am for, but I think that things that already exist (say, a specific SPARTAN,), or very important canon (e.g.: the Human-Covenant War starting, Master Chief's gender, the destruction of Instillation 04) should not be allowed to be broken, unless stated that the fanon takes place in an alternate universe. 05:55, 25 November 2007 (UTC) (Double conflict)
 * 8) I am for--Spartan-118 11:02, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * 9) I am for as well, as soon as i made my first article i was bombarded, if someone goes overboard then explain IN DETAIL cause my article got hit with the noncanon and i had no clue what i had done. Spartan 112 16:21, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Neutral (1/0 admins)

 * 1) I'm unsure. As long as theres no really wacky stuff in it (ie, telepathic armies, giant space drills, races better than the forerunners, huge breaches of canon (stuff established by bungie), stuff completely unrelated to halo (cough, ISSC, cough), etc.) then I'm in.  However, I need to know before I vote yes.Spartan 501 04:04, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * That's why I created the idea of Overboard. Basically what you mentioned won't be allowed, but like more Spartan's and taking away the idea that nobody can have the same spartan #. Basically. Thanks, H*bad (talk) 05:27, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, you created the fanon contradiction rule (the one that said there could only be one Spartan for each designator) and I enforced it because I figured that it was established by both Bureaucrats, and then Relentless and I abolished it when I found out that he was not even aware of it.
 * -- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 07:00, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I created that rule, because I thought everyone would then be happy, but apparently not. Oh and the SWFanon has had experience on this stuff already. Thanks, H*bad (talk) 20:36, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * In addition to our managing of unrelated stuff, can we please keep the articles that are "the best", or "the most elite", under control, we do not need Gary/Mary Sues/Stus! -- The State(Our Decrees and Law)(The State Alchemists we've enlisted)[[Image:ROY!.jpg|25px]] 15:40, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Against (9/4 admins)
1. Although I support some of the ideas of removing the NCF tag, I do not support some of the things either. I support users being able to have a little more freedom in what they right but some things are just too absurd for us to ignore. For me, I hate it when people make their guys god-modded or SPARTAN-IIs that have a tag higher than 150 or made up ranks that are super high because people can make their characters a higher rank than anyone else ect. I do support however, other things like the ability to make things such as new species, new planets, new factions (As long as they are not some massive Imperial human force) ect. Unfortunately the pros aint enough to outweigh the cons in my view so I must vote against.--Petty Officer First Class SPARTAN-G023  Comm ChannelMission History 04:07, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * That's why I created the idea of Template:Overboard, basically it will replace Notcanonfriendly. Oh and God modding is overboard, thus it won't be allowed. Now the idea of like Super Shielding, but it has to be able to drain after getting hit and it can't be a huge amount of power.If we allow for Spartan tags to be over 150 then we can have more creativity in this area. Thanks for your comments, H*bad (talk) 05:37, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

2. Actually, I am now against it. Let me explain why: I like most of it, but the thing about Spartan tags going over 150 and same spartan tags are big things for me. For Spartan tags, thats thouroughly established canon, and why can't they create another project of their own? And for same tags, I don't like, it creates to much confusion. What if two people with the same tags get into an RP together, and then you have two spartans with the same number participating together and screwing the whole thing up.--Spartan 501 05:52, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I see what you are saying and will take it into consideration, big time. I have been toying with the idea, but have set myself on it, because of the fact that remember this, something that I was told: "everything [we] create, whether "canon-friendly" or not, is never going to be canon friendly, because any fan fiction is not canon friendly."--H*bad (talk) 05:55, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

3. Let me remind you all that this is Halo Fanon, not Halo Fan Fiction. There is a difference. Fan fiction is fiction based around something you are a fan of. Fanon is fan fiction that is written within the confines of canon. You may think differently, but that is the way it is. We don't just write about Halo, here, we write in Halo. And in order to write in Halo, one must not directly contradict Halo. When you directly contradict Halo canon, you are writing something that happens to mention Halo. If you want to write some story about how the Master Chief is really a girl who lives on Saturn and can fly, take it somewhere else. Halo Fanon is restrictive because there are a thousand or so other websites where you can write your acid-trip Halo-like writings other than here. And, if you must write them here, you can always write them on your user namespace. User namespace articles do not have to follow canon, or even be about Halo. Now, I know Star Wars Fanon doesn't want to be our friend because we're "restrictive", but as far as I am concerned, some other Wiki should not have nearly as much pull on us as this. Sure, "Freedom of Thought" sounds nice because it uses words like freedom, but look at it this way, Halo Fanon in no way restricts Freedom of Thought, it just asks that you take your crap somewhere else. Halo Fanon is, and will continue to be a Wiki where, at the very least, we try to maintain an integrity in our articles. I want to take pride in the fact that I am a Bureaucrat at Halo Fanon, the site that only rights canon articles. Those of you suggesting this "Freedom of Thought" are merely masking a suggestion for anarchy, and that I will not have.-- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 06:29, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

4. Cant b bothered writing a paragraph of explanation, but it would sound a conglomerate of the ones above. Just Another Grunt Converse 06:49, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

5.I now am fully unsupportive of this. I'm just too afraid of what people might start writing. If everybody starts writing articles like the "ISSC", then where will all the articles that fit into canon go?-Anno &#39;Rhculee(Recieve Commands from me)(My lance)


 * Sigh sigh*, if we're not talking about "ships with drills", we're talking about the ISSC, let us forget, shall we? Mr. Rhea, this is a fanon wiki, and RP's are our encyclopedic entries! ;D -- The State(Our Decrees and Law)(The State Alchemists we've enlisted)[[Image:ROY!.jpg|25px]] 15:38, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

6. Telepathic army commanders, back water outer colonies geting fleets of hundreds, soldiers that can tear the arms off Spartans, gunships that carry whole regiments, ships with drills. Where will this end? I joined fanon to write halo fan fiction, not whatever the hell i can think of then worm it into halo canon by displacing common sense. I'm all for freedom of though, within the halo universe. People seem to forget that the UNSC, Covenant and Flood along with the Forerunners and Precursors still haunting the halo universe. Why do people have to go beyond Halo and insert new Covenant crushing factions, Flood eating infections, Spartan destroying super soldiers. Just write your fiction within the Halo universe, that is the point of this site. --Ajax 013 16:21, 25 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree completely. SPARTAN-118

7. In this, Ajax is completely correct. While, I don't mind the introduction of new races, one must be aware not to overstep the limits of canon-friendliness. Having RP'ed against these drill ships and psychic commanders, I can say that too much freedom of thought is no freedom of thought. And the RPs, usually quite fun, become reduced to a petty squabble about which new non-canon weapon can top the previous non-canon weapon. If you want to make all the Spartan-owning supersoldiers and Flood-eating parasites you want, do so on a different site. This is Halo Fanon, as Roteratilbo said, and it is supposed to be within the bounds of the established Halo universe.

By the way, H*Bad, this is a complete turn-around of your masss deletions of not-canon friendly documents... Why the sudden flipflop?  SPARTAN-091  |Admin|   HelmetComm  19:04, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

8. Strongest Possible Opposition - As aforementioned, Halo Fan Fiction does not, will never, and does not even purport to restrict "Freedom of Thought". However, I have been speaking to Rotaretilbo and Forgottenlord last night - the approximate concensus is that all non-Halo and non-canonical articles shall be moved to the user namespace. As per Forgottenlord and myself; deleting *any* author's work would be an insult to them and a loss of a considerable expenditure of time. For example, Sgt.Johnson hosts his modern warfare fiction on his own user namespace, and I believe I host a few of my own non-Halo fictions on my user namespace. All Halo-related and canonical articles will remain in the article namespace. Thus, we do not support the deletion of any articles - offending articles shall be moved to the article namespace . Regards, RelentlessRecusant  'o the Halopedia Team http://images.wikia.com/rainbowsix/images/7/73/GDI2.jpg TALK • MESSAGE 19:49, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

9. I don't see any joy or future in the deletion of the NCF template, all I see is angry users, quitting users, more ranting, and shit. This will be the end of Halofanon if this happens, if you want freedom, go to Fanfic.net, where we can do WHATEVER WE WANT. And what the hell does Star Wars have to do with us? Star Wars, is not a series to take inspiration from. And for all you giving chances to newbies, kick them, nobody goes anywhere without criticism, its how the world works, we make the rules, you follow it, nuff said.--'Bugger | Bug Me | <font color="Black">My Bugging devices | <font color="Purple">Bugged'' ''' 03:28, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Comments

 * Glad to see something constructive coming out of the little spat between you guys and Vic. Though I'm sure my opinion doesn't mean anything at all to anyone here since I'm not a member, I was pleased to see this proposal. - Brandon Rhea
 * I'll point out (I don't want to get into the discussion outside of comments here) that Wikis really aren't supposed to be for role-playing anyway (referring to the comment about how two characters with the same name could get into a role-play with each other), but rather for making encyclopedic articles. - Brandon Rhea

Contrary to common belief, the NCF template does not mark an article for deletion. Its just a notice so that people know that their article could use some work. If a user chooses to disregard that notice for a month or so, they become rule breakers. Thus, the abolition of the NCF template in exchange for the Overboard template makes no sense at all.
 * -- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 06:36, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * If a user does, in fact, disregard the notice for a month or so and become rule breakers, what happens to the article that they refused to fix? - Brandon Rhea
 * Depends on the admin that handles it. For me, its case by case. I'll hold off marking a lot of articles as rule breakers if the breach in canon isn't too major. However, a lot of the articles that end up being marked are just too over the top (like the ISSC articles, which I found creative, until I realised that the author had done nothing to connect it with Halo, that there was some serious god modding going on, and that there was a general lack of Halo knolwedge). Articles that I handle often get deleted. However, we are beginning to put a new policy into effect where articles that refuse to fix their errors are moved into user namespaces. And, of course, if a user believes his article should not have been deleted, he can always message an admin. If a user actually shows interest enough in their article to message me after its deletion, chances are I'll restore it with a NCF template on it, and give it another run to see if the canon issues are fixed.
 * -- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 07:05, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

The State, I understand that RPs are your encyclopedic entries. However, I was pointing out that articles on an encyclopedia based on RPs generally come from other RP sites rather than something RPd on that wiki. While this may just be my opinion, RPs on a wiki get very messy, very hectic and will eventually cause such a headache that no one will want to do it anymore. - Brandon Rhea

"However, using your example, the US also does not allow us to yell out that we are terrorists in the open public, although it is perfectly legal to think that but not express that superficially."

- RelentlessRecusant


 * Actually, you can yell it in public. It's called freedom of speech. However, if you do yell it, it will have extremely bad effects for you. I would not suggest it. --Kebath &#39;Holoree 20:04, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * My point exactly. ;-) Actually, you can yell anything anywhere as long as you have lungs, larynx, and the associated hyoid muscles and thoracic diaphragm, but it's the consequences that determine Freedom of Speech. However, even look at Wikipedia: you can't write articles on anything you want; they must fall in specific guidelines, no matter if it's Star Wars or stem cell biology (I know personally :P). Regards, RelentlessRecusant  'o the Halopedia Team http://images.wikia.com/rainbowsix/images/7/73/GDI2.jpg <font color="#A9A9A9">TALK • <font color="A9A9A9">MESSAGE 20:12, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I may not like it when people make up dragons and huge cruisers with 4 Super MAC guns and 8 MAC Guns for point defense, but they have all right to make that stuff. That is what imagination is. The freedom to make up stuff. -- 20:15, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

You guys seem to think that this is a huge change, but it's not. Actually this change will only be minor only. This change is not something huge, it's just minor. So those of whom thought it was, are incorrect. Just so you guys know. Thanks, H*bad (talk) 20:28, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Don't you go dragging the Myth class into this AJ! lol. Anyway, personally, i think the 'Freedom of Gary-Stus' is going to cause a massive influx of articles that the admin team has spent quite some time trying to stop. Things with no or little relation to Halo, things that are quite stupid and should never have seen the light of day, etc. This is also, somewaht double standards as well, as early pointed out, you deleted all the NCF articles, now your trying to protect them from their eventual fate of user pages? --Ajax 013 20:34, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Everything I do is to try and make everyone happy, but I was wrong about that. I will admit it, something that most of you guys, admins, won't admit to being. I also previously stated that we are only making a minor change, which would mean articles like the ISSC will still be deleted. I am not proposing this massive change, like life changing. I am suggesting something that we can try out and I can promise you that it will help us out in many ways. Thanks, H*bad (talk) 20:41, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

HBad, your an admin, a bearucrat, and the pretty much founder of this site, I think you should be able to shape it your way -- The State(Our Decrees and Law)(The State Alchemists we've enlisted) 20:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I almost had that power, but decided to be nice and asked RR to be my co-founder. I listened to him, no disrespect to RR, but that's what got us here. Unfortunately SPARTAN-077, I would do you what you said, but can't because we have more than one admin here. Thanks though :), H*bad (talk) 20:47, 25 November 2007 (UTC) Oh and RR, we are co-founders whether you like it or not.

I will drag the myth class into it. That is an excellent example. 7 Kilometers long (at first, it was 19) with 4 Super MAC Guns (now 2) and 8 Regular MACs... now if that isn't godmodding or a massive breach of canon... I don't know what is. -- 20:53, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, Johnson has a point -- The State(Our Decrees and Law)(The State Alchemists we've enlisted) 20:54, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

According to the logs, Relentless founded the site, and H*bad was brought in later (within 24 hours). So please, let's get the truth. And Bureaucrat or not, you're right, there are other admins here. That being said, I am sick and tired of surprises. H*bad, you need to realize that you speak for the Bureaucrats, whether you think so or not, and therefore, you need to talk to the other Bureaucrats of the site. Relentless and I shouldn't be caught by surprise by a new policy being voted on. Relentless and I shouldn't be surprised to find 47 articles disappear. It wasn't a miscommunication, though I know H*bad sorely wishes I would say it was. There was no communication. Before I will consider any policy for the site, I want to hear about it in private, where the three Bureacrats, and possibly the Sysops, can sit down, discuss it, refine it, and then present it to the community. I should not have to condemn a piece of policy brought forth by a fellow Bureaucrat, because if one or more of the Bureaucrats aren't on board, then it should be talked out even further until they can either come to an agreement, or agree to disagree. If, for example, H*bad had been so kind as to talk to Relentless and I about this policy, I would not so vehemently oppose it. I'd oppose it, to be sure, but the fact that I heard about it after 13 or so other users, that deeply offends me. When users join this site, they are agreeing to follow a set of rules. In the real world, there will be rules, and there will always be people who don't like those rules. But, in the real world, we will learn to deal with them. Writing stories that adhere to Halo canon on a Halo fanon website, how hard is that? Especially considering that if you make a mistake, there are plenty of knowledgable people here to help you work it out. I make mistakes. Ajax makes mistakes. Relentless makes mistakes. H*bad makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. But to say that our mistakes shouldn't be mistakes, that we should be allowed to write whatever the heck we want, that goes against common sense. Sure, it sounds nice. "Freedom of thought." Oh no, we're all being opressed by the dirty cabal! When the site fills up with articles that make no sense, when the RPs fill up with Gary Stus and Mary Sues, when all order is lost, that is your "freedom of thought." You have plenty of freedom here. You are free to follow our rules. And you are free to write stories at the thousands of other sites that are less restrictive. And you are free to write your stories and not post them on our site. And you are free to say that writing is dumb and go play Halo 2. We aren't going to stop you. Furthermore, you have absolute freedom of thought here. I can not and will not tell you what to think. I won't even tell you what to write. I will merely dictate what you can and cannot put on this site. Across the entire interwebz, you could choose any site. If you think you are being opressed because we ask you to write stories that make sense, then go somewhere else where you won't be opressed. I'm not going to stop you. Go write at Star Wars Fanon. You can write whatever you wish, as long as you mention some sort of Star Wars thing. ;)
 * -- Master Gunnery Sergeant  Hank J Wimbleton IV COMHalo: Galaxy 03:49, 26 November 2007 (UTC)