Wikipedia

[elite1trek]

I know that we all have mixed feelings about Wikipedia here, but lets try to set those aside for a couple minutes.

Alot of the tech theatre (and theatre in general) articles on Wikipedia are a mess. Some are really good, and others are just not very good at all. A lot of information is very specific and particular. Some of the pictures are bad.

I am not asking you guys to put up rigging how-to's and electrical practices up, just add something that could be helpful to somebody.

A couple of the problems:
Articles confuse common terminology. (Lighting Designer/Lighting Director)

There is no article on Stage Screws.

There is no article on High End Systems, the article on Barco barely mentions them.

The article about McCandless is just plain sad.

The word bulb is all over the place.

If you are feeling bold, you can even write an article on ControlBooth.com.

So here is what I am going to ask you to do:

1. Search on Wikipedia for a tech theatre subject that interests you.

2. Read it, edit it if something is wrong, or you can add something that is missing, or add something that could be helpful.

3. If you have a picture that you don't mind putting in the public domain, post it. A good picture of a floor pocket can be hard to come by these days.

4. If steps 1 through 3 made you feel warm and fuzzy, repeat.

Remember Guys, Anybody can edit Wikipedia Articles. You Dont Even Have To Register If You Dont Want To!

Lets try to let people know about our industry and our practice, that's the only way we grow.

Thanks For Listening

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I would like to add that the Wiki and glossary here on CB is probably the best around. I would, of course, not ask you to stop contributing to the glossary here. The intention of this post was to take the knowledge that we all posses, and share it with the general population, people who have probably never heard of ControlBooth. In fact, we could probably find some ways to promote CB with Wikipedia.

Derek Leffew, STEVETERRY, and everybody else that contributes to the CB Wiki are doing a great job, and I was not trying to overlook the job they have done here. Please contribute to this site, as well as others. Because, what good is knowledge if you have nobody to share it with?

[Footer]

Personally, I think we should just put in re-directs to our wiki... ours is better...

But yes, the wikipedia articles are not that great. All the more reason people should com here.

[derekleffew]

Hear, hear, Footer! Many members of CB have reported finding our site via a Google search. I suspect most people, when seeking information, simply enter the term into the search engine of their choice. If Wikipedia returns a hit, fine; but if the hit is to a CB post or glossary item (and Google indexes the site daily, including the glossary,) even better!

To completely address your specific points, elite1trek, I've added an entry for High End Systems. For ideas where our glossary is still lacking, see http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...-glossary.html.

[gafftaper]

Have to agree with D and F. It's better for CB if we concentrate our efforts here. CB is often on of the top hits on Google. There's no one on Wikipedia who really knows what they are talking about and ensures quality. All your efforts could be deleted tomorrow by some moron who thinks Bulb is the correct term. Here you won't have that problem, it'll be accurate and it will help CB.

[Footer]

Now, I did go put in a link to CB on the stagecraft Wiki entry... and put it on top....

[elite1trek]

Originally Posted by Footer

Now, I did go put in a link to CB on the stagecraft Wiki entry... and put it on top....

awesome.