User talk:Teajai2

Unofficial Fangame Template

Hi! I'm the person who made that unofficial "fangame" template you removed from the Entropy: Zero 2‎ page.

Now, I'm not here to kick up a fuss or even argue your decision to remove it. If any one of the admins explicitly said "no, it's not allowed", then that's that; there's no room for discussion. (Though, a non-Discord link to or screenshot of said quote and/or discussion would be appreciated.) I would, however, like to bring two things to your attention:

• Firstly, according to the site FAQ, users creating site-wide templates is currently discouraged, but not explicitly disallowed.
  From what I can read of that entry, it doesn't user-made templates are outright "not allowed" and there's presently no specific rule against it. It's implied that it's simply bad form, and that the better route is to "discuss new templates with the administration" before making one.

• Secondly, and more importantly (to me)... I wasn't the one who started using my template on all the fan game pages.
  I know, that's a weak excuse. But, as documented in the template's (not-so-)FAQ on my user page, the thing initially started life as a big, ugly blob of text that was posted exclusively on the Mega Man Maker page, then later the Mega Man: The Sequel Wars page. At some point, I decided to try my hand at making an actual, functional template, keeping it within my own username space while using it on those two pages, since I was the one who created them to begin with. "What's the harm?" I figured. And then at some point, someone decided to toss my template onto other fan game pages.

I feel like the administration is aware that it exists. How could they not be? But, there just hasn't been any serious discussion about actually making it official -- partly because I'm still wondering if I should make the thing more dynamic or not -- and I have never gotten any warnings or even a note of mild concern from any of the administrators or moderators since it's been in use. I'm still not saying "it's allowed". I just... don't think the administration has been given enough of a reason to care that it exists -- especially given the simple nature and function of the thing? And, I guess, I haven't been given enough of a reason to bother anyone who could make it official, since there are so few fan games on this wiki right now. I dunno... I don't have any good excuses. Just lame ones. /:

So, to close... I don't explicitly disagree with your decision to remove it from that one page, and if you or anyone else decide to remove the template from the other pages that use it, I won't fight or stop you or them. You, and anyone else, are well within your rights to do so as unofficial templates are discouraged. But, I just want you to be aware of the history, story, and rationale (such as it is) behind this unofficial template popping up on fan game pages.

~ Jo Li (U, T, C) 04:29, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

This is probably one of many things that fell by the wayside in favor of dealing with more pressing issues. That said, I would really prefer we not fill the wiki with unofficial user-made templates for a variety of reasons. I'll try to kickstart discussion of this with other staff soon. --Rachel Mae (talk) 23:25, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

Fair enough, and thank you.

~ Jo Li (U, T, C) 13:38, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

And... there it is~ Thanks for getting the wheels a'spinnin, Teajai2 and Rachel!

~ Jo Li (U, T, C) 14:43, 2 July 2024 (UTC)