I'd like to clarify a few things. In my last post I called for anyone who would like to submit resources for the wiki are more than welcome to do so to my email, m88youngling1@gmail.com. However, I'd like to clarify that ideally I would like to make these resources available on the Archive Library, a publicly accessible Google Drive folder that you can find on the top navigation bar on the wiki from every page. I typically link to these documents as references on articles. For example, a transcription of Polarlab's autobiography exists on the Archive Library that I link to.
So, you may ask, what are the advantages of publishing on the Archive Library rather than hosting it yourself? Well, for starters you won't have to worry about hosting it yourself. That's a win. Unfortunately it means that I'm the one that's doing the hosting. That's a bit unfortunate if you don't like me, or if you think I have motivation to skew the data.
It's true, I do have motivation to twist the story in my favor, and so does anyone who had a stake in LBP clans. Wouldn't you want history to tell your great story of how you vanquished all those enemies? Or perhaps to depict your greatest enemy as a dastardly and evil villain?
The problem is somebody has to host it. While no group exists to jointly organize these files, I have a feeling that this sort of group would be difficult to maintain. To bring together a group of clanners from all sides of clan history would create a perfect storm for a very anxiety-driven conversation.
Although I am trying to convince you to have your documents available on the archive library, I have also given you reasons for why you might not want to. I'm a master of persuasion as you can see. Anyway, my point is that while I can write a book about why you should trust me to hold your documents unedited in a place where they can be sourced for wiki posts and research articles, that's not the end of the story. In fact, I encourage you to host your own 'archive libraries' in a manner of speaking. Let's say for some reason that Google Drive suddenly kicks the bucket. Say goodbye to those resources!
I have copies of all the resources on the Archive Library on my computer and on another cloud storage solution. However, if Google Drive is to crap its pants and I suddenly get COVID and die, there will be no one left to recover the backup files that I have. If you are to host your own backup of documents, then that is one more vector of depth that improbability will have to take down to permanently make evidence of this history inaccessible to the Internet.
This all being said, I want to make clear some promises about storing documents on the LBP Union Wiki Archive Library,
- I will not alter the text of these documents unless they contain sensitive personal information about someone. For example, the Union IRC Chatlogs have not been released because they contain IP addresses on almost every line. I understand IP addresses aren't that big of a deal but from the people I have spoken to many would prefer not to have their geolocation revealed, even down to a state or country. In the case that this information needs to be censored, I will use blackout and leave an annotation.
- I may annotate parts of the resources. I will make it known that these annotations are my own. You are welcome to leave your own annotations if you have remarks about the content. Hardware34 actually released his own version of Polarlab's Autobiography with his own annotations and I uploaded it to the Archive Library. You're more than welcome to do this as well.
- I won't do this to research papers. If you're going to put that much effort into it then I would like to build on it or be in discussion about it with another paper.
- Most resources available here have a Union-themed design template. Hardware once copied my template to theme it after his short-lived Confederation alliance. Stylizing your resources may make their origin more recognizable. I have hoped that the stylization would help make the resources look cooler and more fun to look at.
I don't really know how to end this except by saying, send me your papers!