"/WIKI is your Friend"

Honestly, I'm irritated when people give you this answer. I know that almost all info about this game can be found in WIKI and even in-game you can use the feature "/Wike xxxxx." I also know that this game is already turning 3 years old and a lot of people have been playing the game for that long also.

You see, an average player doesn't know where to find answer to their questions. And the average player doesn't know how to use WIKI (even though they know how to find WIKI.) So, an average player's best friend actually is this forum, not WIKI as some people post here.

There is also a thread here asking players if they still play the game or just posting in the forum. Majority of the respondents say they only post and they don't play anymore. And some of them (not all of them) are the ones who post "/WIKI is your friend" when a new forumer comes here to ask question.

Of course I couldn't argue about this if forum moderators will say "policy says that before you ask question, you should search the forum first" or "read WIKI first before asking question."

Anyway, I just want to say that this forum is the best forum you can find about the game if you will just "nerf" those forumers (who actually no longer play the game) who love to say "/WIKI is your friend" or "USE search button, it is there for that purpose."

Make the forum last until GW2 by making it a friendly, clean and cool forum.

[I don't know if this should be posted in this section but I often read the comments /WIKI is your friend in this section]

/signed.

i totally agree i have said it myself, but only refering to the item eg. winter green wand, wiki is your friend. so they know what to look up if they need any more info on it.

I post here from work where I can't get wiki.

When I post I'll usually put " no access to wiki " or the like.

I find it frustarting too when people just give the Wiki is your friend answers.

is it really that dificult to understand the concept of a searchbox? do you find all of your webpages by remembering the url? everyone else in the world understands the simple search engine interface. maybe there are books about how to use google and the like. try searching for them... o wait...

what i understand is forum is about discussing things. not a library. forum is not just about the "knowledge" but also the "emotion" brought by the experience. so, you want that "emotion" to share with people (sometimes, because we lack the ability to express our emotion/experience, we oftentimes express it as a question.)

if it is just about the "knowledge" of the game, then we don't need a forum anymore. WIKI is enough i think.

A forum, IMHO, is a community of people who share not only the knowledge but also the emotional aspect of that knowledge.

But this section of the forum is just meant to be an area to get your questions answered. If you're looking for discussion, there are areas like Riverside, Sardeclac, The Campfire and the Gladiator's Arena.

If you ask a question with an easy cut and dry answer, expect someone to just link it to wiki.

exactly. i can understand questions like "whats a good level to leave pre?" thats confusing

but if some posts "where do i get dye for my new armorz?" and they already know of wiki i get the urge to smack them upside the head.

I am bothered by these kind of conversation.


The guy didn't even bother to link the answer. Now, the new guy who is asking the question doesn't want to be embarrassed and will just say "thank you" and forget about this forum all his life.

I am not talking about few people, but I am talking about the "trend." These days, when someone ask this kind of question, it is more often than not to find a post "/WIKI is your friend." And even new people post like that. I think most of us feel that that kind of post is really sarcastic and meant to embarrass people.

You're gonna have to link me to a post that happened like that. A question like that could be interpreted a couple of different ways: one that wiki can answer and one that wiki cannot. The more likely way to interpret that question can't be answered by wiki.

Actually, if I had a question that could be answered on the wiki I would rather someone link it. That way I can get the whole story including any little facts in the notes section. I also have a reference point for any other thing I need.

And just to point out, a large number, majority really, of questions can easily be answered through the search function or stickies.

Only if we know that the game is being updated on a regular basis. The answer to a question two years ago is no longer the same answer now. So, you guys have not noticed that sarcasm in that post? So, only me and the first 2 posters after me?

Also, think if you were the only one here who answered questions. Ever. Imagine sitting there seeing 10,000 threads on the same freaking questions over and over again that have very simple answers. Eventually you would get tired of it and give any newcomers a place to go to get the basic info. That way you can spend your time answering more complicated questions.

And, this is the internet. Sarcasm on its own is very hard to pick up on for some people.

Here is an example. Only few threads below this thread.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10262285

I don't think that "WIKI is your friend" is appropriate.

It is appropriate, actually. The answer to the question is found, in bold even, in the third sentence of the article.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Inscription

LOL I guess i'm in an "unwinnable" argument so i'll stop for now and wait for other posts

Wiki aint my friend. Otherwise, ill spend my idle time there.

GWG is my friend (at least most of the time).

I'm not saying that wiki can solve every answer, I'm saying that there are some basic questions that can be answered very well by wiki. This then gives the person a great resource for any future questions they might need to ask. There are of course questions that wiki can't answer, and that is what the Q&A section is for.

Some(but not all) have also contributed heavily to the wikis. The answers are there, they know they're there and in a world where Google and Wikipedia are increasingly taking over the internet, you should know how to use the search functions.

A new and different forum will have formed by then, just like how Guru replaced its own predecessor.

Some people direct to wiki with a link because their question is answered there and more information on it. It also provides them with a source that they can use for future references.

Others, the more common one, are just clueless +1 post farmers who try to cover their scent that they ACTUALLY don't know the question being asked. The people who don't actually answer a question in a question and answer forum. Normally the slow witted ones.

Savio, one of the few people i regularly see here, has a way of saying things nicely.

Here's his post:


http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...9&postcount=32

Without the sarcastic use of "Use the seach button" or "WIKI is your friend"

Look at the post Savio is responding to. Does it resemble your example conversation in any way?

I disagree. You claim people don't know of wiki? Then i'll be glad to inform them of /WIKI so they may go from being newbs asking easily self-answered questions to everyone elses annoyance, to a merry resourceful newb!

This forum's great for discussions.
This forum is not great for newb questions.
Wiki is your friend.

That what makes Savio different from most people here. It's not Savio only. There are still other people, sensible people, who answer questions minus the sarcasm.

You see, you can do things in a nice way. Be nice /WIKI is you friend.

Well, if they don't know how to use wiki they better learn it. They are going to need it sooner or later.

The Wiki IS your friend - both are bookmarked in my browser. The WIki can answer most questions far better and in far more depth than a quick reply to someones question on the forum.

That being said, there is no excuse for the rudeness inherent in the brief answer "Wiki is your friend", with no other explanation at all. If you only wish to say that and not provide a fuller answer, then you should at the very least provide a link to the information on Wiki. Better yet - if thats too much trouble then don't say anything at all.

Polilteness costs you nothing, and if you can help someone to find their way to the Wikis, then you will have achieved your aim - a new player who also now understands the depth of information on the Wikis and wont bother you in your ivory tower again.

Arrogance achieves precisely nothing.

Hello
I hope no one mind`s me making my first post here.

I found my way here after searching Wiki for some in depth analysis of the only GW game I own, Nightfall.
Nightfall is a work in progress at Wiki, and whilst I`m sure it will eventually contain pretty much anything a new, or seasoned player could want.. at present it doesn`t.

Let me be clear here, I am the absolutely total definition of "newbie".
Strange really, when you consider I have been a devoted cRPG player since 1981 (yes, that is right..1981), I was a journalist in the late 80`s for 2 monthly computer magazines chairing Q&A sections on the various games on various platforms long before the Internet was the first port of call for assistance. Ive breezed my way through every game from Baldur`s Gate, NWN 1&2 , Diablo, Morrowind and all the TES games, and took two Toons through to Lvl 70 totally solo in 4 months on...that other game

yet, I am the "newbie" this thread is discussing.
My daughter bought me Nightfall 3 days ago, I am now running a level 12 elementalist/necro through the various missions in Nightfall.
Problem is, I havent a clue what it is I`m doing.
Sure, I can figure out what spells to use, what tactics to apply when I screw up a quest the first or second time, but the actual "experience" of GuildWars is a total mystery to me.
This segues me neatly into the point I entered this thread ...
Community.
I didnt come here to be directed to a search box or a Wiki page.
I came here to interact, get opinions and advice..be it great or useless.
Interaction.
I have dozens of questions that the answers will enhance my gaming experience tenfold or more.
I dont want to read a manual, I dont want to plough through hundreds of paragraphs and thousands of words just to find out why the two Runes I bought wont attach to anything in my inventory...
I want people, who started like I did...totally blind... to tell me how they did it. I want to swap a little bonhomie, a little badinage, a human connection.
So if I may offer a single piece of thought to the (very) many of you who seem to see query posts as annoying and little more than nuisance value...
Why dont you just ignore them?
Rather than offer curt and superior disdain on a subject youre bored with or that annoy you...simply...leave them
If everyon eelse feels the same way, then the Newbie will not come back and wont bother you any more, but at least those who wish to help and join in a little mentoring wont feel like they are betraying the board ethos.

Now...let the Flames begin

Frankly, /Wiki isn't my friend: using that command in-game will crash my client every single time, maybe because I don't have Internet Explorer installed, maybe because my real computer died and I'm playing on an old PC with just 512MB RAM, maybe because I've got java disabled for security reasons. I don't know and I don't care, because Guildwiki is my friend anyway.

And yeah, "use search" is often/usually a very unhelpful thing to say, especially as the game continually changes and the search function of gwguru is teh suck.

Whenever i see someone posting an easily answerable question in game such as "what is an elite skill". I reply in a whisper:

Type /Wiki elite skills. That page will give you all the info you need.

The in game wiki search isn't very well known so i like to spread the knowledge. And as i tell them that page will give all info the want and then expand on it preventing further questions

"where do i get them?"

"when can i get one?"

"whats the best?"

"can i use them all?"

Answering questions directly isn't always the best route to take. If people already know of the wiki then they have no excuse to post simple questions. Reading a page on a wiki page is easier then making a post on a forum so they can't call ignorance.

I usually try to answer the question and then recommend wikki for further info but I take your point.
Some of the players who have been here a while see many things as so obvious we just cannot believe some questions, and wonder if its a wind up.

Maybe it comes from those who buy the game online and have no guide at all, because reading the game manual tells you many things.

Its also true that many questions don't give enough information for anyone to answer properly, we get things like where is the best place to farm or level a pet etc without saying which game they have.

My fave is the inevitable what is x worth, how the heck does anyone know the value of an item when it changes every day and depends how desperate the buyer is.
It's like asking how long is a piece of string

I agree with the people who said the questions really depend on simplicity. I hate questions like "where do I get x armour" when that is easily searchable in the wiki. If they didn't know about the wiki then the post informs them it exists, if they did they're just lazy and shouldn't post innane questions and as such don't deserve an answer.

I agree that the /wiki copout shouldn't be used with legitimate questions that might take a lot of forum searching, or actually needs a player's experience to give you info on (i.e. "what is the best level to leave pre for x profession"), but for really simple questions that can easily be answered if you'd bothered to actually learn a little bit about the game /wiki is a perfectly acceptable answer.

Without that answer we might end up with lots of people like that guy a few weeks ago who posted about 20 inane questions which we tried to answer politely until we got sick of him and told him to use wiki and go away.

Well guys, this isn't a question....

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