Commentary on wiki section of GB being hidden

By RagingLion March 14, 2009 8 Comments

Just posted this in a new forum topic.  Thought I'd post it here as well in case (I don't know how) it gets more views (somehow) from being here, since I feel it's so important for GB to be what it should be as a site.

I really like the new look that GiantBomb has since the makeover but I have a suggestion which I feel quite strongly about.

You note now in your main description on the front page that "Giant Bomb is the world’s largest editable video game database", but there are no longer any links to this wiki content from the front page like there used to be.  I understand that based, I'm guessing, on not many of those links getting many hits previously, but otherwise it's unlikely for me to penetrate GiantBomb's huge database since I have to go specifically to the "Browse..." tab, which is unlikely unless I'm looking for something specifically.  I can say from personal testimony that I have checked random GB wiki articles far less since the redesign.

What I'm trying to say is that the wiki database is a huge part of what GB is as a site and without some reference in the guise of specific links being placed on the front page then it feels like this significant part of GB is generally being hidden away apart from those few pages that get referenced by the articles that you guys post.  There's all these potentially really interesting articles that are just hidden away and don't get the attention they deserve from people that might be interested in them if they ever came across them - and that feels against the spirit of what the GB database should be all about.

Well, that's my sentiment.  What should be done?  Given only a little thought I would suggest at the very least having some sort of 'random article' button such as Wikipedia has (maybe there too many competely empty pages that this would prove worthless?... a guess - but maybe it should include a minimum word limit fro what articles it shows).  However, many specific links would be better, which should probably change frequently.  So, for example, having each day: an "article of the day" (maybe hand-picked or via a fancy stat-tracking algorithm); 'upcoming article of the day'; 'recently popular'; 'interesting article you'd never normally read' .... you get the idea.  It only has to be a few links like unlike the many you had before, but I hope you GB staffers can find space for it on your front page since it is so much of what this site is about.  Reply also if for some reason you think this would be unnecessary.

To everyone else:  what do you think of this?  Do you agree?  If so, what do you think is the best way to link to the GB wiki pages from the front page?

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