I think perhaps the current status regarding the wiki is due to a misunderstanding of what that wiki actually was. It was the belief of most people concerned that it was to be part of the forums, not a separate entity governed/controlled by anyone other than the 405th itself.
In speaking of "the halo costuming community" I think there are some that would say that's a description of the 405th, and some that would suggest it's not. Some would say that the 405th is a separate PART of the Halo costuming community.
This is where the miscommunication lies.. In the definitions:
The 405th club is separate from the 405th forums.
The 405th forums is a repository of information on Halo Costuming, accessbile to those that join, AND to a lesser degree, those that don't. Participation is restricted to those that know how to behave and be respectful of other members. Much of the information on it was put there under the impression that that they were giving to a community that they belonged to.
The concept of the Halo costuming forums is that it encompasses all Halo costuming. This isn't to say that other Halo costuming communities might exist on their own, but this is the one that has all of the information that it's members/mods/creator put into it. Derivative works made from any of the contents/ tutorials /etc, are considered to be 405th works, but not actually owned by the forums, merely owned by the members that made them.
Again, the Club itself is a separate entity. I state that again, because if folks show up at a convention or something, wearing something they created from here, they'd be thought of as 405th forum members. The 405th club is a group that recognizes that they have costumes fitting canon (or as close to canon as is realistically possible), and wish to be with other people that have the same thing and are willing to travel with (or meet up with) each other at events, and/or work together on club projects. In theory, a member of the 405th Club doesn't have to be a member of the 405th forums, though it wouldn't make sense to avoid forum membership... Other folks from other Halo costuming groups are welcome to join the 405th club if they want to, and are willing to go by the club rules.
A wiki was formed to lay-out the 405th information in a more logical/concise way. In joining the Wiki, the concept was that you were a 405th member enjoying a portion of the 405th's repository of information. It was never intended that 405th information actually LEAVE the 405th, nor be shared to non-405th members as part of an entrnal resource. The folks that created these works, are trusting the 405th forums to be a haven for sharing this information with others in that community. It's therefore implied that they trust the moderators to remove members that would either capitalize on /sell their works, and/or abuse other members, etc. Plus, continue to make the information availible to them in the foreseeable future.
The formation of an internal 405th wiki would follow the direction of the growth of the 405th information/resource base that was given to the 405th forums by members of the 405th forums.. FOR the members of the 405th.
An external Wiki is something formed from the 405th information/resource base that is availible to anyone, regardless of their intents, or regardless of how they treat anyone they come into contact with, or regardless of what they want to do with the information they gather. If they wanted to, they could publish a book using the information provided for them. They wouldn't even necessarily have an interest in Halo, or the community at large.
Should there become a problem with someone using information gleaned from an external wiki, there's simply nothing that can be done about it. If someone mass produced the cardboard pepakura files and sold them, there would be no way to do anything about it because there's a general license release involved.
By keeping the information property of the 405th forums, it means that there's legal recourse if recourse is required, there's bans to stop offenders that are discovered on say.. ebay.. doing things they shouldn't be.
Most importantly though is the basic concept and premise. The information created for the 405th forums is maintained as a part of the 405th forums, for the 405th forum members, by Adam and his staff. As owner of these boards, the transmission of this information is simply up to him. He's trusted by all of those that post information here, or quite simply.. the information wouldn't BE here.
It's a matter of perspective; These aren't pictures of trees that are catalogued for the anyone going out to look at trees, they are more like personal creations that are catalogued for other like-minded folks that join the group of the 405th group to share in as part of the 405th halo community forums.
My own contributions to the Wiki are reference pics that may or may not be availible for anyone who wants to look at them. That's quite different from a Tutorial creation made for the 405th forums.
My own vote is that we do an internal wiki. I also suggest that rather than discard the time/effort that Vrogy has put into the current Wiki, we recognize his efforts by allowing him to have a moderating position on that internal Wiki. I think that not only does he have the most knowledge about how to set-up and use the wiki, but that he's simply got a good head for this kind of thing in general, and would be an asset to a newly formed Internal wiki.
It should be noted that with 14 articles, moving the wiki may not be that big of a deal, except in terms of re-routing links.
If the existing wiki continues separately from the 405th, I think that it's up to the 405th forums to determine what 405th information remains on it. Quite frankly, the information wasn't made for that wiki, nor given to the wiki as a way to build-up the wiki's ability to support itself independently of these forums.
I feel that an internal wiki is the way to go, and will help to facilitate this goal in any way neccessary.
