User blog:Crazy teitoku/Wikia - Event preparations for temporary and permanent moderators

=Foreword= As a first time temporary moderator to Summer 2015 Event I realised the lack of documentation that was much needed for moderators alike - at the very last minute. With that aside, despite having learnt from all the requirements the hard way I now detail with the outline of what is involved so that future moderators irrespective if they are temporary and/or first time moderator for events.

Summer 2015 Event was a hectic event as many of those whom have went through it would know. It was even more hectic for moderators to keep up with all the information, edits, etc flowing in from all directions. I must note here that no moderator/administrator was to be blamed for the lack of organisation/preparation required for a huge event as there was no real way to have it done right in the first place. As for myself, being the first time moderator without much background knowledge I faced the daunting task of learning whatever was required. Despite all that it was well worth the experience and I am grateful to be able to take part doing moderation in an event - especially a big one.

Even though this blog entry would be better suited to moderators/administrators, it would also be of a huge help to regular users alike if they know what is involved and where to help out so that it could also potentially lessen the burden for others.

By no means this blog entry would be complete let alone concise as procedures are prone to evolve at a rapid rate however the basic fundamentals still apply. I will try my best to also maintain this blog entry as well as I can and at the same time I welcome positive feedback on this particular blog entry including positive criticism.

=Introduction= Congratulations on being elected to take part on a hectic time during kancolle game whereby every player is expected to perform the best they can! As a chosen moderator you have been selected is not just because of the fact that you are familiar with the rest of the regulars of the kancolle wikia but because you potentially have the necessary skills to perform and uphold your duties as one.

In most cases you would have been selected/recommended is because of your familiarity with wiki codes or in the very least be able to understand well how the wiki works and that you are ready to take those skills to the next level. Presumably the most essential necessity really is to be familiar with how wiki works so that ideally there would be no complaints with your contributions.

As a moderator, you might want to take a few minutes to read through Group rights (Special Page) to see what your new privileges are. Basically you have the permissions to edit forum threads and comments as needed.

Once you are familiar with your roles as a moderator do you might want to also take heed in the motto of, "With great power, comes great responsibility."

=Event preparations=

Specific roles
What each moderators should be aware of are specifically their roles during event time. Remember, you were selected was also because of your ability to do your part in wiki contribution when others have other roles they need to attend to. Therefore you need to find out exactly what you need to do in addition to your regular wiki sessions and what not.

If there were no roles specified, you must request for one because if there's no system or structure in place to manage moderators and all effectively there would be conflicts with edits and with the lack of communication comes as a breakdown which topples over any systems in place.

Primarily there are three sets of places where event moderators needs to focus on:
 * Events page and specifically the one where you were assigned to. So for instance if you were selected to do Summer 2015 events it would respectively be Summer 2015 Event page.
 * Forums specifically related to Enemy reporting thread as well as Fleet Composition thread. For every event map there is for any given season there is at least two forum threads discussing about it. In the case of Summer 2015 Event with seven maps, you would have 14 forum threads to deal with.
 * Recent updates such as any new developer tweets on the events. This is where either you translate the developer tweets and/or you update the tweets as needed into the wikia. As well, there are several other minor pages that may need attention to such as new ships as well as new combat mechanics.

Events page
Ideally the structure of the page should resemble similar to what the last two events were like. So for instance with Fall 2015 Event, you should look for clues as to how Summer 2015 Event as well as Spring 2015 Event was structured.

Generally what needs to be placed are:
 * Information about the event, especially from developer tweets.
 * Event related quests (if applicable)
 * Difficulty selection (if applicable)
 * Combined fleet availability (if applicable)
 * Event maps and the tabulated format
 * Other miscellaneous information such as other sources, player streams, etc.

Forums for reporting Enemy reporting thread and Fleet Composition thread
Again, it is best here to have a look at the last few events under the Events maps section for clues. For instance if referring to Summer 2015 Event's Event maps it would be this.

Basically for every event map there would be two threads that are to either be created, to be linked or be maintained.

Recent updates as well as other miscellaneous details
In a bid to prevent having too much information on the specific event pages, some of the other pages/threads may be used instead. In the instance of Summer 2015 Event it would be for instance this.

Other duties may include editing entities that are restricted to only moderators or above. If you have any issues such as not being able to edit certain entities then you need to escalate issue to administrators.

Summary
Ultimately no single moderator can single handily manage all of the roles above, this is why the tasks needs to be broken up amongst more than one person to effectively manage the situation as well as to lessen the burden and hence there needs to be some sort of structure with roles all detailed out as needed to prevent overlapping edits, conflicts as well as confusions.

Where certain pages/threads does not exist (especially event related threads) and that you have been entrusted to create as well as manage those parts then go create one first.

If you are unsure of how certain pages/threads are created or maintained you might want to have a look back at Events and see at some of the more recent but historic events and obtain ideas on how it is dealt with.

Templates
Templates are one of the great ways to allow quick data inputs into a format that is both legible and definitive and the creation of templates isn't restricted to moderators.

Currently for events there are three known templates that are in-use to assist in rapid inclusion of data:
 * Event map table - First used in Spring 2015 Event
 * Enemy fleet composition as well as particulars on what the node entails
 * Difficulty selection - Currently in draft format

Template:EventMap3
The usage of this template is pretty simple with a few exceptions. Ideally what you need to do is to find out or create relevant forum threads for each of the fleet/enemy reporting threads on respective maps.

An example of how it roughly works can be found here - you just edit the "EDIT ME" fields for the forum links (in numerical format after the colon).

Other things that needs to be filled out are the images of the maps which some administrators such as Dragonjet and Ckwng for instance may have information available.

Then comes node information as well as boss_node= whereby boss_node specifically mentions which node letter is the boss. The need to fill out each available nodes there are on specific map with a structure that clearly divides between the various ship classes for the nodes which offers them is also ideal.

Template:NodeInfo
This template is for use with enemy fleet compositions which are to be used on relevant Enemy Reporting Thread for each and every map the event may have. Most of the documentation has been provided as is on the link and it should be very easy to implement. The only exception is when it comes to new enemies is that the wikia may not have the information on hand and so you may have to either ask the admins or wait for the information to become available.

Do note that because you are a moderator, your role is to edit the start of each Enemy Reporting Thread as appropriate whenever there are information being provided from the various contributors. Sorting each of the respective node entries alphabetically is also a must so that it would make editing easier as well as being legible for readers.

Tip:
 * As more and more information about Enemy Reporting has been provided on each and every map as well as their appearance from various chosen difficulty levels (whenever applicable) and that only a few nodes are missing information. You could edit the main thread to include information (towards the bottom of that thread) which nodes are missing information and/or include them as part of the drop down button.
 * Using place holders for nodes that are still missing information may also help later on when it comes to editing when the necessary information has been acquired.
 * As enemy reporting thread gets more and more information, it may become harder to track where they were up to with the flood from incoming reports. The use of creating new responses with words like "--MARK--" may also be acceptable or ideally anything to signify where you were up to. This not only helps yourself but potentially for other moderators should they help out with your edits. Ideally communication between other moderators would be ideal beforehand and it would save a hell lot of work with the unneeded effort of double checking constantly and from start, etc.

Sourcing enemy node information from other (credible) sources such as wikiwiki.jp (if you could read Japanese) would also be one other way to quickly fill up the necessary information on nodes lacking such particulars.

Template:DiffSelect/Draft
This is a very simple template that was intended to "modularise" information so that it may prevent:
 * the need to type it all out or copy and paste from older event pages.
 * the unnecessary need to bloat a page up in terms of incremented characters/lines when there is a template in place.

Currently however this template is really in draft format and may lack information. For anything specifically related to a certain event it is possible to include them later on, for examples see here.

During events
Primarily your role would be sourcing information from front runners (or alternatively known as "frontliners"), most of the reliable sources from front runners would be those whom are regulars to kancolle wiki and would most likely be in a conference/voice chat.

As an example, Summer 2015 Event saw Hossinator hosting a TeamSpeak conference whereby ArcticaFrost was in discussion with others as well as providing enemy fleet compositions.

Ideally, to be able to update the wiki with the information as soon as the front runners are vital to ensure the readers as well as other kancolle players whom frequently visit wiki for information aren't left out of the loop.

Other than that the need to moderate forum threads are ideal which is pretty obvious if you are a moderator yourself. Making sure that the users comply with the guidelines set by either wikia, kancolle wikia or any other usual common sense rules applies.

Other considerations
Your role may vary depending on what is asked of you as well as your availability and what not to match others. Again, if this information was not laid out before hand, make sure you draft one up or otherwise all the editing between moderators may potentially overlap and therefore run into each other.

Event map itself
You may also want to deal with the event map and edit as needed for nodes that are either: maelstrom, selection, empty, or otherwise resource nodes to be omitted from the drop lists. This can for instance improve the overall unnecessary bulk for the page and makes the whole thing look more legible.

Individual forum threads such as Enemy Reporting thread as well as Fleet Composition thread
(Refer to Template:NodeInfo above for information on Enemy Reporting thread). Other than that your main role as a moderator is to make sure that you are able to resolve disputes, and delete any flame wars as needed.

Recent updates as well event related forum thread that involves discussion about developer tweets
Most of the time it generally requires one to liaise with a translator or to translate and edit developer tweets yourself. Again regular moderator roles still applies here other than editing threads as needed.