SCA Heraldry Wiki:About

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Once upon a time, I saw many suggestions on email lists that a “wikipedia” for SCA Heraldry would be useful.

The discussions would determine that we needed:

  • someone with knowledge of Wiki programming
  • hosting on a secure server that "we" owned and controlled.

No one had those requirements

And so, each time, the idea of a heraldry wiki would die.

Finally, in 2012, I decided to just go for it

I had been using a free wiki farm that didn’t require knowledge of wiki code

My plan was to make a proof-of-concept and use it for my own reference if nothing else

It was to be a searchable “one-stop-shop” to find the scattered answers to heraldic questions:

  • What is on the “no copy” list? (Admin Handbook)
  • Do otters conflict with bears? (Precedent)
  • Is change of tincture an SC or a DC? (SENA)

After a few years, the easy wiki farm wasn’t free anymore. And then it closed down completely in 2018.

So the wiki had to be moved here and it's taking awhile to clean up the approximately 1,000 articles and files.


Organization: Started with the categories in:

  • the Index of the Ordinary and
  • Collected Precedents

Broke down big categories further as needed

  • So much information on owls, made separate article from birds
  • But had to keep some owl information in the main bird article (falcon vs owl, bird types, etc.)
  • Such duplication of information tedious, but necessary

Linking

  • less work to cut-and-paste, not searchable
  • links change more often than content

Quoting

  • more work to cut-and-past, searchable,
  • need to update when original source changes
  • “fair use” and copyright issues

Paraphrasing

  • more work than above, still need to update
  • less accurate than quoting, but fewer copyright issues