Club Penguin Wiki:Archive/Abolish Portals

No offense, but if I'm a reader who came from Google and I click on one of those portal links on the main page, hoping to find some kind of simple list of articles - I instead find a giant colorful box full of clutter the average reader doesn't care about like "News", "Did you know", "Activities", "Featured Picture", "Projects", etc. Most of them have a tiny section at the bottom of the page with an incomplete gallery that link to a few articles. This is just going to turn viewers away. For example, if I go to the homepage and want to find an article on the Cove, I would click on "Places" and wouldn't know what to do. If anything, portals should be a very simple and easy way for users to find content. We should replace portal links with category pages. --Seahorseruler ^{(Talk Page) (Contribs)} 23:53, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Vote (-1)

For (6)

1. --Seahorseruler ^{(Talk Page) (Contribs)} 23:53, 18 November 2012 (UTC)
2. --ClubPenguinMaster • Talk 00:28, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
3. -- TheBroMaster ^{Talk to me!} 01:44, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
4. --Tux (*** SERVICE NOTIFICATION *** clubpenguinwiki.info IS UP) 02:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
5. -- Brookelas Mastered the EL EM ENTS! 05:17, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
6. --LordMaster96 06:13, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Against (7)

1. --Chill57181 Talk to me Master of the pencil Come to my party! 00:02, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
2. --PenBlooeR 00:12, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
3. --Wolfgangs ^(Talk)
4. --ShrimpPin 22:51, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
5. --Hat Pop ^{Bunny Ears Rule!} 23:50, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
6. Per my comment --Tigernose Talk • Contribs 16:21, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
7. Cp kid Wanna Talk? 19:39, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Comments

• Don't abolish portals, improve them instead. Give them more attention, they need a lot of work, and they're not a bad idea. If worked on, they can help lost viewers a lot. And also, it's a fun project every user can join in. When they're finished, you can put links to them in the main page - it's way better than linking to categories or making that old list full of articles. Portals make it much easier for a viewer to find the content they're searching for.--PenBlooeR 00:12, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• Don't care for either one but didn't the council meeting decide to give the article department a chance to run it? If the departments idea is vetoed I actually wouldn't care but I think what the network needs is a new sense of leadership so that it actually seems like a Club Penguin Wiki rather than a politics wiki. Our IRC channel reflects this. --LordMaster96 00:24, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• I don't think we should remove portals, but like Sea said, I think it would function better if it were made as a table for topics. Example: here --ClubPenguinMaster • Talk 00:28, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
  • That's basically a fancy list of articles in a category. Portals give more info that may be useful to the viewer, added to the list of articles covered by the portal's subject. That's not a portal, it's a category with images. Just give portals more attention and they'll work out, they're a great idea for any wiki, even for those with small communities --PenBlooeR 01:23, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• Portals just need to be overhauled and revamped. The idea is fantastic, but it needs to be implemented just as fantastically. --Hat Pop ^{Bunny Ears Rule!} 01:19, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
  • Agreed. We should give portals more time and have the "managers" of each portal to come together and find a way to fix it up. I read the original forum making portals possible and I honestly think it's not well drafted. If all does not go well, I would definitely support nicer looking category pages. In fact, that's what I suggested when I first drafting the new mainpage design. --LordMaster96 06:50, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• I'm against removing it, we just need more plannings for it. --Wolfgangs ^(Talk) 16:38, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• I agree with PenblooeR. Portals are often fantastic for wikis when executed well. From what I'm seeing so far, there's too much clutter and it's ugly on the eyes. Position everything well, make it nice and clean so no clutter so it looks sleek and easy to read. No bright colours, bad fonts and unnecessary sections and a portal can be done well. Remember, the reader wants to see the articles about the party more than a did you know factoid. Leave them to the side or the bottom and make sure the message comes across. --Tigernose Talk • Contribs 21:55, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• I actually like them a lot. If the colors maybe were a bit more appealing, it might look nicer. -ShrimpPin 22:51, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
• Nobody seems to be understanding the issue - they are unattractive to viewers because they contain way too many useless sections. It should have a huge list of articles first, before anything else. A lot of you are voting no because you run a portal and don't want to lose control over them. They need to lose the "Need help?", "Did you know?", "Activities", "Projects", etc. The portals should be strictly for viewers, allowing them to easily browse the topic and find articles within it. Some of the other sections can be retained, but should be below an article list/hub. --Seahorseruler ^{(Talk Page) (Contribs)} 01:33, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
  • Hey Sea, lead by example. Create the ideal portal for us. :) -- TheBroMaster ^{Talk to me!} 01:44, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
    • Great idea. I'll work on one in a bit, thanks for the idea. :) --Seahorseruler ^{(Talk Page) (Contribs)} 01:56, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
      • I had a similar idea; I know for certain that the colors need to be toned down and the pointless sections removed, but I thought maybe to compromise for both sides the social/user part of a portal can strictly be on its discussion page. We can link to "huge amounts of articles" on the portal, but keep organization in mind, we don't want to go crazy... --Hat Pop ^{Bunny Ears Rule!} 03:22, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
• CPW != Wikipedia, the end Tux (*** SERVICE NOTIFICATION *** clubpenguinwiki.info IS UP) 02:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
• I have no idea what side I'm on. Seahorse, what options are there? I see A) Removing the portals and using category pages and B) keeping portals the way they are. It seems to be C) It looks like the talk is about restarting portals the way it's looking right now, and I would definitely support that, but I do not know which side the vote would be on. Please clarify. Thanks. --LordMaster96 04:45, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
  • The plan is to abolish portals completely, then we can (in either another vote or council meeting) try to either redesign portals and relaunch them or attempt to make category pages attractive. That will be determined in the future. --Seahorseruler ^{(Talk Page) (Contribs)} 20:52, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
• See the character portal for what I believe to be a good portal example, minus its color. :P --Hat Pop ^{Bunny Ears Rule!} 23:50, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
• Made a decision based on what Sea explains. I'm not against portals but I would like to see an improvement in them, and that's what I'm voting for per the comment by Sea above. --LordMaster96 06:13, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
• I was originally wanting to remove portals, but I think if we revamp them and turn them into something that is easy to navigate through and nice to look at, they would be fine. If we can fix them, then it won't hurt to keep them. --$harkbate ^{Talk Page} 19:37, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
• They just need improvement :P Cp kid Wanna Talk? 19:39, 21 November 2012 (UTC)