User:NotAracham/RaidarrArchive/Don't import Wikipedia

This is a work in progress essay.

Essentially, 'don't import Wikipedia' applies to a few things I see:
 * Importing many Wikipedia modules and templates to achieve simple infoboxes without understanding how they work
 * Importing even more Wikipedia templates for organizational purposes that are not necessarily suited to the needs of your wiki
 * Strictly binding a wiki to the conventions and procedures of Wikipedia, when a more lightweight solution does the job

Frankly, most wikis will never become the scale of Wikipedia. It is built the way it is after many many years of need and ever growing structure, so the result at best appears convoluted to outsiders and is marked by extremely involved templates and structures that are beyond both the needs and understanding of local administrations. For infoboxes I strongly suggest looking into PortableInfobox, an extension that is much simpler to learn and understand as a wiki administrator. For non-infobox wikipedia content outside of say, voting templates, you should consider building them natively in a way that will make sense to you. Merely importing things seems like the simple option, but it can in fact leave you with many things that go unused and are unnecessary, and reduces your understanding of how your own wiki operates. Finally for culture and conventions of Wikipedia (and indeed Wikimedia), it is also important to put a limit on how much stock you give them, because they are built for a community infinitely more complicated than Miraheze Meta, any non-foundation wiki - indeed, literally anything that isn't Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation itself. I admit it, I am very much an advocate of simpler, integrated systems. Wikipedia and its technical content just doesn't work for the needs of any new wiki and I'd argue any wiki that isn't Wikipedia. If you know what you're doing in importing Wikipedia content based on thought out need, feel free to ignore this.

One exception is that we supplement holes in written Miraheze Meta culture and policy with Wikipedian/Wikimedian traditions, based on our roots and the software in use. We do this to a point, but it's critical to understand where and when the limits should be drawn. But that's a story for a 'Miraheze is not Wikimedia' essay...