The Wiki Ops Squadron is a group of members that help organize efforts to keep the wiki updated (such as on the Face List, crew history pages, various duty post sections, etc.) and harness the enthusiasm of frequent wiki contributors.. Today we meet with Wiki Ops member Gila Sadar so we can learn more about this important part of our community!
DeVeau: Thank you for joining us. Can you please start by giving us a short overview on the Wiki Ops and how it supports our StarBase 118 community?
Sadar: Hello and thank you for having me! Wiki Operations – or Wiki Ops, for short – is a Squadron focused on the maintenance and upkeep of our beloved SB118 Wiki. The Community’s Wiki was established in 2004 – more than 20 years ago now! – and at this point, it is a very extensive database on all things that the fleet has accomplished in the time since.
Not only is it a valuable tool for worldbuilding our vessels – all the way down to giving us room numbers! – but it is also a great recruitment tool. New cadets with a fondness for wikis (including myself back when I was a Cadet) are drawn in by the extensive lore and care that everyone puts into keeping our Wiki neat and up-to-date, and the members of Wiki Ops are ever considering new ways to use the Wiki to serve our community.
Beyond that, Wiki Ops members are also encouraged to be available in the Wiki Questions channel on the Discord, to help new fledgling wiki users get the, sometimes, stubborn code to do as it’s told.
How would a new member join this squadron?
Be obnoxious enough? Pretty sure that’s how I joined anyway. In reality, it’s a matter of asking. Wiki Ops is open to any and all ranks, and even before officially joining Wiki Operations, everyone is permitted to update pages on the Wiki. Ask your mentor or Captain to reach out to Wiki Ops on your behalf, and soon, you’ll be admitted to our HIGHLY exclusive Wiki Ops channel on the discord, and can see just how pedantic wiki talk can get sometimes.
Do you have to be a specific rank or have special knowledge beyond standard wiki code to join?
As mentioned before, Wiki Ops is one of the few taskforces that isn’t limited by rank, so anyone with a willingness and desire to wield the Wiki for the betterment of the fleet are welcome. As for how much knowledge is necessary, so long as you know how to steal with both arms and legs, you are more than welcome!
Wiki Operations is filled with people of various skill levels, ranging from me whose only merit is the willingness to spend obscene hours during menial busywork that everyone else thinks is too tedious, to people like Robin Hopper and Gnai who wield code like it’s a magic paintbrush and the wiki is their canvas.
I absolutely understand feeling intimidated from actually joining Operations because you don’t feel skilled enough with Wiki coding, but trust me, it’s your enthusiasm and workhorse mentality that is most valued. Coding is a skill – the ability to sit over 10+ year old wiki pages to update old code to modern standards and enjoy every second of it? That can’t be taught.
What is your favorite thing about working as a part of this squadron?
Probably the innovative aspect. Even before joining Wiki Operations I was what the Lower Deckers of the fleet might consider a ‘Wiki Ghost’, roaming around the wiki and updating things here and there, so joining Wiki Operations hasn’t much changed the way I utilize the wiki.
But it wasn’t until joining Wiki Operations that I started realizing what the Wiki is actually used for outside of recordkeeping. Thinking of new innovative ways to streamline membership records, new ways of celebrating the group’s legacy or being part of adapting a new kind of coding (like the new Crew History template that Wiki Ops put in place for 118 Ops) is a lot of fun, and an experience you don’t really get without being part of a squadron or taskforce.
How has being a part of this group impacted you during your time in SB118?
Hmmm… I think being part of any Squadron or Taskforce is really how you start getting a feel for OOC collaboration. Being active on your Ship and helping your home crew is important, and something I still love doing, but I think that being able to collaborate outside your home crew is important too.
I know a few people in the fleet that I now consider dear friends, that I likely wouldn’t have had a chance to really get to know if not for Wiki Ops. The Starbase 118 Fleet is a big and wonderful place, filled with equally fantastic and nerdy people, and Squadrons and Taskforces are a great way to meet them and work together on something that is simultaneously catered to your interests, teaches you new skills and bridges the cross-ship divides.
Plus, it always sounds cool to say you’re a member of Wiki Operations, even if all I do is abuse my privileges to update crew histories no one reads anymore 😉
Thank you so much for your insights on the Wiki Ops Squadron!
You can read more about Wiki Ops on the wiki.
