User blog:NOBODY/Hiding the Video Module and Photos Module: The Email

Hi all!

I've constructed the Email that I'm going to send to Wikia regarding hiding the Video Module and Photos Module. Any suggestions on what should be added or taken out? I aim to write something that doesn't even up being long. Here goes:

Hello Wikia!

I'm Nobody, an editor from the Nitrome Wiki. On the Nitrome Wiki, our community writes about Nitrome games. Nitrome are a UK based game developer company who make (mostly) free flash games. Nitrome games are almost always level based, as such (as with most media), an ending is attained when all the levels of a game are completed.

Most Nitrome games have endings that reveal a lot about the game the ending appears in. Endings can reveal just the outcome to the game character's adventure, to revealing the game's entire story. As endings can reveal a lot about the game, they generally contain content that could spoil the game's story for players who have not yet completed the game.

Spoiling content is not restricted to endings, games that have an actual story (most Nitrome games don't really have a story, most just have an ending) generally have content late in the game that contains content that could spoil the story for other people (such as a dead character later revealed to not really be dead).

As this information can spoil integral parts of a game - and no one likes having integral information about a game revealed ahead of when it should be revealed - the Nitrome Wiki has taken certain measures to hide spoiling content, using methods so that the reader can choose whether to see the spoiling content or not. Content such as this is done through hiding content in a collapsible box, which can be collapsed if the reader wishes to see the content.

Unfortunately, the Nitrome Wiki is unable to completely hide spoiling content, due to the presence of the Featured Module (found on the right side of all mainspace pages, displays videos) (I will refer to this module as "Videos Module" in the message) and Photos Module (also displayed on the right side of all pages, displays the three recently uploaded images).

On articles about a game, the Nitrome Wiki aims to have a guide to assist people with whatever problem in the game they may have, many game articles containing a considerable amount of video walkthroughs (a video showing to how complete a certain level of a game).

Since the video module allows the reader to go through all the videos on an article, and the first three videos of the module are randomized, the video module (although the chances are usually low) runs a risks of showing videos that contain spoiling information (as videos are also used for uses other than just video walkthroughs).

The photos module also has a similar problem, as it is present on all mainspace pages and shows some of the recently uploaded images. Unfortunately, as most endings for Nitrome games are a single screen, for use on the game's article, this screen is usually uploaded immediately by a user.

Because of the photo module's nature of (usually) showing the most recent image, images such as these are often shown in the photo module for a long time until someone else uploads other images. As the Nitrome Wiki's views usually jumps considerably when a new game is released, this can be rather detrimental to people who have yet to get to the end of the game.

Although methods such as uploading this image to another wiki or Imageshack/Photobucket then using the image's link to embed it into a page also can prevent the image from being revealed globally across the wiki, and also show the image without having to click the URL, methods such as these are rather cumbersome.

In compliance with Wikia's Terms of Use, I kindly ask if I can have permission to input a certain code into the Nitrome Wiki's global CSS that hides both the Videos Module and Photos Module. This would allow many Nitrome fans to happily browse the Nitrome Wiki once a new game has been released, without being spoiled.

I have discussed this with the Nitrome Wiki community (at this blog post: http://nitrome.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:NOBODY/Request_to_disable_the_%22Photos%22_box_and_%22Featured_Videos%22_on_the_left_side_of_pages ) and have received permission to ask for this.

Although it may seem what I am asking hinders the accessibility to the Wiki's photos and videos, both the photos and videos of the wiki can be accessed from the top bar of the Wiki Navigation (to the right of the wordmark).

Sincerely

Nobody

Questions:

Should I use "Hi" instead of "Hello" in my opening sentence?

Should I refer to myself as NOBODY or Nobody? As there is currently another user unrelated to me who is called Nobody (in lowercase).

Should I remove the sentence "Sincerely [break] Nobody" with "Thank you for your time [break] Nobody" at the end of the message (I did not know how to end the message).

Any suggestions on what can be changed, added, removed, or can shorten its size?

In the sentence "Most Nitrome games have endings that reveal a lot about the game the ending appears in", should it be shortened to "Most Nitrome games have endings that reveal a lot about the game"?

In the sentence "Unfortunately, as most endings for Nitrome games are a single screen, for use on the game's article, this screen is usually uploaded immediately by a user. " Is this fine as it is, or should "for use on the game's article" be changed to "for use on that game's article"?

Should I add a link to my userpage, and a link to the Nitrome Wiki?

As mentioned before, you are free to suggest other changes to the Email.