[Milawe]

Yeah, you're right Kleothera. It's hard to get out of the habit after having to defend it on Wikipedia so much where it sometimes seem volume speaks more loudly than quality. (Btw, the DRV was invalidated by some neutral admins, and the article recreated... much earlier than I thought, but some things just can't be helped.)

Right now, muds should be making sure that they grab all the citations and mentions of their game from third party sites that they can off the web before it goes away. LegendMUD had actually let something slip from their own webpage about a pretty major award they won in 1995. Raph Koster was able to find it in an internet archive, but something like that probably shouldn't be removed even if it feels a bit outdated. (Even if it's moved to some attic page on the website, it should still be kept.)

With Threshold, players had to help dig up references from newspapers and magazines. Some of this involves going down to libraries and dragging through microfiche or calling other libraries for aid. This actually took a lot of time and some money, and ultimately, isn't worth it to just keep a Wikipedia article. It is worth it, however, to just keep all press on your mud. The easiest thing is to go ahead and put it in MLA citation style as well, in my opinion.

So, seriously, the first step is for all muds interested is to go out there and start tracking down press, awards, rankings, etc. Whatever you can, really, even if it seems minor. The second step is to put it in one resource that can easily be maintained and archived in an academic manner. The hows and whys need to be carefully considered.

If you do not have this on your mud yet, add it: Make sure you have a way of finding out where your players came from. That aided us greatly in finding sources and references including an international reference written in an Italian magazine.