[Kleothera]

Hmms. All these posts have been generated by the Matrix. Nods sagely, barely concealing a grin.

Is there such a thing as absolute truth? I dont think the philosophers have sorted that one out yet. In the meantime, scientists have settled for peer reviewed journals with pages and pages of references.

My point being (post midnight sleep deprivation caused silliness apart) that I agree with the_Logos that the crux is the need to figure out a way to have these constantly disappearing sources preserved somehow in some sort of verifiable manner.

What WOULD a neutral source be for the wikipedia anyway? Something that they (and other serious sites) would consider authoritative?

Also why DID the older references disappear, like the Mud Journal for example? Was it readership? Was it people writing meaningful content? Both? Its going to help to avoid reinventing the wheel. Also I remember at one point seriously considering doing a research on leadership in MUDs but figured I was going to get almost nothing in terms of references and no place to publish it once completed. so it is one idea that in its serious form pretty much lasted only two weeks. However, a place where serious content related to MUDs is kept would still probably be usable to wannabe researchers and armchair MUD theorists like me. Thing is, even smaller MUDs get undergrad/post grad students coming to us when doing research on online communities which could be preserved some place third party and be used by the said students as well. Most game websites are principally made for advertisement, but there is still need for a sensible, serious MUD resource site that actually has a lot of content on it. Most MUD sites have a couple of introductory essays on MUD issues (with the possible exception of TMCs old articles), and pretty much nothing else.

And now I need to sleep!