Forum:How much do they watch us?

It has recently come to my attention that 343/Bungie/whoever is making Halo stuff watches Halopedia at least somewhat closely. Why do I say this? Well, the double-retconn on the Longsword's designation.

If you look at the talk page, you'll notice a discussion titled "name designation conflict". In this discussion, suggestions for the differences between the GA-TL1 designation and the C709 designation are given. The first (made by yours truly) is that the different designations refer to variants. The other suggestion is that the designation refers to the ship the Longsword is attached to. Long after these suggestions were made BOTH of them have been recently validated. The Pillar of Autumn's designation was recently stated to be C709, confirming the that "C709" refered to registry number. However, the Essential Visual Guide lists variants of the Longsword, including the C709 and the C712, confirming the other theory as well. This leads me to believe two different people read the talk page and changed things in order to stop the minor confusion it caused.

Also, there is the matter of the Covenant fleet's size at the Fall of Reach being retconned because of Lord Hood's exaggeration in Halo 2. It is suspected that much of the content in the Halo Encyclopedia, including the misinformation, was pulled from Halopedia.

So this brings me to a question: How much do the folks up at 343i and elsewhere watch this site for breaches in cannon, or just to watch this community in general? pestilence  Phil,  pestilence!  01:14, 16 October 2011 (EDT)
 * That right there is a great reason to keep our info as accurate as possible.--光环的家伙 (H1234-NET) 01:45, 16 October 2011 (EDT)
 * If they really cared they could put an ad up on Waypoint or halo.xbox.com. Bush Wookie Camper 02:37, 16 October 2011 (EDT)

Not enough, obviously!! >:{

Well, a good company should keep track of the notes from its fanbase. Sometimes it turns out good, like here with the Longsword issue, sometimes badly with the fleet size at Reach. And Specops can tell you all about his materials being used! I wish they'd give a bigger sign of it at times, let us know they're here so we could have some nice canon conversations, but their current background operandus is fine, though a little shadowy. Tuckerscreator (stalk ) 02:46, 16 October 2011 (EDT)


 * I am convinced that Frankie is stalking me and my stuff, if not on Halopedia then on Halo Fanon. Try to create a Labyrinth world in Procyon? Halo Wars has Arcadia in the system, and a map of the same name. Battle for control of a planet? Halo Reach. War of Vengeance? Yep, Elites are still fighting Brutes in 2557. Try seeding Paladins/Sovereigns? Boom! Rumours of Precursors. I'm tempted to introduce unusual stuff just to see whether 343i takes me up on the challenge.


 * At the same time, I hope 343i don't pay too much heed to us. We've gotten a lot of things wrong - the recent kerfuffle over the legitimacy of the URF for example, or the First and "Second" Battles of Earth. Don't rely on fans too much for hardcore information - sometimes things also need to be changed as well, and sticking too closely to preestablished fact can hold you back, ie the Reach canon retcon. We don't decide what is and isn't canon - the holders of the franchise and the makers of the games/writers of the novels do. --  Specops306   Autocrat     Qur'a 'Morhek   06:01, 17 October 2011 (EDT)

From what I've gathered, it seems clear they watch us very closely. Perhaps too closely, if the Encyclopedia is to be believed. It's a good thing, however, if they check through the talk pages as well, since our discussions about canon issues might result in them trying to fix the said issues. Like Halofan said, it's also a very concrete reason for us to keep our material in check, if we don't want fanon making its way into official material. Then again, some might also find it an opportunity to sneak their fan fiction into the official universe.

I think the whole Data Drop campaign and its explanation for the inconsistencies between Reach and TFoR might have been created as a result of our Fall of Reach talk page (though the discussion was far wider than just Halopedia), and it's obviously a good thing they're doing something to reconcile the conflicts. Another concrete example of this are the inconsistencies fixed in the first three novels' 2010 editions; When going through the inconsistencies list, I noticed that most of the disparities corrected in the new editions were ones listed here, while others that have gone unmentioned by us have not been corrected. There are multiple minor examples I could also list; for example, the Mombasa Tether was never called "New Mombasa Orbital Elevator" in official canon; yet our old article title has apparently found its way into the Essential Visual Guide.

I'm with Specops in that 343i definitely shouldn't base their material directly on our content, however. Halopedia can be used as a reference guide at the most, as long as they make sure the subject is that way in the original material as well; e.g. checking if there's actually a mention of "United Rebel Front" anywhere in the novels. If they copy things directly from us, we'll end up with embarrassing errors like those in the Encyclopedia. Ideally, they could use the wiki, mostly the talk pages, to keep track of canon conflicts or gray areas they might want to clear up. In addition, they could take subjects with minimal or disputed information about them and expand on the said subjects in Waypoint articles.

I also agree with Tuckerscreator that some level of dialog and cooperation between us and them would be beneficial for both parties, as well as for canon. Maybe even have one of their employees in charge of canon matters (Vociferous seems to be the most visible one) make an account here and occasionally comment on things, or even clear up some problems we might have. The least they could do is give some recognition and credit to us, given how they continuously turn to the wiki for help. --Jugus (Talk  | Contribs ) 06:40, 17 October 2011 (EDT)