Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

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dubiousdisc
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Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by dubiousdisc »

Okay so let's say you have a wonderful shrine about something which has a finite canon. As in, there is a finite amount of canon material to write about, and there's no sign of a sequel or reboot in the foreseeable future. For all you know at the time of writing, the subject has a closed canon that doesn't seem like it will be ever expanded, so you can essentially write a site that takes into account the entire canon, and when you're done writing about everything that you wanted to write, you're really done. If you touch up the site later, it's because you have realized something that you'd like to talk about, because you want to edit the writing, because you want to revamp the site visually... stuff like that. Not because there's anything new in the fandom to discuss.

Now, you have all of that. Then, years later, there is a major canon expansion of this thing that you thought was complete. A reboot, a remake, or something of the sort. If I didn't care for this new part of the canon, I could just keep my site unupdated and say that it's about the older release and here you won't find any information about the newer thing... that's ok, but what if I would like to discuss the new stuff in this previously-complete fansite?

I could completely revamp and rewrite, but... should I really?
What if the new installment's connection to the previous incarnation is a bit complicated?

For the sake of clarity, let me talk directly about the subject that is relevant to me, but this could apply to a variety of things.

I had my sites about characters from Quake 3. Q3 came out in 2001, so by when I wrote my site in 2011 I think, the canon was very much closed and done. Now, there's the new Quake Champions which is a remake-reboot in which the same characters I talked about make a return. There is a whole lot of new lore about them. Some of the questions and the essays and the headcanoning that I had in my old sites are now made redundant by this new lore, as there is now canon information that straightens out some things that I was thinking about. But, are these really the same characters? I mean, they have the same names and sameish designs, but you know, are they really part of the same thing? After all, the people who made this new game are not the same people who made the first game, and the canons themselves seem to have somewhat diverged conceptually. I can't even be mad that's the case - it's been 17 years after all, things change. You could say these are two different incarnations of the characters and keep the old and new parts of my fansite somewhat separate and talk about each version separately, but then again, are they two different incarnations, or is this a canon expansion that clarifies things about the first game? It's really neither and both...

So, I really don't know what to do with my sites now. I'd want to write about the new stuff, but I also don't want to kill off my old content, as I think it still has merit in the discussion of the first game. But both of them together hardly make for a unified project...

Have you experienced this conundrum in your shrining endeavors? How have you tackled it / how would you think to tackle this? Beyond direct advice to my own case, I'd like to hear anything you have about this topic.
Robin
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Re: Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by Robin »

HMMMMMmmm. I get your dilemma! What if you did a separate new section with essays about the new developments, differences and similarities, impacts on old canon, and did a lot of interlinking between the old content and the new essays? You could also do visual aids and organization thingies to show how things have changed between the two iterations of the canon, if that would help. Maybe leave the old content as it stands and just make sure folks know it's about the old canon...? Blah, I feel like I'm talking all around myself but I think that would work. xD
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dubiousdisc
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Re: Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by dubiousdisc »

I think the problem with leaving old content completely untouched is that, in older parts of the site, you might read parts where I'm conjecturing about things where now we have a factual answer, or parts where hah in hindsight that's really funny I wrote that since now in canon it goes this other way... So it would make for a pretty disjointed reading experience. But I also think that could be in itself interesting to see - if the old content is clearly marked, as you were saying, it could be part of it that you go into this site and I tell you, there are going to be two parts, one written in 2011 and one written in 2018, and that can be interesting too once you know what am I trying to achieve.

Or, I just thought of something! What if I left the old content untouched and the new sections are all new, but in the old pages underlined the parts where there's something to point out now with the new information, and added these asides from 2018 in the form of like, side notes, so it's clear that this was added content and just for the sake of making it clear that yeah, this aspect will later become this thing that I discussed later, funny I thought that in 2011.

A site in FOUR DIMENSIONS!
Robin
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Re: Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by Robin »

dubiousdisc wrote: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:57 pm Or, I just thought of something! What if I left the old content untouched and the new sections are all new, but in the old pages underlined the parts where there's something to point out now with the new information, and added these asides from 2018 in the form of like, side notes, so it's clear that this was added content and just for the sake of making it clear that yeah, this aspect will later become this thing that I discussed later, funny I thought that in 2011.
:light: laksjdflkj this is what I was trying to articulate and my brain was just like "nOPE NOT TODAY wheeeeeee" xD
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dubiousdisc
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Re: Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by dubiousdisc »

HHH SORRY
I MUST BE LOOKING LIKE THAT PERSON WHO
SOMEONE: "IDEA"
THAT PERSON: "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VERY SAME IDEA"

SORRY
Robin
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Re: Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site

Post by Robin »

dubiousdisc wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:51 pm HHH SORRY
I MUST BE LOOKING LIKE THAT PERSON WHO
SOMEONE: "IDEA"
THAT PERSON: "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VERY SAME IDEA"

SORRY
LOL no problem! I was having problems with words that day so I needed the assist XD
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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