What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

User avatar
Pio2001
Posts: 218
Joined: August 10th, 2011, 9:22 pm
Location: France
Contact:

What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Pio2001 » August 12th, 2011, 11:54 pm

Hello,
I would like to contribute to the wiki puzzle pages, but I have a few questions about the puzzles that may be posted there.

My situation is a bit borderline because I know some woodworkers who are fond of puzzles, and they sometimes build previously unreleased puzzles. Many designs can be found on Ishino's website.
I understand that we can't post every unreleased design, published or not, as there are thousands of them. But where is the limit ?

Here are some examples :

A private design, never published, never made (that would be using the wiki to auto-promote oneself).
A design published, but never made (just copying information available on Ishino's site).
A design privately made once, never published (example : Alfons Eyckman's Draco).
A design privately made in limited quantities (example : Stéphane Chomine's Simple UC trapped).
A puzzle privately made according to someone else design (same as the second case, exept that we have a real picture). For example, a friend made a copy of Frank Worrell's Sharp for me...
A special order (Eyckman's Lange Wapper 14, made for me by Maurice Vigouroux with alfons' permission).


Also, I noticed that Vinco's Viper Cross was listed with a price of 81 $ from Puzzle Master. The original price on Vinco's shop is 35 €, but the puzzle is no more available. Should the original price be preferred, or the available price ? In the later case, are prices on Puzzle Paradise, or Baxterweb, relevant ?

User avatar
Paradox
Posts: 285
Joined: March 28th, 2011, 8:55 pm
Location: Hertfordshire (UK)
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Paradox » August 13th, 2011, 12:09 pm

Hiya! It's great that you're wanting to contribute to the Wiki, so thank you! :)

Generally you can add literally anything that is considered to be a mechanical puzzle (and in some cases Impossible Objects) to the Wiki. At some point it would be nice to even have a list of designs for puzzles that have not yet been manufactured, but currently it's not really practical as there are so many other puzzles out there that have been manufactured and named that people are looking for more information on.

Although Puzzle Place has the potential to become a massive puzzle archive it is currently more of a reference tool for puzzlers, so adding more popular and sought after puzzles to the list would be more productive and helpful for the puzzling community as a whole. This isn't a rule as such, it just seems to make more sense to me.

I also don't see any harm in people adding puzzles to the Wiki that they themselves want to promote. If someone wants to put together a page for a genuine mechanical puzzle and link to their site for purchase then that sounds great to me!

The prices of puzzles are only shown as a ball park figure to give people an idea of how much it could cost to buy one. If there is a place selling the puzzle in question then putting the price according to that site would be preferable and then you could also link to that site. If the puzzle is not available for sale then the original price would be preferable. If the puzzle is not available and the original price is not known then a rough auction price would be good if one could be found.

The main page contains this text to make sure people are aware of the nature of some of the information held here:
While every effort is made to keep the information contained here completely accurate, some things will change with time, this mainly includes fields such as prices and availability. Please use information such as this as a rough guide, and if you find any information that needs updating then please feel free to do so.
There are many more specific examples that you listed, but if you have any specific questions then feel free to post them on here and we can decide between all of us how best to go ahead with it. Honestly though I wouldn't worry so much, go ahead and add what you think would be a benefit to the puzzling world. :)

User avatar
bluesign2k
Site Admin
Posts: 285
Joined: March 21st, 2011, 12:51 pm
Location: Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by bluesign2k » August 13th, 2011, 1:55 pm

I agree with Oli. Although it would be great to include everything we can find regarding mechanical puzzles, for the timebeing at least, it's probably worth focusing on what would be most useful to most users. That's not to say you can't add these puzzles that haven't yet been manufactured, if you want to then go for it! :)

If people want to design and make puzzles and add them on the wiki to advertise their existence then I have no problem with that providing that the pages stay inline with the current style. ie. its more a source of information than an advertisement.

Regarding prices, I think if both the original and current selling prices are available, then they both belong there. For the puzzles added so far we've pretty much just searched around for the current average price. The prices from Puzzle Paradise, Cubic Dissection, Baxterweb are relevant unless the item is widely available already (eg. Karakuri Small Boxes, or Hanayamas). When taking sale prices from the auction sites I'd note next to the price on the wiki that this is the case.

User avatar
Pio2001
Posts: 218
Joined: August 10th, 2011, 9:22 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Pio2001 » August 13th, 2011, 4:42 pm

Thanks to both for your quick reply.
I'm basically going to add puzzles from my collection, since I have nice pictures of them.

User avatar
bluesign2k
Site Admin
Posts: 285
Joined: March 21st, 2011, 12:51 pm
Location: Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by bluesign2k » August 13th, 2011, 5:23 pm

Sweet! :D

Don't forget to give the images a sensible name before/as you upload them because until I find a better solution these will be the names shown in the gallery. Also, don't forget to add the [[Category:Puzzle Image]] tag to each image as you upload as it's a whole lot slower to edit each image page manually... unfortunately I learnt that the hard way in the beginning :(

If you get stuck using the templates then give one of us a shout. Oli and I find them fairly simple to use, but we would since we put them together, I just hope that their use is obvious to others :?

Thanks! :)

User avatar
Pio2001
Posts: 218
Joined: August 10th, 2011, 9:22 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Pio2001 » August 15th, 2011, 10:09 pm

Hello,
I've begun creating new pages. Here are the questions that came to me, mostly dealt with using existing pages as templates.

I saw that puzzle names appeared between double brakets, and that it creates a link to the puzzle page.
Shouldn't it be the same for designers, manufacturers or shops ? For Vinco, for example I just saw an example with an URL followed by a caption, between brakets, and it creates a hyperlink. Using a special category would allow to update the links in all pages at once if needed.

Uploading a picture, I noticed that if i put the "puzzle" category in the comments field of the upload form, it then appears in the comment cell of the picture properties, while if a just type a comment in the upload form, then edit the file in order to add the category, the category doesn't appear in the comment cell.

Questions about the English language :
Do puzzle names have a first capital letter ?
When we talk about a "6-pieces" burr, does the word "piece" have an s ? It seems obvious that there is more than one piece, but I've seen it written without an s here and there : a "6-piece" burr.

User avatar
Pio2001
Posts: 218
Joined: August 10th, 2011, 9:22 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Pio2001 » August 15th, 2011, 10:39 pm

Another question : what is the difference between a burr and an interlocking solid puzzle ?

User avatar
Pio2001
Posts: 218
Joined: August 10th, 2011, 9:22 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Pio2001 » August 16th, 2011, 12:54 am

Third puzzle added (the woodchuck), and already another choice to make :oops:

For designs that can be extended at will, like the woodchuck, or the pagoda, do we create a page for each size, or group all sizes in the same page ?

I did the later for the woodchuck... the problem is that I had to reduce the informations given in order not to overload the page (dimentions, prices, number of pieces...).

I thought that this way, all the information could be found from the puzzle index. You look for the woodchuck, for example, and you see that it exists in different versions.
But I see that the alternative names are not automatically listed in the index...

I think that I'd better, then, split the woodchuck page into woodchuck / papachuck / grandpapachuck, and link each other pages, so that they all appear in the puzzle index, and the reader can be redirected to the other variants.

User avatar
Paradox
Posts: 285
Joined: March 28th, 2011, 8:55 pm
Location: Hertfordshire (UK)
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by Paradox » August 16th, 2011, 8:53 am

I've fiddled around with the page a bit, let me know what you think: The Chuck Family

Now you can also find links in the puzzle index for the alternate names that will redirect to that main page. This can be done by creating new pages for all of the names concerned, redirecting them to the other page (#REDIRECT [[Woodchuck]]) and then adding them to the puzzle index ([[Category:Puzzle]]).

Let me know if this looks okay. :)

Now for your other questions:

I'm not actually entirely sure what differentiates between a Burr and an Interlocking Solid. Anyone else know? :? I've been going on the basis of if the structure is made of rod-like pieces then it is a Burr.

When uploading images you will need to re-enter the file and edit the page text with the ([[Category:Puzzle Images]]) text. You can't type it into the comments field, this can be left blank.

All puzzle names will begin with a capital letter and have a capital at the start of every new word within their name unless it is very relevant for them to have a non-capital letter.

There is no need to add the 's' to the end of 'Six Piece Burr' as the plural is already implied by the number in the title.

Thanks again for contributing! It's much appreciated. :)

User avatar
bluesign2k
Site Admin
Posts: 285
Joined: March 21st, 2011, 12:51 pm
Location: Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: What puzzles can I add to the wiki ?

Post by bluesign2k » August 16th, 2011, 11:29 am

Ok, so there's quite a few questions here so I'll try to answer them as best I can one at a time....
Pio2001 wrote:...I saw that puzzle names appeared between double brakets, and that it creates a link to the puzzle page.
Shouldn't it be the same for designers, manufacturers or shops ?...
When the designers/manufacturers names are used in the puzzlebox template no breckets of any sort shold be needed as the template deals with that for those specific fields. Some of the fields however are used just to enter text (usually), but if you would like to add a link then you'll need to ues the brackets. If for example you wish to link to a designer then you'd usually use double square brackets ([[ ]]) to link to the designes page on the wiki.
Pio2001 wrote:...For Vinco, for example I just saw an example with an URL followed by a caption, between brakets, and it creates a hyperlink. Using a special category would allow to update the links in all pages at once if needed...
Unless there's a specific need to then the only place that you should see "[http://www.vinco.kleinpeter.cz/ Vinco]" (as an example) is on Vinco's page on the wiki or in the puzzle links.
Pio2001 wrote:...Uploading a picture, I noticed that if i put the "puzzle" category in the comments field of the upload form, it then appears in the comment cell of the picture properties, while if a just type a comment in the upload form, then edit the file in order to add the category, the category doesn't appear in the comment cell...
Pass. I've gone throught the history of your uploads and I can't see where you've done this. You should be able to add [[Category:Puzzle Images]] into the "Summary" box when you upload the image... that's they way I always do it these days.
Pio2001 wrote:...Do puzzle names have a first capital letter ?
Yes, unless the designer specifically lists it without... but I can't think of any example of that happening.
Pio2001 wrote:...When we talk about a "6-pieces" burr, does the word "piece" have an s ? It seems obvious that there is more than one piece, but I've seen it written without an s here and there : a "6-piece" burr.
If the designer has called it the "6-pieces burr" then go with that, if it's just discussing the number of pieces a burr has then its "6-piece"
Pio2001 wrote:Another question : what is the difference between a burr and an interlocking solid puzzle ?
A burr is a sub-type of the interlocking solid puzzle category. So a burr is an interlocking solid but an interlocking solid is not necessarily a burr. Accordung to Jerry Slocum's method of categorisation, there should be nothing listed solely as an Interlocking Solid Puzzle as it's a main category, they should also be listed as either a Figure, Geometric Object, 3d-Jigsaw, Burr, Keychain etc... the same goes for the other categories. When the wiki was first set up we weren't exactly sure which mehtod of categorisation to use so we just used categories that we thought were best at the time. However, the time may have come to re-think this and start categorising by subcategory so that we don't land up in a big mess. For the timebeing, carry on as is...

Regarding puzzles like the Chuck Family... I think it's best to do as Oli has dona and have them listed all on one page if they're that similar. I intend to do the same the the BurrCubes and maybe even the revomazes. Redirect pages can still be used so that the puzzlename still appears in searches and in the puzzle/designer/manufacturer catrgory lists. I will look into making a template (or maybe editing the existing one) so that such redirect pages can still be filled with the necessery information such that the puzzles still appear in all the necessary caregories.

As Oli said, thanks very much for contributing! It is appreciated :)

Chris

edit: I notice the new images don't state where they're from... are they you images? Don't forget to use the {{PhotoC|<name>}} or {{PhotoC|Site = <site> <site name>}} template with the image on the puzzle pages.

Post Reply