User blog:Gilgameshkun/IDW TMNT transcript progress (update)

I can't believe I did it, but I've transcribed the entire IDW TMNT canon continuity for Turtlepedia, until next issues are out. This makes me think about the future of transcripts on the wiki.

Much of this work has been expedited by a template I wrote, Template:qline. Used in conjunction with Template:quotes, it eases the formatting of transcribed comic text. But right now, qline has no written documentation; I wanted to add it eventually, but I didn't want to divide my focus. It appears I may end up having to write it sooner rather than later.

As for other TMNT comics, I can potentially see myself trying to transcribe some of them at some future date, but the truth is that at least some of them will never be transcribed by me, especially if I completely lack the interest in certain stories or continuities (such as the Batman/TMNT comics). And there's the fact that my TMNT comic collection is not actually complete, and there are some issues I simply don't have access to anyway.

So here's the bigger question in need of a solution: It may be that I don't just have to write documentation for qline, but on a wiki-wide level we need to agree on a set of conventions&mdash;an appendix to the manual of style&mdash;for all such comic text transcripts on Turtlepedia. Up to now, it's been pretty much just me, with The S's tacit tolerance/approval, but obviously it can't always just be me. And since all this current work with the IDW TMNT transcripts has already been done and is on the wiki, we need to set up a system that I can safely inevitably walk away from, whether I do so today or years from now. (I don't plan on walking away from it today, but I mean just in principle.)