Topic on Talk:Lizardskin

You raise several issues. First off let me just say thank you for taking the time to listen and consider my points.

Regarding "relative terms and judgment calls," no need to get defensive. I'm not saying relative terms and judgment calls are bad. In fact, I explicitly say they are good and belong on the page. Just they are not a complete story.

I don't mean to imply you are on a powertrip. At the same time, it is a bit harsh to simply yank out information inserted by another user, rather than try to incorporate it somehow. You say that as far as you know this has happened to me only once. FYI 3 years ago Zesty ended up demoting moderator Yoshida Keiji after a series of my edits were undone/over-ridden. It was the reason I stopped editing here. So no, this is not my first time feeling a little unhappy with this site. That said, I really appreciate the way you are handling things. And I like the most recent revisions you have made. I must admit that you appear to understand the mechanics of damage better than I do/did, and I may have come to the wrong conclusion. But that is also part of the point: it is easy to misinterpret these things. And rather than simply tell the player what is best (for expected/common situations), I think it is good to give the facts and put them in perspective where the player can understand what is going on, rather than simply follow someone's advice.

It is a difficult and fine line to give players enough information to help them develop their own play style without overwhelming them with endless stats. So sometimes opinions/ short-cuts/ "just do it this way" advice can be very helpful. At the same time, part of the fun of any game is trying different strategies and failing. Personally, I overlooked lizardskin for a long time until one day (years ago) I noticed in the wiki its higher blunt rating compared to other mats. I tried to build on that in game. Of course, that path was unproductive, but trying it out was part of the fun. Also, just because it was unproductive for me with the way I mod/play the game doesn't mean it will be an unproductive path for someone else who plays the game very differently or with different mods.

In the end, it boils down to philosophy. What is the wiki's mission? Is it to tell players what to do? Is it to give them facts and no advice? Clearly the mission should be somewhere in between. And I think it is a strength of this wiki that we have dedicated people trying to tweak it to get it just right. Honest disagreements between respectful people with a common goal is an asset we are lucky to have.