The Dark Shadows Wiki:Community Portal

Want to know how you can help out CollinWiki? There's a lot to be done, and the most efficient way for that to happen is for different people to begin working on different areas simultaneously. We can all check each others work later, once the bulk of it has been input. If you need help figuring things out, or just want some questions answered, click on the discussion tab at the top of this page and ask away!

And remember, edits don't have to be major. If you're uncomfortable making any big contributions, start out by fixing a spelling mistake or other typo. Every little bit helps.

Areas Needing Work

There are so many different facets to Dark Shadows, with many different types of fans, and CollinWiki strives to cater to all of them. Since everyone has their favorite area, here are some suggestions of places where you can jump in if you're unsure where to begin:

• Long synopses for every episode need to be written. Pick your favorites and fill them in.
• The site needs more pictures. Photos for cast and crew members need to be uploaded, plus at least one still from each episode.
• Cast and crew bios need to be written up. Currently, they mostly just include birth/death dates, which role(s) they played and which episodes they appeared in or worked on.
• Select your favorite point in the series and create or fill in the articles for those episodes.
• We can always use more Dark Shadows-related events to be added to the "On This Day..." templates.
• More information about the movies, novels and comics, as well as information on the 1991 series and 2004 pilot could be added.
• Non-fiction books, videos/DVDs and collector's items need to be included.
• Many "Special Pages" such as the Main Page, Community Portal (here), About page, Current Events page, and others can all stand to be either created, rewritten or expanded.
• There is an abundance of material without citations in most articles. The voice used in many episode descriptions is also extremely familiar and does not follow the Manual of Style. For example, episode 171 includes a mention of Carolyn, "bitchily" performing a behavior. There is also a reference in 275 to the audience having "forgotten" something from the previous episode. The tone with that kind of familiar and subjective voice makes articles very unprofessional.

Current Projects

Once you've begun work on a certain area, add your name here and give an explanation of which area(s) you're working on so everyone knows what's already in progress.

• Proudhug has begun working through articles for the 1966 episodes in order from episode 1 on, documenting as much information as he can and incorporating it into the appropriate articles. He is writing it from the perspective of someone who's watching the show for the first time (ie. ignoring information from later episodes until he reaches them), in order to be the most thorough, but feel free to change/add things that are changed/revealed at later points in the series.

• Brian Kurtz: Now that I have the Night of Dark Shadows page up, I'll be working on creating pages for its corresponding characters, locations, crew, etc. I’ll also be fine-tuning eps 210-221 to make sure everything is as clean and complete as I can possibly make them. From there, I'll continue with the Dark Shadows (1966) entries beginning with episode 222. --Brian 18:24, 23 Nov 2005 (UTC)

• Luciaphil:I can fill in some of the actor, writer, director biographies. Luciaphil 21:49, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

• Jason D Bennett: I've entered synopses for episodes 1-100. Update: I also have uploaded 101-178 and some from the just-released Collection 6 which goes up to #209. Thanks for the templates, I hope I'm keeping up with them when they change. As far as photos go, how do we go about finding screenshots for every episode without violating copyright? Jason

• NightBear: I'm currently watching the 1970 PT timeline. I've been working on some episode pages, cleaning up the pics I previously moved out of the episode box back in, and adding previous/next arrows in the cast list. I've also been trying to fill in some gaps in the "pages that need citations" and "wanted pages" lists. NightBear 20:33, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

• Apcatton: I have focused a great deal on Julia Hoffman, and getting a full biography for her posted. I welcome any assistance with the 1968 portions of her bio, as I am less familiar with that part of her story. I have been uploading pictures to various articles and creating pages and biographies for 1991 characters (Carolyn Stoddard (1991), Joe Haskell (1991)).

• P3jedi: I'm working on the first year of the series as I watch The Beginning DVD sets, mainly taking screen captures, adding the images and adding to their corresponding episode pages.

• Bill Hunsicker 20:54, August 10, 2010 (UTC): I'm making all of the episode pages uniform and creating episode pages for every episode so that all anyone has to do is fill in information. Any info I am adding I am taking from the Internet Movie Database and from elsewhere on this wiki.

Completed through the end of 1968. Bill Hunsicker 22:46, August 12, 2010 (UTC)

Due to a request from a fellow contributor I am suspending this project until I get permission to continue from a sysop. --Bill Hunsicker 01:50, August 15, 2010 (UTC)

• MissLizaMay: I'm uploading images for characters from both the original and 1991 series, as well as adding cast lists to episodes that are currently blank.

I've pretty much finished the character images, and am now concentrating on adding screen caps from all the episodes that are without them. It's a long process, so if anyone's looking for anything in particular, let me know. (Oct 11, 2010)

Suggestions

Have a suggestion about how the site can be improved, but don't want to go ahead and do it without asking first? Post it right here and get others' opinions. Remember, you can also post more general questions in the Discussion page by clicking discussion at the top of this page.

• NightBear: I would like to standardize the links for the original episodes as either "####" or "Episode ####". There are already redirects from some of the numbers to the "Episode ####" format. I would prefer it to be the other way around, but I can understand if you want to be able to use the numbers for non-original series (1966-1971) series entries. I have a lot of time where I am stuck at the computer waiting for people to contact me via IM and could do this over the space of a few weeks. What do you think?

Check out my note on my Talk page about it. --Proudhug 00:09, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Done! NightBear 21:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

NightBear: I discontinued using the "previous/next episode" template as of 629 because it automatically links to the wrong page, then a re-direct has to be created. Is there another template I can use? See ya after sunset! NightBear 15:07, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

The main large template on the top right has left and right arrows right under the main photo which navigate to the previous and next episodes. I'm implementing the same arrows for the character appearances in the dramatis personae section. --Proudhug 15:20, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Reminders

• Please try to heed the guidelines of the Manual of Style at all times.
• Speculation or popular opinion on things is to be kept to a minimum and only included when it's felt to be an important element to the show. Always strive for objectivity whenever possible.
• This is not a site for discussion of Dark Shadows, unless it specifically pertains to the creation of this encyclopedia. There are many other locations on the internet to talk with fans about the show.
• Be kind and understanding. The very nature of the Wiki format means that others may edit your work. What you write does not belong to you, it belongs to the community, so don't be offended if it's changed. Anyone editing other people's work is only doing so for the betterment of this project.
• And most importantly, have fun! We're all doing this for the love of Dark Shadows, to create an easy-to-use ultimate encyclopedia of information, and to establish a new community of creatively-driven fandom.

Other DS Formats?

A few sources of DS that I see aren't mentioned here:

• There was an Off Off Broadway play titled Dark Shadows in the late 1980s.
• Within a year after that, there was a privately produced staged reading of an unauthorized play titled Barnabas Collins.
• I was wondering if you were going to mentin fanfiction at all? Zahir 04:28, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
• Fan art, actors'/actresses' own websites, mentions/references/clips to DS in other shows and publications? Several recent TV (& book) documentaries on vampires have mentioned Dark Shadows and Barnabas Collins and their effects on pop culture and modern views of vampires...YouTube sports some game show and other related video clips...
• I am running a Dark Shadows role playing game on Alternate History that is set in 2013 and is set in the original series continuity.  Only registered members of Alternate History can view it, though.  I'd love to have some mention of it here.  
• Ron Sproat wrote a musical comedy called "Ravenswood," based loosely on his experience writing "Dark Shadows." It was staged only once that I know of -- in Cincinnati, Ohio. I saw it.  
•