Interview of Philippe Hils,

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Last on October 5, 2006, an article of TrekToday.com announced that the site of reference on Star Trek: Memory Alpha, currently holds some 20,000 articles in its database. It is rather phenomenal!
We will try to know some a little more about the organization of this �on line� encyclopedia (the French section) about Star Trek, with his French-speaking representative, Philippe Hils, also known as "Philoust123" on various forums.

Contact First of all, thank you, Philippe, to have agreed to answer our questions. Here is an interview which I will not have to translate (Translator's Note: Is this a joke? Nope. ;-)! One does not know enough the French-speaking people who work for Star Trek, in particular on the internet, then if you can introduce yourself� (Note: and to say to us of course, which is your preferred series)?

Philippe Hils I am an accountant for a living. I am currently 26 years old. I discovered Star trek in 1999 with the parution of the "Official Star Trek Fact Files" collection. Previously, I almost did not know this Science Fiction Universe, but it is the "First Contact" movie which made me be interested more closely in the saga. Along the steady stream publication of these magazine numbers and VHS tapes which accompanied it, I became completely hooked.
My preferred series is The Next Generation for its characters, followed closely by Deep Space Nine with its Dominion plot. I also enormously appreciate the 4 other series (The Orignale Series, The Animated Series, Voyager and Enterprise).

Contact Since how long are you on Memory Alpha?

Philippe Hils I discovered Memory Alpha in his English version during 2005. After a few months, I decided to launch a French-speaking version which was started in November 2005.

Contact When one arrives on the site of Memory Alpha, we immediately have the impression we are aboard a "big ship", very serious and well organized, can you introduce us the French-speaking part and recall us its history and its objectives? Is it a translation company of what is made in English?

Philippe Hils The English version created in November 2003 develops very quickly because of the great number of contributors of the entire world. It has already generated with more or less success 8 other linguistic versions, whose principal ones are the German (8000 articles since May 2004) and Dutch (5000 articles since April 2004) versions, the French version (2000 articles since November 2005) and the Swedish version (1300 since May 2005).

The goal of Memory Alpha is to build a complete and precise database on the licence: characters, ships, organizations, episodes, films, actors, merchandising� Any person can modify the near totality of the articles, subject to certain common rules. The administrators are there to control, correct and reformat when needed.

For the moment, the French-speaking version is much less developed than others because few contributors are still counted. I am the principal contributor and administrator. The French version perspective is not only one simple translation of the English version, although this one often serves of basis with the drafting work. Like the other linguistic versions, the French site already developed certain divergences. The authors are free to translate or write a better organized or more detailed or personal version. Moreover, the simple translation is not recommended since the basic site can be modified day at the following day and that a pure and simple translation of a summary or a biography appears often odd.

Some articles considered as best are emphasized on the main page from time to time, but these articles generally require tens of hours following the example of "The Federation" or TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

Contact Do you think that the Wiki system is adapted for this kind of site, I mean, by the fact that all "visitor" can quickly become "writer", one can think that at the end of one moment, one deals with a crew, sorry� with a editorial team, difficult to manage� Then in practice, are there many volunteers and how is carried out the "control" of the texts before and after publication?

Philippe Hils The goal of a wiki is to allow any person to contribute, even those which do not have thorough computing knowledge for the creation of a personal website or those who does not have sufficient time to devote themselves to it full-time. For my part, I had only few computing skills when I started the site and I had access to the internet only for a few months, therefore a web surfer able to go on a forum will be perfectly able to quickly get the wiki basic principles.

The interest of community work is the faster and more precise database development.

For the moment, there are few regular contributors, because they often have other sideline occupations.

Concerning the checking, as an administrator, I check all the modifications carried out, thanks to the pages describing the differences between each version. Advanced options of administration make it possible to quickly eliminate the vandals. To check and supplement information, I generally base myself on the English version detailed very well, but also on other sources to corroborate information as the works of which I own and various other sites of confidence.

However, I am sometimes perceived as the chief inspector of finished work who controls and modifies the work of the other contributors, whereas my goal is to only take care of the exactitude and the coherence of the wiki. I as far as possible try to take account of criticisms and to answer it by a long explanation. The diplomacy, the comprehension and a little authority are the elements required to be an administrator of a wiki, but one remains always confronted with criticisms.

Contact What is the pre-requisite to effectively take part in French-speaking Memory Alpha? Aside having knowledge to share on the subject, what other skills are necessary or useful?

Philippe Hils No thorough computing knowledge is necessary. A user can for example simply click on "edit" an article or click on a still non-existent link (note: they are the red links) and then copy a text starting from a word processing software or simply type its text in the edition window . The formatting is simplified enough thanks to the edit toolbar icons and to the easily assimilable syntax wiki. The administrators are also present to correct when needed.

There are however some rules to be respected by the contributors:

• The neutral point of view: Indeed, the personal opinions are proscribed to avoid any conflict between each one preferences.
• Rules of copyright: These rules establish the legal bases of the texts drafting and images usage because it is not possible to simply use the work of others without their assent.
• The canon policy specific to Memory Alpha: Memory Alpha laid down some rules concerning the elements to be taken into account. Some differences exist compared to the Paramount canon, like the statute of the animated series (non-canon for Paramount) or the use of certain resources of production which were accepted like valid resources after debate. Information non-canon provided by the novels, games, etc is generally not accepted in the general articles because that would bring multiple contradictions in an already imposing universe (700 episodes and 10 films), but small notes are sometimes integrated if information is enough interesting to appear in an article general with the proviso of well specifying the specific nature of the information. On the other hand, the fanfictions do not have their place on the site because one would attend aberrations without being able to keep the least control.

Contact Let us speak about the Star Trek games. Do they have a place on Memory Alpha? With the arrival of the next games, a lot of players will discover the universe and perhaps even� the Star Trek spirit like one says. When Perpetual Entertainment, developer of the future Star Trek Online game say that it intends to continue the series history (after Star Trek Voyager), how one perceives that from the first-hour fans side?

Philippe Hils All the merchandising (novels, games, reference works, vid�os and DVDs, figurines, models�) Star Trek tagged and approved by Paramount will have in the end a clean article which will detail its characteristics: design features, summary, characters, anecdotes� (the non-canon information is thus detailed in this article, but not in the more general articles to avoid any interference).

Concerning the development of the continuation of the series, I see nothing to say there, since that makes it possible to the fans to continue to appreciate new adventures of their heroes when the hope to meet them again moves away more and more. I think that the fans of the first hour will not perceive any offence in these actions. Many novels launched this phenomenon besides since years, with the risk to see itself contradicted by a film or episode to come. It even seems to me that some companies got in connection with to remain coherent between their various products.

Contact The Star Trek universe is installed since many years on the Net. The problem is that many sites are not maintained any more or that those which gave already much, lost their motivation� Times change� but Memory Alpha remains! Didn't you embark in a history without end?

Philippe Hils For the moment, I did not envisage to give up the project. Memory Alpha is by nature a collaborative project, indicating that it does not belong to me. If adventurely, I decided to stop the site development, others could without any problem take again the torch. Moreover, the original creators of the English version invest themselves there little in term of contents since one moment, which did not prevent its expansion.

Contact I would like to finish this interview by leaving you the word. For perhaps answering the questions that I did not pose to you! (and that you waited?) �

Philippe Hils

• Preferred Rule of Acquisition? "The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife." (48th) It is strange at which point, this rule often proved to be exact :-(
• Preferred race? Borgs
• Preferred characters? The charismatic Picardy Jean-Luc captain, sensitive, Data, the android and this good old "Doctor", egocentric person from Voyager.
• Star Trek XI? I await impatiently the next film, by hoping that it will not disappoint the fans and will start again the machine for new adventures�

Contact Thank you very much to you, you return to speak to us about Trek Star and Memory Alpha when you want!!! Before levaing again on Memory Alpha, Philippe left us a reference link�

Philippe Hils http://ex-astris-scientia.org who developed a beautiful database on starships ("Ex Astris, Scientia" means "From the stars, knowledge" and it is the catch phrase of the Academy).

Remarks collected by Meliagan (October 28, 2006)