Forum:'Dubious Canonicity' banner

I think at this point in time the wiki could really benefit from a banner that says something like 'The following contains information from sources of dubious authenticity.'

I say this not just because of the Epilogues, though that's where the phrase comes from, but also because a lot of stuff that has come out recently sort of fits this bill.

One of these things is obviously the Skaianet Systems historical documents. And I know what a lot of kneejerk reactions to that are/will be: it's not canon, so it doesn't belong on here. But Homestuck's canon is absolutely no stranger to tidbits from sources of dubious canonicity, and many of these have been documented on the MSPA Wiki itself; to take one example, Andrew's Formspring discussions about Biblical allusions in the Ancestor stories.

Another, perhaps more pressing reason for at least some Skaianet Systems information to be documented on here, is the case of Barack Obama. There is no denying that he is now a character with a speaking role and who has directly influenced the story; but more importantly to this topic, we now know that at least some of the stuff from those documents is still considered half-canon, because the fact that Obama is related to Grandpa Jake was first revealed through that documentation.

I know that, as the comic's main source of information for fans, we should really strive for making sure our sources are of the utmost authenticity; but I also think because of the Wiki's important role, it's kind of important that we at least mention something that contained so much information directly from the comic's author. A banner that makes it absolutely clear that some information isn't really canon would be a good compromise, I think, that allows noncanon information that still has historical importance to the franchise to be documented. After all, it has been said that the MSPA Wiki is more of an 'Andrew Hussie Wiki' now that projects like Hiveswap are coming out, and there is no doubt that both the Skaianet Systems histories and the Epilogues are the works of Andrew Hussie (at least in part in the latter's case).

One final argument to really nail the point home: the Hiveswap Friendsims. The Friendsims' Steam page describes them as 'loosely-canonical' and there is every chance that some of what happens in the Friendsims will be rendered noncanon by future episodes of Hiveswap proper. Not to mention the fact that every Friendsim episode has multiple routes, which mean that only some of every chapter can be considered canon anyway.

JakeMorph (talk) 00:21, April 24, 2019 (UTC)