This is going to be a quick blurb about something that been bothering me about UESP as of late: the popularity of taking speculation and guesswork as fact.
We’re all guilty of it, in one way or another. We love to believe what we desire to believe. But, unfortunately, UESPWiki (or any wiki for that matter) is not a part of Wishful Thinking Land. That’s the dominion of the forums and other sites for TES discussion. A wiki, however, is intended to serve as a catalogue/encyclopedia of factual information. I often find myself feeling in the mood for speculation and wishful thinking (lately is a good example) and I typically channel that into fanfiction and writing in general as well as music. And I would like to be able to say (don’t quote me on this, because I’m most likely wrong) that I haven’t added speculation or guesswork to UESP in a while now (at least a few months).
Now, as a patroller I’m slightly biased towards this and perhaps treat it a little harshly (I do apologize if I come across as rude to anyone; I mean well!); thus my ideas on how to deal with this may be slightly extreme or just plain laughable (which is why I’ll refrain from posting them here on the blog for now). However, my personal opinion is beside the point — the fact remains that speculation and guesswork is not welcome on the wiki, although it is welcome on the forum (I myself typically refrain from even entering the forum, let along making use of it; I’m just going off what I gather from other people’s posts).
One of the most famous (and, for me at least aggravating) pieces of speculation currently circulating in the Elder Scrolls community is the concept that we will be playing as a relative or descendant of the Emperors. This is based off of the fact that the Emperors are once or twice referred to as the “Dragonborn”. My typical refutation of this stance goes like this: the Emperors were called “Dragonborn” as a reference to the Amulet of Kings that was an heirloom to them. In TESV: Skyrim, however, “Dragonborn” refers to being literally born of the blood of dragons; the Septims were not born of Dragons. Hell, Uriel and many of his predecessors weren’t even related to Tiber Septim! The contexts are completely different. Therefore, the word “dragonborn” does not necessarily tie the Emperors to the protagonist of Skyrim.
The problem with adding this type of thing to the wiki is once it’s there for any amount of time, it may begin to be regarded as a likely possibility, despite the fact that it is unfounded guesswork. That is the reason that posts like these make me so petulant. It is, without a doubt, an overreaction on my part; but hey, it’s just natural. So please, unless you want me to go berserk on you, please refrain from adding this to the wiki and instead discuss it on the forums.
As a side note, I do promise to work on my impatience with these types of editors. One of the reason I’ve been slightly inactive on the wiki as of late is that I’ve been taking time to cool off and relax. With Skyrim coming up, I need to be refreshed and have at least some semblance of patience.
