Hey all I've been roaming around this wiki since its creation as an anon or an account holder. I've seen this wiki grow and become probably the best main source for anything that pertains to The Walking Dead.
But, I believe that there is a particular problem with the statuses that needs to be changed. The deletion of the presumed dead status. This status causes more harm than good and heres why.
1. Facts or Speculation?[]
Before I begin let us ask ourselves one question. Is TWD wiki, a foundation of facts or speculation? Well pretty much all of you will say it's a wiki of facts, which is correct it is. This sight is covered in facts from statuses, numbers, and statistics, but the presumed dead status kicks this foundation right in the balls. This status is like a bannanna that tries to squirme into a PBJ sandwich and still claims to be that same sandwich from before. It's that guy from the history channel that says "I don't know so aliens." What I am trying to say is is that we can't claim to be a source of complete facts when speculation comes and contaminates our sight with second guesses. This sight needs to return to its original format in the area of logic and facts, not speculative bullshit. If we wanted to speculate then why not post those thoughts on talk pages, blogs, and the wiki chat? I mean we do this on a dailey bases right? So why not just let it stay there and keep people's opinions off the pages.
2. Clarity or a satisfying conclusion?[]
Wiki pages are like stories, you have a beginning, middle, and to top it off an ending, but what if you don't like the ending? Well many people would rather be told a conclusion about the fate of a charcter rather then be told that his/her fate is unknown. This sight has many characters with the unknown status and alot of people do not like that and would rather be told a definite answer rather then "I don't know". So what do they do? Well they want a status that pertains to a certain fate based off of speculation rather then deal with the thought of a charcter's fate being unknown. We are a wiki based off of logic and facts and we go by that, not cater to the masses who want a preferred conclusion to a wiki page.
3. Why not presumed alive/undead?[]
I'd like to ask one question before we go on. Would this wiki be incomplete if we didn't add presumed alive/undead? What I am saying is that there is no middle ground to this type of situation. You're either with the system we had before, or a person who wants two more presumed statuses brought in. If we only have the presumed dead status then our wiki would be considered incomplete in the status department, along with all the charcters that could potentially be given these statuses. If we have the presumed dead status then we must fully commit to the other potential statuses as you could argue that these statuses are just as necessary as the presumed dead status. We need to make a choice to either cover our site with assumptions or with facts. NO MIDDLE GROUND!