Forum:CT:Modernizing Notability of fan projects

Forums > Consensus track archive > CT:Modernizing Notability of fan projects

This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made in the Senate Hall or new Consensus Track pages rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record.
The result of the debate was Vote 1: Support proposal to modernize the notability policy for fan projects, Vote 2: Redirect non-notable official friends to the Official Friends page. Exiled Jedi Oldrepublic crest (Greetings) 23:14, December 18, 2014 (UTC)

Wookieepedia's current Notability of fan projects has long been decried for not being restrictive enough. In its original CT, I and others called it something that was better than nothing, but the intention was always to improve it, and I feel the time has come.

I hereby propose a new and more restrictive policy regarding what kinds of fan-related articles are permitted on Wookieepedia. I've basically tightened the requirements to place all the emphasis on two main categories for demonstrating notability: Official Lucasfilm recognition and Mainstream media recognition. The policy also restricts fan films, which, in case you haven't noticed, is a universal trend on Wookieepedia. In 2012, we purged Wookieepedia of all fan films. The idea is that the Star Wars Fanpedia exists for a reason. It's one of our Official Friends, and it's well maintained by Brandon Rhea, so it's a resource we should be utilizing more. But perhaps the most important change/clarification in this policy is a greater emphasis on community autonomy in allowing us to determine what types of fan articles we want to exist here. Even if something does meet these notability requirements, we still have the power as a community to delete it if we feel it doesn't belong here. In other words, it allows us greater freedom to decide things on a case-by-case basis rather than being shackled by an imperfect policy.

The proposal can be read here.

In a second vote below, I present a vote to determine how to handle Official Friends of Wookieepedia. I've heard it suggested previously that Official Friends have articles by simple virtue of being Official Friends regardless of notability. The flip side to that argument is that we have the aforementioned Official Friends page, where these websites/groups are listed, and anything that doesn't have an article can be redirected and presented there. (We can always update/expand/improve that page, by the way.) Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 21:17, December 11, 2014 (UTC)

Vote 1: Notability of fan projects

This vote regards ratification of the proposed policy.

Support

  1. Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 21:17, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  2. Exiled Jedi Oldrepublic crest (Greetings) 21:21, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  3. Cade GalacticRepublicEmblem-Traced-TORkit Calrayn 21:23, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  4. Brandon Rhea(talk) 21:26, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  5. The downside to this proposed policy is that people will no longer be able to vote in protest of the policy in a TC discussion. :P —MJ— Council Chambers 21:29, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  6. Best possible thing to do would be to make NFP read, in its entirety, "there's a Fanpedia now. Go away." But barring that, this is the best alternative. -- Darth Culator (Talk) 21:34, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  7. CC7567 (talk) 01:14, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  8. Trip391 (talk) 01:26, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  9. --Emperor Jarjarkine MP-Mandalorian Senate Hall 02:46, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  10. Corellian PremierJedi symbolThe Force will be with you always 04:16, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  11. AV-6R7User talk:AV-6R7 04:21, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  12. YES! The policy itself looks good, the only thing I'd change is completely removing the second point under additional notes, the fanpedia is already mentioned 3 times in an adequate manner and the application for fansites/organisations is also under the fan sites/organisations section. Manoof (talk) 10:10, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  13. jSarek brings up a good point below, though. JorrelWiki-shrinkableFraajic 03:59, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  14. IFYLOFD (Enter the Floydome) 04:44, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  15. Absolutely. Supreme Emperor (talk) 05:00, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  16. The official recognition needed tightening, and the fandom recognition part turned out to be impossible to quantify anyway. —Silly Dan (talk) 18:14, December 14, 2014 (UTC)
  17. ProfessorTofty (talk) 20:48, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
  18. 501st dogma(talk) 22:12, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
  19. 1358 (Talk) 19:22, December 16, 2014 (UTC)
  20. Sir Cavalier of OneFarStar(Squadron channel) 01:58, December 17, 2014 (UTC)

Oppose

Discussion

  • Okay, I know I've long been a proponent of being more inclusive of fan topics, to cover everything Star Wars related here. But the writing on the wall regarding the future of fan projects here has been, well, written on the wall for years now. So this makes me wonder: with the site's direction clearly veering away from coverage of non-official Star Wars content of any sort, is there any reason not to follow Culator's suggestion (worded a bit more eloquently, of course) and just remove ALL fan topics from Wookieepedia and hand them off to Fanpedia? jSarek (talk) 05:56, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
    • In cases like the Jedi Council Forums, Star Wars Technical Commentaries, or some print publications, a fan project might be cited so extensively through the BTS section of various articles that it's simpler to cite using a Wookieepedia article. In another case, Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans, fanon got mistaken for canon, which may make it worth discussing as a source of Star Wars continuity here. —Silly Dan (talk) 18:14, December 14, 2014 (UTC)
      • The second case is moot, since we already have longstanding precedent for keeping articles on sources of Star Wars continuity that would otherwise not be notable (e.g. we have an article on Tracy Duncan because of her role in inspiring Dunc T'racen, not for her key role at Club Jade; and our article on Thomas J. Spanos exists because of his costuming's influence on artists like Jan Duursema and Joe Corroney, not for his role in the 501st Legion). The first case is a reasonable concern, though, even though interwiki links are a pretty straightforward affair. jSarek (talk) 09:54, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
  • Is this policy retroactive? For example, the policy states "People or persons recognized as being responsible for creating a Star Wars fan site or organization" which I'm pretty sure would exclude SuperShadow, which was kept with another vote of "no consensus." Also, will stuff simply be zapped, or will there be a process for it to be moved to the Star Wars Fans Wiki if belongs there, likewe have with the Merchandise Wiki? ProfessorTofty (talk) 20:48, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
    • This CT alone will not independently delete any articles. I imagine there will be a series of TCs forthcoming in this decision's aftermath. Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 21:18, December 15, 2014 (UTC)

Vote 2: Official Friends

This vote is to determine whether existing Official Friends of Wookieepedia should have articles by virtue of being Official Friends regardless of notability. Vote Support if you believe all Official Friends should have articles regardless of notability; Vote Oppose if you believe non-notable Official Friends should simply be redirected to the Official Friends page. If Vote 1 passes, a minor clause may be added to that new policy page depending on the turnout of Vote 2 here.

Support

Oppose

  1. If they are worthy of having articles on their own, then we should have them. Otherwise, the topic should not have a separate article.--Exiled Jedi Oldrepublic crest (Greetings) 21:21, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  2. Cade GalacticRepublicEmblem-Traced-TORkit Calrayn 21:23, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  3. Per EJ. —MJ— Council Chambers 21:29, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  4. We have some Official "Friends" we should get rid of anyway, so being among them is certainly no substitute for actual notability. -- Darth Culator (Talk) 21:34, December 11, 2014 (UTC)
  5. Per EJ. CC7567 (talk) 01:14, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  6. Brandon Rhea(talk) 01:19, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  7. Toprawa and Ralltiir (talk) 01:23, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  8. Trip391 (talk) 01:26, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  9. -- I dont see the point t in doing a page for each one of our official friend since we already have One page for it. Emperor Jarjarkine MP-Mandalorian Senate Hall 02:55, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  10. Corellian PremierJedi symbolThe Force will be with you always 04:16, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  11. AV-6R7User talk:AV-6R7 04:20, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  12. FUCKING FOOTBALL FRIENDS!!! Manoof (talk) 10:22, December 12, 2014 (UTC)
  13. JorrelWiki-shrinkableFraajic 03:59, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  14. IFYLOFD (Enter the Floydome) 04:44, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  15. Definitely. Supreme Emperor (talk) 05:00, December 13, 2014 (UTC)
  16. --RazulAntiwield (talk) 05:15, December 14, 2014 (UTC)
  17. At least one Official Friend, TFWiki.net, isn't even a Star Wars website. —Silly Dan (talk) 18:14, December 14, 2014 (UTC)
  18. ProfessorTofty (talk) 20:48, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
  19. 501st dogma(talk) 22:13, December 15, 2014 (UTC)
  20. 1358 (Talk) 19:22, December 16, 2014 (UTC)
  21. Sir Cavalier of OneFarStar(Squadron channel) 01:58, December 17, 2014 (UTC)

Discussion