Forums > Senate Hall archive > SH Archive/Article relevance
This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Senate Hall page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. 1358 (Talk) 19:41, July 22, 2012 (UTC)
I've raised this issue before, but I got no answer. Are articles like these, relevant or necessary?
- Unidentified clone trooper (Christophsis)
- Unidentified Death Watch Mandalorian 1
- Unidentified Death Watch Mandalorian 2
- Unidentified Death Watch Mandalorian 3
- Unidentified Death Watch trooper
- Unidentified Mandalorian Guard
- Unidentified Twi'lek (Child)
- Unidentified Aqualish (Coruscant bar)
- Unidentified RA-7 protocol droid
- Unidentified Ithorian (Coruscant bar)
- Unidentified Twi'lek (Coruscant bar)
- Unidentified Quarren (Coruscant bar)
- Unidentified Patrolian (Moshi Bar)
- Unidentified Rodian (Coruscant bar)
- Yaddle's lightsaber
If there is no problem with the creation of this kind of articles, what keeps someone from creating an article for every single clone/stormtrooper that appears at a single battle, for example? The same goes for objects or weapons that have nothing unique attached to it, storywise or not. Alexrd 22:36, March 29, 2012 (UTC)
- I agree with you, but people on Wookieepedia seem to like pages like this because it adds to the number of articles on the wiki and therefore gives bragging rights (size apparently does matter). If it were up to me, only articles that people actually search for would be created; in the history of this wiki I doubt that anyone ever typed "unidentified clone trooper" into the search bar. I think less articles would also ease pressure on wikia's servers.--Masterbmw 01:37, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- As per canon. If it exists, there is article of it. -- Riffsyphon1024 05:27, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Really? So there is nothing that keeps me from creating an article for every single NPC in a videogame or any stormtrooper/droid/clone/rebel/starfighter in a battle? I agree with Masterbmw, not only would it ease the pressure of the servers, but it would make the people focus on more necessary, relevant, and/or new articles. I'm not against the creation of an article for an Unidentified clone trooper (or whatever) if that clone had made something relevant or interesting. But this is not the case. Alexrd 09:06, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I wouldn't think so, no. To me random unnamed non-notable fodder characters would fall under 'game mechanics,' and therefore not be applicable. This would change only if they distinguish themselves, ie Random Stormtrooper has cutscene dialogue with player character. I would also think that would not apply to films/CW/TCW because 'game mechanics' aren't applicable to film/tv. – DigiFluid 12:58, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I had always understood it like this: if a character is distinguished in any manner, he/she/it gets an article. If not, they don't. MasterFred
(Whatever) 15:23, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- But that's just it. What makes this article relevant, for example? And regarding the "non-notable fodder characters", that does apply to film and TV per the example I gave above. Alexrd 15:45, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- If the gang he was in did something important, he should get an article. MasterFred(Whatever) 16:06, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Game mechanics and TV/film are very different animals in terms of canon though. Each time you play, for instance, the Kamino uprising mission in Battlefront 2 you could have your troopers in different spots because they're randomized by the ebb and flow of the game's functioning. They're not really characters, they're part of the gaming experience. Random alien #2485 sitting the background of episode 38, however is canon because he's there regardless of how the viewer approaches the episode. – DigiFluid 16:24, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I know, but as you said, one of the random aliens sitting in the background is canon. The point remains, what keeps me from creating an article for any stormtrooper/droid/clone/rebel/starfighter in a battle shown on some episode/film, for example? Or for every extra in a shot of a street on Coruscant? Or any NPC (not randomized) of a game? Alexrd 19:05, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Look, the short answer is "Human Decency". You can if you want to, though you're asked to follow the rule of thumb that they had some action on screen. The fact of the matter is that most of us have made and taken to status articles in this vein and we do it because we're canon maniacs. If you want a better reason to keep them, consider that any one of the movie charcters has the distict potential to be identified from later sources. Recently, this happened to LobwuWa Loba. If you don't want to consider these articles then don't write them, but don't make a stink about it because they're staying. NaruHina Talk
19:32, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I'm not making a stink about it. I came here asking for a coherent reason for why these articles exist. Saying that they have the potential to be identified is a strawman. Nobody is arguing that. If a character is identified, even if it has no relevant action, I have no problem with that. What I would like to know is where is a line drawn between creating articles out of necessity/relevancy and spam(?). Alexrd 00:00, March 31, 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, there is a perfectly coherent reason that's already been stated in this forum, and it's really not very complicated. All that's required for "unidentified" articles is that they must have some form of distinction from other characters/objects/whatever the article is about. That's why we don't make articles for random NPCs—they're completely random and not distinguishable. If you really feel that any of the above articles listed are not distinguishable in any way whatsoever, then take them to TC to get a community consensus on the matter and be done with it. Jonjedigrandmaster (Talk) 14:51, March 31, 2012 (UTC)
- I'm not making a stink about it. I came here asking for a coherent reason for why these articles exist. Saying that they have the potential to be identified is a strawman. Nobody is arguing that. If a character is identified, even if it has no relevant action, I have no problem with that. What I would like to know is where is a line drawn between creating articles out of necessity/relevancy and spam(?). Alexrd 00:00, March 31, 2012 (UTC)
- Look, the short answer is "Human Decency". You can if you want to, though you're asked to follow the rule of thumb that they had some action on screen. The fact of the matter is that most of us have made and taken to status articles in this vein and we do it because we're canon maniacs. If you want a better reason to keep them, consider that any one of the movie charcters has the distict potential to be identified from later sources. Recently, this happened to LobwuWa Loba. If you don't want to consider these articles then don't write them, but don't make a stink about it because they're staying. NaruHina Talk
- I know, but as you said, one of the random aliens sitting in the background is canon. The point remains, what keeps me from creating an article for any stormtrooper/droid/clone/rebel/starfighter in a battle shown on some episode/film, for example? Or for every extra in a shot of a street on Coruscant? Or any NPC (not randomized) of a game? Alexrd 19:05, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- If the gang he was in did something important, he should get an article. MasterFred
- But that's just it. What makes this article relevant, for example? And regarding the "non-notable fodder characters", that does apply to film and TV per the example I gave above. Alexrd 15:45, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I had always understood it like this: if a character is distinguished in any manner, he/she/it gets an article. If not, they don't. MasterFred
- I wouldn't think so, no. To me random unnamed non-notable fodder characters would fall under 'game mechanics,' and therefore not be applicable. This would change only if they distinguish themselves, ie Random Stormtrooper has cutscene dialogue with player character. I would also think that would not apply to films/CW/TCW because 'game mechanics' aren't applicable to film/tv. – DigiFluid 12:58, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Really? So there is nothing that keeps me from creating an article for every single NPC in a videogame or any stormtrooper/droid/clone/rebel/starfighter in a battle? I agree with Masterbmw, not only would it ease the pressure of the servers, but it would make the people focus on more necessary, relevant, and/or new articles. I'm not against the creation of an article for an Unidentified clone trooper (or whatever) if that clone had made something relevant or interesting. But this is not the case. Alexrd 09:06, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
