Pikipedia:Proposals/past proposals

This is an archive of past policy proposals. Please do not edit this page.

Implemented

Headers — Styling or Not?

While I know that there has already been a proposal about this, I deem it necessary to re-evaluate the issue. For one, the issue was not thoroughly discussed; for another, no real reasons were provided to back up the claim.

Now, we italicise game titles everywhere and thus we can avoid using 'Pikmin 1' in text because italics make it clear that a game is being referred back to. But not in headers? Why this inconsistency? Furthermore, we do link to the pages that are about the games in the text. Why not in the headers? There they will be more visible and easier to reach for everyone. I also think that, if there is a header with a game's title in it, the header should be the only place the link should be placed in the entire article. This is to, yet again, make sure the link is as visible as possible. Now, I do not want any of this 'because it's bad'-garb. I want actual arguments backing up your claims.

Support

• RandomYoshi^{Talk to me!} Per Proposal.
• — {Espyo^T} I was always in favor of this. Basically agreed with the proposal. Also, it'll help with the "Pikmin 1" vs "Pikmin" thing.
• ~PikFan23 - I've seen several Wikipedia article titles with italicised game names in them (such as Pikmin), so why not follow Wikipedia's example? I approve.
• Miles Because it's bad.

Oppose

• Locke (talk) Italicizing game titles for consistency between Pikmin and Pikmin 1 makes sense, but I think including links in headers is bad from a web design standpoint. First, links look different. Adding green to some headers violates the CRAP principle of repetition. In short, it blurs the identities of both "what is a header" and "what is a link". All headers are black; that's a trait that identifies them as headers. Throw in a few green ones and they'll be unsettling if not confusing. Second, it would confuse efficacy. There's a clear sense of what a reader can do with a header: use it to locate and/or identify the proceeding section of text. If some of these are clickable, it changes the function of a header into something that isn't so clear. Now, I'm not saying that users are stupid and won't be able to figure out what's a link and what's not, but it will be unsettling. I don't think more visibility for some links is worth damaging users' efficacy. Why is it so important to improve link visibility anyway?
• Prez - Would look horrible

Comments

This policy proposal has been up for most of a month now and most of the users have put in their opinion. I say we go ahead and institute it. Besides, more users support it than users who oppose it... ~PikFan23

Hmm, well, I didn't vote yet because, in my opinion, headers with links wouldn't look good, but I can't think of a way to explain why. It seems, though, that everyone (except maybe Prez) agrees with italics in headers, and I'm for it too, so I'm fine with putting that through. PikFan, do you even agree with links? You only mention italics in your support comment.

I take it links and italics are the only styling we would use (bold and underline don't make sense anyway, and we wouldn't use any other styling even in body text (apart from in informal contexts, like strikethrough on Pikipedia: pages)). I'm adding it for italics now, then, but I'll leave links for the moment (5 for, 3 against isn't exactly a consensus). GP 15:21, 21 July 2012 (EDT)

Edit: regarding italics in page titles, this is of course only as displayed, and not actually embedded in the stored title. Therefore, page titles should be such that they are unambiguous without the formatting - pages like 'Category: Pikmin 1' should stay where they are. This is so that you know exactly what a page is when you see it listed in recent changes, or a category, or the category links at the bottom of an article.

It would be inconsistent, though, for an different title to show up on the page itself (through DISPLAYTITLE - as in, you would see 'Category: Pikmin' when viewing the page, but still see 'Category: Pikmin 1' in listings), so we shouldn't have italics in page titles. Anyone disagree? GP 15:33, 21 July 2012 (EDT)

Okay, well, firstly, I don't really mind having links in headers. Secondly, I was only thinking having italicised titles on actual articles, not category pages. Besides, Wikipedia (yes, another Wikipedia reference) doesn't italicise their category titles. If we italicised the page "Pikmin (game)" it would show up as "Pikmin (game)", but in the Recent Changes it would be the same. So we only italicise actual article titles, not including category titles, etc. And of course having bold/underline in headers would not make any sense; I've seen bold headers on Pikmin Fanon and they look... weird. So let's not even go down that road... ~PikFan23

Hmm, I guess that makes sense - still have the full title, but italicise the part of it that needs it, if any. Sounds reasonable; I'll add it to the policy page. With bold/underline, I was more thinking because titles are already bold/underlined. GP 15:35, 25 July 2012 (EDT)

---

I am going to assume that we can go ahead and put this policy into effect, as this proposal has been up for more than six months. ~PikFan23

1. a policy proposal being old does not mean everyone agrees on it; 2. I added part of it months ago (just allowing italics in headings). The only other thing is links, for which it seems there's no real consensus (I'm against them, but haven't voted against because I'm not against italics). GP 18:19, 10 January 2013 (EST)

Thanks for clearing that up; I was confused. I'll go ahead and begin italicising all headers that have game names in them, then. ~PikFan23

File names?

Shoud we, like Wikipedia, relocaet inapropriate file names? I see your previuos domain now hosts a template (by the way, that domain is a mess now). It seems rather strange to hav files named File:001.jpg or File:ajksf;ljwioe8.png floating around. And even if I`m not allowed to vote because I`m not logged in, can you at least take a look at it? What file name is better: File:6.jpg, or File:Captain Olimar.jpg? --173.70.30.125 07:15, 28 July 2012 (EDT)

Up until now, we've just not really bothered moving already-uploaded ones, because people don't actually often see the file description page - either the image embedded in a page, or the file itself. We'd also have to edit a load of pages to fix changed names (unless there's such a thing as file redirects, I guess, but that wouldn't be much better than crazy names). That's my opinion, anyway - anyone else? GP 04:55, 29 July 2012 (EDT)

There are file redirects, and replacing filenames on many articles at once can be done using Special:ReplaceText (extension - a very useful one that I recommend installing regardless). I don't mind either way though. << Locke^{(talk|contribs)} >> 09:17, 30 July 2012 (EDT)

That looks pretty nice. RegEx is great. I was a bit dubious until I read that it shows you a confirmation screen listing pages and the changes it will make, so yeah. I'll see if we can get it installed, then I'm all for this (don't expect to see me doing the renaming, but whoever does, make a list of them and I'll get to cleaning the links up at some point, leaving a redirect in the meantime).

Anyway, we haven't really been strict about file names, and as I said, I don't think we need to be, but if many are interested, we can set this up at pikipedia:current projects. GP 16:08, 30 July 2012 (EDT)

Game names

We've always italicised names of games outside the Pikmin series, but italicisation of games in the Pikmin series is varied. Now I come to think of it, it would be more consistent, and it would solve the whole Pikmin (game) / Pikmin 1 issue in places because an italicised Pikmin would always be the game. GP

We can italicize all game names. Seems appropriate, makes certain things easier to read. —Jimbo Jambo 09:57, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Agree, but as below, it should not completely replace Pikmin 1 usage.--Prezintenden

Agree with italics, but I think it should replace Pikmin 1 usage (see below). --SnorlaxMonster

I think an italicized name in palce of Pikmin 1 is the best option... Crystal lucario

Signatures

IMO, they should be short in both the edit page and as seen on the saved page, with a link to the user's user page or talk at the very least, very few, small images, preferably not animated, and placed on the same line as the comment, not on a new line below it. GP

For signatures, it's better if they are no longer than one line in length, contain a link to the user page or talk page and images must not be larger than two lines of text, and animation should be avoided. --SnorlaxMonster

Perspective in articles

Just confirming 2nd person is bad, 'Olimar'/'Louie'/'the president', 'the player', 'the captain' are good. GP

I think "the leader" would be preferable to "the captain" in at least Pikmin 2 articles, as Olimar is the only captain amongst the leaders. Vol (Talk)

Actually, GP meant that we mustn't use "you", and instead use "the player". And about discussing that, I say we avoid using "you" to the max, except in walkthroughs, like the ones in the cave articles. As for leader vs captain, I don't think it's weird to have 2 or 3 (President) "captains". I'm not sure, but can't there be more than one captain? At least, to the eyes of the Pikmin, there's only one captain at a time. They can't be controlled by two characters simultaneously. So I say it really doesn't matter much. {Espyo^T} 11:10, 4 March 2011 (EST)

What I meant is that while Captain Olimar is an actual captain, the Louie and the President are not, while they are still leaders. The opening scene of Pikmin 2 states that Captain Olimar is the only employee of Hocotate Freight with any merit, or something similar to that effect. It's not a really big deal, but the fact is that Olimar is the only captain, and the word "captain" should only be used when referring to him. Vol (Talk)

Hmm, I'm not sure it's important enough to recommend against using 'captain' to refer to leaders other than Olimar. For one thing, the meaning is obvious enough, and 'captain' is near enough a synonym of 'leader' that it's silly to make a distinction. Olimar's a ship captain; all three are Pikmin captains. GP

User images

The current limit as defined at Help:Files#User images is 10, which I think is a bit high. Should unfit material (considering this wiki should be fine for those the games are - that is, everyone) be banned? GP

Agree. I think I voted for 5 last time. Still prefer that. Unfit material should be deleted.--Prezintenden

Yeah, 5 sounds reasonable. And admins can delete images at their own discretion if they deem it inappropriate. --SnorlaxMonster

I vote 5 Crystal lucario

Talk pages

Confirmation again: sign your comment; indent replies, not just anything you're editing after; don't edit others' comments. GP

Pikmin 1 / Pikmin / Pikmin (game)

There are two cases here: mentions in headings (either the page title or any others), and mentions in article text. I think if we used an italicised Pikmin outside of headings as mentioned above, we'd solve that part. The other case is for things like Category:Pikmin 1 enemies and Emperor Bulblax#Pikmin 1. I think (game) looks weird in those cases, and 1 is technically incorrect, but Pikmin can be ambiguous. Perhaps 1 is the least poor. Any better ideas? GP

I stand by my opinion on this one. I think it should always be referred to as "Pikmin 1" except in the title of the game's article. No, it's not actually the game's name, but it's instantly and easily identifiable as referring to it. —Jimbo Jambo 09:57, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Agree with JJ.It should always be italicised, but since Pikmin 1 just happens to be the easiest to comprehend, I'd prefer to use that aswell.--Prezintenden

While it may be easier to understand, Pikmin 1 is still a conjectural title. If they wanted the first Pikmin game to be Pikmin 1, they would have changed it with New Play Control! But the title should be italicized to make it less confusing. --SnorlaxMonster

But that's not possible with page titles. Category:Pikmin enemies, say, sounds like enemies in the series, whereas Category:Pikmin 1 enemies is unambiguous. GP

Yeah, in those situations it would probably be OK, but it should be avoided. --SnorlaxMonster

Agree with the two above me, etc... Crystal lucario

Well, sounds like I'm outnumbered here. I always thought "Pikmin 1" looked really, really incorrect. We're a wiki, we can't afford to be that... casual. In my opinion, "Pikmin 1" or "Pikmin (game)" have the same potential to specify the first game. And, while "Pikmin (game)" might seem a bit clunky, it seems a lot more correct. I guess I'm just trying to put professionalism above appearance. {Espyo^T} 18:27, 3 March 2011 (EST)

It's just, when you put it in a noun phrase like "Pikmin (game) enemies" or "Olimar's monologues in Pikmin (game)", it sounds awkward to me. "Pikmin 1", while not correct, is, as Prez said, easier to read and take in the meaning of, and I think this is pretty important too. GP

Yes, I can understand that as well. But all in all, they both look a bit weird. One is awkward, the other is informal. Maybe we can come up with some other alternative like "Enemies in the first game"? ... Even that sounds weird. I guess there's just no way to distinguish the family from the game from the franchise without at least one of them looking weird... As for the monologues page, I know it's just an example, but, off-topic, I suggest we rename that to "Olimar's monologues". For instance, "Olimar's notes" isn't called "Olimar's notes in Pikmin 2". {Espyo^T} 11:10, 4 March 2011 (EST)

Maybe: it's sort of more that they're not named in Pikmin 1, making 'monologues' just what someone decided we should call them, so it's good to have the title more precise. That is, you know 'Olimar's notes' is referring to Pikmin 2; to know what 'Olimar's monologues' is referring to, you'd have to read the first sentence of the article. GP

Article/section capitalisation

A while back, we decided to follow Wikipedia's article naming standards and capitalise only proper nouns. I think this should apply to section headings too. GP

Yeah, sure. —Jimbo Jambo 09:57, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Agree.--Prezintenden

This is always good. Same goes for categories. --SnorlaxMonster

Glitch articles

Because of the wide range of glitches that might just happen to occur one time, I think we should only have ones for glitches that are common (multiple people have experienced them with little variation in the details) or repeatable (you can make it happen any time, with the right conditions, which should be noted in the article). GP

Agreed, maybe unless multiple players experience the same rare glitch. —Jimbo Jambo 09:57, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Agree with JJ.--Prezintenden

I'd like to point out that for us to know multiple players have experienced a glitch, it'd have to be enough that there are multiple connected to Pikipedia and that news of each reaches us, which would probably make it not rare. GP

Have a list of minor glitches like the one I made at Bulbapedia. If the glitch cannot be repeated, unless there is a video, don't give it a page. --SnorlaxMonster

Hah, actually, glitches was just created. I think some there have their own articles already, so it needs to be sorted out, but yeah, we could put glitches that don't have much to say about them there rather than create loads of short articles. GP

Action replay

I say reject all mention of it. GP

Sort of agree. Really minor things like making Pikmin black aren't worth a mention, but if it solves some ancient mystery or leads to some revelation, like what's behind that mysterious unbreakable wall (as an example), then I don't think it would hurt. —Jimbo Jambo 09:57, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Yeah, I agree: anything that can be discovered by action replay only, but exists in the game, should be fine. GP

Agree with the obvious latter.--Prezintenden

If you are discovering hidden things in the game, then they should be mentioned, but you don't need to mention that it was found by Action Replay/cheating device. Don't mention Action Replay at all. --SnorlaxMonster

No cheating devices should/will be mentioned Crystal lucario

I say we talk about it, but not integrally. By that I mean that we should mention that X Y or Z can be accessed using hacks, but we shouldn't enforce users to use them. In my opinion, cheating devices, when used to cheat, make a person lose self-confidence, so the only loser is the cheater. When used to explore the game in exciting new ways however... How could we say no to that? This isn't however a cheating wiki, so we shouldn't just mention it at every opportunity. But stuff like the beta areas articles should mention AR codes to access the stages, if they're made. {Espyo^T} 11:10, 4 March 2011 (EST)

Makes sense. GP

Spelling

As much as I hate to say this, where spelling differs regionally, we should use the USA version (because PAL notes use USA spelling (in most cases (where the treasure was in the US version))). GP

What about that regional spelling thing on Wars Wiki? Could we use it here? Vol (Talk)

Mm, I don't really like using templates, potentially a lot, in simple article text. It just complicates things (editing, actually changing them all over), and only varies for logged in users anyway. GP

What exactly is this Wars thing?--Prezintenden

[1] GP

Seems crazily unnecessary, especially considering EU users are a minority here. It's probably best just to use American throughout the whole wiki, I find.--Prezintenden

I find this....crazy. Compare how many European/Australian users here to American users. Then that would be a answer. Bulborb63 (talk • contribs)

I'm Australian and I think that we should be using American spellings. That Wars Wiki switch just seems unnecessary. The games use American English anyway. --SnorlaxMonster

I agree with everyone who opposes the idea. --Gamefreak75

Opposes the idea of using USA spellings only, or opposes with the template system to localise spellings? GP

Using the template to localize. Just leave the spelling as is. --FREAK ~Game Freak~OUT!

What about us Europe/Australia users? We deserve our article worth! And Spelling! TEMPLATE! Bulborb63 (talk • contribs)

Just get over it. As I stated above, I'm Australian and I would prefer if the wiki used American spelling. I've even trained myself to type "color" but write "colour". You get used to it. --SnorlaxMonster 08:14, 25 October 2010 (EDT)

It's okay for him to disagree.... —Jimbo Jambo 12:37, 25 October 2010 (EDT)

I'm not saying he can't disagree. I'm saying that American spelling isn't incorrect spelling, so it doesn't bother me. He can have his own opinion. --SnorlaxMonster 04:54, 26 October 2010 (EDT)

Headers

Should be completely devoid of any formatting, IMO. No links, italics or the like - on articles. That is, it makes sense to have, say, section headers link to their articles at Pikipedia:featured articles/nominations. GP

There could be other examples where it is necessary, but they would be noted in the future if they are found. But otherwise, I say yes. If you want to link, use template:main. --SnorlaxMonster 03:54, 27 October 2010 (EDT)

Videos

I think we've pretty much decided that video embedding should be used sparingly, only for things like adverts and glitches that are much more easily understood through them than through still images or text. GP

Support

• GP
• RandomYoshi^{Talk to me!} Per Greenpickle nearly said 'J' there...
• Vol (Talk)

Social content

Should be mostly kept off non-user/talk pages, but small amounts, perhaps along with more appropriate things, are fine. The main location for lots of chat about anything other than the running of the wiki and its content should be the off-wiki forums. Even user talk pages shouldn't be used if there are lots of edits in a short space of time, because it fills up the recent changes. GP

Support

• GP
• RandomYoshi^{Talk to me!} I also think that social content should be sent to the forums. All of it, even; if it's not about improving the acticle, then it sholdn't belong on a talkpage. The Chat is also a good place where one might want to go to. 19:36, 13 December 2011 (EST)
• Vol (Talk)

Comments

Hmm, okay, given that we don't have off-wiki forums any more, strike that bit... GP 17:54, 8 December 2011 (EST)

We still have off-wiki forums, of a sort, on the NIWA hub site though. Vol (Talk)

Capitalization

"egg" and "Egg"; "blue Pikmin" and "Blue Pikmin"; "lithopod" and "Lithopod". The games aren't consistent with capitalizations, but neither are we. For instance, some games have no problem naming a Pikmin color in lowercase while others write them in title case every time, as if their life depended on it. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized why this is. And I've figured we should be consistent about the way we capitalize the names. I've cooked up the following policy sketch, and I need everybody to say whether they agree or not. Please don't be biased and go like "but I've always written X in a Y style, so it must be correct!". Let's move forward and try to perfect the global capitalization style!

In the Pikmin series, normal capitalization for some subjects' names is sometimes inconsistent. As a result, Pikipedia capitalizes these names using some community-decided rules. The general rule of thumb is that in-game, when names are presented in titles (the lock-on HUD, a Piklopedia entry name, etc.), they are written in a title case style, regardless of that being the case in normal text or not. This can also be the case for when a keyword needs to be highlighted, as the capitalization helps bring out attention. Because some names are not seen in normal text, and because of the aforementioned inconsistency, it is unknown whether the "normal" capitalization is in title case or lowercase, for most names. Hence, the following rules were created based on common sense, text style and community agreements:

Proper nouns

Title case. Proper nouns are to always be written in title case. It should be clear what things are given proper names, like areas, caves, and characters.

Species

Title case. This applies to Pikmin type names and enemy species names (e.g. "Yellow Pikmin", "Beady Long Legs"). These names are of the most glaring examples of incosistency in the series. Although in the real world, species names are commonly written in lowercase, fans of the series are accostumed to seeing them written in title case; this is more accentuated because of bosses, in which their uniqueness almost makes it look like their species name is their proper name.

Families

Lowercase. The names of families should be written in lowercase, as is the case in the real world. This capitalization is normally seen in the games as well.

Objects

Lowercase. As written above, the name of most plain objects is sometimes written in title case because they are commonly named in a title setting. For objects that are common throughout a game and do not have a major impact on gameplay, their names should be in lowercase. This mirrors the way it is in the real world – humans don't capitalize the word "egg" or gate" for no reason. This includes, but is not limited to: hazards, obstacles, sprays, nectar eggs, nectar, rubble, bomb rocks and geysers.

Important objects

Title case. Objects that are clearly of high importance should be written in title case. Common sense can and should be employed in these cases. For instance, ship parts, treasures and fruits are all of great importance, and it is clear that they are given proper names by Olimar, the Hocotate ship and the Koppaites.

Simple words

Lowercase. For words that do not deserve or need any specific capitalization, they should be written in lowercase like any normal text. This means that words like "leader" (and "captain"), "day", "area", "cave", etc. should not be needlessly written in title case.

Special cases

• The words "Onion" and "Pikmin", whether it's referring to a game or the Pikmin family, must always be written in title case.

For the purpose of clarity, "title case" refers to names in which the first letter of each "non-minor" word is capitalized (e.g. "This Text is Written in Title Case Style"), and "lowercase" means that the words all start with a lowercase letter. Naturally, the names of subjects at the start of sentences, headers, etc. always start with an uppercase letter, with very few exceptions. Although the rules above exist for cases where the games cannot clearly label whether something should be written in title case or not, the community may create exception cases. These exceptions and their reasoning can normally be found in the subject's talk page.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think? Also, what should we do about Pikpik carrots? Same thing as the Pikmin color names; sometimes lowercase, sometimes title case. — {Espyo^T} 12:17, 18 December 2014 (EST)

Support

• — {Espyo^T} Proposer.
• GP - I think this is mostly what we do anyway, and consistency is more important than what we choose.

Comments

For the whole lowercase thing when referring to objects like gates, does this apply to those that have an official name, like for example, the Dirt Wall? Would that be lowercase or uppercase? ^Talk 19:11, 18 December 2014 (EST)

Lowercase. Precisely because they're kind of plain objects. You wouldn't really normally call an electric gate "Electric Gate", as if it were a person's name. — {Espyo^T} 06:14, 19 December 2014 (EST)

Well like the game (notably Pikmin 3) addresses them as proper nouns. Even then, do we keep them lowercase? ^Talk 16:34, 19 December 2014 (EST)

That's just it, the game addresses them as proper nouns only because it'd be weird without. Imagine locking-on to a gate and having the text "fortified wall" appear on the screen. Seems lazy and ugly, right? So they have to make it title case in order to make it look good. However, just because text is written in title case doesn't mean that's the "official" capitalization. And because we don't know the official capitalization, we should go with common sense. And common sense kinda says that "fortified walls" aren't humans, pets, locations, or anything of the sort. So they hardly deserve a title case capitalization. That's the point I'm trying to get across. — {Espyo^T} 16:46, 19 December 2014 (EST)