Talk:Battle Debates Wiki

What categories to have
I think that, first of all, we should change "Hero" to "Individual", and also that we should add the categories "Super Speed", "Super Strength" and "Strategist" where applicable. Basically, the tags should give us an idea of what their abilities are and how they'd be useful. Peter Elric Pines (talk) 03:36, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

Why would we need strategist? Also, if we don't know what a character's abilities are, we shouldn't be able to pick them. Strategist seems completely unnecessary. SuprK1 (talk) 15:26, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

You're also adding the individual tag without changing the hero tag. Whatever we do, it needs to be consistent. SuprK1 (talk) 15:31, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

Because "Strategist" gives us an idea of what the character could be useful for. We've already established stuff in person about "Hero" vs. "Individual". Peter Elric Pines (talk) 03:30, April 26, 2017 (UTC)

We don't need that tag because we probably won't have any modifiers that involve that tag, and we already know what the character could be useful for. If we don't know who the character is, we can't pick them, so clearly we know who they are, and if they're a strategist, we'll know that. If we want useless tags like that that are only useful for finding characters like that, we should first do the important things, then work on the extras. We don't even have a rules page, we should be focusing on these things, not tags. Tags are useful only for modifiers(which we haven't made yet) and for finding characters that are good for the situation, which is unnecessary as at this point we have like 10 characters on here. SuprK1 (talk) 20:06, April 26, 2017 (UTC)

The first categories added ought to be regarding super-human abilities. Our currently recognized super-human abilities are strength, speed, and intellect. My main hesitation with those category names is that I would like each category to be a single word, but I'm not sure what that word may be. In the future, it may also be prudent to add categories for other skills or abilities, but these are the relevant ones so far. As for individual vs. hero, I would lean away from both. Neither quite sounds right. I'm considering "character," but I'm not really sure about that one either. Superstars111 (talk) 09:16, May 8, 2017 (UTC)

I'm gonna add franchises to categories. So any character from FMA would have the "Fullmetal Alchemist" category. It seems like it would be useful to know which characters inhabit the same universe, operate by the same rules, and have interacted with each other before. Peter Elric Pines (talk) 01:12, May 22, 2017 (UTC)

That does seem like a good idea, but what about situations like Log Horizon, which is both a group name and story name? We need to find some way to sort that out. We also should decide what to do about linked series'. For example, do we have "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "Avatar: The Legend of Korra," or just "Avatar?" Superstars111 (talk) 01:21, May 22, 2017 (UTC)

I already ran into both problems. I left Log Horizon to be determined later, but couldn't we have two categories with the same name? And then a disambiguation page? And we can add people to both Last Airbender and Korra, but for clarity's sake, I don't want it to be "Avatar" because that's the name of a completely unrelated movie. We should have clarity where possible, but where impossible, or too inconvenient, we should just use a disambiguation page. I added "Avatar: The Last Airbender" to Toph's page, but I didn't think about it much, so I didn't add Korra. Peter Elric Pines (talk) 01:36, May 22, 2017 (UTC)

I've just looked into disambiguation pages. It appears that using disambiguation pages doesn't result in you being allowed to have two pages of the same name. All it does is say "hey, these pages are similar, and you might have gotten confused. Here are the differences." So we would need to mark Log Horizon in some specific way. As for Airbender/Korra, that could work, and would probably be the best option. I was considering just picking the base title and using it for all connected series. In other words, the series of series' would then have the same title as the first series in the series. One reason why this would work would be that it would make it easier to figure out who goes where. For example, Aang doesn't directly appear in Korra, but we hear reference to him and we see pictures of him. However, this is also less specific, so it may be best to tag each series individually. In which case, we do need to figure out what to do about the aforementioned situation. Superstars111 (talk) 01:57, May 22, 2017 (UTC)

Groups and Armies
How should we go about adding Groups and Armies? The infobox stuff doesn't seem like it would apply. Peter Elric Pines (talk) 03:40, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

We should just have different sections of the page for different characters, and then at the very bottom list what combinations of characters we can choose(for groups like Avengers). SuprK1 (talk) 15:28, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

That doesn't answer my question. We shouldn't just make a page for them(at least not for groups) because the infobox wouldn't be useful. We need to either change the infobox or figure out a different method of putting groups and armies on here. Peter Elric Pines (talk) 03:33, April 26, 2017 (UTC)

For groups we could put the individual characters on here and tag them all with the name of the group, then go to the category page for that group(that's automatically made when we tag something with it) and add info about the team if we need to(it'll automatically list all the people in the group). Someone said something about a disambiguation page before that we could use, we might be able to do that for different time periods if the members of a group change. For armies, they can just have a page  for them. We can add information into an infobox, I don't see why it wouldn't work for them. SuprK1 (talk) 20:10, April 26, 2017 (UTC)

There are, I believe, various styles of info boxes, and they're all customizable if you know how. That said, info boxes aren't needed for every single page. Superstars111 (talk) 09:20, May 8, 2017 (UTC)

Aliases
Does it count as an alias if it's just a nickname? I don't think Lulu would count as Lelouch's alias. SuprK1 (talk) 15:33, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

If we're counting that, we also need to count Zuzu. SuprK1 (talk) 15:37, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

For our purposes, we would count an alias as being a name that the character went by in order to conceal their identity. This means that titles and nicknames don't count. However, it should also be the case that they possess and/or display different abilities while using their alias, or used it long-term. Aang went by the name Kuzon, but that was really just an alternate name for one episode. For contrast, Zuko went as The Blue Spirit on a number of occasions, and used his swords mainly in that guise, as opposed to his firebending which he would otherwise use (though he clearly could use either ability in either appearance). Superstars111 (talk) 09:27, May 8, 2017 (UTC)

Aww, but I like Bonzu Pippinpaddlopsocopolis III! What if we want to pick him? Peter Elric Pines (talk) 14:07, May 8, 2017 (UTC)

Technically speaking, you could argue that names like that would be an alias. However, for the purpose of our debates, I don't believe it to be useful information to the point where we would put it in the infobox. The infoboxes are relatively small, and we don't want to clutter them. Therefore, it makes the most sense to only include select names that provide some sort of distinction. Not to say that alternate names or nicknames shouldn't be included anywhere on the page, but stuffing everything into the infobox would cause more clutter than it would provide easy access to necessary information. Superstars111 (talk) 18:19, May 8, 2017 (UTC)

Pictures
Are there any pictures that aren't from another wiki? If so, which ones? SuprK1 (talk) 15:34, April 25, 2017 (UTC)

Spoilers
How should we add spoilers? There doesn't seem to be a spoiler tag. I've noticed that a specific character had a birthday that seems like it would be significant, if it is spoilers, it should not be in the infobox. We should be able to look anywhere on the page, and only need to avoid sections that are labeled in some way as spoilers. SuprK1 (talk) 02:56, May 17, 2017 (UTC)

So far, spoilers have not been added for anyone that we care about, and certainly not in the infobox. In the future, we will need to find a way to mark and hide those, but that may involve some more technical messing around with the source editor, and I haven't figured all of that out yet. For now, we're trying to avoid spoilers where we care. Superstars111 (talk) 03:04, May 17, 2017 (UTC)

Okay SuprK1 (talk) 03:10, May 17, 2017 (UTC)

Current thoughts: I found a program that would add spoiler tags to our wiki, but I'm not sure how to install it. For now, I'm thinking it may be beneficial if we had three tags- Jared Spoilers, Simon Spoilers, and Kenan Spoilers. We would add any page we create to the tags for the others, and would be in charge of removing non-spoiler pages from our own tags. Then we could just not look at those pages. It's a temporary solution, but it's a thought. Superstars111 (talk) 22:30, June 13, 2017 (UTC)

What do you mean a program? I don't think the tags would work. We'd all have to check our category pages and somehow figure out what series a character is from without looking at their page if we didn't already know, and then if we figure out and don't care about spoilers, we'd remove the tag, but if we did care, we might have already gotten spoilers from the name or picture. It would be annoying and wouldn't necessarily prevent spoilers completely. And we aren't allowed to use spoiler characters, so the only situations in which that would be useful are like when Simon and I picked Lelouch and needed to use the Geass rules without telling you them, so you didn't get anything spoiled. I just realized by tag you might not mean category, if you meant like Spoiler text or something, we might not be able to do that in infoboxes, and still, the series, name, and picture, all might be spoilers. When I'm looking at the recent edits it might show me the text even if it's inside a spoiler box or something, so that might not even work. If there are situations like the Code Geass one though, we might be able to make the text and the background the same color so that we have to highlight it to read it, but we still can't use spoiler characters, so I don't see how it could be very useful. SuprK1 (talk) 01:13, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

I used tags in two different senses there. First, a tag meaning, and then a tag meaning category. The former is what I want to try to add, but I don't know how yet. The latter would be the temporary solution until then. The reason to use categories wouldn't be for our own sake so much as for the sake of others. We could have a Spoiler Free category that means no spoilers (whether because we've all seen it or because nobody cares about spoilers for it). That tag would only be given if none of our personal spoiler tags were there. The reason this would be useful would be so that I can more easily browse for characters that aren't spoilers for you, and vice versa. Obviously, if a character's very name, series, and picture are spoilers, we oughtn't even to add them in the first place. The reason we'd be taking care of our own lists is because we wouldn't be adding to them. I would never add the category "Jared Spoilers," but if I see something on that list that I know isn't spoilers, whether because I've seen it or because I don't plan to see it, then I would remove that tag. Superstars111 (talk) 01:28, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

I'm still confused about the program. Could you send me a link or something so I know what it is? I still don't think the categories would work. For one thing, if we add the category, either we know that it's spoilers, or we don't know if it is, which means that for all we know, the picture might be spoilers. SuprK1 (talk) 02:05, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

The program is a set of code that I have to put in somewhere on the wiki, but I don't know how to do that yet. The categories are added by us. For example, if I make the page Shiroe, I add two categories: Simon Spoilers and Kenan Spoilers. If the name and picture would be spoilers, I don't make the page in the first place. If it turns out that you don't care about spoilers or have already seen it, you remove the tag. Otherwise, you don't have to look at a single word on the page. If Simon also removes his tag, he adds instead the tag Spoiler Free, which marks it as clean for all of us. Superstars111 (talk) 02:15, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

Okay. Can you send it to me or something so I can try to figure it out? Okay, but the name of some random character in a case where the name isn't spoilers counts as spoilers to you, so if I don't know about the character, then you couldn't post the picture. I don't think we should add anything spoilery until we have the code, and then we'll still only add characters with a minimal amount of spoilers. SuprK1 (talk) 03:10, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

Through much effort, I have learned how to add spoiler tags. I'll put the method and results here.

Method: Insert spoilers here.

Results: Insert spoilers here.

This may not work on mobile. I'm not entirely certain. Superstars111 (talk) 06:47, June 14, 2017 (UTC)

Housekeeping
As I've been looking through the wiki, I've been noticing that a lot of pages aren't fully tagged or up to date. In order to keep the editing clean, it's important that everything has the proper tags.

Character pages should be tagged with Characters, their series, and at least their primary affiliation if they're part of a group. They should also be using the Character-RPG infobox. If you see one using the regular character infobox, please change it. In addition, it's not usually difficult to add very basic information like species and gender. Each infobox should be able to at least have some sort of basic information.

Group categories should be tagged with Groups and whatever series they're from. We'll have to hash out later exactly how many characters should be required for it to be called a group, but for now, I think it's reasonable to say that in order for a group category to be made, it should have at least three characters in it.

Army pages should be tagged with whatever series they're from.

Series categories should be tagged as Series.

In addition to adding pages to a category, the category page itself should be created and given some basic information. Adding pages to a category does not automatically create the page.

Making sure everything is organized neatly will make future edits far easier, and will make it more convenient to find the information we're looking for when we want it. Superstars111 (talk) 22:42, June 13, 2017 (UTC)