Talk:David Brenner

"Best Known"
We've talked back and forth a bit about when to use Template:bestknown but never really settled the issue. This is one of those cases where I really think it just detracts from the page appearance. It's one of those where the person in question is pretty obscure to most of us anyway, *but* it also has two items, which again wasn't the original purpose of that template. Danny created it with two goals: one, when the text of a celebrity's page is such that their Muppet connection may not be immediately obvious without scrolling down (Lola Falana), and two, when they have a *ton* of Muppet connections but one which to Muppet fans would be the best known or most prominent (Julie Andrews, Bob Hope). We'd already decided we didn't need to use it on every person's page (unlike our episode boxes and such), just where the box would help the reader, and cases where there's no clear "best known" winner (they've done tons of stuff of equal importance, or a couple minor things in this case which are probably just as well known to Muppet fans, or not that well known, as it may be).

In this case, the connections are stated up front and clearly (although the order might be corrected chronologically, but it's usually been a sort of rough guideline that on-camera trumps magazine appearances). The box just pushes things down. I'd like to yank it, and also use that as a general guideline on smaller pages. Although it probably doesn't hurt much with someone like Joshua Rudoy which has a "Who is that?" factor and where the picture doesn't even make it obvious in a fleeting glimpse by a non-rabid Muppet fan that there's a Muppet in it, compared to Gabe Kaplan, which doesn't have and I don't think needs the box; in Rudoy's case it just repeats the magazine category label, *but* also explains why he's in Celebrities to anyone browsing those names or hitting on the page through Random, so that's good usage of the box in my opinion. I'm also not objecting in cases like Nolan Bushnell where, while it pushes it down, right now we have no Muppety image, so the box clarifies the connection.

And there's other cases where the box is debatable. On Mel Brooks, it works, since despite multiple participations, his work in The Muppet Movie is definitely his biggest Muppet contribution. With John Candy, as adorable as the flower picture is, is his major article interview in Follow That Bird better known than his Follow That Bird cameo (brief though it is) or Sesame appearances, or all they all kind of in that same "Wow, John Candy worked with the Muppets? I missed that" category? Thoughts? Given how subjective the box is to begin with, I'm not necessarily arguing for something to put in policies and guidelines, but I would like to be able to clean up a bit on what we currently have. (Not sure whether to move this to the template talk page, but it seemed better to start the discussion on a clearcut example first). -- Andrew Leal (talk ) 18:02, May 14, 2012 (UTC)