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Some of the first season episode pages (I haven't looked past early season 2 episodes to remain as spoil-free as possible -- this is my first time watching the show), have a section for "References." I started to add the section across more pages but soon got sidetracked with other things. Before I catch up and keeping adding it to more episode pages, I wanted to ask if this section should be kept?
It is handy to keep track of every celebrity, brand, movie, and TV show Crichton makes a reference to, but having it titled "References" makes it confusing as that name is mainly used for a different purpose across the wiki, though I have seen some Muppet Babies episode pages with the same thing. At the very least, I feel like there should be a consistent format to follow.
For example, if the References section is kept, should the references be bullet points or a sentence? Should there also be context? (though the context would also be on the referenced thing's page, so I don't think context is needed)
I could be overthinking here, but I just need a little guidance, especially since it would be an en masse change to most (if not all) the Farscape episode pages. - Maddox (talk) 08:10, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
- Hi, Maddox! You're actually the first one to really work on the Farscape pages in years (and you've been doing great work!) At various points, Danny, myself, and Henrik took stabs at it but never went all the way (and Henrik's a non-native speaker, thus some of the phrasing on character pages). In particular, the episode pages haven't really changed substantially since ca. 2007 (I know I mostly filled in pages for actors and occasionally a character or Creature). So at this point, given your track record and organizational skills, I think en masse changes to those pages would be fine to clean up or give consistency to them. The "References" heading is mostly really an early Wiki remnant, usually before something had a page, because an editor just really felt like noting something, or because there was no existing page for the production or person (I just rectified that here, where it was labeled as "Notes.")
- The Muppet Babies ones were mostly part of an incomplete attempt to bulk out the episode and also fit pretty well with trying to note/track where the movie clips came from, and again we've renamed those as "Notes" on most. If they haven't been, it's an oversight. We chose Notes to replace Trivia years ago (and as a byproduct, "References" on pages that aren't actually Category:References). So if either heading lingers on an episode page, unless it's actually a reference *to* the episode, it should be Notes. And the bullet point makes it look better. We just sometimes forget when there's only one item there. See "Raiders of the Lost Muppet" for a properly reworked Muppet Babies episode and what that Notes section really should look like across the Wiki, more or less.
- But on Farscape, especially when stuff like Star Trek,The Three Stooges, etc. are used often or become part of a running gag or nickname, I agree it gets confusing and a bit bogged down. The reference'd thing's page *is* where the main context and explanation belongs. So I'd say feel free to drop, except for instances like inside jokes (i.e. Episode 412: Kansas, Aeryn watching Sesame Street) or if the primary plot or theme ties in to the reference ("John Quixote," but the short blurb doesn't really make that clear, and uses "Notes" and a bullet point).
- You've been more careful about actually tracking the individual references on the relevant pages (while a lot of the old ones were more link parking and often didn't end up on the page itself). So I'd say use your best judgement apart from the above suggestions on any you feel worth keeping on the page, and just use Notes as a header (which is also useful for character debuts, etc.) Hope all of this helps a little. -- Andrew
22:54, 6 May 2023 (UTC)