Manual of Style

[Harald B]

This has been a long time coming. Discuss all matters of unity of style here. Results should go in/be linked to from the Manual of Style page.

[Harald B]

I've added a subpage on formatting character pages. Some questions we should answer:

• Should the Likes and Dislikes sections be spelled with a ":"? (In my opinion, no. But see below)
  
• Should we have Likes and Dislikes sections at all? (I'm opposed to them. They gob up space and aren't all that interesting. Better to move some of that info where relevant.)
  
• Should more sections be mentioned? Something like Alternate Versions or Character Design Evolution perhaps?
  
• Generally, is this a good structure and are the section names appropriate? This is the time to nitpick.
  

[Shwoo]

I don't understand why the wiki needs a forum when it has talk pages. But anyway, I don't have any objections to what you wrote. Except, I think it's best not to use parentheses in the middle of sentences. It looks clumsy and breaks up the flow. Using slashes, as in "Max is a rabbity thing/lagomorph" also doesn't look too great.

[Harald B]

About needing a forum (sorry for being overly wordy): Talk pages are great for quick exchanges about specific pages, which I definitely want to keep at the talk pages, but there are downsides.

• It can quickly get messy to figure out who's responding to what. Things like quote and multi-quote help with that. You can theoretically do that in talk pages too, but it just gets more messed up. And the indentation method is good but not really enough when things get complex.
  
• Related to this, if a discussion gets long it's a lot easier to keep track of and navigate through in a forum.
  
• Some discussions aren't about any single page. The Manual of Style is distributed over various subpages, but I'd prefer to keep the discussion in one thread. Some policy discussions may involve whether certain pages should be created at all.
  
• Talk pages can get buried in recent changes and overlooked. That's generally not really an issue but bad for more fundamental things like design and policy.
  
• (For reasons like these we've previously found the in-wiki forum and social group quite useful despite the talk pages.)
  

 

Sorry for wasting so much text on that. Now for a bunch of on-topic comments and questions on that story style page you've put up:

• It might be a good idea to have separate subguides for comics, cartoons and telltale episodes, not sure.
  
• Do you think there should be an infobox for comics? I could make one, featuring title, number of pages, year, first appearance, and maybe previous and next.
  
• The problem with the character lists being huge is mostly limited to the Telltale episodes, and dividing them into columns helps there. I've already done that, so we should be good.
  
• What do you think of the way the characters section is split between Main and Other in some cartoon episode pages? I'm against that myself, enough that I'll fix those right away if you agree.
  
• I'm against having a Character Development section. In the comics and cartoons there mostly just isn't any, and where there is it's better to mention it in the plot or on that character's page. If it isn't relevant enough to go in either of those places, it's probably not worth mentioning at all. Throwaway gags aren't character development.
  
• I think a references section is a bad idea. The games in particular have far too many of them, and it doesn't add much anyway.
  
• I'm missing a See Also section. I'll put it in above External Links.
  

I hope I'm not overwhelming you with all this. It's otherwise good

[Traveler of Games]

I want to first start off that it is awesome that we have this forum but I think we should have the link a bit more "prominent" than a small link to the side. Is there anyway of making a link in the "We are currently editing over 219 articles [...]" area?

 

Now to some of your questions, here's my two cents (and a half):

 

Should the Likes and Dislikes sections be spelled with a ":"? (In my opinion, no. But see below)

I don't think so too, but I think it ended that way because before it was just a unsectioned off list. What I want to know is if the periods are being used correctly. Do we really need each word or statement as a sentence?

 

Should we have Likes and Dislikes sections at all? (I'm opposed to them. They gob up space and aren't all that interesting. Better to move some of that info where relevant.)

I like the section (it adds to description of their personalities). When I look at a character page, I scan the bio (because usually those are way too long to read... btw, ours aren't too bad) then go to the "did you know?" section. The Likes and Dislikes are kinda like that section. It also helps develop ideas to what to write next. For example, I love the facts that Sam likes musicals and dislikes suicide, but I can't think of a way to actually write a sentence or paragraph about just those subjects. Maybe someday someone will have enough information to warrant one.

 

I can see how it can get unwieldy and long (hard to pick out ones that are actually really interesting), but I have no idea where to put it...

 

Should more sections be mentioned? Something like Alternate Versions or Character Design Evolution perhaps?

We do have a "Character Design Evolution" section. I made it myself and planned on starting it after finishing the cartoon summaries :weary about those:. What I had in mind was a side by side by side comparisons of the different... evolutions... of art styles Sam and Max took over the years. Sam and Max would have their separate "trees" (I believe that Mr Purcell's current style doesn't match up with Telltale's, but they are being used at the same time) in their own pages.

 

Generally, is this a good structure and are the section names appropriate? This is the time to nitpick.

 

I don't know. ^^; I just write whatever comes to mind. I'm playing the games on the Xbox and I came to a sudden realization that we don't have a page or something about Bosco's inventions (like we have for the Geek... kinda). That would be nice to have.

[Harald B]

I want to first start off that it is awesome that we have this forum but I think we should have the link a bit more "prominent" than a small link to the side. Is there anyway of making a link in the "We are currently editing over 219 articles [...]" area?

Sure. That thing is at Template:Maintop.

 

What I want to know is if the periods are being used correctly. Do we really need each word or statement as a sentence?

Now that you mention it, that does bother me. I wouldn't know about correctness, but I think it looks better not to have them, at least for entries of only a word or two.

 

I'll try putting especially long Likes and Dislikes sections next to each other to cut down on white space. They probably won't bother me as much then.