MarioWiki:Proposals

Update the Manual of Style to strongly discourage abbreviations of game titles on mainspace articles
NSMBUDX is a port of NSMBU. What? While that example was made up abbreviations are quite common in articles, and can be annoying to read or even downright confusing, such as the previously mentioned King K. Rool edit where not only was Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest shorted, but Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! was abbreviated to 3, which can be extremely confusing to a reader if they do not know the abbreviations of a game, especially in the case of 3 as there is several threequels in the Donkey Kong franchise with 3 in their name, such as Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku. There is other examples of potentially confusing abbreviations such the commonly used Deluxe abbreviation for New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which could be mistaken for Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. This is why I am proposing that we update the Manual of Style to strongly discourage abbreviations of game titles on mainspace articles only, as this would greatly improve reading experience. Please note that this only applies to the main content of mainspace articles as, redirects of commonly used abbreviations, talk pages and user discussion, the and  templates in articles, and brief mentions of an official abbreviation in the article such as with Fire Stalking Piranha Plants (sometimes abbreviated as Fire Stalking Piranha Pl. and Fire Stalking P . Plant) (Imagine that sentence referring to a game title) are fine as they tell and help guide users with popular or official abbreviations, however the main content of an article should have the full, official name of the game if this proposal passes. In my opinion, this change would greatly improve user experience.

EDIT: Per several user's suggestions, I also included a Allow abbreviations if they are necessary for space or infoboxes or are more convenient and are not confusing such as Deluxe option as for example ''Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku could be shorted to Donkey Konga 3 due to that abbreviation not being confusing, while for example New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe still will not be shorted to Deluxe'' due too potential confusion, and in this option some abbreviations would be allowed if necessary for space or infoboxes.

Proposer: Deadline: January 30, 2019, 23:59 GMT

Fully restrict the use of abbreviations

 * 1) Per proposal.
 * 2) Per Doomhiker
 * 3) Per all. Do you mean that we'll use abreviations?
 * 4) - We're supposed to use the full title of a game in article bodies anyway, but I can't find anything about this. Closest is in Naming, where it says the article title has to be a full game title (aside from Mario Kart courses), but doesn't say anything about the actual content of the article. If someone does find something already on MarioWiki pages and I completely missed it, then rip this proposal :P
 * 5) Per proposal.
 * 6) I'm surprised this wasn't in the Manual of Style already, per all.

Allow abbreviations if they are necessary for space or infoboxes or are more convenient and are not confusing while discouraging the use of confusing abbreviations such as Deluxe

 * 1) My second option, per proposal.
 * 2) - Echoing my struckthrough comment above, but also abbreviations can be used in charts, like Amiibo. Not every abbreviation is discouraged, just those used in the actual paragraphs.
 * 3) Better option per Mario jc, 7feetunder, and BBQ Turtle in the comments.
 * 4) Per all.
 * 5) This option would be more beneficial, per all and my comment below.
 * 6) Per all.

Oppose

 * 1) I don't like this idea at all. The first time a game is mentioned, yes, the full title should be used, but I don't see anything wrong with shortening a long-ass title like Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest to just Donkey Kong Country 2 otherwise. No one is going to be confused by this, and having to read (let alone write) a long title over and over again is irritating itself (there's also the fact that the GBA versions of DKC2 and DKC3 don't even use the subtitles). There's also what Mario jc said below about tables and infoboxes (e.g. Krazy Kremland). Simply put, this is a needlessly pedantic proposal, and this issue should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis (or at least with a less restrictive guideline) rather than the "kill it with fire" approach you've taken.
 * 2) Changed mind per 7feetunder.
 * 3) Changed mind per 7feetunder.
 * 4) What we currently have is fine, no policy change. Just expand abbreviations in body text, but keep abbreviations/shortened names when common sense calls for it. We already are doing this.
 * 5) Changing my mind again, per all.

Comments
Please note that the Game Boy Advance versions of the Donkey Kong Country games do not have subtitles. Therefore, when referring to them, they should just be Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 20:27, 16 January 2019 (EST)

While I'm not opposed to using the full titles, I don't think using abbreviations should be fully restricted, as there are often cases where titles have to be shortened, like a column for a table, or using the full title would be too lengthy, like in an infobox. Basically, how I've seen it is, "Don't shorten the title if you don't need to." 21:00, 16 January 2019 (EST)

Does this proposal also account for shortening the game names? 00:34, 17 January 2019 (EST)
 * @Bazooka Mario yes it does, and with the King K. Rool edit the trivia was mentioning the remakes of SNES games, in which the SNES games full names should be used being Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest for example, and as the Game Boy Advance remakes have a shortened name when those games are specifically being talked about their full names should be used, which are just Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey  Kong Country 3, however, if the SNES games with the longer title are shorted to just for example,  Donkey Kong Country 2 they should be expanded to add the full name of the title.  6:34 17 January 2019
 * Even so, I agree with Mario jc and 7feetunder that maybe they shouldn't be completely restricted. 10:47, 17 January 2019 (EST)

@FanOfYoshi this proposal is about strongly discouraging the use of abbreviations in the main content of mainspace pages, so if this proposal passes the use of abbreviations will decrease in mainspace articles, however abbreviations will still be allowed in discussions, in redirects, etc.  6:44 17 January 2019

Sorry, I just wanted to clarify before I vote for this, does this proposal only cover confusing or misleading abbreviations, such as New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe being shortened to Deluxe (Which I definitely support), or all titles in general? Because, as others have mentioned, sometimes it can be beneficial to shorten the title, and I think it would be alright to do so if it wouldn't be confusing or misleading, so shortening ''Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku to Donkey Konga 3'' if required to do so for space, as there is no other game it could easily be confused with. In limited-space situations, it'd likely be beneficial to drop the lengthy subtitle, as long as it isn't confusing or misleading. BBQ Turtle (talk) 12:09, 17 January 2019 (EST)
 * @BBQ Turtle the first option would fully restrict abbreviations of all titles in general, while the second option is like what you just said. 14:08, 17 January 2019 (EST)
 * Shouldn't proposal on this page last 1 week? 2 weeks if for talk pages. -- 09:00, 18 January 2019 (EST)
 * Per rule 3, writing guideline proposals also last 2 weeks. -- 09:26, 18 January 2019 (EST)

New features
None at the moment.

Removals
None at the moment.

Changes
None at the moment.

Miscellaneous
None at the moment.