Template talk:Character infobox

We should start using this.

It depends if people want to use it. 16:47, 23 June 2007 (EDT)

*embarrased* I completely forgot about this. I'll recruit some people in the chat soon. 15:28, 20 July 2007 (EDT)
 * This should only be used on major characters. I don't think characters like the Paper Mario series partners or the Smash Bros. characters deserve the infobox. - 14:19, 22 July 2007 (EDT)

Define Appearances
Do cameos or mentions count as an appearance? For example, the PM partners had cameo appearances on Catch Cards, but does that mean we add that as their latest appearance? 15:58, 27 July 2007 (EDT)

I don't think so. 15:59, 27 July 2007 (EDT)
 * Someone like Geno, who only had two appearances, I could see you doing that. Not so much for a major character, though.  21:27, 13 December 2007 (EST)

Minor? Major? What?
Should we remove the Importance area of the template, since it seems a bit opinionated? For example, Waluigi is one of the most recurring characters in the Marioverse, yet he isn't one bit important to Mario main adventures. And people like Parakarry (who unfortunately isn't as recurring) is a pretty important character (Mario couldn't clear the rest of the game without his infamous carry ability). So should we perhaps remove the section, to be fair? 14:25, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
 * I think so.

Origin
I can't seem to get origin to appear on the articles... check out Village Leader and MC Ballyhoo for examples of my problem. 10:31, 15 August 2007 (EDT)
 * Goombario also uses it. It seems to be the place where the character can be found.  03:54, 22 June 2016 (EDT)

Affiliation
What does this mean? Characters the character is allied with (i.e. Bowser with the Koopa Troop, Mario with Luigi) or characters they're affiliated with, as in, you think Waluigi, you instantly think Luigi and Wario. -- Sir Grodus

Template
Should we use these template on generic enemies such as blooper?
 * It's about characters, not species. It doesn't fit, species don't have a full name and don't have a, well, species. - 14:25, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

I'm not going to start a flame war but they are a species like for instance goomba is referred to fungus and blooper is referred to squid.
 * That are comparisons to the Real World, not the species' "species". - 14:28, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

I think a species infobox would be a good idea though. I would create it but I have no technical expertise. 14:29, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

I agree with Knife.
 * That would be neat, but I've got my locations infobox, so I can't complain. (ty again, Wayoshi!) 21:28, 13 December 2007 (EST)

Roles?
Can someone add a new section in this infobox? Mario and Luigi got over way to many heroric roles in this Universe.(Super F22 Pilot 19:12, 18 December 2007 (EST))

Other Series Characters
I think we need to make a decision on how we're going to list characters from other series' first appearances. Some give their official first appearance, while others list both that and their first Mario appearance.

I saw a nice-looking setup on the Entei article, and I think we should use that. Anybody else?

Policy
Since this page contains a policy/guideline for template usage (esp. the image parameter), should the page at least be categorized as Category:Writing guidelines or Category:MarioWiki policies? Just a thought.

04:02, 21 December 2012 (EST)
 * Apparently the syntax of the image parameter is not consistent on the wiki -- only wants the file name and specifies a default width (250px) that can be overriden. -- 00:28, 25 December 2016 (EST)

New parameter
It could be interesting to add a parameter for alternative names and/or alteregos. On the top of my head, there's Mario/Jumpman/Mr. Video/Ossan/Dr. Mario/Paper Mario, Luigi/Dr. Luigi/Mr. L, Peach/Toadstool/Nurse Peach, Wario/Wario-Man, Zelda/Sheik, Link/Young Link/Toon Link, Bowser/King Koopa, Bowser Jr./Shadow Mario, not to mention all the babies. And maybe that whole Donkey Kong/Cranky Kong thing if that's still canon.

Maybe some of these only belong in the introduction paragraph ("previously known as..." is fine and it wouldn't be very interesting to add it to the infobox). But when alteregos have their own articles and own biographies, it might be interesting to have a place to link them together. I'm thinking of the Paper versions, the babies, Mr. L, etc.

17:34, 28 December 2015 (EST)

Gender
I Checked many other NIWA Wikis and they had the Gender Stat on them,why this Wiki doesn't use it as well? --
 * It could be initial oversight, but I'm not sure if we need to go through the trouble of adding in another detail. On the other hand, this wiki does not even have categories on gender either. I think we can benefit from an additional parameter, but it seems kind of trivial overall. 17:03, 4 April 2016 (EDT)

"Full name"
This parameter is painfully overused. The vast majority of characters in this franchise have no need for it, yet I constantly see it uselessly slapped on character infoboxes despite serving absolutely no purpose. What's the use of informing the reader that Toad's full name is "Toad", Wario's full name is "Wario", Donkey Kong's full name is "Donkey Kong", etc.? It's redundant and pointless. Honestly, do we really need this parameter? Most Mario characters either do not have distinct full names, or their full name is already the title of the article (e.g. Professor Elvin Gadd). This parameter either needs to go or get a massive cleanup. 20:10, 19 August 2018 (EDT)
 * Is this an optional parameter? If it isn't, then change it to that. It's completely redundant as we have a big title of the article page, the name being in bold in the first sentence, and there's the name in the infobox header as well as (optionally) an caption that states the character's name. 20:31, 19 August 2018 (EDT)
 * It's already an optional parameter. The problem is that many editors seem to have a bad habit of manually adding it to character infoboxes regardless of whether or not it's actually necessary (and it rarely is). 20:38, 19 August 2018 (EDT)
 * It works for characters like Princess Peach, but can be removed otherwise. There's no harm here regardless, though. 20:40, 19 August 2018 (EDT)

Is there a way to program the parameter so that if it's the same as the article title or "title" parameter, it doesn't appear? Or maybe just have a bot remove them? 20:36, 26 August 2018 (EDT)
 * Another example I found is Jessica. "title" is meant to remove the identifier in an infobox, and "full name" is meant to show the full name of the character. Two different parameters meant for two different things, though if they aren't being used correctly, they should definitely be adjusted/removed on the page. 20:46, 26 August 2018 (EDT)
 * That doesn't answer my question at all. The problem is that this issue is so widespread that fixing this manually will take forever, and I don't even know of a way to generate a list of pages that use the parameter. 20:53, 26 August 2018 (EDT)
 * There are a lot. I don't think it's possible for a bot to accurately remove the unnecessary ones, nor is there a way to tell it what's necessary and what isn't. I can't think of a way to make it disappear when "title" is used, as I said, they are two parameters used for two different things. Correcting everything will definitely take a while, but I disagree that the parameter is outright unnecessary. 22:20, 26 August 2018 (EDT)
 * I've finally weeded them all out. For whatever reason, I found a lot of instances of this parameter in species infoboxes. 03:16, 11 February 2019 (EST)

Mario-related media
Before I enact the changes from my proposal, I'd like to get some input on including "Mario-related media" in these cases. I think it should be removed when it's the only game in the latest appearance section, because while it's technically accurate, it seems like an unnecessary distinction. I'm also worried that it could confuse users who might think we're just ignoring their latest appearance outside of Mario media altogether. Thoughts? -- 12:51, November 16, 2019 (EST)
 * I think the "Mario-related media" identifier shouldn't be included if it's the only one in the section, because it would technically be redundant if it's the character's latest appearance overall. 15:11, December 4, 2019 (EST)
 * Yeah, if the game is just their latest appearance altogether, "Mario-related media" is unnecessary. 15:13, December 4, 2019 (EST)