MarioWiki:Proposals

Writing guidelines
None at the moment.

Is it "Coin" or "coin"?
Currently, the wiki has no set standard for the capitalization of the golden that Mario and co. collect in abundance across the franchise: is it "Coin", with a capital C, or "coin", with a lowercase c? This isn't entirely clear-cut: from the games that I've looked at, there are many that do not capitalize it, including most recently Mario Party 8, Sm4sh, and New Super Mario Bros. 2, but there are also other games that capitalize it, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario Party, and there's something odd and inconsistent about listing the Red Coin, the Purple Coin, the Blue Coin, the 20 Coin, the Key Coin, and many others as being derivatives of the coin. That lowercase "coin" seems out of place, doesn't it? Lowercasing it just because it's a generic noun doesn't hold either; the Mushroom is plainly and consistently capitalized in just about every circumstances. If you're going to say it's because the Mario Mushrooms obviously aren't like the real-life mushrooms, then I'd argue the same goes for the floating, golden, abundant Coins. There is a precedent for not capitalizing the names of subjects with, for example, treasure chest (despite there being at least one in-game source that capitalizes them, but that's an issue for another time), but it's a moot point if the subject isn't generic in the first place.

This may seem like a trivially minor issue, but at the same time, this is an issue that has yet to reach a decisive conclusion. I fail to see a reason why we shouldn't strive for consistency, especially since we've already had a proposal to decide on a set spelling for minigame (spoilers: we decided on minigame).

Proposer: Deadline: September 2, 2017, 23:59 GMT

Use "Coin"

 * 1) It's hardly as if no official sources have ever not capitalized it. Per proposal.
 * 2) Per Time Turner.
 * 3) Per proposal.
 * 4) - Originally voted to do nothing as I thought this was also talking about coins in a broader term, i.e. also including Red Coins and Blue Coins. But for referring to just the standard Yellow Coins, yes, "Coin" should be capitalized (at least in instances outside of quotes).
 * 5) Per Alex, and supporting for consistency (unless "coin" is used in generic terms; see this).

Use "coin"

 * 1) See comments.
 * 2) Alternate vote here, because the games themselves almost always refer to them in lowercase. Still, silly proposal.
 * 3) Unless it's referring to a specific type in most cases, coins (and for that matter, blocks and, in at least one instance, coin blocks) have consistently been generically lowercase in RPGs.

Do nothing

 * 1) I highly doubt that there is enough definitive official sources that specifically stick to one capitalization. I'd rather stick with this option until an official capitalization is given, and right now, there doesn't seem to be. (One example of this is that I found an all-lowercase "coin" in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 instruction booklet.)
 * 2) See comments.
 * 3) While this has bugged me minorly before, this proposal is honestly kind of silly.
 * 4) Per all.
 * 5) Per all.
 * 6) This seems to be something that changes depending on the game.
 * 7) Per all.

Comments
If anyone has any more in-game citations for "Coin" or "coin" from any games that haven't been mentioned, then I'm all-ears. 00:16, 26 August 2017 (EDT)

@Toadette: I don't see why we should be inconsistent solely because the games also happen to be inconsistent. 00:47, 26 August 2017 (EDT)
 * @Time Turner: Changed the content of my vote. 00:50, 26 August 2017 (EDT)
 * What kind of official capitalization do you want? Is it necessary for Nintendo to make a press release declaring whether it's lowercase or up case? Through the simple fact that the names are seen in plain text, we already have an abundance of official names. It's up to us to decide how we should use the information. 00:52, 26 August 2017 (EDT)

I say this is as official as you can get. Although, this could be on a game to game basis. 01:37, 26 August 2017 (EDT)

@Doc: Why? 02:54, 26 August 2017 (EDT)
 * Because it's an inanimate object that is super inconsistent as to how it's capitalized. Honestly, if you wanna go by policy, see how the latest game spells it. 01:58, 26 August 2017 (CT)
 * If we strictly followed every new game, the spelling might constantly change, and there are likely cases in which there's no adequate source for capitalization. Best to nip it in the bud, no? I also don't get your point with it being an inanimate object. 03:06, 26 August 2017 (EDT)

I don't get what's acceptable about setting a standard for "microgame" but not for "coin"? 17:14, 26 August 2017 (EDT)


 * It's capitalized in the tutorial of Mario Party 2, but not capitalized in the tutorial of Mario Party 3. It's inconsistent between such close games. A better choice would be to capitalize it depending on the game, and have the higher case be more dominant otherwise (because it is a main item), but I feel this is such a minor unnoticeable issue, yet the "do nothing" option does not convince me. -- 06:30, 27 August 2017 (EDT)

Removals
None at the moment.

Changes
None at the moment.

Encourage patrollers and administrators to check Category:Unresolved talk pages on a regular basis
The template is extremely useful, but the issues brought up often remain neglected, or answered when the questioner had already forgotten about it. Receiving a relevant answer, no matter what the answer is ("IDK"s count), might take a week to a month. There is even one issue that has been left unattended to for over a year now! I think it's about time we ask certain users to answer certain questions, even if their answers don't quite help the questioner or are even just a matter of "I don't know". Which brings me here. I propose that patrollers and administrators alike potentially add Category:Unresolved talk pages to their list of administrative categories to check on a regular basis, and set it in stone as official policy.

Proposer: Deadline: September 9, 2017, 23:59 GMT

Support

 * 1) Let's bring this neglected category back into the real spotlight! Per proposal.
 * 2) Per proposal

Comments
You really can't force people to answer questions, least of all because they may not even have any answers. 01:57, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * I'm not really forcing questions to be answered, I just want the category checked periodically for new questions. 02:30, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * And what do you want them to do after they see that a new question has appeared? If all they're doing is looking at it, then what's the point? 02:44, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * It's to see if they can easuly answer it or not. If not, they can try to contact another user who might know or answer that they don't know the answer. Really, I'm not asking for admins to be able to answer questions; rather, I'm asking for admins to make an effort to answer questions. 02:52, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * It's not as if admins have an intuitive awareness of who is particularly familiar with certain games, and again, there's no guarantee that they'll know the answer. Even if the admin knows the answer, they may be working on another project already or they're preoccupied with any number of admin tasks or they simply do not have the proper opportunity to give a satisfactory answer to the question. Requiring them to keep up with the category, even if they're not required to answer any questions, is simply an unnecessary burden. In short, let them do it of their own free will on their own free time. 03:02, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * Let's not forget the fact that I intentionally left out the time frame for that reason. Yes, it's obviously not going to be a daily basis, but I think it might be either weekly or biweekly, and yet this also depends for each individual admin. 03:11, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * Changed the proposal to address your concern. 03:13, 2 September 2017 (EDT)
 * I never said it was daily, but the timeframe does not matter, especially if you expand if to the point where it becomes trivial. Why do you want to give admins more busywork that they may not even be able to complete in any satisfactory manner? And if this isn't mandatory, this is simply a request and something for the admins to consider doing every once in a while, why require them to follow it? 03:14, 2 September 2017 (EDT)

I agree partially. Some unresolved talk pages are just policy issues. One question on the Snapjaw talkpage has already been answered, it just hasn't got the ball rolling. These examples, among many others, should definitely be checked by some administerial figure. Though I also agree that some questions would require someone to be able to obtain or perform something outside the wiki space or the virtual world of the Internet, which isn't always possible. --