Template talk:Item infobox

Remove "descriptions"

This talk page proposal has already been settled. Please do not edit any of the sections in the proposal. If you wish to discuss the article, do so in a new header below the proposal.

Use "description" for in-game descriptions of special items only 1-1-6-0
This parameter has always confused me. At first I believed it was meant for visually impaired readers, but that's certainly not it since this is the only infobox to feature this option. The guide in the template page is very vague about what it's for ("description: describe the item / for various items" What does that mean?). It has come to be interpreted as "visual description", which reminds me of those "eye color"/"hair color"/etc. parameters in fandom wiki character infoboxes, which just describe the image that's right above them. It also has an obvious limitation, since items can have different visual appearances in different games, and these are described in the body of the article anyway, so it just ends up being either useless or inconvenient.

This option at the moment feels like a worse version of alternative text, and I cannot see a better purpose for it, so I suggest removing it from this template.

Keyblade Master has brought to my attention that this same infobox is used for important RPG items, and for those the descriptions are the ones found in-game. I think that is a valid use of this parameter and the best option in these cases. In that case, I'm adding new voting options and changing mine.

• Remove 'description' from the template: This parameter will become unavailable for any item.
• Keep 'description' as part of the template: This parameter continues being available for any item.
• Use 'description' for in-game descriptions of special items only: Use this parameter for unique/key items with in-game descriptions, such as important items in RPGs (see Ancient Clue and Magical Seed for examples). My preferred option.
• Use 'description' for official descriptions of any item: Transcribe official descriptions of any item. Not my favorite option because common items like Fire Flower are bound to have dozens of descriptions. Rather than updating it each time a new one comes out, having them grouped in the "Profiles and statistics" section is more convenient, in my opinion.

Proposer: Shiny K-Troopa (talk)
Deadline: January 13, 2021, 23:59 GMT

Remove "description" from the template

1. Alex95 (talk) - Per Waluigi Time. Unless the reader is outright blind (in which case, why are they using a wiki at all? :P), the reader can pretty easily tell what an object looks like just by, you know, looking at it. Being partially colorblind myself, and my brother being even more colorblind than I am, I can see why describing colors would be useful. But even then, the article content handles that well enough already.

#Shiny K-Troopa (talk) Per proposal
#Waluigi Time (talk) No matter which way it's used, it's redundant and handled better by the article content or images.
#DarkNight (talk) Per all.

Keep "description" as part of the template

1. 1JUST1: Against proposal. They are not simply a visual sight but are used to quickly explain their function so you can directly see their purpose in the game (see Super Note Block).

Use "description" for in-game descriptions of special items only

1. Shiny K-Troopa (talk): Per revised proposal.
2. Waluigi Time (talk) This is pretty much the only way I see this parameter being helpful, and I'm fine leaving it solely for this.
3. Keyblade Master (talk) Thanks for adding my suggestion into this, per what I said below.
4. DarkNight (talk) Per all.
5. Ninja Squid (talk) Per all.
6. BBQ Turtle (talk) I definitely agree that the description as it is currently used should be removed and I think this would work well in its place, as long as the new use is clearly explained on the template's page.

Comments

@1JUST1: I think you're referring to the "Effect on player" line of the template (which, to be fair, I have similar problems with, but that's not the proposal). The description in that infobox is "A multicolored block with white ♩ quarter notes on its sides." Shiny K-Troopa (talk) 16:08, December 30, 2020 (EST)

Couldn't the description just be repurposed as an image caption? Kinda looks nicer that way even in spite of pointing out the obvious. It's me, Mario! (Talk / Stalk) 17:04, January 1, 2021 (EST)

Personally, I feel like a banner labeled "description" looks a little too flashy for an image caption. I like how captions are used (to say which game the art is from) and formatted currently, simple as it is, and it's consistent with other infoboxes. Shiny K-Troopa (talk) 23:34, January 1, 2021 (EST)

I would be up for removing conjectural descriptions as you described. However, I don't know about removing the parameter entirely. I think this parameter would be great for any sort of in-game or manual description for items that don't appear very much, such as key items in RPGs, but if it is an item which has appeared in a ton of games and would have lots of different descriptions between those, such as Mushrooms, then yeah it would be easier to not use it. Nightwicked Bowser

While I agree with Keyblade Master, I also think that there can be separate sections for official descriptions, much like what has already been done for Goomba Mask and Yoshi's Egg. ^(T|C) 19:45, January 3, 2021 (EST)

I agree with you, 100%. I've updated the proposal to include this option too. Shiny K-Troopa Talk 14:58, January 4, 2021 (EST)