IMFDB talk:Style Guide

Discussion

• Could we include a note on confusing the player and the player character in video games? It always bugs me when I'm reading a page and it says "the player holds an X." The player is the one who holds the controller, presses buttons, makes decisions, etc, it's the player character who picks up, holds, shoots, etc. Evil Tim (talk) 02:55, 10 January 2013 (EST)

Why not just refer to the player character by name? "Mason takes a ..." "Section picks up a ..." --Funkychinaman (talk) 03:01, 10 January 2013 (EST)

Yeah, I mean generally. I see quite a few captions which use "the player" to refer to something the character is doing. Evil Tim (talk) 03:08, 10 January 2013 (EST)

Subtitles

"Closed captions and subtitles in the screencaps should be avoided if at all possible." This doesn't apply to games, right? Because I always play with the subs on. Tim's caps also have them. - bozitojugg3rn4ut (talk) 09:06, 11 January 2013 (EST)

Sorry, I wasn't thinking of games. Subtitles should be avoided in film and television (and maybe anime?). --Funkychinaman (talk) 09:45, 11 January 2013 (EST)

Yeah, I like having caps on in games because it sometimes gives you something to comment on (either dialog errors or just generally). Since the standards for captions in live-action are tighter, there's not much point having them there. Evil Tim (talk) 09:24, 14 January 2013 (EST)

Most DVDs and Blu-Rays give you the option of turning them off. It's just one step to turn it off before taking the screencap. Foreign films on Netflix have them burned in, however, so it's unavoidable. --Funkychinaman (talk) 10:18, 14 January 2013 (EST)

Shows split into seasons

First off, just wondering if there is any rule as to when a show should be split into seasons or not? Secondly, if an actor is a regular in a show that has split seasons, should each season be treated as a separate entry in terms of filling in their weapons table? Same question for gun pages. I would say to treat them as separate entries, as otherwise it makes it difficult to navigate from one article to the other. As to when to split a page I don't really know, was just curious if there had been a consensus on this yet. --commando552 (talk) 17:28, 5 February 2013 (EST)

I agree with separate entries. As for when to split, I guess someone has to make the determination after season 1, based on what kind of show it is. I think this is the sort of thing you have to play by ear. --Funkychinaman (talk) 18:48, 5 February 2013 (EST)

A few suggestions

• General

When starting a page, put a {{WIP}} if you plan to continue the work on the page in near future. Put a {{Incomplete}} if you have finished your own work but you know that the page is still incomplete.

Users purposely creating incomplete pages from the get-go is a pet peeve of mine. --Funkychinaman (talk) 02:07, 7 February 2013 (EST)

OK, I agree, the second part is unnecessary. And what about the using of WIP tag? Greg-Z (talk) 02:12, 8 February 2013 (EST)

• Screencaps

Avoid using screenshots taken from YouTube or other similar web servicies because they are generally of low quality.

- Greg-Z (talk) 01:57, 7 February 2013 (EST)

Personally, I'd be fine with a ban on youtube caps, but I'm not sure everyone agrees. --Funkychinaman (talk) 02:07, 7 February 2013 (EST)

I would disagree, as youtube is pretty much the only way to get trailer caps for upcoming movies. Also if the choice is between youtube caps and none at all, I'd prefer youtube ones. They don't necessarily look poor, check out this page. The page had no caps at all and I got all of these from a youtube clip and they are not that bad (they are certainly better than none at all). --commando552 (talk) 04:05, 7 February 2013 (EST)

Oh yeah, I forgot about that page. I don't think Greg was referring to games or trailers though. What about stuff that never got a DVD release and is only available on VHS?Some of the transfers are awful, sometimes in the wrong aspect ration and I'm not sure it's 100% legal. --Funkychinaman (talk) 12:06, 7 February 2013 (EST)

Of course I didn't mention trailers. Only such screenshots as in Network, for example. Maybe a new category can be created: "Pages with low quality images"? So that anyone who has a movie in better quality could know that this page needs better images. Greg-Z (talk) 02:12, 8 February 2013 (EST)

If you're looking at the site on a computer and not a portable device, you can see if this screencaps are low quality. If you click the "Change Quality" of the YouTube clip in the lower right and it doesn't go beyond 480p, the clip is generally going to be of too low quality to screencap. I would only consider this if there were no DVD or higher sources that can be obtained. --Ben41 (talk) 02:22, 8 February 2013 (EST)

I think a lot of users interpret "no DVD or higher sources that can be obtained" to be "I don't feel like paying for Netflix or going to a Redbox or Blockbuster." --Funkychinaman (talk) 11:08, 8 February 2013 (EST)

Movie quotes

This is a good page, glad to see a more explicit notation of some things. That said, I've been going through some pages and making any quotes said in the page by characters/etc italicized with quotation marks (Example - "Yep, a Beretta - there it is!"). I hope that is ok, it helps differentiate it since TV episodes have just quotations while titles use italicized text. I know generally we don't need quotes but I find them ok if they're good quotes and especially if they're weapons related. There are a couple I've deleted since they aren;t needed or spoliers but generally I think quotes are ok so again, hope this helps make them different from the other stuff. StanTheMan (talk) 21:57, 5 August 2013 (EDT)