Wiki 24:The Situation Room/May 2007 Archives

This is the Archives of The Situation Room discussions from May 2007. See also the Archives Directory. Unlike the main Situation Room page and its main archive, this page sorts threads chronologically, as opposed to reverse chronologically.

Fan-made video
Hello, I am new here as well and I love this site, great job! Is there a page for Fan-Made videos. I have a few mash-ups on YouTube which contain no spoilers at this point. Can I post them here? Thanks, Mark Sharpe


 * As far as I know, wiki 24 only takes information from the show. No fan-made information at all. --Vinny2 00:37, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Vinny2's correct. Wiki 24 is a resource for all official information about 24.  Posting a link on your profile page is fine, as I see you've already done. --Proudhug 04:46, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks Vinny2 and Proudhug, I enjoy and respect this forum. Mark Sharpe 15 March 2007

Subdivide the sections?
The character articles are getting rather long, and with every episode a character appears in, its respective article increases three or four paragraphs. What would you guys say about subdividing the character guides? Not necessarily by hour, since regular characters' contents directory would be overrun, but by some point in the story arc. It'd be helpful to Firefox users, who can't text search through input textboxes; and an edit button every few paragraphs would make doing so easier. --Deege515 21:50, 16 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd actually been meaning to bring this up at some point. I came up with a solution, but only started getting around to implementing it.  Major characters with long synopses need to be edited down.  The current problem is that people are merely tacking on events as they unfold each week, while older characters had the advantage of getting more of an "overview" done for each "Day."  What I did for Jack Bauer was use a brief description of Day 1 for his article page and include link to a "Jack Bauer on Day 1" article for the fully detailed synopsis of his actions that day.  The idea is that there'll be an article for "Jack Bauer on Day 2," etc.  Characters who appear extensively in several seasons should each have their own "So-and-so on Day whatever" pages.  Kinda like the "Memorable quotes by So-and-so" pages.  Hopefully I'm explaining myself right.  I'm not sure if it solves all of the problems you brought up, but that's what I'd figured on doing a few months back, but hadn't really gotten around to. --Proudhug 14:50, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

While the length is not the issue, if you look at Chloe O'Brian's page, you can see that the length of her Day 3 file is about ten times shorter than the Day 6 file, even though Day 6 is only halfway through. We need to go in depth in each area, as much as possible, or decide to summarize their position in the season in a few paragraphs. --BauerJ24 20:41, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Unused images
Should we just start to delete them, or just leave them alone? ---CWY2190talkcontribs 00:09, 17 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Most of them can probably be deleted. It might be a good idea, if someone has the time, to go through and determine which ones could be of use and put them into articles, but for the most part, I'd say delete them.  They can always be uploaded again if someone needs them. --Proudhug 15:23, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Bytes update
Is that +/- bytes change on the Latest Intel page a new thing, or did I accidentally change my settings? I'd say it's pretty cool, as it provides more information than checking or unchecking the "minor edit" box. --Deege515 14:49, 22 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Wikia was down a couple nights ago for a few hours (pissed me off) for upgrades, and when it came back, that was one of the new features. I kinda like it, too.  --Proudhug 17:54, 22 March 2007 (UTC)


 * It's very helpful on Wikipedia. If a page loses alot of data, theres a good chance a vandal blanked it. ---CWY2190talkcontribs 20:26, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

I just noticed over on my Wikia that you can grant non-sysops rollback privlages with the newest update. Can you do it here too? (Look under special pages, then restricted special pages). ---CWY2190talkcontribs 01:50, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Yup. All of the changes are across the board for Wikia. --Proudhug 02:04, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Character Article Standards: Background Information
When I added the three new characters in Day 6 (Sandra, Thomas, and Nadia), I enterred background information (experience, education, etc.) in paragraph format instead of in a resume style. Other characters have background information in a resume format (bullets, etc.). Is there a standard for how this information should be displayed on character pages? If we don't have one yet, what is the general consensus? I see merits in both styles, and I currently don't have a favorite. --Wydok 00:22, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I personally like paragraph format, as it's usually more interesting to read. However, I understand sometimes it can be a tedious and boring read when converted from bullet form.  But 99% of the time I think I prefer paragraph. --Proudhug 00:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm on your side, guys. Paragraph is best. --Conspiracy Unit 00:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Moved from User talk:Pyramidhead:

I'm not about to revert all of your recent edits, as they add some good information to the site, but I think it's been generally agreed upon that paragraph form is preferred to lists when it comes to background information. Also, this information should be under "Before Day #" rather than "Background." --Proudhug 08:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, I always thought Background was for characters who had an official profile - the kind of stuff that doesn't come up in the show. I figured Before Day X could be a section for everything else, like Buchanan releasing Fayed, that we learned while watching each season. I thought we might change it to the list form since lots of the summaries got kinda repetitive (plus I was pretty bored yesterday :P) --Pyramidhead 17:35, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, there are lots of sources of background information besides the profiles and the TV show. It could easily become a headache keeping what goes where straight. Besides, it creates inconsistency across the site for the characters who don't have profiles. Incorporating it all into paragraph form creates consistency for the whole article, as well as all of Wiki 24. --Proudhug 22:10, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Why not give the series regulars the Background section and have everyone else just get Before Day X? For the most part, the regulars are the only ones who get enough specific backstory to make it worthwhile anyway. Just a thought.

Like I said, it comes down to a matter of consistency for me. Lots of non-series regulars got profiles in "Findings at CTU," not to mention all of the minor characters whose profiles we've seen on CTU screens on the TV show. I personally think it reads a lot better in paragraph form than resume form. It also takes up a lot less space on the page. --Proudhug 12:20, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

First/last seen
By the way, something else I was wondering: do the "first seen" and "last seen" bits apply to the game or the books? Chronologically, a lot of the characters first show up in Nightfall or the comics. --Pyramidhead 23:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd actually planned on bringing this up myself. I didn't create the sidebar, so I don't know what its original intention was.  Does "first seen" mean first chronologically from our perspective, or from the character's perspective?  I'd assumed it was the former, but I could go with the latter, too.  However, that creates a problem, as some of us believe One Shot comes before Nightfall, and others believe they're reversed. --Proudhug 12:25, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Locations
Question about the location page. Just for my own edification, why were the "number" headings removed? I found the addresses (which I love to add) very easy to find by number, but now that they are alphabetical, I find it more difficult. Thanks guys 146.151.21.2 18:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure how you're finding it more difficult. It makes more sense to order them alphabetically, with the street name first, followed by the number, much like it makes more sense to alphabetize characters by their last name first.  It groups all "related" articles together.  So hypothetically, if two addresses on the same street are ever given, they'll appear together on the list, rather than split up.  I'd be very surprised if you were in the majority in remembering the number over the name, but either way, all of Wiki 24's articles are still listed by first letter/number under Special:Allpages if you prefer to search by number first.  I apologize for any inconvenience, but I'm under the assumption that it's more convenient for a larger number of people this way. --Proudhug 01:12, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Help Page
I took the liberty of making a new layout for the Help page. At the moment it is untidy, has several incorrect pages and also is constructed in a way which is hard for new users to use.

I "borrowed" Wikipedia's template and changed it around a bit. Check it out here and tell me what you think. If people approve, I'll make it a template and place it on the Help page. --24 Administration 16:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I moved it over for you. Hopefully we can get some of our other meta-pages cleaned up soon.  I rarely ever read them, but when I do, I usually cringe at how much work they need. --Proudhug 14:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Protected character sidebars
Okay, this has gotten out of hand. "Unknown" characters should not have locked sidebars. The only things on Wiki 24 that should ever be protected are certain important pages, and articles which are either currently in an edit war or experiencing repeated vandalism. And both the latter cases are only ever temporary. Wiki 24 is here for everyone to edit, so it makes no sense to prevent people from doing just that. --Proudhug 20:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I totally agree. I'm not up to date with this latest sidebar issue but as far I am concerned a sidebar should only be locked if there is some sort of edit war going on, not just because the status is "unknown". The whole point that this project is a wiki is because it should be free for everyone to edit. --24 Administration 16:20, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Crew Pages
I feel bad that the crew doesn't get the same type of sidebar and format as actors on the show, so I experimented with the Anne Cofell page, adding a bit more info on her, as well as a sidebar. Let me know what you think.--JoeyBags79 20:06, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Character guides
Quick question re: character pages--when editing, how much information should we include about specific events? For example, the page for Milo Pressman finishes with information about the end of last night's episode but doesn't actually mention Milo. Which is the standard format that I should follow? My worry is that we might end up with an entire episode guide on each character's page, including scenes and events the character wasn't even involved in, so someone put my mind at ease? XD--Vikitty 02:12, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, the character guides should ONLY contain information that specifically pertains. I think some people are just getting carried away with their summaries. --Proudhug 04:48, 18 April 2007 (UTC)