Forum:Character profiles

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)

Here's an idea on how to deal with the Background/Before Day X fiasco:

The only characters to get Background sections (bulleted) are:
 * All series regulars (Jack Bauer, Chloe O'Brian)
 * Recurring characters with FOX.com profiles (Paula Schaeffer)
 * Recurring characters with profiles/in-depth bios in Findings at CTU (Richard Walsh, Ryan Chappelle)
 * Characters whose dossiers are shown on screen (Anton Beresch, Dmitri Gredenko)

In addition, these characters will have "Before Day X" (paragraphs) to mention everything about their past lives that doesn't come up in their profile, and possibly their immediate family members, if they're important enough. Tony Almeida's page is a good example of this.

All other characters, regardless of how major, receive only a "Before Day X" that covers their lives before the first season they showed up in.

What does everyone think? --Pyramidhead 23:32, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm down with that. But rather than clutter up the main section, I think the dossier stuff should go somewhere else.  Either make a second sidebar for dossiers, to appear just below the regular one, or have a prominant link somewhere near the top to a separate dossier page. --Proudhug 02:55, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I like the Prominant link idea. I think Jack Bauer before Day 1 is a perfect example of that.--JoeyBags79 03:31, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm reviving this discussion from the old Situation Room because I have an idea. Since it seems most people have expressed the opinion that they prefer not to have profiles on the main page, I figure we can create a series of character profile pages, to be set up thusly:


 * Characters with profiles, be it from Fox.com, Findings at CTU, a screengrab, etc., will have all of that information incorporated into their "Before Day X" section in paragraph form.
 * At the beginning of the "Before Day X" section there will be a note, "For John Doe's profile see Day X character profiles ."
 * The "Day X character profiles" pages will be set up similar to the unnamed character pages, with character profiles listed in alphabetical order (by last name), rather than chronological.
 * Text from all known profiles will be transcribed under each person's heading, as well as any additional known profile-type information from other sources.
 * When available, a screengrab of a character's profile will appear on the right.

I think this will solve all our problems. It makes the character pages look nicer, but still keeps the profiles readily available to those who like them. Additionally, I think it might be helpful having all the profiles together like that. What do you think, sirs? --Proudhug 16:27, 12 June 2007 (UTC)