WHY are there no character analyses? All I've seen in character articles are summaries of what they did during the Days they appeared in. If this wiki is intended only for people who have never seen 24, then that might be okay. But for fans of the show who have watched it and already know what happens, character summaries are completely useless. Someone should be analyzing characters' actions and understanding those things about them that go unspoken or unmentioned. For example, rather than just saying in the summary for Day 2 that Jack Bauer killed a man in cold blood and cut his head off as part of an undercover operation, a character analysis section would go one further and say that Jack Bauer is willing to do anything to get the job done, no matter how extreme. If I wanted to know what a character did I would watch the show; if I wanted to know WHY the character did it, I would look in a wiki. So far, this one has told me nothing of the whys, only the whats. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.123.4.106
- That's not what encyclopedias ever do. People could surmise and effectively defend all manner of motivations while analyzing any character's action. Who's to say who is correct? I am unsure where you got your definition of a wiki from. Wikis are supposed to be online encyclopedias, documenting what occurred in a certain microcosm. Besides, even if we all magically agreed on why all characters did all their deeds, the pages would be bloated to explosion with that stuff. It's impossible in theory and in practice. – Blue Rook 19:57, 29 June 2007 (UTC)talkcontribs
- To add to Blue Rook's response, let me just say that analyses are certainly welcome on Wiki 24, as long as they're objective analyses. Keep in mind that, as an encyclopedia, this site strives to be neutral and objective at all times. As such, surmising the reasons for a characters actions does not fit within our guidelines. We're not here to figure the show out, we're here to document and archive all known information, so that others can come to their own conclusions about the things that "go unspoken or unmentioned." I couldn't disagree more about character summaries being completely useless for fans who have watched the show and "already know what happens." I've seen each season dozens of times and still can't remember every detail. Things like this are extremely useful for people who want to refresh their memory or look things up for use in fanfic. --Proudhug 23:34, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
I'll concede to both arguments, but there has to be a middle ground between the character summaries as they are now and the inflated analyses Rook is predicting. Watching 24 is a better way to find out what happens to everyone than reading a wiki is, and as a result I think more can be done to make this wiki better than what it is now: a recap that is more boring to read than the show is fun to watch. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.123.4.106
- Have you never read an encyclopedia? It's meant as a resource for information, not a source of entertainment. Many people do find it entertaining, myself included, but no one's pretending there isn't a huge difference between reading Wiki 24 and watching the TV show itself. Despite Wiki 24 having all the exact same information as the TV show and nothing more, there's a significant difference between an organized repository of facts and a story narrative. You must realize this. While we're thrilled by those who find this site entertaining, that's not our purpose. The point of the site is to organize all of the given information so that it's more accessible and useful to people. Sure you can find out Jack's birthday, father's name and place of birth by watching the show and all of its spin-offs, but if you can't remember exactly where to find these things, it's a simple matter of searching for "Jack Bauer" on Wiki 24. This site is far from useless without filling in the blanks for people. --Proudhug 22:34, 5 July 2007 (UTC)