Editing Forum:Character profiles

{{Forum|The Situation Room}}

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. --[[User:Wydok|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. --[[User:Proudhug|Proudhug]] 00:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::I'm on your side, guys. Paragraph is best. --[[User:Conspiracy Unit|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." --[[User:Proudhug|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) --[[User:Pyramidhead|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'''. --[[User:Proudhug|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. --[[User:Proudhug|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? --[[User:Pyramidhead|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. --[[User:Proudhug|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.--[[User:JoeyBags79|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 <nowiki>[[Day X character profiles]]</nowiki>."
* 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? --[[User:Proudhug|Proudhug]] 16:27, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

: I'm having a difficult time digesting everything... what if we did an example in practice: looking at a page I started awhile back, [[Atef El-Khabir]], what changes would be appropriate to it, given the groundwork laid out in your post? and, what material is not covered when looking at that example?– [[User:Blue Rook|Blue Rook]] 18:03, 12 June 2007 (UTC)<sub>[[User talk:Blue Rook|<font color="lightblue">talk</font>]][[Special:Contributions/Blue Rook|contribs]]</sub>

I decided that separating the pages into Days creates problems, since some characters span multiple days, and others come from sources such as novels and mobisodes for which it'd be impractical to have whole pages devoted.  Instead, I've just started with a [[Character profiles]] page.  If/when it gets too big, we can figure out another way to divide it, even if it's just A-M and N-Z or something like that.  I set up [[Teri Bauer]]'s page to fit my example.  El-Khabir's is a little different, since his profile really doesn't provide any pre-Day 4 information about him.  I linked his profile in the "Day 4" section, rather than "Before Day 4."  Let me know if you still have any questions or any further suggestions. --[[User:Proudhug|Proudhug]] 18:41, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

: I'm hesitant when it comes to the task of moving every character's profiles to that/those page(s). I see it this way: we're putting in extra effort to move some information ''away'' from the character's own pages, where it once was originally (and arguably best) found, into another location that will undoubtedly become cumbersome. But I'm not proposing we altogether scrap the character profiles page; I just believe it is better used to house the profileS of major characters, who might have many of them, and who certainly have HUGE enough pages as it is.

: But for minor characters like Atef and Sherek, who only appear once or twice (and, realistically, won't show up again) I think it might be best to leave all the data pertinent to them in their own pages. So the idea I'm proposing is as follows:
* minor characters keep their profile in their pages to prevent divorce of information
* major characters, who have already-oversized pages, get their profile(s) linked over to [[Character profiles]]
: This would 1. solve the problem of characters with multiple profiles, 2. keep the info for minor characters on their pages, and not spread around, 3. solve the problem of page space which the major characters have. For example, [[Bryce Wolffson]], who is a minor character, would retain his two profiles and the explanation regarding them, because there is so little about him anyway that a separation of data would be unnecessary. Appropriate? – [[User:Blue Rook|Blue Rook]] 06:27, 14 June 2007 (UTC)<sub>[[User talk:Blue Rook|<font color="lightblue">talk</font>]][[Special:Contributions/Blue Rook|contribs]]</sub>

I apologize if I didn't make it clear.  Nothing has to be moved ''away'' from character pages.  All of the information is still welcome on the character pages, but for those who prefer to view this information in a dossier style, it's additionally available.  Look at [[Teri Bauer]]'s page for example.  All of the information from her dossier is there, just in paragraph form.  For those who prefer to read profiles, they can click on the Profiles page.  I'm trying to find a way to cater to both types of people, rather than inconsistently picking different ones on different pages. --[[User:Proudhug|Proudhug]] 08:51, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

: Okay, got it now. Apologies for my confusion. I made the change for Sherek and will keep an eye out for others to do as well.
: I was going to do [[Bryce Wolffson]] but realized that his canonical file isn't a dossier at all (just a printout with his flight path). His actual dossier is from a noncanonical and also contradictory deleted scene. Should we link deleted scene dossiers over to Character profiles? I personally vote nay, because we would have to make a note of it over at the character profiles page that it isn't canonical; in his case the dossier should stay in the BG info and notes section methinks. Thoughts? – [[User:Blue Rook|Blue Rook]] 06:52, 16 June 2007 (UTC)<sub>[[User talk:Blue Rook|<font color="lightblue">talk</font>]][[Special:Contributions/Blue Rook|contribs]]</sub>