Forum: The Situation Room > Date template on actor articles
This is just to bring up the issue of the new date templates that have been doing the rounds lately:
- I really like the date template linking to the on this day articles and year articles, that's a nice touch.
- However I'm not sure I'm in favour of adding a "(born xth of octember, 1943; age 564)" as the first thing on every actor's page. I know that memory alpha do it, and I think they do it because wikipedia do it, but I'd argue our pages shouldn't. Wikipedia make pages about all aspects of a person's life - therefore naturally the first thing to put on such a page would be when someone was born and how old they are. However our purpose is different - we're a 24 encyclopedia, and our pages are solely about 24-related people, so I think the first thing on a person's page should be how they relate to 24. I feel having that long bracket about their DoB and age distracts from that. The automatic age generation thing is cool, but perhaps it could just be an age field in the sidebar? I just don't feel the info is pertinent enough to be the first thing on every actor/crew members page.
Any thoughts?--Acer4666 (talk) 14:31, December 28, 2013 (UTC)
- It's certainly not absolutely necessary. Just seems more encyclopedic, and it's the easiest way to get the birth/death info out of the way concisely (in my opinion). Also, it's somewhat useful for getting perspective on how much time has passed since so-and-so worked on the show - Megan from Season 2 is 21 now! --Pyramidhead (talk) 18:27, December 28, 2013 (UTC)
- I agree the current age is interesting and useful info - but I think the sidebar would be a more appropriate place to put the age field. Eg, if you'd told me "skye mccole bartusiak" is 21 now, I would have to think - "oh wait...who did she play...oh right yeah megan, oh yeah it is interesting that she's 21", so I think the first thing on someone's article should be their connection to 24. That's just my opinion, though--Acer4666 (talk) 19:00, December 28, 2013 (UTC)
- Actually, I think you're right - for articles where the entire first paragraph is "X played Y in Season Z," it's distracting and off-putting to put in their DOB and age; it takes up half the sentence! From now on I won't try to put it in everywhere, just on articles that are long enough (or about important enough people) to justify it. --Pyramidhead (talk) 19:33, January 2, 2014 (UTC)
- I agree the current age is interesting and useful info - but I think the sidebar would be a more appropriate place to put the age field. Eg, if you'd told me "skye mccole bartusiak" is 21 now, I would have to think - "oh wait...who did she play...oh right yeah megan, oh yeah it is interesting that she's 21", so I think the first thing on someone's article should be their connection to 24. That's just my opinion, though--Acer4666 (talk) 19:00, December 28, 2013 (UTC)
- It's certainly not absolutely necessary. Just seems more encyclopedic, and it's the easiest way to get the birth/death info out of the way concisely (in my opinion). Also, it's somewhat useful for getting perspective on how much time has passed since so-and-so worked on the show - Megan from Season 2 is 21 now! --Pyramidhead (talk) 18:27, December 28, 2013 (UTC)