Template talk:Character infobox2

Deprecate the Headlines Parameter on This Template

As I was adding headlines to the affected characters from issue #1, it felt redundant now that it shows up on the timeline. Especially when it describes itself as a headline. I have no problem with getting rid of this and the parameter here in the infobox template. --Astrozac (talk) 23:07, 5 June 2016 (PDT)

Besides Headlines, there are lots of things that can be generated from the Event Annotations/Timelines data. The trick is getting enough events annotated and entered so that we can make the switch-over without too much if any data loss.

I suggest not hand entering Headlines into the individual character pages going forward, as we do seem to have a decent amount of them as event/annotations (although many of them need to be more fully detailed). Instead build the actual event entry and let Semantic Wiki do the mundane data entry. I do plan to build a query that will pull the headlines out of the generic event list, as I think it is nice to see that data without navigating through a long compilation of data.

Appearances for this template will also be shifted to a query in the future, again once there is a more reasonable amount of event/annotations in play. Anyone can continue hand editing appearance at their discretion, or spend the time building the event. It's up to them. But realize, somewhere in the future, appearance lists will be automated. Long time future given our current pace at building events. --Infobroker (talk) 14:20, 6 June 2016 (PDT)

I figured as much for the headlines. I'll probably keep doing the appearances and some of the others as I go, whether they get swallowed up in the future or not. The more info the better for visitors. Plus I've wanted to go back and start on events, story synopses/notes for the older issues, but I've kinda got tired of going backwards, while the new series get's further and further ahead.

I'm curious how the automated appearances would work though. By having them as part of the right event it would show up? But say for some one-scene appearances that don't amount to much, would they not show up? For example say Starpower's one panel appearance or Winged Victory's in the 9/11 story. Or could it be taken from the appearances listed on the Publications page? --Astrozac (talk) 23:47, 7 June 2016 (PDT)

Both your examples qualify as an appearance in my mind. The characters are there, represented in the panel. That's the criteria we have been using. But I will also reiterate, given the pace of event entry editing, we are several years from replacing the manual appearance editing process we have been using. I don't want to discourage that process.

The appearance lists on publication pages can already be pretty much derived from the event annotation pages. It will take a bit of coding to finesse first appearance notations. But that's a problem for later. --Infobroker (talk) 19:38, 9 June 2016 (PDT)

I think I've got you. So, their appearance would be marked as a unique event, say for the Winged Victory in the 9/11 story, something like "Winged Victory flying through the Fox Broome Campus?" --Astrozac (talk) 22:45, 9 June 2016 (PDT)

Close, but not exactly. I dug out my hardback copy of Local Heroes to refresh myself on that incident. "Winged Victory flying..." is not the event per say. She's just stage dressing. ::

It's subject to lots of interpretation, but I break that story down into three events.

• King Missile's Attempt to Wreck F.B.U. Stadium Causes Collateral Damage to Drake Towers
• A Young Boy Seeks Understanding from Fireman Arnold Prentice
• Fireman Arnold Prentice Loses His Leg in a Rescue Operation

I may not have provided the best titles for the events, but the event titles themselves have strong context about the event, and they don't get overly granular in scope. You can certainly break them into a set of tinier events. The second event in the list for example, could be listed as: the visit to the fire station, the ride in the car and the stop at the cemetery. But it would be overly minute and a bit anal. The goal should be to 1)identify as large a scope of an event as possible, 2)graph it to a period of time on the timeline, and then 3)go into the details of the characters and devices that are present at the event. Winged Victory would get listed in the second listed event as a character "element" with maybe an added summary bullet mentioning she was flying over Broome Campus.

I typed up a longish note to myself a long time ago, pre-Herocopia, when I was doing annotations locally in a database system on one of my computers. It detailed what constitutes an event. A couple years back, that turned into a letter to Kurt explaining the process. Segments of the letter were used in the early help pages for events, but not much of the "what constitutes" part made it here. Maybe now that there are enough examples out there, I should find a place for it somewhere on the help pages. --Infobroker (talk) 14:20, 10 June 2016 (PDT)