Important! New Pages NEED References

[Agnaa]

Heya all!

As discussed in these threads, the "References" section in character profiles is no longer optional. It is extremely important that all of us try to start using references for important information in profile pages from now on.

Here is the instruction page on how to use them: References

Okay, but why though?

• There is a recurring problem that the wiki has always faced. We put links to scans, manga panels, youtube videos, etc. on pages to provide evidence for some justification. And after some time, many of the links/videos end up broken. In such scenarios, references will help us quickly grab hold of the required evidence because we'd know exactly where to find them.
• While uploading pics to the wiki or imgur works to a certain extent, a normal viewer doesn't get the entire context from one or two scans. References will provide them an option to go and check whatever context they want for themselves.
• It is far more professional and increases our reliability.
• It is also a great safety cover for us in a potential scenario where image/video links are removed by Fandom, or image hosting sites like Imgur are forced to remove all of their comic book, manga, etc. images due to stricter copyright legislation from the EU and US governments.

So... are pages without references going to be deleted?

New pages generally will be. While there will be some exceptions; if a profile is for a single movie there's no way to further separate those references without timestamps which can be inconsistent between releases. If a profile is for a character from a single video game who can perform the same feats in every level, it wouldn't make sense to cite one level over another. If an exception like this applies, please say so in an edit summary when first creating the page.

If a page doesn't include references, a staff member may ask you to add them or provide an exception. If you don't explain why references wouldn't be useful, or show that you're working on adding them, the page may be deleted.

Old pages without references will not be deleted, but help in gradually adding them would be appreciated.

Here's a well-structured page with references as an example. You can check it out as this will help you get a better idea.


Our current editing rule regarding this issue:

"Always include the References section in character pages, explanation pages, information blogs, and verse-specific powers and abilities pages to source all the important information covered within them. To learn more regarding how to use them, read the References page. New pages without that section may be deleted after ample warning if no adequate justification (such as the series lacking any useful demarcations, or none of the justifications on the page coming from only one specific part of the source material) is provided in the edit summary or in response to inquiry, and no indication that they will be added is given."

 

[Antvasima]

Thank you very much for helping out. I have stuck this thread at the top of this forum, and will highlight it as well.

I will also remove the highlight and sticky for our previous references information thread.

 

[Emirp sumitpo]

BTW, if all references come from one specific source, like if every single reference on profile comes from one movie only, should we write like:

All scans and sources come from "Insert specific media"

 

[KLOL506]

BTW, if all references come from one specific source, like if every single reference on profile comes from one movie only, should we write like:

Yeah, just leave it at that.

 

[Agnaa]

BTW, if all references come from one specific source, like if every single reference on profile comes from one movie only, should we write like:

You can do something like that, but you are not required to.

 

[ByAsura]

Do you always have to reference scans, especially if it might exceed a hundred citations at that point?

 

[Agnaa]

Scans are not required, only references. Although of course, scans would be preferred.

 

[ByAsura]

I'm not asking about scans, I'm asking about referencing scans.

 

[Agnaa]

If your question wasn't answered by my last post, I don't understand it.

 

[ByAsura]

nevermind.

 

[Bernkastelll]

Heya all!

As discussed in these threads, the "References" section in character profiles is no longer optional. It is extremely important that all of us try to start using references for important information in profile pages from now on.

Here is the instruction page on how to use them: References

Okay, but why though?

• There is a recurring problem that the wiki has always faced. We put links to scans, manga panels, youtube videos, etc. on pages to provide evidence for some justification. And after some time, many of the links/videos end up broken. In such scenarios, references will help us quickly grab hold of the required evidence because we'd know exactly where to find them.
• While uploading pics to the wiki or imgur works to a certain extent, a normal viewer doesn't get the entire context from one or two scans. References will provide them an option to go and check whatever context they want for themselves.
• It is far more professional and increases our reliability.
• It is also a great safety cover for us in a potential scenario where image/video links are removed by Fandom, or image hosting sites like Imgur are forced to remove all of their comic book, manga, etc. images due to stricter copyright legislation from the EU and US governments.

So... are pages without references going to be deleted?

New pages generally will be. While there will be some exceptions; if a profile is for a single movie there's no way to further separate those references without timestamps which can be inconsistent between releases. If a profile is for a character from a single video game who can perform the same feats in every level, it wouldn't make sense to cite one level over another. If an exception like this applies, please say so in an edit summary when first creating the page.

If a page doesn't include references, a staff member may ask you to add them or provide an exception. If you don't explain why references wouldn't be useful, or show that you're working on adding them, the page may be deleted.

Old pages without references will not be deleted, but help in gradually adding them would be appreciated.

Here's a well-structured page with references as an example. You can check it out as this will help you get a better idea.

This is excellent, the lack of reference was always a problem to big verses

 

[The_Impress]

Do you always have to reference scans, especially if it might exceed a hundred citations at that point?

You can use the scr9ollbox feature to not make it a gigantic wall

 

[ByAsura]

I did. It had more to do with other factors, but it doesn't matter.

 

[Apex_Predator_GX]

I've been working since last night adding references to the profiles I've done so far.

 

[Antvasima]

@Agnaa

You should probably post the entire text for our current editing rule regarding the usage of references in the first post of this thread for better clarification.

Editing Rules

The VS Battles Wiki presently consists of 35,544 pages, most of them listing the statistics of characters across different fictional franchises. However, there is a tremendous amount of work involved in maintaining the accuracy of statistics and upholding a high quality for the profiles. In...

vsbattles.fandom.com

 

[Antvasima]

Never mind. I added it.

 

[Jasonsith]

Some stupid question:

For verse pages and character pages with one reference point only, where do we put that reference source?

Say, Ip Man film series have references from the Ip Man films (obviously) but one movie can go for 1 or 2 hours so that it would be difficult to pinpoint one time frame but quoting the film name is definitely easy (but will it be too general).

 

[Agnaa]

I think you're allowed to either not include the reference, directly list the single reference under the references section, or use the "ref name" feature to use the reference across the page everywhere that it's relevant.

 

[Eficiente]

I believe ==References== in the Standard Format for Character Profiles here should be changed into ==[[References]]== to link into that page.

 

[KLOL506]

I think you're allowed to either not include the reference, directly list the single reference under the references section, or use the "ref name" feature to use the reference across the page everywhere that it's relevant.

Ye, it can happen multiple times if there are multiple movies but the timestamps are too many and too varied for use (Because youtube clips and movie versions), so just listing the movie name where the feat occurs and then using the <ref name=MOVIE NAME/> feature should do the trick.

 

[Antvasima]

I believe ==References== in the Standard Format for Character Profiles here should be changed into ==[[References]]== to link into that page.

I handled it, but it does not look as nice as before from an aesthetical viewpoint, and there already is a link to that page at the end of the relevant section.

 

[TheUnshakableOne]

I have a question.

So say in a verse it takes inspiration from a real world concept for its cosmology, and its related to a specific power in the verse. the verse uses it very accurately and matches it word for word, concept to concept. like the veres perfectly matched the real world concept. Considering how important it is for the verse. A blog is decided to be made for a future CRT

so with that in mind...

if you research into this "real world concept" (being general on purpose because i have no specific example lol) would quotes on the blog also need to be referenced that was taken from articles to explain this "real world concept?" would those articles need referenced?

 

[Eficiente]

I handled it, but it does not look as nice as before from an aesthetical viewpoint, and there already is a link to that page at the end of the relevant section.

My idea was that if profiles had that people would find that page easier, but have no opinion on aesthetics, I think it would be the same.

 

[Agnaa]

My idea was that if profiles had that people would find that page easier, but have no opinion on aesthetics, I think it would be the same.

Yeah I think that looks kinda aesthetically bad to add to the standard format for inclusion on every profile.

if you research into this "real world concept" (being general on purpose because i have no specific example lol) would quotes on the blog also need to be referenced that was taken from articles to explain this "real world concept?" would those articles need referenced?

Yes. A specific example would be this blog, which mentions that it takes a quote about Atzmus from Wikipedia.

 

[DaReaperMan]

Obviously rules still apply when a verse REALLY doesn't need them, namely a verse like Realm of the Mad God which 9/10 has the entire enchilada of their lore on the page

 

[Agnaa]

Obviously rules still apply when a verse REALLY doesn't need them, namely a verse like Realm of the Mad God which 9/10 has the entire enchilada of their lore on the page

I don't understand what you're saying here.

 

[DaReaperMan]

I don't understand what you're saying here.

Basically there are some verses that are only single movies, or some like RotMG which can be pretty much summed up as "What lore that isn't already on the pages?"

On a side note I'm planning to take a BREAK from Warcraft stuff to just go rewatch the entire Hitman series, so I'll probably see about scanning up and referencing Lucas Grey and Agent 47's profiles

 

[KLOL506]

On a side note I'm planning to take a BREAK from Warcraft stuff to just go rewatch the entire Hitman series, so I'll probably see about scanning up and referencing Lucas Grey and Agent 47's profiles

@TheGodAboveMarvel should be able to help you out on that front (Not sure if he's active but still worth a try). He also had some new ability additions in mind but uh, the additions need to be added to imgur. And I can't use Imgur. So...

The novels should help out too I suppose. It even badly needs a verse page

 

[Agnaa]

Basically there are some verses that are only single movies, or some like RotMG which can be pretty much summed up as "What lore that isn't already on the pages?"

Even if the lore is re-typed on the pages, you should still cite it so that people can find its source and check the context.

 

[DaReaperMan]

Even if the lore is re-typed on the pages, you should still cite it so that people can find its source and check the context.

What context? It's literally snippets from the Realm Eye, and he's sourced as the one who provided the quote lol

 

[DaReaperMan]

@TheGodAboveMarvel should be able to help you out on that front (Not sure if he's active but still worth a try). He also had some new ability additions in mind but uh, the additions need to be added to imgur. And I can't use Imgur. So...

The novels should help out too I suppose. It even badly needs a verse page

I can do screenshots, I can't use Igmur either however so I'm just going to scandump in discord and upload the images into the wiki itself when the time comes. Either way I have a lot on my plate so I should get started, take it to my wall so we aren't derailing

 

[Agnaa]

What context? It's literally snippets from the Realm Eye, and he's sourced as the one who provided the quote lol

What the Realm Eye is, what other quotes are given in it, to check if things were quoted in full or not.

 

[DaReaperMan]

What the Realm Eye is, what other quotes are given in it, to check if things were quoted in full or not.

You realize i can go full Malicious Compliance here and make the references section look like an Abomination of God that looks like it glitches and repeated the exact same copy/paste reference for everything yes? But I'd also need to make a CRT to put the references in and that will never happen because I can't do anything with any verse if no mods visit.

 

[Agnaa]

You realize i can go full Malicious Compliance here and make the references section look like an Abomination of God that looks like it glitches and repeated the exact same copy/paste reference for everything yes? But I'd also need to make a CRT to put the references in and that will never happen because I can't do anything with any verse if no mods visit.

As the References page says, multiple references with the same text should be collapsed under the same name.

 

[DaReaperMan]

Tell me, what hoops do the flying monkeys have to go through to add that in?

 

[Agnaa]

Instead of <ref>reference text</ref>, the first time you add the reference you do it as <ref name="literally whatever">reference text</ref>. Then, every other time you want to include it, you do <ref name="literally whatever"/>

 

[Eficiente]

I handled it, but it does not look as nice as before from an aesthetical viewpoint, and there already is a link to that page at the end of the relevant section.

That can be reverted then.

 

[Antvasima]

That can be reverted then.

Okay. I will do so.

 

[Antvasima]

Instead of <ref>reference text</ref>, the first time you add the reference you do it as <ref name="literally whatever">reference text</ref>. Then, every other time you want to include it, you do <ref name="literally whatever"/>

I do not think that spamming pages with the same reference should be necessary. Mentioning it once to thrice as "<ref name="RotMG">All information sourced from the "Realm of the Mad God" game.</ref>" should probably be enough.

 

[Agnaa]

I do not think that spamming pages with the same reference should be necessary. Mentioning it once to thrice as "<ref name="RotMG">All information sourced from the "Realm of the Mad God" game.</ref>" should probably be enough.

I was assuming that there were multiple different things that needed to be referenced, but with most things coming from a specific demarcation in the game.

It sounds like a lot of information comes from an in-game lore book, but I thought that other stuff came from specific fights.