User:NinjaCoachZ/Character guidelines

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Remember. No character page wants to be a Squidward.

Introduction

One thing you will most likely notice about Chewiki is its character articles. Since so many sources have found their way into YouTube Poop, it is only natural that articles be made for the characters in those sources. While they can be informative, one thing this Chewiki is also known for is being a source of humour, and character articles are one of the best places to show off your sense of humour. However, there are a few guidelines you must follow to make a successful article; a truly great one will be an article people will love to read and contribute one, and a bad one will be one that people shun and ignore.

Example articles

Here are some pages you may want to use as models. (add some sample articles here)

Do

• Add the source the character is from. If you make an article for an obscure anime character, you should include where he/she's from so people don't get confused.
• Naming rules:
  • Include the character's full name in the page title if it is known. This is to prevent confusion. For example, "Optimus Prime" should not be at simply "Optimus", since there is another, completely different character in his universe named "Optimus Primal" (and "Optimus" is an actual Latin word). Canon nicknames should be used only if they are more prominent than the actual name (such as "Weird Al" Yankovic instead of "Alfred Matthew Yankovic"). Do not use the character's real name if it was mentioned once as a throwaway joke (for example, Bart Simpson should not be at the name "Bartholomew Jojo Simpson"). Chances are, people who aren't completely savvy about the character will have less of a chance of knowing who it is.
  • If the character shares a name with another on Chewiki and has no last name or title to go by, please disambiguate it by including the show's name in brackets behind the character's name in the article's title. If no other character shares the name at the time of creation, disambiguation is unnecessary.
• Include a picture of the character. A description of the character's appearance leaves it up to the reader's imagination what they look like, but this can have mixed results. If you include a picture, everybody will know what he/she looks like as soon as they load the page.
• Make a description of what the character does in their show, or anything notable they have done that has become a popular subject in poop. For example, the article for King Harkinian explains his role in the CD-i games featuring him, and also goes over his more famous moments. Hey, we want to know what this person is like, right?
• If you can't find a picture, add the template {{wantedimages}}, which will automatically add a message saying that the article could use a picture. Hopefully, somebody else will add one, or it can be used as a placeholder until you find a suitable image. NOTE: If the character has no visual representation, do not use this tag, and add a note explaining that adding a picture is impossible.
• Supply some relevant categories. If, for example, the character originates from a comic book, include them in Category:Comic Book Characters.
• Mark the character by inserting the {{char}} template at the top of the page. This automatically creates a fancy banner and includes them in the "Characters" category.
• Use proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar. While other editors can fix minor errors, having the entire article be a mess of poor language makes an atrocious article that nobody wants to read. This may be the Internet, but please talk formally, and don't type like you would in a chat room.
• Include subheadings to mark sections; sections such as biographies, important information, some choice quotes, and stuff that has no place in the rest of the article (factoids and notes).
  • Please note that it is recommended for the quotes to be memorable or funny when taken out of context. For example, "Hi, Reg." isn't a good quote if it was only said once in the entire show. If it was a running gag, then it can be noted somewhere.
• Mark pages as short with {{stub}}. Sometimes, you could have created a great article, but you feel it could use more information and came out short. That's when this template comes into place.

Don't

• Don't make articles for characters you invented. Unless you are an accomplished writer (which you most likely are not, and even then it's still bad), it comes off as a form of self-promotion and nobody will know anything about the character except yourself. Plus, it makes you look egotistical.
• Don't make an article about yourself or someone you know. That's even more egotistical. (If you or your friend is a pooper, that's a different story entirely.)
• Don't make an abundance of articles for alternate forms of characters. For example, would we really want an article documenting that one time when that one guy became hungry and went on a rampage? Unless it was a highly memorable scene in a well-known show, a frequent sight in poop, and a form of a character who has officially appeared in a poop, you shouldn't make it.
• Don't have the article be an abundance of facts. This creates a boring article that might as well have come from Wikipedia. Nobody would want to read it.
• Don't have the article be an abundance of fiction. Unless it's well-written (i.e. humourous instead of dead serious) and complements the facts, it just sounds like a bad fan-fiction.
• Don't make up bad nicknames. Humour is nice, yes, but it's good to know the actual name of the article's subject. As mentioned above, nicknames should only be used in article titles if they are official, and more prominent than the character's real name.
• Don't make an article for a character you don't know much about. You could get details wrong and this won't make you look good.
• Don't include a picture where the character is concealed or in a huge crowd shot. We want to know what they look like; that doesn't mean "pull a picture out of your ass that includes the character somewhere".
• Don't use extremely low-brow jokes that would be found in South Park or Family Guy. This means jokes about rape, homosexuality, or bodily functions, etc.. That's the lowest form of comedy imaginable, and people will only react with disgust. Dark humour can be appreciated if it is done properly. Bear in mind, however, that if humour like this is done so over the top it can't be believed, then it's funny. As long as you don't think you're trying to be funny.
  • On the other hand, if dark humour is done badly, then that's just poor taste.
• Don't bash the subject of the article. Don't do stuff such as "Colossal Jackass, I mean, Hal Haroldson, is an asswipe who created that gayass show 'Harold'." That's just immature, unfunny, and makes it look like you have a short fuse.
• Don't overuse curses, for the same reasons above. Such as, "This fucking character is the main damn character from the fucking kickass show 'Anthony Anderson: The Animated Series'. Hell fucking yeah! This fucking show fucking rocks!" If it's tongue in cheek and done as a parody, that's more forgivable. Played completely serious, it's just cringeworthy.
• Don't reference overused memes, such as, "Mama Luigi became the king of Sparta over 9000 years ago, beating out Weegee and Mudkip". It just shows that you're unoriginal.
• Don't make long lists, such as "VICTIMS OF THE RICK ROLL INCLUDE: KING HARKINIAN, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, DRACULA, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS", etc. Most people will just scroll past them anyway, and it is, again, unoriginal.
• Don't use the {{media}} tag. That tag is intended for sources, not for people.
• If the article has been tagged with {{delete}}, that is a sign to improve the article, not a sign that it will be deleted in five seconds. Do not simply remove it without fixing the article, as it will just be put up again.
• Character articles should really be about characters who appear often in many YouTube Poops or prominently in a few. If the article goes on describing random facts an obscure character from your favourite show and then says "Has not appeared in a YouTube Poop", that isn't a good sign. It generally wouldn't appeal to people who aren't fans of the show and it comes off as nerdy gushing instead of an attempt to make something worthwhile.
• Don't inject your personal opinions into articles.
• Do not just make a character article involving only a few sentences. Saying something like "The dancing fat kid is a 40 second video of the sexiest child on earth, dancing to a six flags commercial. Extended periods of viewing the video has been known to cause seizures, orgasms, and explosive diarrhea. So beware." (yes it's from a real article) makes you seem not only lazy, but also pretty stupid. Not to mention that will be marked with {{delete}} or even {{speedydelete}} faster than a usual article would.
• Don't highlight words with stuff that doesn't fit into context. Doing that makes you seem like something that's equal to an attention-whore for random things.
• If someone places your page up for deletion or undoes an edit that you made, don't start a flame war over it. Most rational users will provide a reason for why they're removing your work, and aren't doing it out of spite.

Now that you've read this, hopefully you know what is and isn't appreciated in character articles. Now you can show your creativity. Go ahead. Try. We won't make fun of you. Much.