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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Note: The text between the level two heading "Parent, season, and episode article structure" and level 3 heading "Infobox" has been included to discuss here along with the text under said level 3 "Infobox" heading.
The structure of television articles, season/series articles, and episode articles are all relatively identical. The sections below will map out the basic structure for these articles. The basic order of these pages tends to follow: Lead, episode plot, production, and critical reception; with any other miscellaneous sections coming afterward. This is because Wikipedia uses plot information as context for understanding the real world information in the article. This is the same setup as followed on WikiProject Film articles, which have the same structure as television articles.
Below are the three main infoboxes to use across the project, with the code for you to copy: ((Infobox television)) for parent articles; ((Infobox television season)) for season articles; and ((Infobox television episode)) for individual episode articles. If you have any questions or problems with these template, please consult each template's documentation or start a discussion at their corresponding talk pages. All parameters are not meant to be used on every article, as some are not relevant to many television articles.
In the event that there are too many entries for any individual field, for example for the starring
parameter, it may be beneficial to link to a corresponding section of the article (in this case, the "Cast", "Characters", or "Cast and characters" section) instead.
*transcluded documentation code is included here for the three mentioned infoboxes above*
The structure of television articles, season/series articles, and episode articles should generally follow the suggested formatting outlined below. The basic order of these pages tends to follow: Lead, plot, cast lists, production, broadcast and home media, and reception, with any other miscellaneous sections coming afterward. If a section consisting of an article-spanning table (ie the "Episodes" section with ((Episode table))) is being pushed down by the infobox creating a large amount of whitespace, then that section can be moved further down in the article. However, if said section contains plot or episode summaries, it should ideally be as high up the page as possible, since Wikipedia uses plot information as context for understanding the real world information to follow in the article. This is the same setup used on WikiProject Film articles, which have a similar structure as television articles.
Below are the three main infoboxes to use across the project, with the code for you to copy: ((Infobox television)) for parent articles; ((Infobox television season)) for season articles; and ((Infobox television episode)) for individual episode articles. If you have any questions or problems with these template, please consult each template's documentation or start a discussion at their corresponding talk pages. All parameters are not meant to be used on every article, as some are not relevant to many television articles.
If multiple entries are required for any individual field, for example for the starring
parameter, ((Plainlist)) or ((Unbulleted list)) should be used, per MOS:PLIST, over <br />
. Additionally, if any individual field becomes excessively long, again using the starring
parameter as an example, it may be beneficial to link readers to a corresponding section of the article (in this case, the "Cast", "Characters", or "Cast and characters" section) instead.
"The structure of television articles, season/series articles, and episode articles are all relatively identical."(currently this statement is factually untrue, as plenty of older TV articles don't follow this format, and I dislike guidelines that contain "must"-type statements...) to something more like
"The structure of television articles, season/series articles, and episode articles should [generally?] follow the suggested formatting outlined below."This has the advantage of wording that encourages editors to reformat old TV series articles (e.g. in terms of section order) as per MOS:TV (which I've been doing a fair amount lately...), without being an implicit "must" statement from a guideline.
"The basic order of these pages tends to follow: Lead, episode plot, production, and critical reception; with any other miscellaneous sections coming afterward."– should be reworded to be more general:
"The basic order of these pages tends to follow: Lead, plot, production, and reception [information?]; with any other miscellaneous sections coming afterward."I'm also wondering if this section should specifically list "broadcast" and "[DVD] release" among the "miscellaneous sections coming afterward".
starring
parameter, ((Plainlist)) or ((Unbulleted list)) should be used, per MOS:PLIST, over <br />
. Additionally, if any individual field becomes excessively long, again using the starring
parameter as an example, it may be beneficial to link readers to a corresponding section of the article (in this case, the "Cast", "Characters", or "Cast and characters" section) instead.Lead, plot, cast, production, and critical reception; any miscellaneous sections can come at the end of the article. If the plot section consists of a table that is being pushed down by the infobox creating a large amount of whitespace, then the plot section can be moved down. However, it should ideally be as high up the page as possible, since Wikipedia only uses plot information as context for understanding the real world information to follow in the article." I have no issue with the Infobox section. - adamstom97 (talk) 05:41, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
If the plot section consists of a table that is being pushed down by the infobox- Why would the "plot" section consist of a table? That's very problematic wording. The section housing an episode table is normally called "Episodes" in the main and season articles. In LoE pages, it's never an issue. I don't have an issue with moving the episode table down to eliminate whitespace, but we need to refer to headings in such a way that won't confuse editors, especially new ones, and some of the more active editors whoc lack common sense. --AussieLegend (✉) 08:10, 29 September 2016 (UTC)
"plot section", and I agree that that could be confusing. I'd recommend changing that to something like:
"If a section consists of a table that is being pushed down by the infobox, then it is acceptable to move that section further down in the article to avoid this."I think something like this might be better. --IJBall (contribs • talk) 14:14, 29 September 2016 (UTC)