UESPWiki:Archive/CP Acceptable Level of Spoilers on NPC pages

This is an archive of past UESPWiki:Community Portal discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Acceptable Level of Spoilers on NPC pages

There are many new NPC pages being created (which is great) with variable levels of spoiler on them. I think we should have a consistent policy on what is acceptable and what isn't (which I don't think we have already). My personal belief is that the NPC pages should only describe the NPC at game start and the Related Quest links are sufficient for those who want to know what happens later. For examples of what I think is too much information, see Oblivion:Arquen or Oblivion:Maglir. I am happy to listen to other suggestions as I think that a consistent policy is most important. --Actreal 19:44, 14 October 2006 (EDT)

We're caught in a catch 22. On one hand, the information I read prominent to the NPCs and should not be removed. On the other hand, the information could spoil the quest line twists to those who have not gone that far in the respective questlines. I think that there should be some sort of tag like with the explicit template that warns users that there may be material related to the Dark Brotherhood/Fighters Guild/etc questline that may reveal important plot information. --Aristeo | Talk 19:04, 16 October 2006 (EDT)

Perhaps the first question that needs to be answered is how do people use the NPC pages? If the purpose is to provide every piece of info on an NPC, then probably the spoilers need to be there, but tagged somehow. However, I tend to think of the NPC pages more as a place that provides the useful information about the NPCs, which typically does not require spoilers. So things like where they live, whether they are a merchant or provide other services, etc. In that context, it is useful to know whether they play a role in any quests (e.g., so you know whether you'll need to interact with them later) but it is not necessary to know the specifics of what they do in the quest.

In general, I tend to think that spoiler information should be provided in as few places as possible. I think readers don't want to accidentally stumble into spoiler information. As long as that info is provided in the places where you would expect to find it (e.g., on the quest page), why does it need to be repeated in lots of other places? But if the consensus is that the NPC pages should contain every single detail relevant to that NPC, then that will obviously require that all spoilers be repeated on the NPC pages. --Nephele 19:25, 16 October 2006 (EDT)

Addendum. What is a spoiler? For me, a spoiler is a fact that most players wouldn't know and also influences how you might do certain quests. So, Martin being a Septim is not a spoiler because you learn it so early on. Branwen possibly being Owyn's daughter might not be a fact everyone knows, but it doesn't mess up any quests for you.

Also, although I would be in favour of a guideline that says unnecessary spoilers should not be provided on NPC pages, I can see that there may be individual cases where spoilers are considered to be necessary. For example, if there is information that doesn't have any other appropriate place, it should go on the NPC page instead of trying to avoid providing the information. (Branwen and Owyn is a case that could fall into that category). We shouldn't be trying to make it impossible for readers to learn information they might want to know, but we also shouldn't be forcing readers to find out facts that they might not yet want to hear about. IMHO. --Nephele 20:44, 16 October 2006 (EDT)

I am strongly against dumbing down articles because information could be potentially spoiling. We don't need to throw spoilers in places where they don't need to be, of course, but we also don't need to make NPC pages a repository of links. I would like the NPC pages to explain all prominent information about the character, regardless if the information is a "spoiler" or not. Everything else not directly about the character should be referenced to elsewhere on the site. --Aristeo | Talk 21:17, 16 October 2006 (EDT)

What about using white-on-white like on Oblivion:Corvus Umbranox? Or there was another suggestion somewhere of using tooltip-type pop ups on rollover, not sure if we ever got that working satisfactorily. I agree that we should avoid putting information on just because it could be a spoiler - heck, half the info on this site could be considered spoilers. But some sort of warning or means of hiding the spoilers for those who might want only the basic information is not a bad idea. --TheRealLurlock 13:53, 17 October 2006 (EDT)

I just tried out something else. Take another look at the Corvus Umbranox page I posted above. I made a template specifically for spoiler text. It uses a combination of white-on-white, along with a hover and angle brackets so you know where the text is. I really dislike this recent campaign of removing spoilers from NPC pages. The site exists to provide information. If we make some sort of effort to make give users the option of whether they want spoilers or not, and make it clear that there's more information hidden on the page, I think we can satisfy everyone. {{sp|Or at least we can try...}} --TheRealLurlock 14:24, 20 October 2006 (EDT)