User blog:WoeisWingbat/Last important change (For now)

Hopefully.

Before I start, not everyone saw my comment, so I will also add that channel pages are staying, but will also go through a slight revamp if needed, since we're also working on better categories, and as mentioned before it would be pretty ridiculous to have to have a list including every dub that has a page when we already have the category for it with the same purpose. Country pages are going. IPA is going away too (good riddance) so it would be nice if we could get more people to pitch in this category. Thank you.

By now you have may have noticed that we are finally getting rid of character pages, for yet again the simple reason that they've outlived what little usefulness they have. Fandom isn't just some program you can input data in one place, and then get the result in the other; it just simply wouldn't work anymore.

But the one problem did arise before I ever started deleting these pages just yet: There are many articles with the "unknown" template in place of character names and so SO many images not uploaded; therefore if they were removed, everything would fall apart instantly.

So no, they're not going away just yet. I just ask that you don't make any more from now on, and if you have time to kill, please help in removing the |link= part of the cast list template, that'd be very appreciated.

So where are we going from here? The important update I really wanted to make is because character pages are going away soon, we needed a quick solution because right now the cast list template just ultimately wasn't working for like, the majority of the pages.

The solution is that we are not making transparent images a priority anymore, screenshots will have to be the norm in order to make all of this work. I know, this is a drastic change, but ultimately transparent images don't help fix the functionality of the wiki and it's not really what we need anymore, if one is not available (and if it is, the image can always be replaced). There are SEVERAL images with "broken file links" (aka no images) because we were obsessed with trying to find a transparent image for EVERYTHING. But a newsflash is that 80's and certain 90's cartoons (let alone anything prior that isn't as popular as Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse), live-action shows, most 3D cartoons, and just overall specific niche shows won't have transparent images.

But again, they're not going away, if you have them and they work then by all means use them! And we don't need people to replace what we have right now if these images are working, it's only really for images that just don't exist, they are our top priority right now, since when we start removing character pages, this fixes most of our problems right there.

We aren't doing away with color codes, however they are not mandatory if the image is not transparent. But if you can use them, then please use them regardless if the image is a screenshot or not, because if that character will have a transparent image eventually, then you'd have to bother updating each and every page that has it. Having lots of color codes doesn't appear to be a problem, so it is not like we don't need them period. Also, the color codes will unfortunately have to be disregarded from actor pages.

Obviously bad images will be deleted, we're not playing around this time. They don't have to be PERFECT or EXACTLY 300x300 if you're not capable of doing so, but trust me, I've seen some terrible images on here inserted by some people (both transparent and otherwise), and you know who you are. Don't be that person please. If you can't upload a proper character image then you REALLY don't have to.

To clarify again, there are two options for character images: These are not to be voted on, by the way, we're operating by all systems for now, but again, the first option should be our main priority now.
 * Non-transparent, typically (and hopefully) screenshots from the show that look good and presentable and are not terribly squished
 * Transparent images but with no color codes (to compensate with actor pages and to make things way easier in general)

PNGS ARE PREFERRED OVER JPGS. Again, if you can make it happen, then make that happen. We're already trying to avoid updating multiple articles and a lot of them are under the assumption that you are uploading pngs.

One more tidbit is that if the same character looks significantly different in the new piece of media, even if it's a different art style (like going from The Beat Goes On! to TrollsTopia, then they should have a different picture. But if they look fairly the same, you do not need to bother. Take Best Gift Ever for example, if you watched the special, the Mane 6 all look the same from how they appear in Friendship Is Magic, just with festive clothing. We don't have to take it that far, I assume most people don't want to. And we were already operating like this beforehand anyway.

Here's how it looks.



If you want to help out with uploading some of these, this category is what you will usually be looking for. It won't be an easy ride but there aren't that many original versions pages currently.

The second part of this announcement is that because of the aforementioned change, actor pages are getting rebranded for the final time (I promise). I have experimented with the page Ashleigh Ball as a base. The audio samples are not mandatory but would be appreciated; like this example, if there is a case where nobody is adding them to the page, then put |colspan="2" | next to the name so it doesn't look ugly. Audio files have to be in the traditional ogg format.

And if you're curious on how to order them, it goes alphabetical order from recording studio (with the "TBAs" and "unknowns" listed last), then the media name, and then order of importance for the characters themselves. It is preferred that if the recording studio went by a different name at the time, and it never transitioned along with the media, that name be listed SEPARATELY (which will also be done for categories if and whenever cluttered only). So "Zone Studio Oradea" will usually be a separate entity there than "Iyuno-SDI Group Romania", however the recording studio pages themselves will still be treated as one entity, obviously.

If and when applicable, "Original roles" and "Dubbing roles" should be two separate sections; the "Show/Film/Special" etc. part will always be changed to "Dub" if it is the latter. If they've only done either or, it is just changed to "Roles".

Here's how it looks.



The third thing is about the categories concern I mentioned in the other blog post; that there is no better way to give categories to recording studios then to have to categorize them manually.

Here's hoping I FINALLY got everything I wanted to mention, but keep an eye out for updates just in case, and let me now what you think as usual. I've made a lot of these blogs in the past so I am taking one of our admin's advice and I will be making a spreadsheet and sharing it with you all of what we finished with, what we're in progress of doing, and what still needs to be discussed.

Ciao!