Category talk:Digital Products

Archived Discussion from predecessor category (Electronic Books)

Suggest deletion [of Electronic Books]

There was a time when there was a clear distinction between physical products and purely digital products. With Epub and PoD, that is no longer the case and I feel this whole category has become meaningless and superflous.

It's also misnamed, even if other editors convince me not to terminate this category at the very least it would need to be renamed to "Digital Products". Frabby (talk) 05:27, 15 September 2021 (EDT)

Frabby, I concur with the notion that this category should either be (i) eliminated or (ii) renamed to "Digital-only Products". ("Digital-only" would better than “Digital”. This would avoid ambiguity as some products are available in both physical and digital forms.) I am not fundamentally opposed to the existence of a digital-only category tag (if there is a clear definition and value to such), but it is unclear how beneficial such would be and whether it would be worth the efforts of maintaining such.

A related issue I see is that such would incorporate nearly all of the BattleCorps publications, which are partially included in this category and partially not at the present. So technically this tag could become so broadly applicable that it doesn’t serve much good. Also, no one would propose having a “Physical Product” category, so that would argue more towards (i) than (ii).

Anyways, these are some initial thoughts. --Dude RB (talk) 21:45, 15 September 2021 (EDT)

Frabby, I have been thinking on this some more. Another possibility would be to replace this with the category "PDF Products". This would have the benefit of being simple to define (namely any official product that was officially released in a pdf form, including pdf only products and those released both in pdf and hardcopy form). This would clearly separate such from video or computer games as well as website only products. For the pdf's of game products (e.g., maps, sourcebooks, etc.), this seems sensible. However, I admittedly do not know how this would play out in terms of any e-book fiction (though perhaps such could be simply made a subcategory if needed). Also if pdf is replaced by some other format down the road (which could be years down the road) that could pose an eventual issue too.

Philosophically, I think the primary category and or type for each product should be based on its function and purpose (and be independent of its publication mode). So this category is not needed for that. But a secondary category tag to help to generate a list of pdf products could have some value in certain cases (say when there is editing that applies particularly to pdf or digital products). So I currently favor some sort of replacement, relabeling, or redefinition for this category rather than its outright elimination. --Dude RB (talk) 14:11, 26 September 2021 (EDT)

Update: As a prelimary test, I have created the category `PDF Products' and adding this tag to those `Electonic Book' articles that are stated as being PDF products. For most products this was straightforward (many articles usually communicate this detail), but there are some for which some independent investigation will be needed to confirm whether or not they officially used the PDF format.

Note: If it ends up being too cumbersome then an alternative to `PDF Products' can by all means be considered. [Part of my reason for using `PDF products' is that there exists several links to `PDF' in many of these which links to PDF entry in Wikipedia. With a PDF products cateogry, this will give something internal for those to link to.] In any case, we should keep the `Electronic Books' tags intact until we see how well the `PDF Products' approach (or some alternative approach) works. --Dude RB (talk) 17:44, 3 October 2021 (EDT)

Following an test run of "PDF Products" and a survey of the products currently under "Electronic Books", I find myself inclined to use the term "Digital Products" rather than "PDF Products". [Probably at least 95% of digital products are earnestly PDF's and many are simple to identify. But there are also a signifcant number where verification of the format can prove cumbersome to do so.] So my own recommendation would be twofold: (i) replace "Electronic Books with "Digital Products" (where the latter includes both those that exclusively digital and those availabe both digitally and in print) and (ii) encourage the practice of recording the format within the article when practical (perhaps eventually adding the option of a "Format" field to the infobox template for products).

Removing the experiemntal "PDF Products" category tags can be done simulataneously with point (i) (converting "Electronc Books" to "Digital Products"). If I don't hear any contrary suggstions after few days, then I may begin that process. But are there any thoughts on point (ii)? What is the proper place for discussion of product info box templates? --Dude RB (talk) 22:50, 9 October 2021 (EDT)

Yeah, I like "Digital Products" the most, as well. I think that's a good call. As for discussion: are you on the discord server? If yes, I'd suggest the #wiki-suggestions channel to start it. If not (and don't intend to be), let me know and I'll bring awareness of this up there for you. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 08:41, 10 October 2021 (EDT)

Revanche, thanks for the notes. I will drop a note on the Discord server. Checking Discord is not part of my regular habit, so my timeliness of interactions/replies may be slow. (A related note is that there does not appear to be any links for how to create a product article in Help:Contents. So this is another potential item for attention.) I will post suggestions regarding both the product info box matter and a procedure for creating a product article in Discord to get the conversation rolling. --Dude RB (talk) 23:19, 10 October 2021 (EDT)

If you need any assistance with creating a Help article, I'd be glad to help. Just let me know on my talk page or the discord.--Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 18:51, 14 October 2021 (EDT)