Category talk:Characters

Category Name Change

Please see/join the discussion at BattleTechWiki talk:Project Biographies regarding changing the name of this category to Major Characters. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 13:55, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

The decision has been made to rename this category Characters, return all character articles to the category and require all future character articles to be added. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 23:40, 25 August 2008 (CDT)

Clan names

(Not sure where this belongs so I'll put it here for now. Perhaps a "Policy: Clan Names"?) How do we treat Clan Bloodnames? After all, the Clan naming system is radically different from the commonplace namegiving in the Inner Sphere. You cannot (imho) treat "Ward, Vlad" like you treat "Davion, Hanse" if you get what I mean. Ward is only his bloodname, and the closest thing he has to a family name is his origin from Clan Wolf. This is not only style, but also important for sorting characters as we're currently doing this by second names. "Joanna" is under "J" because she has no bloodname and Vlad Ward should really be mentioned under "V" and not "W". Perhaps the entry format for Clanners should look something like "Joanna, Clan Jade Falcon" or "Vlad (Ward), Clan Wolf". Not sure if they should be sorted by Clan or by first name. Frabby 04:01, 25 August 2008 (CDT)

There are actually several cultures this could apply to (at least, apply different measures): technically, names from the Draconis Combine should be handled differently, as the Japanese culture places family names before given names, so that even if the English presentation gives it to us given-family, in reality their names are family-given. (Ignorance prevents me from saying the same about the Cappellan Confederation.)

I state the above only as an example, not a suggestion. I agree that the use of varying names structure is actually more valid with the Bloodnames, as you mention, but my POV is that we adapt the naming structure as it is recognized within the presentation of it: Joanna is handled differently, because that is all we have to go on. Vald Ward is handled the same as all others, because he does have a Bloodname that allows the convention to remain. I wasn't involved, but I believe the consensus with characters who have names that changed was to go with Wikipedia's policy of the most well-known name, and have redirects from other versions. If Vlad were to lose his bloodname, for example, I'd think then it should go back to Vlad with a redirect from Vald Ward. My secondary criteria for a common-usage is simplicity. When people think of the character, in their mind they'll be thinking Vald Ward rather than Vlad (Ward), Clan Wolf, and that has implications for Editors using wikilinks. Afterall, characters can change Clans too. My stance is that we continue to employ common usage and leave the explanation of the character's current name status for within the article.--Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 09:15, 25 August 2008 (CDT)

I agree with Revanche in the interest of simplicity. --Scaletail 18:43, 25 August 2008 (CDT)