Template talk:Real-world person

Missing parameters
Having put this together, I've noticed that on Ed Greenwood the parameters are filled out in the template (like birthplace) but they're not showing up. Gender, however, does show up. I can't see what I've done wrong! Fw190a8 (talk &middot; contr) 01:22, October 8, 2012 (UTC)


 * That's because you're calling the Person template on the Greenwood article. :P I've fixed it and it appears to be working fine. Cronje (talk &sdot; contribs) 01:49, October 8, 2012 (UTC)


 * Haha, crap. Thanks. Fw190a8 (talk &middot; contr) 01:56, October 8, 2012 (UTC)

Template Update
I think the Author template is long overdue a significant update, both to expand its applicability to more kinds of creators and real-world people (artists, editors, actors...) and to bring it in line with modern conventions (such as on sex vs. gender). Before I tackle it, I thought I'd lay out the options and issues for discussion. For reference, here's what Wikipedia does.


 * Template name
 * Should it still be Author (as a grandfathered-in artifact) or could we switch to something more general? I'd suggest Person like the Eberron Wiki uses, but we already have that at Person – could that in turn be changed to Character? Could we change Author to something like Real-world Person?


 * Person name
 * True Name is odd. Could we merge True Name, Full Name, and Alias into Other Names or Former Names? I doubt we need more than one secondary names entry. I expect the page name and infobox title name to use the common/modern pen-name (Ed Greenwood, R. A. Salvatore, slade, etc.) while full names, nicknames, pseudonyms, and former names would go into Other Names. Alt Spelling could be removed.


 * Sex, gender, pronouns
 * The language on this topic has changed a lot in less than a decade; Gender: Male/Female was once the politest way of putting it, but now it's liable to be incorrect or inapplicable for transgender persons and an issue of contention for a section of modern fandom. We could change to Sex (Male/Female, the biological bits), but then a new Gender entry would need to be created. What about Pronouns? On the one hand, sex and gender aren't the wiki's concern, only the pronouns needed to write the article, but on the other they might be of interest to supportive fans.


 * Biographical
 * Home, Birthplace, Born, Died don't seem to need much changing, but Home may need more updating with moves than is feasible.


 * Occupation
 * A new one, an Occupation entry could cover whether someone is an author, artist, editor, designer, actor, programmer, etc. Some will have multiple roles. I think this should focus on someone's D&D work, that is, why they're relevant to the wiki, rather than any other odd jobs they've held.


 * Contacts
 * Not telephone number and email address, no, but links to websites and social media pages. The Eberron Wiki has Website and Twitter. What other set social media links should there be?

Can anyone think of anything else? BadCatMan (talk) 06:50, 9 March 2021 (UTC)