Editing SmashWiki:Smasher Project

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The '''Smasher Project''' on [[SmashWiki]] is a communal attempt to improve the overall quality and presentation of [[smasher]] and [[crew]] articles. The smash community is very expansive and the details are in a perpetual state of change, therefore, the information will not likely ever be wholly complete or accurate. However, due to the size of the global community, the only way to streamline a somewhat accurate maintenance of information is through a [[SmashWiki:Project|Project]] with other contributors around the world. 

== Current goals ==
Here are the goals this project is currently trying to achieve.  You may propose new goals by editing this section.  We recommend you suggest any ''big'' goals on the [[SmashWiki talk:Character Project|talk page]].

===Article Format - Standardization===
When news of this SmashWiki leaked out on to the forums, there was an inevitable flood of people who created an article for themselves and their smash-related adventures. This is not unexpected or discouraged in any way, however we've all seen the kinds of results that can produce. Like [Lonejedi|this]] one, for example, or Willie Billy Ba Dillie here, or ones that should just be straight up deleted like Azure Rune.

The majority of the existing articles do not follow a specific format and I applaud Simna for tirelessly going through and adding [[:Category:Smashers]] to each and every one of them. But now they they're all sorted, they're going to need a cleanup. 

====[[Template:Infobox Smasher]]====
This is a tweaked version of the original [[Template:Smasher]] that I've been using to aesthetically spice up the existing articles. It places a table of information related to the smasher on the right-hand side of the article, including alias, [[main]], [[crew]], location and more. 

Most of the existing smasher articles do not have ''smasher'' or ''Infobox Smasher'' tables in them. Here's a quick little guide to filling them out for articles that have already been created. 

*'''''name'''''
:Since there are a lot of smashers whose real names are simply not that widely known, "name" actually refers to the gaming alias they are best known by. 
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''image'''''
:Even fewer smasher articles have pictures and most of them are not even pictures of the player anyway, but if you happened to have, find or locate a picture of the person you're editing, [[Special:Upload|upload]] it to SmashWiki and enter the destination filename as your "image" field in the table.
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''main'''''
:Most people have a main character; even a good portion of those who claim not to. If you are unable to find out the smasher's main, leave it blank. 
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''2ndmain'''''
:This field shouldn't be confused with "secondary character." On occasion, some smashers do actually have two [[main]] characters (much to my surprise), which means a little more than "a character I can play well enough for a counterpick." 
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''other'''''
:Here's the real secondaries. This field should include a character that the smasher plays confidently for fun or for overcoming certain character match-ups in tournaments or whateva.
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''2ndother'''''
:I could've made a 3rdother and 4thother too, but it gets to the point where the information just isn't relevant anymore, so if the smasher in question has two notable secondary characters, put the second one in here. 
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''crew'''''
:The name of the crew or crews the smasher belongs to. 
::Special formatting: 
::- For crews that already have an existing SmashWiki article, brace the name in brackets. (example: <nowiki>[[Crew Name]]</nowiki>)
::- For smashers who are in two or more crews, add an asterisk (*) before the crew name. (example: *[[Crew Name]]*[[Other Crew Name]])
*'''''skill'''''
:Approximate skill level of the player. The terminology you use is still largely up in the air at this point. There's various discussions that aren't going anywhere scattered all over the place trying to define what a "professional" is, but if you'd prefer not to deal with the headache like me, I recommend using "Amateur" for casual smashers, "Professional" for undisputed professional smashers (if there is such a thing) and [[Talk:Professionals#Pro_vs._Pro-Am:_New.2C_Hip_Lingo_to_Define_.22Pro.22_Within_the_Microcosm...|Pro-Am]] for everything in between (ie. smashers who play at a competitive level comparable to undisputed professionals but haven't the exposure or the tournament placings to back it up. A lengthier explanation is available at the preceding link. 
::''Special formatting'': none
*'''''alias'''''
:Some players have been known to change their gamer alias, or maintain multiple names throughout the course of their participation within the community. This field is for an alternate alias that you are, or once were, known by. For example, {{Sm|Wobbles}} is also known as "Honorbound." 

:There is some confusion about this field. ''Most'' players DO NOT need to have this field filled out; it is only for aliases that you were actually ''known'' by. Otherwise, we'd just be cluttering up the articles with unnecessary SWF screen names, MSN usernames, myspace aliases, etc., that really have no bearing on the article whatsoever. Link to the myspaces and SWF profiles in the External links section of the article if you want, but there's no need to make the table itself look all messy.  
*'''''realname'''''
:More or less self-explanatory; provide a first and last name if the information is available, however many people prefer to only have their first name displayed on the internet, so that will suffice as well. 
*'''''birthdate'''''
:Most [[SmashBoards]] profiles have the birthdate of a registered smasher displayed.
::''Special formatting'':
::- Date format should be Month, Day, Year (ex. January 1, 2008); note that it is not necessary to include superscript suffixes on the day (i.e. 22<u>nd</u>, 1<u>st</u>, 30<u>th</u>, etc.)
::- The age of the smasher is written one line below the birthdate; ensure the <nowiki>''<br>''</nowiki> tag that separates the date and age in your coding is preserved to prevent the table from becoming too wide. 
::- The word "age" should be italicized, the number should be bold and both should be surrounded by brackets. (example: <nowiki>(''age'' '''18''')</nowiki>
*'''''location'''''
:City/town and state/province of residence. 
::''Special formatting'':
::- Pretty standard; the full name of the city/town followed by a comma, space and the state/province postal abbreviation. (examples: New York, NY; Wells, ME; Ottawa, ON; etc.) Certain international regions may not have standardized postal abbreviations, in which case the full name of the jurisdiction can be included (as in [[Aniki]]), or omitted altogether (as in [[Captain Jack]]). 
*'''''country'''''
:Country of residence.
::''Special formatting'':
::- This property is fed directly into [[:Template:Flag]]; see there for more information.

====Introductions====
Smasher articles should generally begin with the individual's name in '''bold''', a reference to their country of origin as well as a concise, succinct summary of their role in the smash community. 

Good examples:
*{{Sm|AOB}}
*{{Sm|DireVulcan}}
*{{Sm|Aphelion}}
*{{Sm|Chu Dat}}

'''What not to include in an introduction:'''
*Detailed tournament results - these belong in their own section. 
*External links - Although there may be some exceptions to this rule I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, there is no need to be linking outside of SmashWiki within the introduction of a smasher article (ie. SWF profiles, myspace, videos, etc.)
*Inside jokes - Many people like to confuse SmashWiki with some sort of social networking community and treat their own smasher articles as personal profiles, rather than informative encyclopedic content. Any amusing nicknames, personality traits, catchphrases, favourite this, favourite that, etc. should all be kept out of the introduction (and, in fact, the entire article for that matter). 

=====Regional Categories=====
Due to the volume of smasher articles, recently I've begun re-categorizing them into proper "sub-categories" for the regions. Check out [[:Category:Smashers]] and browse through the existing sub-categories listed to find articles in specific areas of the world. 

Depending on the region, some even drill down to the state-level, while others are grouped into countries. I've been going through [[:Category:Smashers]] alphabetically to give them their proper sub-categories, and I may as well track the progress here:

*'''A''' = ''Complete''
*'''B''' = ''Complete''
*'''C''' = ''Complete''
*'''D''' = ''Complete''
*'''E''' = ''Complete''
*'''F''' = ''Complete''
*'''G''' = ''In Progress''
*'''H''' = ''Complete''
*'''I''' = ''Complete''
*'''J''' = ''Complete''
*'''K''' = ''Complete''
*'''L''' = ''Complete''
*'''M''' = ''Complete''
*'''N''' = ''Complete''
*'''O''' = ''Complete''
*'''P''' = ''Complete''
*'''Q''' = ''In Progress''

== Guidelines ==

===Should I create my own smasher article?===
For an article to even '''exist''' in the first place, there needs to be at least a certain amount of information with which to feed it. Ideally, an encyclopedic mindset would really just prefer to delete the majority of the articles we see that aren't going to be read by anyone but the writer. However, I am a realist and I recognize that we aren't going to be able to stop people from making their own articles, but we can at least try and tell them how to do it right. 

For a [[smasher]] or [[crew]] to have their own article, they should at least (in my opinion anyway) meet one or more of the following requirements:

*Play or have previously played in a competitive [[tournament]].
*Have created and/or joined an existing established tournament community or [[crew]].
*Have written or produced an influential smash tutorial or video.

If you can't come up with at least one of those criterion for your own smasher article, then there really isn't enough information to warrant wasting the webspace on it. Nobody's going to read it; why write it? 

That said, however, I would also like to say that "play or have previously played in a competitive tournament" is a pretty loosely defined requirement. Any tournament where people are there specifically for Smash is completely legitimate regardless of the level of competition. For example, say you and three friends decided to run a tournament and managed to convince 2 other people from your town to come along. Only one of you knows how to wavedash because you're all just learning, but it's still a tournament and it will still have results (not to mention two byes). Congratulations, you've just created a new microcosm of the Smash community in your hometown; make yourself an article if you want, why not? Spread the love and all that.

The tournaments that '''do not''' count are the ones that are generally held at a toy store, fair ground, exhibition, etc. by some company who picks the competitors out of the crowd and in the end they give away a Nintendo T-shirt to the winner of a free-for-all bracket with items on.  In other words, any tournament or crew must play by competitive or close-to-competitive rules to validate a smasher article.

=== SmashWiki is not a personal profile ===
As mentioned before, the community-oriented nature of SmashWiki quite often leads people to believe that smasher articles are a form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service social networking] and that each is a comprehensive personality profile. In actuality, smasher articles are a form of special interest biography, only focusing on those elements that are relevant to the smash community. 

What exactly is "relevant" is open to some interpretation, however the focus of the article should always come back to smash one way or another. Other biographical information can be included <u>in addition</u> to smash-related content, though use your judgment in ensuring that it still reads like a smash story rather than a life story. 

Also, do not include any '''contact information''' in yours, or anyone else's, smasher article. Once again, this isn't a personal profile and there's no need to have MSN addresses and AOL names taking up a bunch of space at the bottom of the article. If I wanted to get ahold of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Cruz Penelope Cruz], I wouldn't go to Wikipedia looking for her phone number. The same applies to SmashWiki and [[Ken]]. 

It is recommended that you keep all contact information on your own [[Special:Mypage|user page]] instead of within the smasher article itself. In fact, there is even a [[Template:Contact]] to make it that much simpler. To help direct SmashWikidians to your own article, there is also a [[Template:Userpage]] that you can copy and paste on to your own user page to help forward readers to your smash-related accomplishments, too.

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