User:OttselSpy25/First TW appearance infobox variables

Introduction

So I had this idea a few days ago, and I thought it would be a good idea to pitch it to the fourms. It's a really good idea I think, and it's something a little less contentious than some of the other big rule changes we've been making. It's basically about inter-wiki linking and infoboxes.

For many many years, infoboxes on TARDIS wiki have had the "first=" variable. Historically, this has been used to denote the first valid source where this character appears. Despite sounding simple, caused a lot of headaches. For instance, Zog from the stage play Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure listed a short trips story as his premiere story, despite this being an out-of-universe variable.

We recently changed this, making the standing rule that the first story that Tardis wiki has a page discussing will be the "first" variable for this topic. So Zog's page says his first appearance is the stage play, even thought it's not a valid source.

However, I've now realized that this shift in rules actually might give us a chance to go even further with this. Basically, I am proposing the introduction of a new variable for infoboxes:

|firstTW=

So why would we ever need this? Well, the idea is that we specifically would only use this for characters and concepts which originated in non-DW stories, and that instead we would use first= to denote their actual premiere in fiction. THEN we would use the firstTW variable to list their first appearance in a story we have a page on.

So, Mickey Mouse's first variable would like w:c:disney:Steamboat Willie. Penelope Creighton-Ward's first variable would list w:c:Thunderbirds:Trapped in the Sky. (obviously in each of these cases we'd hide the inter-wiki guts and gears, but I wanted you to be able to see how it works if you're not familiar)

I originally wanted to have it be "firstDWU", with the infobox text reading "First DWU appearance," but I realized this would just reset us to things which are non-valid being once again discluded from the first variable... But I'm open to alternate suggestions.

Complications

There are only one big complication I can think of for this.

While our infoboxes will allow very easily for FANDOM wikis to be linked, off-site wikis are going to be a challenge to link in the infobox. It might even be impossible. So far, there are three non-FANDOM wikis I can think of that we would want to link for this: TFwiki, the Magrsverse, and Wikipedia.

TFwiki we'd need to cite for Death's Head (Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!), Magrsverse wiki we'd want for a few things but mostly Iris Wildthyme (Marked for Life) and then Wikipedia for... I don't know, something where the first story isn't popular enough to have a wiki but does have a Wikipedia page. I don't have an example. Sue me.

So basically, we may need to either make a functioning template that making off-FANDOM linking more realistic, or we need a second variable, something like:

|firstnotfandom =

Which would just let you do a typical [link title] sorta vibe.

Tell me what you all think! OS25🤙☎️ 23:17, 10 April 2023 (UTC)