Forum:Addition of 'Pricing' to the Magazine Infobox

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There has been a discussion between myself and User:The Librarian about whether or not to include Pricing in the Magazine Infobox. I feel that should we include pricing in the infobox it will set a precedent for the rest of the wiki (ie all the books, CDs, etc), and as price is very much a country specific sort of thing shouldn't be included. There exist such books as Howe's Trancendental Toybox which give lists of pricing of everything. Also on the Wookipedia Star Wars Insider and Memory Alpha Star Trek Magazine they also have magazines and infoboxes roughly the same as ours both without a pricing section. See also User talk:Tangerineduel for more of the discussion. --Tangerineduel 16:20, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

In favour of including pricing details

As a supporter of including the original price for commercially licenced merchandise (in the infoboxes), I would like to raise a number of additional points that I hope others will consider and voice an opinion on.

• Firstly, the world of Doctor Who is so enormously huge and beyond the confines of a television series, it is impossible to ignore a commercial element. The commercial world has dictated the BBC's budget commitment to the series. Merchandised books, videos, CD, DVD's, magazines/comics and toys are all driven by sales, some have flourished some have been abandoned as being unprofitable. Licensed rights to use characters and images (again financially influencial), have dictated the final form of the Who the public have had.
• Just because others wiki's haven't included pricing details, does that mean TARDIS shouldn't!
• Yes, there is Howe's Transcendental Toybox, aimed specifically at the collector, (I remember my joy at leafing through and finding things I hadn't got, a busy week for ebay!!). Is the arguement that as the information is out-there it doesn't need to be included? I would have thought that the whole point of a TARDIS wiki is to bring together all the information under one site, to use joined-up-writing (if thats the right phrase).
• How less significant is the price of a piece of merchandise than, the manufacturer for example. How many of us have not decided on one piece of merchandise over another, based on price? The magazine or the book? The commemorative stamped first cover, or the the new Doctor Who CD, the Gallifrey one, or Companions, Daleks what about all of them? Will I have enough left for the next DVD release?
• As a public service, the BBC is committed to providing merchandise at `pocket-money-prices` as well as glossy coffee table books.

What children can afford will determine the wider cultural aspects of the series, playground behaviour, comics with free gifts, top trumps and Battles in Time to name a few of the current trends. Not to mention parents queing for the top toy for Christmas! Pricing would help reflect the target audience, remember they grow up, many wanting to recapture bits of their past, the Nostalgia effect. Even New Who knew that the theme tune, and TARDIS were iconic, as are Daleks and Cybermen.

• I appreciate the remarks about country specific pricing, but as the price I was suggesting was the original price of the merchandise, it is unlikely to be the price people pay because of online ordering and commercial auction sites. So is relevant only as a point of interest to those seeking to place it in a wider context (including researchers and collectors).

It's still early days for the TARDIS wiki, its got thirty odd years to catch up on, lets have this discussion now rather than later. I'm hoping for some more comments and opinions. I'm not pursuaded yet by the argument for pricing ommisions! The Librarian 23:26, 7 August 2007 (UTC)