Template talk:NCmaterial

Rename

The purpose of this template is as it describes, for use on subpages or pages covering non-valid material per my T:SUBPAGE proposal. I've named it "NC" based on the ancient MediaWiki:Tardis.css "type-NC" which it uses, and also as a pun: NC can stand for either its original meaning of "non-canon" (now "invalid") or the modern category of "non-covered", thereby naming both potential uses of the template. However, this is neither obvious nor easy to remember, and "non-valid" is the actual preferred umbrella term for invalid and non-covered sources. Posting this in the hopes that someone has a better idea for what to call this template! – n8 (☎) 15:33, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

..."{{NVmaterial}}"? Cookieboy 2005 ☎ 22:44, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Good idea. In fact, it occurs to me that whereas {{Invalid}} already exists, there's no {{Nonvalid}}. – n8 (☎) 17:31, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Notes on implementation

The "Other validites" part of my subpage policy proposal, which would have ratified {{NCmaterial}}, intentionally left the issue of how non-valid sources will be cited in-text to the admins' discretion. It gave them a wide berth to change T:VS and T:NOT however they see fit to accomodate this proposal. However, I've since come up with one suggestion for how this implementation could look. Here's what I'm imagining…

On any page marked with {{NCmaterial}}, we're allowed to cite nonvalid stories which are licensed to feature that page's topic.

• In the case of invalid stories, that's nice and easy: we just link to the story like usual. For instance, (NV: Doctor Who? 110)
• In the case of non-covered stories, it takes a little more work. For instance, take the Audio Visuals episode Maenad, which is the debut of Calfadoria, a planet later mentioned in several Doctor Who novels and audios.
  • On the page Calfadoria, we'll cite Maenad like normal, as ([[NV]]: ''[[Maenad (audio story)|]]'').
  • However, rather than having a page called Maenad (audio story), it'll be a redirect to our page for the real-world series, Audio Visuals.
    • Beneath the #REDIRECT command, the redirect page will incorporate the wikitext it needs so {{cite source}} will still display the correct author, release date, etc.
  • On Audio Visuals, a table lists the Audio Visuals stories which are relevant to this wiki, including Maenad.
    • If another wiki exists to cover these stories, there will be a column of interwiki links to the corresponding story pages on that wiki. For instance, Carnell from Kaldor City first appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Weapon. Weapon (TV story) will redirect to Blake's 7 (series), which will then list Weapon alongside a link to its page on the Blake's 7 Wiki.

These were easy examples because we already have series pages for the Audio Visuals and Blake's 7. For instances where we don't, we will have to create them. Examples would be Children's Ward (TV series) for Sandra Mitchell and Perfect Timing for Grant Markham (see Talk:Charity publication regarding the need for charity publication series pages analogous to Category:Fanzines). These will all go in Category:Real world series with DWU connections.

Upsides of this particular design:

1. It's clear in scope, and it preserves the clear distinction between invalid stories and non-covered ones.
2. It accomodates the many types of non-covered stories in a single design, including charity anthologies as well as series covered on other wikis.
3. It carves out a space for interwiki linking while still clearly demarcating these links for users and without requiring us to dip into the politics of other wikis to secure interwiki linking agreements.

As an organic outgrowth of point 3, it would be nice for links to other wikis to be featured more prominently on in-universe pages than in the "External links" section at the bottom (see {{mbx}} and {{fpx}}). To this end I've created {{iwinfo}} and tested it on Carnell; its only issue is that it still uses the Wikipedia logo, which will need to be replaced. – n8 (☎) 21:39, 21 February 2023 (UTC) [edited 17:50, 27 February 2023 (UTC) and 15:34, 13 March 2023 (UTC)]