Editing Template talk:Profiles and statistics

==The "profiles" in "profiles and statistics", or: how much is too much?==
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With the recent commotion surrounding the Mario Kart Tour icons, an idea was entertained by some users that material deemed excessive through one criterion or another should be subject to trimming, irrespective of said material's relevance to Mario or its official nature. For instance, the icons I mentioned are considered highly impractical for the purposes of this encyclopedia on account of their repetitiveness and overall failure to communicate any significant or interesting information, leading to some arguing having them removed altogether. Now, my intention here is not to shift discussions from one place to another, nor restate my personal beliefs on that particular topic--I just figured these controversial sentiments would segue into a potential talk about yet another aspect of the wiki that may be regarded as mere info dumping. Beyond archiving goals, what practical use does the sheer volume of descriptions on characters, enemies, and whatnot fulfil on an encyclopedia?

When it comes to character statistics--the other half treated by these lists--, I think most would agree they're useful to readers invested to some degree in a particular game's technical in-and-outs. Knowing Yoshi's speed and handling stats in Mario Kart 8 can offer them some perspective on how that character may play and, perhaps more down to brass tacks, whether they'll like using it in that game. Games tend to have different engines, gameplay styles, and mechanics, justifying the need to present that character's stats across titles.

One could argue that having a commons for Yoshi's bios across games and adjacent material is similarly useful to more lore-oriented readers, or even editors per se, either for cross-referencing or for sheer entertainment. However, I noticed that a lot of these bios (or descriptions, or profiles, however you want to call them) tend to recycle talking points on that subject's appearance and roles. Yoshi is speedy, he is Mario's trustworthy companion, he loves eating. Wario is greedy, gluttony, sometimes he runs a company, goes treasure-hunting, or hangs out with Waluigi. Super Mushrooms make Mario grow. Coins add points and an extra life when you grab 100 of them. Stars make you invincible...... You can see where I'm getting at. And even when a bio is more particular about a character's gameplay in some game, it's virtually expected you'll find it in proper, user-generated articles. The point I'm making is that these profiles, collectively and severed from statistics, may well be regarded as fragmented duplicates of actual articles' contents.

I have contributed a bunch to these pages myself, as I admit my view of the Mario Wiki that is that it's on one hand an encyclopedia, with all of the condensed, curated information one entails, and on the other hand an archive of sorts, a place where readers may explore and reference material as it is originally presented--imagine, if you will, a hybrid of Wikipedia and Wikiquote. Others, however, may not see it in this way, and I'd like to invite discussion on the subject. <small>(Especially since I'd like to know if it's worth dedicating more time into this endeavor.)</small> {{User:Koopa con Carne/Sig}} 18:26, May 14, 2024 (EDT)