MarioWiki:Proposals

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Monday, December 23rd, 22:28 GMT
Proposals can be new features, the removal of previously-added features that have tired out, or new policies that must be approved via consensus before any action is taken.
  • Voting periods last for two weeks, but can close early or be extended (see below).
  • Any autoconfirmed user can support or oppose, but must have a strong reason for doing so.
  • All proposals must be approved by a majority of voters, including proposals with more than two options.
  • For past proposals, see the proposal archive and the talk page proposal archive.

If you would like to get feedback on an idea before formally proposing it here, you may do so on the proposals talk. For talk page proposals, you can discuss the changes on the talk page itself before creating the TPP there.

How to

If someone has an idea about improving the wiki or managing its community, but feel that they need community approval before acting upon that idea, they may make a proposal about it. They must have a strong argument supporting their idea and be willing to discuss it in detail with other users, who will then vote on whether or not they think the idea should be implemented. Proposals should include links to all relevant pages and writing guidelines. Proposals must include a link to the draft page. Any pages that would be largely affected by the proposal should be marked with {{proposal notice}}.

Rules

  1. Only autoconfirmed users may create or vote on proposals. Anyone is free to comment on proposals (provided that the page's protection level allows them to edit).
  2. Proposals conclude at the end of the day (23:59) two weeks after voting starts (all times GMT).
    • For example, if a proposal is added at any time on Monday, August 1, 2011, the voting starts immediately and the deadline is two weeks later on Monday, August 15, at 23:59 GMT.
  3. Users may vote for more than one option, but they may not vote for every option available.
  4. Every vote should have a strong, sensible reason accompanying it. Agreeing with a previously mentioned reason given by another user is acceptable (including "per" votes), but tangential comments, heavy sarcasm, and other misleading or irrelevant quips are just as invalid as providing no reason at all.
  5. Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. Voters can remove or rewrite their own vote(s) at any time, but the final decision to remove another user's vote lies solely with the wiki staff.
    • Users can also use the comments section to bring up any concerns or mistakes in regards to the proposal itself. In such cases, it's important the proposer addresses any concerns raised as soon as possible. Even if the supporting side might be winning by a wide margin, that should be no reason for such questions to be left unanswered. They may point out any missing details that might have been overlooked by the proposer, so it's a good idea as the proposer to check them frequently to achieve the most accurate outcome possible.
  6. If a user makes a vote and is subsequently blocked for any amount of time, their vote is removed. However, if the block ends before the proposal ends, then the user in question holds the right to re-cast their vote. If a proposer is blocked, their vote is removed and "(blocked)" is added next to their name in the "Proposer:" line of the proposal, which runs until its deadline as normal. If the proposal passes, it falls to the supporters of the idea to enact any changes in a timely manner.
  7. Proposals cannot contradict an already ongoing proposal or overturn the decision of a previous proposal that concluded less than four weeks (28 days) ago.
  8. If one week before a proposal's initial deadline, the first place option is ahead of the second place option by eight or more votes and the first place option has at least 80% approval, then the proposal concludes early. Wiki staff may tag a proposal with "Do not close early" at any time to prevent an early close, if needed.
    • Tag the proposal with {{early notice}} if it is on track for an early close. Use {{proposal check|early=yes}} to perform the check.
  9. Any proposal where none of the options have at least four votes will be extended for another week. If after three extensions, no options have at least four votes, the proposal will be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
  10. If a proposal reaches its deadline and there is a tie for first place, then the proposal is extended for another week.
  11. If a proposal reaches its deadline and the first place option is ahead of the second place option by three or more votes, then the first place option must have over 50% approval to win. If the margin is only one or two votes, then the first place option must have at least 60% approval to win. If the required approval threshold is not met, then the proposal is extended for another week.
    • Use {{proposal check}} to automate this calculation; see the template page for usage instructions and examples.
  12. Proposals can be extended a maximum of three times. If a consensus has not been reached by the fourth deadline, then the proposal fails and cannot be re-proposed until at least four weeks after the last deadline.
  13. All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of an administrator, the proposer can ask for that help.
  14. After a proposal passes, it is added to the appropriate list of "unimplemented proposals" below and is removed once it has been sufficiently implemented.
  15. If the wiki staff deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to cancel it at any time.
  16. Proposals can only be rewritten or canceled by their proposer within the first four days of their creation. However, proposers can request that their proposal be canceled by a staff member at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it. Please note that canceled proposals must also be archived.
  17. Unless there is major disagreement about whether certain content should be included, there should not be proposals about creating, expanding, rewriting, or otherwise fixing up pages. To organize efforts about improving articles on neglected or completely missing subjects, try setting up a collaboration thread on the forums.
  18. Proposals cannot be made about promotions and demotions. Staff changes are discussed internally and handled by the bureaucrats.
  19. No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.
  20. Proposals must have a status quo option (e.g. Oppose, Do nothing) unless the status quo itself violates policy.

Basic proposal formatting

Below is an example of what your proposal must look like. If you are unsure how to set up this format, simply copy the following and paste it into the fitting section. When updating the bracketed variables with actual information, be sure to replace the whole variable including the square brackets, so "[insert info here]" becomes "This is the inserted information" and not "[This is the inserted information]". Proposals presenting multiple alternative courses of action can have more than two voting options, but the objective(s) of each voting option must be clearly defined. Such options should also be kept to a minimum, and if something comes up in the comments, the proposal can be amended as necessary. 

===[insert a title for your proposal here]===
[describe what issue this proposal is about and what changes you think should be made to improve how the wiki handles that issue]

'''Proposer''': {{User|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}}<br>
'''Deadline''': {{subst:#time:F j, Y|+2 weeks}}, 23:59 GMT

====[option title (e.g. Support, Option 1)]: [brief summary of option]====
#{{User|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}}} [make a statement indicating that you support your proposal]

====[option title (e.g. Oppose, Option 2)]: [brief summary of option]====

====Comments ([brief proposal title])====

Autoconfirmed users will now be able to vote on your proposal. Remember that you can vote on your own proposal just like the others.

To vote for an option, just insert #{{User|[your username here]}} at the bottom of the section of your choice. Just don't forget to add a valid reason for your vote behind that tag if you are voting on another user's proposal. If you are voting on your own proposal, you can simply say "Per proposal".

Talk page proposals

Proposals concerning a single page or a limited group of pages are held on the most relevant talk page regarding the matter. All of the above proposal rules also apply to talk page proposals. Place {{TPP}} under the section's header, and once the proposal is over, replace the template with {{settled TPP}}. Proposals dealing with a large amount of splits, merges, or deletions across the wiki should still be held on this page.

All active talk page proposals must be listed below in chronological order (new proposals go at the bottom) using {{TPP discuss}}. Include a brief description of the proposal while also mentioning any pages affected by it, a link to the talk page housing the discussion, and the deadline. If the proposal involves a page that is not yet made, use {{fake link}} to communicate its title in the description. Linking to pages not directly involved in the talk page proposal is not recommended, as it clutters the list with unnecessary links.

List of ongoing talk page proposals

Unimplemented proposals

Proposals

Break alphabetical order in enemy lists to list enemy variants below their base form, EvieMaybe (ended May 21, 2024)
Standardize sectioning for Super Mario series game articles, Nintendo101 (ended July 3, 2024)
^ NOTE: Not yet integrated for the Super Mario Maker titles, Super Mario Run, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Create new sections for gallery pages to cover "unused/pre-release/prototype/etc." graphics separate from the ones that appear in the finalized games, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended September 2, 2024)
Add film and television ratings to Template:Ratings, TheUndescribableGhost (ended October 1, 2024)
Use the classic and classic-link templates when discussing classic courses in Mario Kart Tour, YoYo (ended October 2, 2024)
Clarify coverage of the Super Smash Bros. series, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended October 17, 2024)
Remove all subpage and redirect links from all navigational templates, JanMisali (ended October 31, 2024)
Prioritize MESEN/NEStopia palette for NES sprites and screenshots, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended November 3, 2024)
Stop considering reused voice clips as references (usually), Waluigi Time (ended November 8, 2024)
Allow English names from closed captions, Koopa con Carne (ended November 12, 2024)
^ NOTE: A number of names coming from closed captions are listed here.
Split off the Mario Kart Tour template(s), MightyMario (ended November 24, 2024)
Split major RPG appearances of recurring locations, EvieMaybe (ended December 16, 2024)

Talk page proposals

Split all the clothing, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended September 12, 2021)
Split machine parts, Robo-Rabbit, and flag from Super Duel Mode, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended September 30, 2022)
Make bestiary list pages for the Minion Quest and Bowser Jr.'s Journey modes, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended January 11, 2024)
Allow separate articles for Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)'s subjects, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended August 3, 2024)
Create articles for specified special buildings in Super Mario Run, Salmancer (ended November 15, 2024)
Expand and rename List of characters by game to List of characters by first appearance, Hewer (ended November 20, 2024)
Determine how to handle the Tattle Log images from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch), Technetium (ended November 30, 2024)
Merge False Character and Fighting Polygon/Wireframe/Alloy/Mii Teams into List of Super Smash Bros. series bosses, Doc von Schmeltwick (ended December 2, 2024)

Writing guidelines

None at the moment.

New features

Create a template to direct the user to a game section on the corresponding List of profiles and statistics page

This proposal aims to create a template that directs people to a game section on a Profiles and statistics list page, saving the user the step of having to scroll for it themselves. The reason why I'm proposing this is because as more Super Mario games are released, it becomes harder to comfortably find what you're searching for in the corresponding List of profiles and statistics page, especially for Mario, Bowser, and many other recurring subjects.

Another reason I think this would be valid is because of the fact that listing statistics in prose (e.g. 2/10 or 2 out of 10) looks off, especially if that can already be seen in the corresponding statistics box; in that case, the prose could change from "2/10" to something more vague like "very low stat", which isn't typically worded as such in the statistics box.

For example, let's say for Luigi in his appearance in Mario Sports Superstars, there could be a disclaimer either below the section heading or in a box to the side (we can decide the specifics when the proposal passes) that informs the reader that there's corresponding section that shows his profiles/statistics corresponding. Like such:

For profiles and statistics of Luigi in Mario Sports Superstars, see here.

The above message is not necessarily the final result (just a given example), but the disclaimer would definitely point the user to the appropriate game section on the profiles and statistics list page, should this pass.

Proposer: Super Mario RPG (talk)
Deadline: January 1, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Support

  1. Super Mario RPG (talk) Per.
  2. Hewer (talk) I don't really see a need to deliberately make prose less specific, but otherwise I like this idea, per proposal.

Oppose

Comments

@Hewer I don't think this would necessarily eliminate cases in which statistics are in prose, but it may be redundant if there's the link to conveniently access the statistics or profiles. Super Mario RPG (talk) 15:15, December 18, 2024 (EST)

Add an abbreviation template to type out full game titles

This proposal is about creating a template that it makes it easier to type out full game titles. Although The Legend of Zelda games generally have longer titles (and Zelda Wiki even has templates for some of their shorter titled games, like Hyrule Warriors, here), there have still been cases in which some game titles are uncomfortably long, such as Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! or Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and while it may seem like not a big deal to some, it would be a small quality-of-life improvement if we could have a template where we input the abbreviation, and the output becomes the game title.

For example, {{a|M&LSS}} would result in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (complete with italics formatting). Meanwhile, {{a|M&LSS|l}} to link to the game, outputting Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, although depending on who creates the template, it could be vice versa, like it links by default and {{a|M&LSS|n}} would prevent a link.

Since Super Mario has several releases, it may get difficult maintaining with all the abbreviations, and there have been cases where two games have shared the same abbreviation. (e.g. SMS for both Mario Sunshine and Mario Strikers). In that case, either {{a|SMS|2002}} (with the year of release) or a custom abbreviation (e.g. {{a|SMShine}}) would be needed (personally I'd prefer the latter).

Consider we already have similar templates for Princess Peach and Princess Daisy (i.e. {{Peach}} and {{Daisy}}), and both of their full titles (with "Princess" included) is a lot shorter than the two game titles in the first paragraph.

Proposer: Super Mario RPG (talk)
Deadline: January 1, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Support

  1. Super Mario RPG (talk) Per.
  2. Camwoodstock (talk) We don't see the harm in this, even if it would admittedly be fairly niche. The only real complaint we have is the lack of an additional parameter for changing the displayed text, so if we need to say something like "in the remake", we have to write that out the old-fashioned way.

Oppose

Comments

@Camwoodstock Such a parameter can always be added to the template. Super Mario RPG (talk) 18:18, December 18, 2024 (EST)

Removals

None at the moment.

Changes

A reconsidering of "derived names"

This proposal acts as a counter to the proposal Repeal the "derived names" having priority over official names in other languages. In short, to a casual reader like myself, subjects being named Disaster Neko, Comet Tico, Wonder Haiden, and Kodeka Kakibō are extremely unhelpful when English names for them seem trivial. Many subjects in the Mario franchise use a very consistent naming scheme: [A descriptor for this specific subject, usually an adjective] [very standardized name]. If something is officially called Wonder Packun, and is a Packun(or Piranha Plant) which have variants consistently named "X Packun" in Japanese and "X Piranha Plant" in English, then it feels pedantic to not call it a Wonder Piranha Plant.

The proposed change here would be to allow derived names to take precedent over internal and foreign names when those derived names are built upon a strong enough foundation, on a case-by-case basis. Derivations should be based on actual official English localizations or already use English words to begin with. If there isn't precedent for each aspect of the name, then it should remain in its source language. Examples:

  • Fire Gabon: "Fire X" is a well established format, see Fire Bro (Faia Burosu) and Fire Piranha Plant (Faia Pakkun). "X Spike" is also well established, see Paper Spike (Pēpā Gabon) and Stone Spike (Rokku Gabon). Therefore, Faia Gabon would be interpreted as Fire Spike.
  • Comet Tico: "Comet" is already an English term used frequently in Super Mario Galaxy, and Prankster Comets are directly connected to the Comet Tico. "X Luma" is a very consistent formatting of names in SMG, see Hungry Luma (TicoFat internally) and Co-Star Luma (SupportTico intermally). TicoComet can therefore be interpreted as Comet Luma.
  • Yarikuri Obake: "Yarikuri" is officially localized as Pirate Goom, however it is never given any descriptors in English and "Obake" does not have a standardized localization, especially not one for Wario Land 3. This name would remain in Japanese.
  • Hanabihei (assuming its official English name was never revealed): "Hanabihei" is derived from "Bombhei", but is a portmanteau and not a trivial descriptive name. It would remain as-is.

The positives of this proposal if it were to pass would be that related subjects would be intuitive as to how they relate. Just by reading the names, you would be able to tell that Hoppycat, Wonder Hoppycat, and Big Hoppycat are related, and what that relationship is.

Edit: Several users have expressed the sentiment that our current names are already somewhat derivative. Fire Gabon is not the name of the subject in Japanese, but rather Faia Gabon. Similarly, Informant Mūcho is derived from the filename B4_Informant_MUC. Thusly, a new option is provided to propose to stop this form of derived names as well. Names like Comet Tico would be moved to "TicoComet", and Informant Mūcho moved to "Informant_MUC" or "Informant".

Edit 2: LinkTheLefty has very reasonably pointed out that the wiki has existing, consistent guidelines on how to write Japanese names with English loanwords, meaning Fire Gabon should not be written as Faia Gabon. I have altered the second option in accordance. If it passes, Japanese names will not have their spellings changed, but names derived from development data will still be made more direct. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea, articles called Sūpābо̄rū Mario or Sūpā Mario Kāto Doki Doki Rēsu would probably be rather obtrusive.

Proposer: PopitTart (talk)
Deadline: December 19, 2024, 23:59 GMT

Allow fully derived names (Fire Spike, Informant Snifit)

  1. PopitTart (talk) Per proposal.
  2. Technetium (talk) Per proposal.
  3. Hooded Pitohui (talk) Per proposal.
  4. Scrooge200 (talk) Per proposal.
  5. Fun With Despair (talk) Per proposal. Since I started browsing this wiki as a kid, I had always thought the use of foreign language names were nonsensical when it was obvious what they should be - especially in cases like those cited in the proposal. "Neko" just means literally "Cat" in Japanese. It is likewise reasonable, as stated, to amend enemy names to their English counterpart in cases like "Fire Gabon", etc. In the previous vote to repeal this, Koopa con Carne (talk) stated that you shouldn't ignore an official name to make up a "wacky" name instead. I don't believe this to be a good faith argument in this case. Nobody is making anything up. If Gabon in English is Spike, then there is absolutely no conjecture with regards to applying that moniker to Fire Gabon - nor is there conjecture with regards to what replacing Disaster Neko with Disaster Cat in an instance where the normal version of these entities is just called "Kitten" in English, a direct translation from the respective Japanese name.
  6. Ninelevendo (talk) Per proposal.
  7. Shoey (talk) Per proposal.
  8. Turboo (talk) Per proposal.
  9. Meta Knight (talk) It just makes more sense.
  10. Lakituthequick (talk) Per all.
  11. Shy Guy on Wheels (talk) Per proposal.
  12. Cheat-master30 (talk) Per all.
  13. Waluigi Time (talk) Per all.
  14. winstein (talk) I think this is a good idea, so I agree with it.
  15. Roserade (talk) I have been keeping with this proposal and reading the arguments of the opposition, and while I understand where they're founded, I remain fairly unconvinced by them. I believe that this proposal is pointing towards reputable translation as the source of these names, with names like "Fire Spike" being based upon a) well-established patterns in translation and b) clear visual indication of what the thing is. To argue that translating directly like this is "making stuff up" feels to me like a bad-faith argument. I feel like we can reasonably deduce what a translation should be if we have the valid evidencing for it - which PopitTart indicates as the aim in this proposal. And if a localization eventually rolls around, and it's a different name than what we're using? We change it, which is already what we'd do in the case of a Japanese article name anyway. Updating information is not hard, if it becomes necessary. Ultimately, our aim as a fan wiki should be accessibility of its userbase, and straightforward translation work is one of the ways to make these articles more accessible. Also, I'm sure it's more of an aside than a fully-fledged argument, but "regret the next encyclopedia event" is a silly argument. It's not our responsibility to ensure that nobody in a formal publishing house opts to plagiarize the wiki again.
  16. MCD (talk) Per all, especially Roserade & FWD.
  17. Ninja Squid (talk) Per all.
  18. Tails777 (talk) The Disaster Neko and Fire Gabon examples are the ones that are ALWAYS on my mind when I think of this. Per Fun with Despair and Roserade especially.
  19. Reese Rivers (talk) Per all.
  20. Pseudo (talk) Though I'm somewhat hesitant because I do perceive the opposition's stated disadvantages of doing this (particularly those mentioned by Nintendo101), I'm inclined to support this especially because of the argument raised by Lady Sophie and Exiled.Serenity's comments — that the wiki already does do this sort of name-deriving with examples like Comet Tico, Dark Nokonoko, and Fire Gabon, none of which exactly match the form seen in the game files. If we're comfortable adopting slightly derived names—and they are derived names—in order to make the wiki more readable, which I personally am, then I see little reason not to translate well-established names like Tico, Nokonoko, and Gabon, which have already been localized to English time after time. Perhaps the enemy's name will not turn out to be "Fire Spike" when it reappears with an officially-localized name, but we can simply acknowledge that as a wiki when the time comes. Frankly, acknowledging partially derived names like these three with a notice template arguably provides greater clarity than what the wiki is currently doing, claiming that the enemy's datamined name is Dark Nokonoko, rather than NokonokoDark, the only official "English" name that actually exists.
  21. Cadrega86 (talk) Per proposal and Pseudo.
  22. Exiled.Serenity (talk) Per my comments below, and Pseudo. This is my preferred option— I think it is only "making stuff up" in the strictest possible sense. A far cry from calling him "Sizzle-Spikey!" or whatever. I also appreciate the proposal's restraint in this regard, choosing to only allow this when there's so much evidence for a given name that we'd just as easily be giving an inaccurate impression by not using it.
  23. Dainn (talk) Per all. Wonder Haiden bothered me deeply when I first saw it.
  24. Seandwalsh (talk) Per proposal.
  25. DesaMatt (talk) This website is not Nintendo, will never be Nintendo, and needs to stop pretending otherwise. MarioWiki is fan site managed by fans and directed at fans. It's not an official source for anything and it's inherently not unbiased, the closest it could ever come to that is if it was simply a collection of copied and pasted official text released by Nintendo, but it's not, the vast majority of the content here is original text written by fans that is only based on the official content that is presented to us. Why is it bad to call Fire Spike by that name term when everyone can agree that's what they are but it's not bad to describe anything using words that were never used by Nintendo at all? I'm not advocating for fan anarchy, but MarioWiki is meant to be an English website and it doesn't serve that purpose to use foreign words and terms that the people accessing it are not expected to be familiar with when there are obvious agreed-upon English alternatives.
  26. Blinker (talk) Per proposal.
  27. Rykitu (talk) Per all. Especially Fun With Dispair and Meta Knight.
  28. AlexBot2004 (talk) Per proposal.
  29. OmegaRuby (talk) Accessibility and ease of understanding in casual readers of the Wiki is of the utmost importance to the editors. Derived names help with that, and, even though we are not a definitive source for Nintendo themselves to pull from despite them or authors contracted by them (see the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia incident), the use of the Wiki as a source is an unfortunate side effect - by no means is it fun in any way to "canonize" English names for characters when you aren't either directly involved or know that Nintendo probably has a more unique name than the derived one, but it's something we must unfortunately live with due to the size and reputation of the Wiki in the Mario and Nintendo community. Per all, most especially Fun With Despair, Roserade, and Pseudo.
  30. TheDarkStar (talk) - Per all. Names like Faia Gabon and Informant Mucho are pretty much impossible to find in a search engine, and DK Jungle Beat coverage is a SEO graveyard, just to bring up a couple examples. There's no reason we shouldn't be prioritizing making it easier for readers to find what they're looking for.

Stop derived development data names (Fire Gabon, Informant_MUC)

  1. MCD (talk) Not my first choice but per my comment below. What we have now is essentially a mish-mash of different sources of derivation, this is better than that at least.
  2. Sparks (talk) Agreed.
  3. PopitTart (talk) Second choice, Per MCD. If we can't do fully derived names, then we shouldn't do arbitrary partial ones.
  4. Hewer (talk) Second choice, I'll take this over the first option.
  5. Koopa con Carne (talk) Per... Hewer, I guess? Voting mostly to the detriment of the first option.
  6. Ahemtoday (talk) Honestly, I'm not even sure this is my second choice or not — I'm willing to go a long way in the name of consistency.
  7. Tails777 (talk) Secondary choice. I'd rather lean one way or the other than have a messy in between. At least with this, it makes more sense than allowing the word "Fire" to be translated from "Fire Gabon" and not "Gabon".
  8. Pseudo (talk) Secondary choice per Tails777, and per the sentiment expressed in my vote for the option 1. The current situation is a bad middle ground. This might become my primary vote in the future, but I need to think about it more.
  9. Exiled.Serenity (talk) My second choice. It's at least consistent.
  10. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) - This I can agree with, the guessing of word order for file names always bugged me. Granted, it'd look odd in the prose, but there are ways around it (for instance, "Informant_MUC is the internal designation of a Snifit in Paper Mario: Color Splash. The Snifit is found...")
  11. FanOfYoshi (talk) As counterproductive/problematic as the proposal itself is, i suppose this could be an alternative (even if this option might get counterproductive in certain areas too)
  12. TPG (talk) After careful consideration and reading the comments of this proposal, I think this is the most acceptable option. Ultimately it is not the wiki's responsibility to localise names on Nintendo's behalf, and even though it IS common sense to call it 'Fire Spike', or 'Wonder Hoppycat', no official source has used that name yet. Perhaps down the line this more strict position on deriving names will lead to a more acceptable naming guideline that allows us to state the obvious, but it isn't on us to make up names. I don't think this is the best way to deal with conjecture, but I'll leave that thought in the comments.

Do nothing (Fire Gabon, Informant Mūcho)

  1. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) - This remains speculative. They could just as easily call it Flame Spike (Flame Chomp exists, after all, having been renamed from Fire Chomp) or Fireball Spike. Also, see the Goombud and Clubba examples below.
  2. Hewer (talk) Per the previous proposal that got rid of these names. It's still conjecture no matter how much we pretend it's not, and I'd rather stick to what's official. In response to the argument that Japanese names confuse or are unhelpful to readers, I'd argue that using fan names over official ones is misleading readers, which is much worse. We're here to report what the facts are, not what we want them to be. Also, variant relationships don't always have to be obvious from the name (you'd never guess from the name alone that Bandit is a Shy Guy variant, for example).
  3. Koopa con Carne (talk) No. Making up a name for a thing that has an official name is not what the wiki is about, and if you think the official name is less intuitive than the alternative, there's this nifty feature called "redirects" that doesn't tamper with official concepts. If you think that argument is in bad faith, then you misunderstood the mission of this site.
  4. Nintendo101 (talk) I think Popitart created a solid proposal, and I understand why it has garnered support. However, I believe the burden on having these names revised to something more suitable and consistent with the English localization is on the publisher. Not us. One of the things that has made Super Mario Wiki stronger reference material than many other wikis is our naming policy. I view it as a concentrated effort to avoid citogenesis, descriptivism, and manufactured consensus, which is especially important considering Nintendo themselves clearly consult this site on occasion and sometimes incorporate our interpretations of the text, including incorrect interpretations. It is clear we are the primary reference for in-depth Super Mario information on the internet and for the general public, and likely will remain so for years to come. I would like us to remain reliable and neutral for them. Does "Comet Tico" look silly next to "Hungry Luma?" Yes, it does. Does it not mean "Comet Luma?" Yes. But I do not think that is something for us to solve, and I suspect most readers will intuitively understand this means the subject has not been given an English name yet. I don't think that is a big deal. I think a bigger deal would be to, say, see it named "Comet Luma" on the Super Mario Galaxy article and assume that is its name. In my view, that is not really true, but presenting it as such can lead to misinformation being spread. I understand and respect those who feel differently, but that is generally how I feel at this time.
  5. LinkTheLefty (talk) How about we not do this again and regret it when the next encyclopedia event happens? We've never been one of those sites that gets a dopamine rush over "canonizing" stuff. On the contrary, we have a responsibility to step back and give the translators breathing room to do their thing when they get their chance without fears of stifling their freedom and being compared to the fans all the time. Per all the opposition, past and current.
  6. Axii (talk) ^
  7. Ahemtoday (talk) Per Doc and Nintendo101.
  8. Sparks (talk) While it is tempting to just replace the Japanese name with its English equivalent, we don't know for sure if that is what the English translation actually is (or will be). While Fire Spike and Wonder Hoppycat seem to be obvious names for the enemies, what if they're not their official names? We have concrete evidence right now; it's just not English, but having an official name in Japanese is better than making up an English one.
  9. FanOfYoshi (talk) Per all; no comment needed, since you may already know where i stand.
  10. Super Mario RPG (talk) I see no reason to change this that doesn't involve appealing to the fact that this is an English wiki.
  11. Camwoodstock (talk) We're gonna be honest here, neither of the other options really appeal to us. We understand the concerns with citogenesis that caused the previous proposal to fail, so we won't really go over that. But the "we should use derived names exactly as they are written in the source" is... Well, to put it bluntly here, more than a little asinine. Where exactly are we drawing the line, here? The provided examples in the proposal keep the camelcase in TicoComet and that B4_Informant_MUC would be moved to Informant_MUC; who's calling what's the "unnecessary" parts we omit here? Do we just include them all? If it's the latter, be honest with yourself; would the wiki be better off if we had an article called cg_data-character-p0242_peach_doll? If it's the former, how do we plan to trim down a sentence on the Watering hole article like "They consistently spew water into a small basin, allowing Mario to swallow some and turn into STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI."? We have so, so many questions, and unfortunately, next to no answers here. Above all else, we don't really feel comfortable going forward with a proposal that, as others have pointed out, has felt rather wishy-washy for something as drastic as a change to our article naming guidelines.
  12. DryBonesBandit (talk) Well, just because something can be translated as something else, doesn't mean it has been by Nintendo. Per all.
  13. SmokedChili (talk) Both options are terrible, per opposition, but I'm gotta say this about internal names. Currently, what we use for page titles for subjects where game file data is the best we have are formatted from said file data - in other words, we already conjecturally derive page titles for those subjects from internal names even if it's just adding a space. That's why I think if we're going to keep that line with internal names, they should lose their status as official names and be considered conjectural instead if they are formatted. This would not affect cases like Marimba Block where said name appears as-is afaik.
  14. Mister Wu (talk) Open to review the guidelines on how to use internal names that aren’t a single word, but in my opinion we really need more discussion over them rather than just having to choose between two options, to see how many impractical consequences we can have with the various choices. As far as subjects for which we just have the Japanese names are concerned, I think that in the long term simplicity and avoidance of arbitrary criteria in the guidelines is more helpful for the editors - even though it can be frustrating to see some obvious translations untranslated. In the worst case scenario of no valid English name being found, we end up using valid Japanese names written with criteria as similar as possible to those of the official romanization, that can pop up every now and then.
  15. Arend (talk) Kinda torn between this option and the first one; I'm picking this one for now since it's the lesser-voted one. Either option are more preferable to me over the second option in which we have to use the actual internal filenames instead of names derived from said filenames, which I feel would stand out really awkwardly among the actual confirmed names.
  16. TheFlameChomp (talk) I was originally writing a vote for the second option, though after thinking about it, I have decided to land here for now. Unlike some of the opposition, I would be open to changing how we handle names like this, and I do believe that, from a reader’s perspective, a name like “Fire Spike” makes more sense than “Fire Gabon”. However, I also agree with some of the opposition’s concerns such as citogenesis, the fact that some translations could come across as subjective, and the fact that it should not be up to us to localize names on Nintendo’s behalf, leading me to choose against the first option. However, I realized while considering option 2 that directly naming articles from their file names would also be messy and difficult to search if readers were not aware of what a particular file name was associated with to begin with. As such, I am voting to keep the current names, though I would recommend keeping this issue open for future discussion as I am still not sure that how we handle the situation is the perfect method.
  17. JanMisali (talk) Per all.
  18. Lastro (talk) Per all. This is the Super Mario Wiki, not Fantendo. We aren't supposed to make names up, even if it consists of "obviously" translating a single word. Besides, the current name derivation process only consists of rearranging words from an internal name without changing the language. Translation is tricky and we have no rights to name creations we didn't make.

Comments

@Doc von Schmeltwick: the decision to go with Fire Spike over Flame Spike or others is based on both its behavior as well as how the "fire" prefix is translated from Japanese; Faia Gabon is a Spike that attacks with fireballs, as opposed to being made of fire or such. This is in-line with the given examples, as well as Fire Nipper Plant and Fire Mario, which all have the same "faia X" naming in Japanese. Flame Chomp however is named "Keronpa" in Japanese, and thus isn't suitable as a point of comparison. --PopitTart (talk) 02:44, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I have found better examples: Fire Heihō is known as Pyro Guy in English (not as "Fire Shy Guy") and Fire Mūcho is known as Scorchit (not as "Fire Snifit"). Jdtendo(T|C) 07:50, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I don't see the point debating Fire Spike anyway when the internal name specifically uses the word "Fire". --Waluigi's head icon in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Too Bad! Waluigi Time! 12:02, December 5, 2024 (EST)
But it does not specifically use the word "Spike". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 12:06, December 5, 2024 (EST)
The specific point being addressed here is Doc's vote, which was questioning using "Fire". --Waluigi's head icon in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Too Bad! Waluigi Time! 12:12, December 5, 2024 (EST)
As Jdtendo demonstrated, the Japanese name being "Fire [enemy]" doesn't mean the English name will be "Fire [enemy]". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 12:43, December 5, 2024 (EST)
There are indeed cases where "faia" is translated as something other than "fire", but these appear to be used for enemies which use fire in a way distinct from the classic fireball projectile. In combination with the Fire Gabon's behavior matching the subjects which are translated that way, I believe "fire" to be the best option. --PopitTart (talk) 13:30, December 5, 2024 (EST)
And that's just your subjective assessment. We have no idea if the official translators would agree, and for all we know, they could have completely different criteria to determine what gets called "Fire" and what doesn't. (For what it's worth, "Fire Spike"'s fireballs fly in a straight line through the air, so they are actually quite functionally different from those of Fire Mario or Fire Bro, which bounce along the ground, and Spike's other variants, Snow Spike and Stone Spike, do not follow any pre-established enemy variant naming patterns as far as I know.) Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 13:39, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I have not decided if I'd like to support this proposal yet but I feel like, as it is an English website, if the Mario Wiki shouldn't effectively create nicknames for subjects without official English names, it should not be arbitrarily applying names in other languages to those same subjects. The English name for the Fire variant of a Spike is not called Fire Gabon and I think it is erroneous to refer to it as such in English text. if citogenesis is an issue, then using foreign and internal names runs the exact same risk as using a conjectural name. Just look at Lumacomète in the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia. — Lady Sophie Wiggler Sophie.png (T|C) 08:18, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Additionally, according to the Wiki's rules on Japanese, "words that originated in English should be written as the original English word for simplicity", which means technically we're already not accurately representing the subject's Japanese name. The Fire variant of a Spike is not called Fire Gabon in English, and it's not called Fire Gabon in Japanese. if the jump from Faia to Fire is allowed, then why not from Gabon to Spike? We're already isolating and translating Japanese words in a vaccuum.— Lady Sophie Wiggler Sophie.png (T|C) 08:32, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I concur with this standpoint. I will keep supporting this proposal in its current state, but I would support changing all adjectives back to Japanese if it fails. It's really a case of all-or-nothing to me, currently it is quite half-baked. (It could be considered to add that as a separate option if more people feel this way.) Lakituthequick.png Lakituthequick 14:53, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
Should I add this as a third option, then? It has only been 1 day, well within the editing timeframe. --PopitTart (talk) 13:30, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I think the difference is that the word "fire" is a loanword or gairaigo, so it is not really being translated. "Gabon" is not. — Nintendo101 (talk) 09:58, December 5, 2024 (EST)
How is the wiki's usage of foreign names "arbitrary"? They are used when no official English name is known to exist. This wiki may be written in English, but it's about a primarily Japanese franchise and covers subjects that never officially existed in English at all, so it's no surprise that not everything has an English name to use. What would be arbitrary is deciding not to use the subject's only official name because we think we can make up a better one. Also, this proposal isn't suggesting to stop using foreign names entirely, so we would still be using non-English names in our English text regardless. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 10:48, December 5, 2024 (EST)

@Nintendo101 First, I want to acknowledge that you've put together a very articulate, well-considered case for your opposition. Though we disagree, I understand well your point of view, and I find your concerns over citogenesis in particular to be a very worthwhile consideration. There is one point in your position on which I would like to seek clarification, though. You say, "I think a bigger deal would be to, say, see it named "Comet Luma" on the Super Mario Galaxy article and assume that is its name." Would that not be adequately addressed by use of the conjectural name template, which includes an argument specifically for derived names? I am earnestly curious as to why the template, as a clear and difficult-to-miss disclaimer that the name is derived and not an official localization, does not adequately address this point in your view. Hooded Pitohui (talk) 08:24, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Howdy! For starters, I do think a template header would be mitigating and I am glad it is incorporated into this proposal. That was good foresight. However, the systemic effectiveness of these templates is dependent on readers going to the articles for Fire Gabon or Comet Tico specifically, and I am not sure how often they would feel compelled to do that if these names "look" like official localizations. Someone visiting the site to read articles on the games themselves or levels may not feel compelled to check, and precisely because of their similarly to proper localizations, may just assume "Comet Luma" is its true localized name. Anecdotally, I feel like I have heard conjectural names justifiably adopted by our wiki for lack of better alternatives uncritically presented as the names off of the site and I think that is partially why. They look like properly localized English names, so why would one assume they are not? I have not seen that as often for subjects with Romanized Japanese titles, and I suspect that is because they also look the part. Maybe if there was some sort of in-text template similar to "conjectural" to embed directly into game or level articles that would help, but that also sounds a bit cumbersome. - Nintendo101 (talk) 08:44, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Thank you so much for your response! Knowing this is coming from a position of concerns that readers will pass over the disclaimer by not actually visiting the page in question and will instead assume these names are official at a glance certainly does clarify that point. I do think you have the right of it that it would be cumbersome to mitigate this concern with the tools available to us. My first thought is perhaps we could use the tooltip text to address this by putting "derived name" in the tooltip text for these names on game pages and such, and if the proposal does pass, I think it would be worthwhile to consider using it. That said, as far as I know, you can't see that text on mobile, so I recognize this wouldn't be a perfect solution. Hooded Pitohui (talk) 08:59, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Honestly, I'd rather not make a distinction between "conjectural" names and "derived" names at all. They're both names made up by the wiki in an attempt to be as straightforward as possible, the only difference being that "derived" names could be taking priority over official names, yet templates for "derived" names give the misleading impression that they are more official than "conjectural" names. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 10:20, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Or we can cut out the ten middlemen altogether and use much more efficient redirect system. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 11:11, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I feel like at a certain point, we can only do so much. We put templates on all the pages that are plain to see. If an Encyclopedia writer ignores it, how is that our fault? And like LadySophie17 said above, they used a French name for an English book - I don't see why using a name from another language, albeit official, eliminates the issue. It's their responsibility to appropriately localize names, not ours. And in this case, I think reader understandability comes first - after all, we are a site for the fans. Those writers shouldn't be looking at a wiki for research to begin with. If another Encyclopedia is written, I can only hope they learned from their mistakes with the original, and not use the wiki as a source. Technetium (talk) 09:50, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I am also aware I did that proposal to rename X-Ship to X-Naut ship, as the former felt too official of a name despite being marked as conjectural. This just feels like a different situation altogether for me, given that these conjectural English names for enemies aren't all fancy or anything, but very straight to the point. I agree with Hooded Pitohui's comment above that we could also mark these as being derived names on other pages they appear, not just the main articles on them. Technetium (talk) 09:59, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I understand your perspective, but part of the reason why we have maintained so many name-specific article templates in the first place was as a response to that encyclopedia and there has been a general reduction in conjectural names that was also in response to it. Besides, it is not just third-party editors I am thinking of — I am thinking of fans. Our general userbase. I do not want us to passively misinform them or imply names have some sort of community consensus when they do not. I know that is something I would have appreciated before I became more involved with editing the site, because I want to be informed and learn before anything else. - Nintendo101 (talk) 10:13, December 5, 2024 (EST)
You make good points. I'm not fully sure what to think myself honestly - as I said in my first edit summary for this today, those were simply my thoughts at the moment. I'll continue thinking about this as more comments are made and change my vote if my mind changes. Technetium (talk) 10:17, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Let's not pretend that Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia was an isolated case. It was only notable for its sheer sloppiness and scale. In actuality, we've seen similar things happen time and time again. Prima. Piranha Plant guidance. Dates. Don't get me started on Art & Artifacts and Zelda Encyclopedia. This is a new constant of our interconnected reality, for better or worse, and it's something that both pros and fans have to thread carefully. Sure, no doubt coincidences happen. If that makes us feel better, we can chalk things up to coincidences. But sometimes, you can't help but smell something fishy, and in the aftermath, you wonder how preventable it was if the leash was held just a little tighter...like Croaka-Cola. That mysterious leftover hyphen made me do a massive double-take because I have a distinct suspicion on its origin (no, I will not elaborate here, but if you know, you know). Considering Nintendo/Localsoft drama was reported sometime after the Super Mario RPG remake, and other strangeness like this top-left retranslated text-bubble and all the other in-game languages looking an awful lot like varying degrees of a master Japanese/English merged script, I've had this bad feeling that the scope of the official translators' fantastic work was extremely fragile, and that tears me up. But I digress; even if I find out I'm correct, I don't think the wiki's to blame. But it does show that we have the power to take a higher road less traveled, and for that, I strongly believe that the current restrictive system must be the lesser evil. Sorry if that sounds dramatic, but my honest fear is that the alternative would not be good in the long run, well-intentioned or not. If more fan-content cross-contamination controversies arise, don't tell me I didn't warn you. LinkTheLefty (talk) 14:45, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Oh, and also - what about dev data names like Informant Mūcho? Would those be affected by this proposal? I remember a discussion on this informant guy specifically on Discord leading into the discussion that lead to this proposal. Technetium (talk) 10:03, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Yes, the proposal states that it would "allow derived names to take precedent over internal and foreign names when those derived names are built upon a strong enough foundation". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 10:25, December 5, 2024 (EST)

This should also affect Fire Robota and Beam Robota, right? Their counterpart Yari Robota is the only one with a confirmed English name (Spear-bot) thanks to the Wario Land 3 manual. So in this case they would've been "Fire-bot" and "Beam-bot" respectively. Winstein (talk) 12:32, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I'd say that's too much of a stretch, isn't the point to only use these names when every part of them can be "derived" from other official names? "Fire" variants would usually (not always) be "Fire Enemy", not "Fire-enemy", and I don't know of any precedent for the naming of "Beam" variants. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 12:54, December 5, 2024 (EST)
As Hewer says, the elements making up those names and how they are localized into English do not have much data backing them up, as well as "Spear-bot" being somewhat of a portmantau rather than the standard "descriptor proper-name", and wouldn't make a clear consensus. --PopitTart (talk) 13:30, December 5, 2024 (EST)

@Roserade: The point isn't that the translation is bad, but that we shouldn't be the ones translating it, we should be providing the official names as they are. "Reasonably deducing what a translation should be" is not what the wiki is for (and "should" is also unavoidably subjective). Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 12:54, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Also,
"Ultimately, our aim as a fan wiki should be accessibility of its userbase"
No, our ultimate aim is to provide information about the subject matter that is as close to truth as possible. Or in the absence of something that can be deemed "truth", a consensus from the ones who handle the franchise. I'm kinda over this whole idea that accessibility comes at the cost of veracity and accuracy. Supper Mario Broth would be disappointed in us. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 13:20, December 5, 2024 (EST), edited 13:24, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Mostly towards KCC: I firmly hold that our ultimate aim should be accessibility. This is why we adjust literally anything on the wiki - table layouts, redirects, etc. If our purpose was just glossary, we'd be doing nothing but creating bulleted lists. Explicit or not, we are always aiming to create a space that best facilitates the accessing of information - and I feel that some of our delineations of what is a "valid" name or not stands in contrast to this aim. I'm noticing that you're using the language of is instead of should, and I just want to say that I'm sorry my vision of this website varies in some ways from yours, but I think other interpretations of what this site is aiming to do are just as valid as this "purely objective" one, especially when changes are community-headed. I feel like I'm arguing into a theoretical circle that isn't leading me anywhere as I type, but I hope my feelings are clear. I don't think using the mountain of evidence to determine why "Fire Spike" is an acceptable name is doing anything to damage the reputability or informational identity of the wiki, and it would allow our information to be more accessible at a glance. Roserade (talk) 15:51, December 5, 2024 (EST)
We are indeed aiming to create a space that best facilitates the accessing of information - official information, not fan names or information we think should be official. There's a big difference between changing the way we present information for accessibility and changing the information that we are presenting. The point of the wiki is only to present official information. I agree that Fire Spike would be a fine name for the character, but it's simply not official, so us wishing that it was does not constitute a "mountain of evidence". Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 16:15, December 5, 2024 (EST)
You are overlapping two extremely heterogenous aspects of the wiki: the presentation of information (including but not limited to, wording, layout, aesthetics), and the information itself. Yes, it's good to have information laid out in a pretty and accessible way, not so much when that bleeds into the information itself. So much for the accusation of bad faith when you're trying to liken the opposition's perspective to "we should only have bulleted lists!!!11"
Nintendo gives us a name for a subject, we use that. It's super clear-cut and avoids Hefty Goombrat-isms as well as eluding the need of a hundred disclaimers pointing to how the name is conjectural. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 16:54, December 5, 2024 (EST) edited 16:56, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Not directed at Koopa con Carne or Roserade or Hewer but in general: Just stepping in here to please keep things civil, please don't construct strawmen out of the oppositions' points. Thanks. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 17:04, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I saw that "Hefty Goombrat" was mentioned derisively in the previous proposal, and I'm curious as to why that is, beyond the compromises of any derived name? Kodeka Kakibō is extremely similar in both behavior and name to Kodeka Kuribō, so it appears simple from the outside. Is it because Hefty Goomba is the only point of official localization for "Kodeka"? --PopitTart (talk) 17:20, December 5, 2024 (EST)
It's a flowery name. "Wacky", if you will. It reeks of Fantendo. If you really want to give this enemy a conjectural name at the expense of the official one, just use "Big Goombrat"; not only do even bigger variants of this enemy not exist, but policy states that "When deciding on a name, the [conjectural] name must be simple yet accurate." -- KOOPA CON CARNE 18:05, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I'm not sure I agree with it being "flowery". It behaves just like and is particularly named just like the Kodeka Kuribō, so it follows that it would use the same naming scheme. Most enemies which are called "big" in English use simply "deka" in Japanese. I can understand being hesitant about using just the Hefty Goomba as reference, given this proposal hinges on the Mario franchise's tendency for consistent naming schemes. If this proposal passes, Kodeka Kakibō would probably warrant some discussion on its own. --PopitTart (talk) 18:27, December 5, 2024 (EST)
That just shows how subjective the entire basis of this proposal is. You think naming it as such is logical, but that is plain and simply an opinion, and not one that will necessarily be shared. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 18:31, December 5, 2024 (EST)
The point I brought up here was that Kodeka Kakibō is analogous to Big Goomba in Super Mario Maker 2, Hefty Goomba in Super Mario Bros. Wonder (per the new name), and indeterminate in Super Mario Run. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in such a loony scenario. LinkTheLefty (talk) 18:37, December 5, 2024 (EST)
That's starting off the assumption that the enemy in Super Mario Maker 2 is a "Kodeka Kakibō" to begin with, which, considering the equivalent Goomba enemy is officially referred to in Japanese as "Deka Kuribō", doesn't seem like a very reasonable assumption. Sure, they have the same role, but so do Maker's Big Goomba and New's Hefty Goomba. Blinker (talk) 07:35, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Exactly. The current merged article is trying to make the best out of a suboptimal situation. LinkTheLefty (talk) 09:40, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I think that it's still very key that the enemy is particularly named Kodeka Kakibō in Wonder, literally translating as "mini big Goombrat". Wonder continues to use the name Kodeka Kuribō for the Double-Sized-Goomba-That-Splits-Into-Regular-Goombas like the New Super Mario Bros. games before it, likely because of the presence of of actual Deka Kuribō that split into them. There is no such Deka Kakibō however, meaning they could have very well called the Double-Sized-Goombrat-That-Splits-Into-Regular-Goombrats a Deka Kakibō instead. Nintendo had it in mind that these two enemies were directly comparable, going so far as to give the Goombrat a name with a level of specificity (kodeka rather than just deka) it didn't need. As for how this plays into Super Mario Maker, I think it's fine to call the Double-Sized-Goombrat there a Kodeka Kuribō with a lack of evidence otherwise. It's not unheard of for enemies in Super Mario Maker to not just become "Big" when given a mushroom. --PopitTart (talk) 05:23, December 7, 2024 (EST)
Again, the problem with this is that it's all just your subjective interpretation. The fact there's even an argument to be had here about how to translate the name goes to show that it is not one of the "obvious" translations this proposal is going for. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 07:54, December 7, 2024 (EST)

Not gonna try to throw shade but while I agree with the proposal on derived names it does look odd that a large contigent of users that don't otherwise directly participate in the wiki voted, and voted in a quite short time span. Mario (Santa)'s map icon from Mario Kart Tour Mario-HOHO! (Talk / Stalk) 15:48, December 5, 2024 (EST)

People talk, especially in the wiki forum and the communities surrounding it, and sometimes a proposal can attract attention from veteran editors (especially when it is as interesting as this). Rare as it is, I think it's good that users with a long history of wiki contribution can still lend their opinion, even if they aren't currently active. UserPyroGuy.png (T · C) 16:19, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Wasn't there a hard rule against proposal soliciting? LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:24, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Discussing a proposal before posting it doesn't necessarily involve solicitation, as long as no one is asked to vote. -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 16:31, December 5, 2024 (EST)
There is a key difference between soliciting votes and simply bringing up a proposal to discuss it (the latter is what happened, of course). Everyone here is voting independently based on the subject matter, even if opinions align in this case. UserPyroGuy.png (T · C) 16:35, December 5, 2024 (EST)
What does make this different than outright meatpuppeting is that community members who voted here still at least had prior history editing even if they are active no longer, as opposed to in this case where oppose voters showed up only to vote in a single proposal and never contributed anywhere else. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 16:39, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Also I do disagree that merely discussing a proposal isn't a form of solicitation, even if there is no directly asking a user to vote. There will always be biases in play depending on who approaches you and why you approach particular people: I'm more inclined to vote in support of my sister's proposal because of such inherent biases at play, and more in favor of supporting other people's proposals because I'm more aligned with their judgement or I have personally more trust in them than others, even if the same points are made, we all do. However, I do think a rule against vote solicitation is unenforceable because at what parameters do people suddenly break the rule? There's always going to be some bias towards one side regardless if there was direct solicitation involved or if it's implicated (and the latter is much tougher to analyze but honestly it's not worth dissecting intentions, we're supposed to assume good faith in all users). BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 16:50, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I do hear that, but bringing up a proposal in a public space (such as the Discord server) surely would not be a form of solicitation in any case, and is a pretty straightforward and honest way of handling something like this. Just trying to look out for a newer user such as PopitTart in this case particularly since this is their first proposal, and I wouldn't want to accuse them of impropriety without some kind of evidence. -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 16:54, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Oh no, I understand your side. I'm just commenting that you can't completely avoid solicitation because of a lot of inherent biases that'll always be in play. Even writing a proposal practically is a sophisticated solicitation to get people to support you. In this case, I'd honestly have a proposal get votes from solicitation than proposals that end dead with a no quorum or extended dates. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 16:57, December 5, 2024 (EST)
This makes sense to me — I really mean that it's not an improper or untoward form of solicitation that the wiki ought to discourage in my opinion; I do definitely see what you mean about basic proposal-writing being some form of solicitation, lol. -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 17:01, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I discussed the subject at length on the Discord server prior to starting the proposal, as I'd never done one before and wanted to make sure I accounted for all the nuances of the topic and got all the bureaucratic details right. Several of the votes are from users who were in that discussion and presumably wanted to get their opinion in officially as soon as they could. --PopitTart (talk) 16:27, December 5, 2024 (EST)
@Mario Whether or not the votes have been solicited, I don't know. I'd not want that to be the case. But I think users should be allowed to voice their opinions on a wiki-relevant matter regardless of how much "credit" they have to their name as a user of the wiki, and regardless of whether they are a user at all or not. Otherwise the site just becomes a clique of stuffy nerds who monopolize the work done here and pretend it's justifiable just because they're more involved. This isn't a shade to the opposition (especially since I'm part of it), it just seems like a natural course of things in the given scenario. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 18:51, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Problem I have is less the idea of what is and isn't solicitation and more that something organized in such a way will of course have more users who have already made up their mind compared to the active users who generally pay conscientious attention to proposal discussions. LinkTheLefty (talk) 19:05, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I still don't see an ethical problem in this. Indeed, there are a few users whose entire activity in the past years has been to vote for the prevailing sentiment in a discussion, refuse to elaborate, promptly leave. I understand your concern, as you're dedicated to the project and your intentions have been nothing but good--full disclosure, hopefully I don't offend by being honest, but I don't personally like the practice so described either--however, everyone here has a given freedom to vote. If they're not carrying out a concerted effort to sway a consensus, I'm not one to stop them, and I wouldn't be above them were I more conscientious. Most importantly, they're still part of the community even if they're not as active in the space designated the "wiki". -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:25, December 5, 2024 (EST), edited 19:27, December 5, 2024 (EST)
No offense taken whatsoever, though I do think it's curious that right after you say you don't see a problem, you then voted "mostly to the detriment of the first option." And, fine, if that's what it comes down to, but I think that adds fuel to my distrust of setting proposals up in Discord servers or however this happened. LinkTheLefty (talk) 20:40, December 5, 2024 (EST)
When I said I dislike the practice "so described", I wasn't referring to your behavior, so I apologize if it came off that way. Also, I'm not part of the Discord server. If the other option was added following a discussion over there, I don't know. I don't think I'm being disingenuous with my statements if I then choose to vote mostly against another option--as I said, everyone's got certain freedoms in these activities. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 20:56, December 5, 2024 (EST)
The decision to add the third option was based on comments here, (see Lady Sophie's above and Exiled.Serenity's below) and discussed briefly on the Discord server to, again, make sure I'm doing all the formatting and such correctly for my first time.--PopitTart (talk) 21:15, December 5, 2024 (EST)
To explain the ire against inactive users coming out of the woodwork to vote on something and do nothing else, the fact that they do nothing else means they won't have to deal with the consequences of a disastrous idea they're supporting. And in many cases, the wiki was a different place when they were active. My mind keeps going to this edit, which was performed in 2014 by a user who hadn't been active since 2006, and was so out-of-tune with how the wiki was by then that it is preserved in the BJaODN now. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 12:48, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I disagree that votes cast with relative detachment from the Mario Wiki project are inherently discourteous or damaging. Sure, concerning the proposal itself, it technically erodes the site's stated promise of accuracy, and I'm firmly against it... but a descriptor like "disastrous" kind of overstates the scale of a problem whose greatest possible impact on society is influencing a couple of names in a media franchise (as with Super Mario Encyclopedia). People voting for that to happen is a big nothing burger in the grand scheme of things, however much we scrape the paint off our keyboards arguing, and if you disagree with the consensus, you're not forced to make the proposed changes yourself. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 16:31, December 6, 2024 (EST), edited 16:40, December 6, 2024 (EST)
"Disastrous" was not referring to this proposal specifically, more the issue in general. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 16:37, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Hey, when you happen to be on many peoples' lists of best-maintained wikis, there naturally comes a certain pressure not to upend the teatable, as it were. LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:58, December 6, 2024 (EST)

Still undecided on this, but to build on Lady Sophie's point above, it feels like we're drawing kind of an arbitrary line here. For example: The internal name we have for what the wiki calls "Comet Tico" is "TicoComet.arc", so we're already making the assumption that this is a Comet Tico and not a Tico Comet, that these are actually intended as two words at all, that the file extension is not intended as part of the name, and that the name of the file even describes what's in the file. Which is all reasonable, of course, since the surrounding context of other entities' official names heavily implies that all that is supposed to be the case. However, if we're worried about maintaining strict adherence to the text, I'd argue none of that is valid. The only appropriate page name would be "TicoComet.arc", which I don't like personally, but at least it'd be consistent. Or, of course, we could take the final step of also assuming that the word "Tiko" is just the Japanese term for Luma, and treating it as such. Sarah Exiled.Serenity talk 17:39, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I'm pretty sure "Comet Tico" was also the name from the Japanese version of the SMB Encyclopedia. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 17:43, December 5, 2024 (EST)
The Comet Tico page uses the dev data template, so that's probably not true. This has also been done with several other articles that have titles derived from internal data - Dark Nokonoko and Disaster Neko, to name a couple. Adding to this, we also have Peddler Kinopio, which is only labeled "PeddlerKNP" in the files. --Waluigi's head icon in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Too Bad! Waluigi Time! 17:49, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I mean, there is Bone Run Run Packun named as such, despite the existence of a proper Japanese name, Ran Ran Hone Pakkun. I would've tried to get it moved when I noticed, but I think it would be best to wait for this proposal to end so we don't have to potentially move it twice.--PopitTart (talk) 17:58, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Looks like someone beat me to it, but here's my response anyway: "Looking at the Comet Tico page, it has the disclaimer that the name comes from development data. Not sure if that's accurate or not, but the only other name cited (コメットチコ) is from the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, and is in untransliterated Japanese. Either way, I don't think it changes my point much." Sarah Exiled.Serenity talk 17:57, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Would those other pages be affected by this proposal? I don't know of other "Disaster" variants to use as precedent for Disaster Neko, and both it and Dark Nokonoko have another Japanese name listed on their articles that doesn't seem to be from internal data, so how do we know which one an official translation would use? (I feel like these kinds of disagreements that require subjective decisions are another point against this proposal.) As for Peddler KNP, I'd be fine using that name. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 18:03, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I agree we should not be manipulating in-game file name data just to procure something that makes more linguistic sense to us, but I view names like "Comet Tico" or most of the unlocalized subjects from Super Mario Bros. Wonder to just be Romanizations of their Japanese names, which is something I support. I know from firsthand experience in other fields that this is not an uncommon practice for English texts directed at Japanese audiences, and I do not agree it hurts accessibility or readability. It is just a sincere reflection of what we have, and I would rather not give the impression otherwise. Good reference material make efforts to mitigate the spread of misinformation. - Nintendo101 (talk) 18:09, December 5, 2024 (EST)
This is basically the equivalent of transliterating loanwords in foreign names, which is a minimum for language legibility. The way files are typically written is for the base version to be the first word, and then variant characteristics appended afterwards. That's just a consequence of organization, keeping alike things alphabetically arranged for ease of reference. Not all the time, but usually, and CamelCase also denotes where there would normally be a space. Cross-referencing also indicates how the names were likely intended to be read. Maybe the template wording can be revised a little bit. (Comet Tico is, by the way, a proposal suggestion to override Lumacomète.) LinkTheLefty (talk) 18:20, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Why are foreign names being compared so much to internal names anyway? I've yet to encounter a foreign name that doesn't make sense syntactically, even in English (in "Fire Gabon are enemies in Super Mario Bros. Wonder", you immediately understand the subject to be a fiery variant of a thing called "Gabon"; "Kodeka Kakibo" can be read by someone who doesn't know Japanese as simply the subject's name). There is more often than not some creative intent behind them, and using them in no way hurts accessibility as feared. In stark contrast, internal names are supposed to be utilitarian and may not translate well into prose ("Nokonoko Darks are enemies in Super Mario Bros. Wonder has the flow of a ball of wet wipes in a drain). -- KOOPA CON CARNE 18:30, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I will say this: if it's considered too speculative to say that Mario logically shouldn't get a sunstroke in the basement, then outright making something up for quote-unquote "accessibility" at the expense of accuracy, the latter of which is our express goal, is definitely too speculative. You might think "Fire Spike" is an educated guess or something to that effect, but really, it's just a guess. It is not our prerogative to make up names or localize the games, which is why we only do the former when we have literally no viable alternative. This system we have is not arbitrary, this is the only way to do it while keeping accuracy as the main focus. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 17:59, December 5, 2024 (EST)

I want to offer this insight, shared by CM30 in the Discord server (with permission to repost), that I believe articulates part of my argument better than I was able to:
"My opinion on this matter is that user readability should come first on an English speaking wiki. A reader shouldn't need an image or description to understand what a page is referring to, and that's a huge problem with relying too heavily on untranslated or foreign names.
And while you could argue that names should be official where possible, if they're literally just descriptions I see no harm in using a translation"
This is mostly what I mean about accessibility. Getting a first click of engagement is the most important step to getting someone what they're looking for on the wiki, and article titles that don't give clear communication of what a player has seen hinders this process and can cause confusion instead. Again, it's not true for every article that can be interpreted - only ones that have sufficient indication of what their derived name should be. Roserade (talk) 18:24, December 5, 2024 (EST)

Beyond my usual disagreements that being an English wiki means that English material is to be treated as The One and Only Source of Truth...
"A reader shouldn't need an image or description to understand what a page is referring to"
This makes zero sense. I'm sorry. I mean no offense to CM30, but if an encyclopedia wouldn't employ descriptions and demonstrative attachments, it wouldn't be an encyclopedia at all. It would be something closer to a... glossary.
A reader who's never had so much contact with the Mario franchise wouldn't immediately think of a brown anthropomorphic mushroom upon seeing the word "Goomba". That's where the wiki aids them with descriptions and images. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 18:41, December 5, 2024 (EST)
It's still presenting conjecture over official names. Which is not how we operate, nor should it be. Just because something's "easier to understand" doesn't make it better. Opening Fire Gabon's page with "Fire Spikes are enemies from Super Mario Bros. Wonder" rubs me too much the wrong way because it's deliberately demoting the only official name we have for it in favor of something that is entirely based on guesswork. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 18:43, December 5, 2024 (EST)
But the "only official name" is itself not official. The Japanese name is "Faia Gabon" so the "Fire" part is derived, the internal name is "EnemyFireGabon" so if that counts as official (which I personally disagree with, seeing as it's internal data the developer never would have intended to be seen publicly, if we had no official confirmed name for an enemy in a game and it was internally labelled as "Enemy1.pack.zs" would we call the page "Enemy 1"?) then "Fire Gabon" is still a derived name from that. If you think we should be prescriptivist about this, fine, but don't pick and choose what you apply these rules to and what you don't. FakeIco MCD.png

MrConcreteDonkey 19:10, December 5, 2024 (EST)

"Faia" is the English word "fire" written for a syllabic language. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 19:28, December 5, 2024 (EST)
It's literally just the word "fire" uttered using Japanese characters. It's a matter of linguistic stricture. Deriving the word "fire" from the word "fire" is neither conjecture or prescriptivist LMAO. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:37, December 5, 2024 (EST)
Why is this starting to sound like that "tsk, it's not Mamu, it's Mamū" joke I made a while ago? Okay, several things. Firstly, everything in a game, including the parts that make it tick, is official. By definition. This is no personal agreement or disagreement to be made here. The word you seem to be looking for is "canon", which is not an argument this wiki is interested in. If a development name is too utilitarian to use, simple: we don't use it (for example, Kongā being one of the numbered "waru" DK-bots). In the case that there is no foreign name, we'd probably use a conjectural name than that hypothetical example. The remaining Fire/Faia argument displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how language and databasing work (as already gone over), and the proposer mixed in both under one new option, seemingly redefining our longstanding common-sense rules under the "derived" umbrella (frankly, slipping in perceived Japanese word quibbles is an overreach of this name proposal). And utilizing different sources effectively makes encyclopedias encyclopedic. Becoming the Sūpā Mario Burazāzu Wiki will, in my opinion, put a damper on our reliability. There is nothing broken to fix here. LinkTheLefty (talk) 21:28, December 5, 2024 (EST)
I didn't catch that the second option apparently violates the wiki's guidelines, I'm not a frequent editor and I simply went off what discussion in here suggested. I would be okay with the option being reworded to allow loan words to remain as their English spelling if necessary.--PopitTart (talk) 22:18, December 5, 2024 (EST)
It’s worth noting that MarioWiki:Naming#Japanese specifically mentions that names such as “Yoshi” and “Koopa” should use their official English names in article titles that don’t have an official English name. Granted, it doesn’t specify every context that this should be used in or which other names this would apply to, however I feel that it would be logical to extend this existing rule to enemy names that already have an offical English translation, like Spike or Luma. - Ninelevendo's Sig Image 01:08, December 6, 2024 (EST)
The difference is between transcription of names and translation of names. It's saying to write Kuppa as Koopa, not to replace it with Bowser. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 02:55, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Not entirely sure if transcription is the right term to use here or if transliteration would be more accurate, however your point is valid that this seems to be a slightly different topic from the one at hand, so I’ll admit that my previous comment might not be relevant to this discussion. - Ninelevendo's Sig Image
Yes, that's the use case. Personally, when I see Japanese names being swapped out for English ones, I'm not going to be thinking, "ah, finally, Bauzā no Hikōsen da yo," I'll be thinking, "oh, is this one of those times the Western name made it to Japanese media?" Anyway, let me get the second option straight. If it passes, I'm taking it that the changes will look something like this?

Just wanted to make sure the rest of you who didn't dip out yet are all on the same page lol LinkTheLefty (talk) 09:40, December 6, 2024 (EST)

This proposal shouldn't have touched development data names. This is a completely separate topic that needs a discussion of its own. Axii (talk) 10:14, December 6, 2024 (EST)

You're right. There certainly was a switcharoo here, wasn't there? After coordinated 20 voted for an option that's technically no longer there. What is going on? We should at least have a rule that proposals initially written with group input can't be revised afterwards, or a voting cap before revisions are unallowed... LinkTheLefty (talk) 10:30, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Was there an actual executional difference added to the basic "Support" option? I don't think I'm catching one. Ahemtoday (talk) 10:54, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I believe the distinction being made is that "Informant" is not an established adjective for enemies, so in grouping Informant Mucho into option 1, the premise has been ever so slightly changed from "if the parts of the name have been translated separately we are allowed to put the translations together" to "grant increased permission to extrapolate a 'normal' name from development data" (EDIT:slight misreading)Salmancer (talk) 10:58, December 6, 2024 (EST)
This is not really different from the "Comet" in Comet Tico though, and "Informant" is literally written in English in the game files in that case (not translated by wiki users). Only "Mūcho" would be translated to Snifit in that case, much as it always has been, which is definitely the sort of thing that the first 20 supporters voted for. I don't think that the wool is being pulled over anyone's eyes. (edit: and, as someone who voted shortly before option 2 was added, I knew that this is what I was voting for.) -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 11:25, December 6, 2024 (EST)
So what's the article title of this informant character going to be? If it's anything other than "B4_Informant_MUC", wouldn't it be classified as a "derived" name? See the problem? LinkTheLefty (talk) 11:32, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Informant Snifit, presumably, if the proposal passes—I'm not sure I'm understanding the confusion? This is the type of derived/translated name that the proposal is seeking to allow. -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 11:36, December 6, 2024 (EST)
...I just made a list of what the second option would do if it passes, right above. LinkTheLefty (talk) 11:40, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Apologies, I misunderstood and thought we were discussing the results of option 1... In that case I agree that the informant should be moved to B4_Informant_MUC if option 2 passes, yeah. I don't see how this is misleading anyone or making previous votes invalid, though? -- Pseudo (talk, contributions) User:Pseudo 11:44, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Sorry, I misspoke a little bit since I had the first and second updates mixed up in my head in this roller-coaster of a proposal. To recap, there were a total of :30: votes at the time the proposal was first updated, and the odd timing of in/semi-active editors had already been brought up at that point. At the time of the second update, the second option was dialed back - as it should have been since that would have to be the focus of a writing guideline proposal - but nearly :10: users had already voted for the earlier version of that option. Make sense? LinkTheLefty (talk) 11:32, December 6, 2024 (EST)
If the proposal's Ship-of-Theseus'd itself into a different thing entirely after so many votes, it should probably be canceled and never restarted. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 12:30, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I'll take Nintendo101's word below, but I still don't think option updates should've happened with something that grew so large already. That just brought needless confusion, especially when eyebrows were already raised. If we're going to be super-technical, isn't the act of transliteration itself not a derivative form? I'll say it again: templates could probably just be rephrased. Also, if community-made proposals are technically not breaking any rules now, I believe we'll definitely be thinking about making some rules later. Speaking for myself, I've always made sure my proposals stood on their own in all my time here; if I ever talked about my proposal plans, I'm pretty sure I've never given a time frame or 'advertised' (for lack of better word) when it was ready, and if I've ever talked about an active one, I'm pretty sure it was nearly always to give courtesy when proposal options have changed or when new information comes to light. That method has worked out for most wiki proposals fairly well. I've never once paid attention to or noticed anything involving Discord discussions, and this may be the first time I've come across a Discord-community-developed proposal. Why not go all out and let Super Mario Wiki's social media followers in on this proposal's existence too? As long as we don't tell them how to vote, of course. Now that'd be interesting. Or is that too far? LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:22, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I don't know how much the owners of the Twitter account (where the bulk of the site's social media presence lies) are willing to lay a spotlight on the wiki's dramas, even if you loosely describe the Twitter as an extension of the wiki community. There's something ironic in saying that these discussions may be too heated for a Twitter user, however, I always thought the Mario Wiki account tries to maintain an attitude of good humor towards its followers, and the vibe of a discussion like the one here feels kind of contrary to that. The most I've seen of the account actively promoting inner-wiki endeavours were things related to The 'Shroom or requesting volunteers to provide some source material.
The people at the Discord server and Mario Boards are more readily available to vote because a lot of them are signed up wiki users, with at least some history here, and who are more used to these discussions. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 17:13, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Could always make a sub-account. I call it... Super Mario Wiki: Proposal Patrol. Alerts followers of new proposals and developments. I'm half-joking, of course. LinkTheLefty (talk) 17:58, December 6, 2024 (EST)
This is not a "Discord-community-developed proposal" and it is very disappointing that this is your impression from the details I provided. I find it incredibly bad faith. The advice given to PopitTart entailed suggesting she give examples of what this proposal would look like if enacted and making sure it was formatted correctly in terms of date and voting options. That is literally it. She did not even tell anyone when she published it. That is extremely innocuous and common practice, and has always been available to you or any user on this site, via reach out on talk pages, Mario Boards, or Discord. It is not at all uncouth. - Nintendo101 (talk) 18:30, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Don't get me wrong. I trust your assessment of the situation. It's just that the Discord side of things is, to the old-fashioned like me, a mystery box. I don't see, I'm not involved. It was Admin Mario who pointed out the obvious irregularity, and that part of the discussion rolled from there. I'm just making it clear that I'm one of the ones who wouldn't like it to become a new regular. LinkTheLefty (talk) 19:12, December 6, 2024 (EST)
For full disclosure, I am a regular participant in the Super Mario Wiki Discord and I actively gave PopitTart pointers on how to write this very proposal, including the inclusion of that second voting option. I disagree with the proposed changes and still do, but that is less important to me than helping a less experienced user do the best job they can. But the point is that I was privy to the surrounding discourse.
From my perspective, I saw an inexperienced user from a NIWA wiki with different naming policies (and one who has also been more active on the Discord over the past year or so just because it is friendly space, so it is not like they mysteriously rose out of the woodwork just to make this proposal) passively share that they thought it was silly to not translate some of these straight-forward Japanese names, and other users through their own volition and agency openly agreed with them, some of which quite strongly. I did not personally see anyone encourage them to write this proposal with the aims of taking down a policy they dislike, ask others to vote, to vote in any particular way, or coordinate a plan to vote together as a group. (I did see encouragement from the perspective that it is nice to see an inexperienced contributor want to develop a main page proposal, as staff and senior editors generally support people taking initiatives and participating in community-driven spaces like proposals, but that is not the same thing, at least in my view.) Again, maybe this still feels uncomfortable, but I did not see anything I would consider to be "solicitation." I saw a user share a view that others agreed with, and they decided to make a proposal. Maybe proposals should be written with that as a disclaimer, but I do not think it is the same as solicitation. I do not think anyone here, be it supporter or opposition, is here in bad faith, and only want the wiki to be the best it can be, and I hope folks remember this even if the proposal is not going in the direction they would like.
For me, at the end of the day, I want to give readers good, accurate, and reliably attested information, even if about silly Nintendo games. I do not feel comfortable asserting "there is an enemy called Fire Spike in Super Mario Bros. Wonder", because that is not true. It is not called that in any Mario media. The impression I have is that I am calling it that because I want to call it that. Saying there is an enemy called Fire Gabon or even rendering that name as Faia Gabon, to me, is accurate and is just the information we have at the moment. The fact that this name looks silly next to related enemies like Stone Spike is a lot less substantive to me. I do not discount accessibility and readability as important - they absolutely are. I want people to come here, learn, and appreciate the work we do. However, I also believe readers are entitled to accurate information and I want the wiki to be trusted source. I do think the proposed changes weaken that a bit. There have been many good-faith arguments from the supporters - especially from Roserade and Hooded Pitohui - but none have addressed this impression of mine. My feelings are not as strong for in-game file names because the subjects I personally work with on the wiki typically have official names or are at least mentioned informally in officially-licensed literature, but I at least have found your remarks on this persuasive, LinkTheLefty. I think I realize from this discussion that I would support the Romanization of official Japanese names to take priority over internal file designations for games developed by Japanese speakers, but that is not what that this proposal is about. - Nintendo101 (talk) 13:00, December 6, 2024 (EST)
While I won't accuse the support to have been coordinated, especially coming off of your message, I will criticize the Discord folk for their tendency to come here with their mind made and refuse to take any of the counterarguments in consideration. "You want to make this wiki less accessible", "Encyclopedias should not rely on descriptions", and "ファイア is definitely not the same thing as the English word 'fire' in a different writing system" are not arguments made in good faith. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 13:32, December 6, 2024 (EST)
I don't want this to turn into full discourse unrelated to the proposal, but I also think it's entirely unfair to assume attitudes like this, and to misconstrue arguments to put words in people's mouths. Everyone I've seen discuss this on Discord has fully acknowledged that counterarguments have merits, including myself. I read every single comment on this proposal before I ever placed my own vote or comment. And I never once said that I think your aim is to make things less accessible for the entire wiki - I stated why I feel like this change would improve accessibility, which is a different argument altogether. Also feels just a hair hypocritical to say that we're appearing while refusing to take in counterarguments, while you began this proposal process with a bolded statement on what our website's intention is, which felt like you staunchly claiming that your position would not change. I'm not going to engage with this any further than that, just, worth acknowledging. Roserade (talk) 13:53, December 6, 2024 (EST)
Your impression seems to be that my bolded statement was an opinion--if I'm wrong, correct me--but I was merely highlighting a truth: the express mission statement and, until some time ago, prevailing sentiment in the site was that it should present information as accurately to the source material as possible. Speculation has always been frowned upon and removed on sight here. If there is ever going to be a global consenus that it's a better direction for the wiki to consistently let users make up their own constructs and pass them off as fact, I can accept it. Until then, I will try to uphold the above principle and bring attention to any developments that undermine the current explicit direction. This is not hypocrisy. The provision of facts in a medium with educational purpose is not negotiable, and I'm certain you are sensible enough to understand that. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 14:34, December 6, 2024 (EST), edited 14:39, December 6, 2024 (EST)
On supporting official Japanese names over internal file designations - there are also a lot of names that are perfectly good, near-1:1 translations of Japanese equivalents. From my list: Banana Squid, barbell, Black Fairy /Attack, Electricity Block, Fairy Board & Trampoline, Ice Snake Block, Rolling Frog, Snow Mole, Spring & Surprised Flowers, and Assembly Blocks, to name a few; surely these would be preferable to Banana Ika, Tetsu Arei, Kuro Yōsei /Attacker, Hōden Block, Yōsei Ban & Trampoline, Kōri Snake Block, Koro Gaeru, Yuki Mogura, Bane & Bikkuri Hana, and Gattai Block, respectively. I was actually thinking of making my own proposal that would virtually be a controlled version of this one, which would formalize dev transliterations to go alongside these exceptions (for example, what we currently do with Bakky and Big Run Run Packun over Bakkī and Deka Run Run Pakkun, but extended as an additional reference point for "officialness" over fan-names). This proposal made me realize that...internal name handling was never formally codified in writing guidelines somewhere, was it? Rather, it's always been buried in discussions, even though I could've sworn otherwise. LinkTheLefty (talk) 05:05, December 7, 2024 (EST)

I understand that at this point whether or not I vote is kinda irrelevant, but still, I'm curious, would Jewel Rausuto be moved to Jewel Goob or stay as is? I'd rather have it stay as is, personally. After all, "Summon Rausuto" and "Kill Rausuto" are officially translated as "Diffusing Goob" and "Lethal Goob" respectively. Blinker (talk) 17:42, December 6, 2024 (EST)

Hey, there's still 13 whole days left in this proposal, anything can happen. If you feel strongly about it, you should certainly make your voice heard. As for the Jewel Rausuto, I'm unsure, which means it probably should not be translated. You are correct that Diffusing Goob and Lethal Goob are not direct translations despite using English words, however Bomb Goob, Mini Goob, Regen Goob, and Speed Goob are. With that though, the "Jewel" part of the name is questionable. It drops gems when attacked, not jewels, so it's harder to make the same argument as Comet Luma here. This may be another case of individual subject discussion. --PopitTart (talk) 18:07, December 6, 2024 (EST)

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of either of the proposed changes, though I do agree the current guidelines need to be changed somehow. For example, Disaster Neko isn't the name in any language, it's not something that readers could intuitively search for, is barely comprehensible to most readers, and isn't even the actual filename. That's no good. Obviously there's no perfect solution (beyond Nintendo taking the time to properly localise everything we could write an article about, which realistically isn't going to happen), but might there be merit in pausing this proposal somehow? Given that there's now precedent for additional voting options being added in response to feedback, I think it would be worth letting the discussion play out without there being 'stakes' i.e. the voting deadline and the recognition that this will affect many, many pages.

I'm not an active editor and certainly not knowledgeable on the exact procedures of wiki proposals, but if there was an option to reset, re-discuss, and restart the proposal with voting options that properly reflected the outcome of the discussion, I would go for that. UserPyroGuy.png (T · C) 18:14, December 6, 2024 (EST)

I'm not certain about the logistics about pausing a proposal or anything of that sort (nor would I have any stake in such a decision), but I will say, I do think the idea of letting the discussion play out without "stakes", as you say, has merit. Something here on which I agree with KCC on is that this is ultimately related to the mission of the site, and perceptions and sentiments around how to achieve that mission. What this proposal is adressing is a matter of organizing, categorizing, and especially presenting information, and that tends to invoke considerations of high-level, philosophical approaches. Unlike, say, a hypothetical proposal to merge two varieties of Goombas, the discussion doesn't hinge on demonstrating some detail is true or false; instead, we're explorting as a community a major aspect of how we fulfill our mission of collecting and presenting the Mario franchise to an audience of Internet users. Whenever a discussion veers into philosophies around categorizing and presenting information, you often get a surprising diversity of views, and those views tend to be strongly held - if you've ever waded into taxonomy, you'll see it!
In light of that, I think firm guidance is beneficial on a high-level, philosophical matter like this, and that the wiki staff are in the best position to offer those kinds of firm guidelines. That's not to say that there's no room for community input! On the contrary, I think discussions like this are highly beneficial, both to the community at large so that editors can guage one another's opinions and as a way for wiki staff to see that this is an issue under consideration of the wiki, but I do wonder if there could be a more accessible or active public arena for them (like the forum) outside of formal proposals. Proposals necessarily have a time limit, and necessarily are limited to one outcome or the other (though certainly measures can be taken to address the concerns of voters on the opposite side or sides), both of which put pressure on the discussion.
All of this is to say, I think TPG has a good point. A discussion like this might benefit from playing out without the constraints of a proposal. And as a personal thought, unrelated to TPG's, seeing as this speaks to those philosophies or organizing and presenting information, I would personally have no objection if the wiki staff were to sit on the points raised in the discussion and to issue a policy ruling based on the outcome of their deliberations. I'm not advocating for that. The staff know better than I do if that's a wise course of action or not, after all! Rather, I only mean that I would personally find that an acceptable resolution as well as resolution by proposal, whatever their decision.
All of that said, I do still want to commend PopitTart for bringing the proposal up in the first place. I've said before and I'll say again, I think it was a good effort from an earnest contributor, and the vigorous discussion is has produced is ultimately a positive for putting the wiki's editors on the same page even if there are disagreements. I hope you will continue to contribute to the wiki and that you feel comfortable here! Hooded Pitohui (talk)
I would be open to this idea, if it is indeed a viable option allowed by the rules. The addition of Option 2 was made in response to feedback, but with less thought than it might have needed compared to the original proposal. Doing this could also help quell the worries of solicitation and Discord interference by some, since much more discussion would nessesarily be on-wiki.--PopitTart (talk) 19:33, December 6, 2024 (EST)

All this discussion about the veracity of the proposal itself, and we honestly still don't know what the plan is for if the second option passes. Like, what, do we actually rename Pump Mario to "STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI"? The proposal suggests that some names would be trimmed, but the only example trims just a number; there are no numbers in that mouthful. Where exactly are we intending to draw the line? Do we go as far as to just trim it to "PUMP_MARIO"? Is it really more accurate to just make the name all-caps and include an underscore? How exactly do we intend to make these longer internal names make sense grammaticaly, within the actual article text? ~Camwoodstock (talk) 19:13, December 6, 2024 (EST)

I belive internal names could be trimmed down, but it would be up to more disccussion. It was suggested earlier that things could be formatted as "STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI is the internal name for a form taken on by Mario in the Mario & Luigi series". --PopitTart (talk) 19:33, December 6, 2024 (EST)
We are not going to "pause" a proposal. If a proposal cannot proceed because it needs to be ironed out more, it should be canceled and go back to a drawing board on a sandbox page pending more discussion. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 20:26, December 6, 2024 (EST)
It'd be helpful if the list of projected first-option changes was also in full; the last time derived names was used, it was mostly directionless and led to many conflicting ideas on how to go about it, and it should be the proposer's duty to reassure us. LinkTheLefty (talk) 10:55, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I've started such a list on my userpage, currently with just subjects listed in Category:Articles with titles from development data as there are a lot of articles in the foreign language category to sift through. The proposed names are sorted into categories based on their varacity.--PopitTart (talk) 17:44, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I still intend to abstain from this proposal, but as for your list, Dark Nokonoko, Wonder Packun, and Mecha Nokonoko feel more like they'd fit in the Shy Guy zone than the categories you placed them in. As with Shy Guys, Koopa Troopa and Piranha Plant variants use both the base species' full names and the shortened "Koopa" and "Piranha" respectively. In particular, the Wonder Packun's similarities to the Cloud Piranhas should be noted—both are associated with Castle Bowser and appear exclusively in Super Mario Bros. Wonder's world map as barricades of sorts. On the other hand, Mecha Nokonoko wouldn't overlap with Mechakoopa if you were to refer to it as "Mecha Koopa Troopa". The other categorizations seem sound to me, though. SolemnStormcloud (talk) 20:24, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I never clocked "X Piranha" or "X Koopa" as being distinct means of naming, rather a shortening of what the full "X Piranha Plant "X Koopa Troopa" name would have been. But, that is still a very fair pespective that should be considered.--PopitTart (talk) 20:54, December 7, 2024 (EST)
In my opinion, longer names make more sense for all of the tossups except Wonder Packun/Piranha. Packun/Flower and Hey/ho have precedence as the long-short forms. Noko less so, but it can be confused with other Koopas. LinkTheLefty (talk) 04:15, December 8, 2024 (EST)
I mean, that only really works out for the opening of articles. What about when the name appears mid-sentence? We mentioned it in the vote itself, but we can't think of a way to make "They consistently spew water into a small basin, allowing Mario to swallow some and turn into Pump Mario." flow well if Pump Mario is now STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI. Like, what, do we say "Allowing mario to swallow some and turn into the form known as STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI in the data"? Asinine wouldn't even begin to describe that one... ~Camwoodstock (talk) 11:03, December 7, 2024 (EST)
"become this form," I'd say. As long as it doesn't end up like this, that should be fine. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 11:34, December 7, 2024 (EST)
The question is how does another article that isn't primarily about the form refer to it? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 11:37, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I would say at the very least STRM_SE_ wouldn't be included in the article name, as this is very clearly info to signify that the file is a sound effect, not actually a name for the form itself. Shy Guy on WheelsSGoW sig.png(T|C|S) 11:57, December 7, 2024 (EST)
Neither is "KUSUGURI". That means "tickle", referring to the Tickle move. It's not part of the name for the form, so saying that the form is referred to as STRM_SE_PUMP_MARIO_KUSUGURI is just incorrect. It's referred to IN the name, but not AS the name. Blinker (talk) 13:16, December 7, 2024 (EST)
Then what's left? Just PUMP_MARIO? Are we really going to enforce it being all-caps and with an underscore if the second option passes, just in the name of "accuracy"? ~Camwoodstock (talk) 13:30, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I was wondering when someone would notice. Looks like "PUMP_MARIO" it is, although I am reminded of this old common-sense proposal. If we did something like that, we might even be able to use...well, you know. LinkTheLefty (talk) 13:34, December 7, 2024 (EST)
At that point, if preserving the original presentation is so important that some names from internal data have to be shown in SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE, then shouldn't moderately-large-persimmon-enemy's name be rendered in kana as こでかカキボー? Otherwise, how is it too speculative to give a name sensible capitalization and, you know, spaces, but not to change it to an entirely different writing system? (Of course, I'm not actually arguing for using Japanese characters in page titles, in case that isn't clear.) Blinker (talk) 16:31, December 7, 2024 (EST)
I mean, there's this nifty feature called "redirects"... LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:51, December 7, 2024 (EST)
We should omit underscores for page names for wiki purposes. Underscores are added to filenames solely for programming reasons because reading scripts for filenames can get fucked up if spaces are used rather than underscores. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 20:22, December 7, 2024 (EST)

The more I think of it, the funnier the idea gets of straight up using filenames to name things on the wiki. I unironically want to see that.
>be me
>cheepcheep.gif
-- KOOPA CON CARNE 17:28, December 7, 2024 (EST)

I have "completed" (it's a simple once-over of the dev data and foreign language cateories) a list of articles that might be affected by option 1 of this proposal passing, and what their new names could be, or what further discussion about them individually may entail. For the sake of not making this proposal even more oversized than it already is, I'll just link to where I've written it on my userpage.--PopitTart (talk) 22:29, December 7, 2024 (EST)

@DesaMatt: The opposition's point (or at least my point) isn't that the wiki is an official source or is trying to be one. I think many people here would be confused and displeased if "Fire Gabon" actually became the official English name. Rather, the fact that we're not an official source means it isn't our job to translate names that official sources have not translated. There's a difference between being an official source and being a source that compiles information from official sources. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 08:45, December 8, 2024 (EST)

I read their argument as moreso that, what is the meaningful difference between writing "Deka Hoppin are large Hoppycats" (quote directly from the current page) and just calling it "Big Hoppycat"? Both examples require inference of things that haven't officially been stated in English."Why is it bad to call Fire Spike by that name term when everyone can agree that's what they are but it's not bad to describe anything using words that were never used by Nintendo at all?"--PopitTart (talk) 11:31, December 8, 2024 (EST)
Come to think of it, that whole "deka" mess still has yet to be sorted out. Regardless, while I like that this now has a more defined structure, I'll touch on my main position a little more. If this wiki is big enough to be a significant point of reference by all sorts anyway - amateur and industry alike - I'd rather we take the path that results in the least trouble for all parties. More fan-tweaks means more opportunities to accidentally violate CC BY-SA 3.0 (no, I don't think the inverse is nearly as likely when the alternative obfuscates officiality). I firmly believe that direction - and votes like DesaMatt's show that at least it is seen as a step in another direction - will erode wiki usability and license trust in the long run. The second option is arguably the most immediately satisfactory in that regard, but you know how I felt about that earlier, and I and others are starting to think that dev data would best be reevaluated in another proposal. I speak for myself, not of all the opposition. LinkTheLefty (talk) 13:27, December 8, 2024 (EST)
My perspective is that page titles and page text are somewhat different matters, where titles are trying to reflect actual official sources as much as possible while page text is trying to explain official sources. We do translate Fire Gabon to "Fire Spike" in its names in other languages section, because that's us explaining the official name, but "Fire Spike" itself is not an official name that has ever been used, so it shouldn't be the title. Sort of like how we're allowed to comment on Podley's resemblance to the Beanish without declaring that he officially is one. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 15:33, December 8, 2024 (EST)
The difference, to me at least, is that "Deka Hoppin" is the enemy's name, and "Big Hoppycat" is not. That's it. This enemy is a big Hoppycat, and I do not think anyone is arguing it is not. Describing it as such is an accurate, literal reading of the game and the enemy's physical design, and it even has the name of its parent species ホッピン (Hoppin) in its own Japanese name, which traditionally is a cue that certain enemies are related to one another. I also think it is extremely likely that "Big Hoppycat" will be the name Nintendo themselves publish when they come around to localizing the last few enemies in this game. But that does not change the objective truth that, at this moment, this enemy is not named "Big Hoppycat" anywhere, and so I don't feel comfortable saying that is its name. It has nothing to do with any kind of unique reverence for Nintendo - I don't really care what they do. It has to do with my belief that readers are entitled to the truth in their reference material. My hope for our fan wiki is to provide good, accurate, and reliable information. Saying this enemy's name is "Big Hoppycat" just isn't true, and the arguments I have seen in this thread do not dispute that. Instead, the arguments I have heard in response is that being truthful is not important for a fan wiki about Nintendo games or is less important than accessibility. I agree accessibility is important, but I don't understand why displaying Deka Hoppin or limiting ourselves to the names that have actually been released is harming accessibility. - Nintendo101 (talk) 16:01, December 8, 2024 (EST)
Simply put, the reason it hurts accessibility is because it's giving a foreign name to English readers stripped of its context, since the subjects it should be related to all have English names. Amongst a lineup of Bullet Bill, Big Bullet Bill, Bomber Bill, Bull's-Eye Bill, Seeker Bullet Bill, and many others, its extremely easy to miss the very direct connection Deka Chase Killer has to them. I didn't even catch that the bigger Snootle and bigger Swirlypod already had articles until compiling my name-change list because the connection Nintendo intended those names to have is lost.--PopitTart (talk) 17:07, December 8, 2024 (EST)
What we wish was the official name doesn't become the official name, and as I argued way up the page in my vote, variants don't always have to have their relationship immediately obvious from name alone. Amongst a line-up of Shy Guy, Spear Guy, Stilt Guy, Woozy Guy, Fly Guy, Boo Guy, and many others, would you guess that Bandit is a Shy Gut variant? Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 17:16, December 8, 2024 (EST)
I don't think thats a particuarly good counterpoint, and I point to the Japanese names to explain why. Killer, Kyodai Killer, Magnum Killer, Search Killer, Chase Killer, Deka Chase Killer. Meanwhile, the shy guy names are Heihō, Yarihō, Takeuma Heihō, Moonsault Heihō, Propeller Heihō, Yūrei Heihō, and Borodō. Even alongside Japanese names, Borodō is a distinct name, intended by Nintendo, and that is reflected in the localized names. The only reason Deka Chase Killer stands out is because it has been removed from the naming conventions it was intended for by the Super Mario Wiki.--PopitTart (talk) 17:32, December 8, 2024 (EST)
Either way, the point stands that the official name being simply "Bandit" could be confusing to some (as has been argued for the other names), but that doesn't make it not the official name, in the same way Deka Chase Killer not fitting in doesn't make it not official. I feel like it's hard to invoke "intent by Nintendo" for a proposal where the goal is to ignore Nintendo's names. We aren't Nintendo, so we don't know their intent, which is why we should just use the names they provide without changing them to suit what we think they ought to be. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 17:40, December 8, 2024 (EST)
That also continues to ignore the repeatedly mentioned simple solution of redirects. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 18:10, December 8, 2024 (EST)
I don't think saying "just use redirects" is as great of an argument as you think it is because this proposal is not about looking up a subject in the search bar. It is about how it is read within a sentence on an article's page or how it appears in categories, or list articles, or in the infoboxes of related enemies with clearer English names, or in the enemy table for the only game it appears in. It is about how the text is read. Redirects would not meaningfully address any of those issues, which is why they are not part of the proposal at all. - Nintendo101 (talk) 20:57, December 8, 2024 (EST)
That can be mitigated in other ways that don't involve doing what this proposal aims to do. Most lists make the relation self-evident, like templates, list of species, and lists within enemy and game articles. Personally, I always thought the lists of species and enemies looked really similar, so you can model the latter after the former or even outright merge them, for instance. I think it was also suggested that prose can soften without having to alter article names. Mind, this can still be a little obnoxious when you're looking at some categories like the proposer did, but in many web browsers, you can always hover your mouse (oh no my old-fashionedness really is showing) over any name to get the main image and introductory paragraph for a refresher without having to click it. LinkTheLefty (talk) 09:50, December 9, 2024 (EST)
The wiki almost always provides a context clue that a subject is a variant of something else, even if the subject is presented with a non-English name. The enemy tables I've seen place these subjects right after their base variant, with an image and a blurb to help readers further identify them (which, contrary to what others will tell you, is the very point of an encyclopedia); the List of species also puts variants in sub-lists directly following the base species; and I don't think I need to talk about how compact and distilled infoboxes are. The only places where the structure cannot be modified in a way similar to the above are categories, but I expect readers to use these less often than content pages. All in all, the non-English names continue to be a non-issue to those who aren't concerned with linguistic purism. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 09:32, December 9, 2024 (EST)
It's bad because "Big Hoppycat" is not what Nintendo ever called it, and it's prioritizing a fan-made name over an official one despite the wiki inherently revolving around official material, reasons given being that "we are an English wiki" (a concerning point of view that undermines the wiki's neutrality just because of a choice of lingua franca), "encyclopedias shouldn't rely on descriptions" (lolwut???), and "this site is not nintendo.com". -- KOOPA CON CARNE 16:42, December 8, 2024 (EST)

Question related to this proposal for those more familiar with the fine details of the wiki's inner working: What are the current guidelines for naming powered-up characters? Articles like Fire Mario, Penguin Mario, Ice Mario, etc. give names to the forms taken by characters besides Mario when using those powerups. Are these conjectural? If so, do conjectural naming priority rules used for other subject apply? If its found that Boomerang Rosalina has an official Japanese name but no stated English one, would her form be refered to as Boomerang Rozetta?--PopitTart (talk) 01:39, December 9, 2024 (EST)

Simply put, we don’t have a dedicated page for Boomerang Rosalina, only for Boomerang Mario. In fact, at the moment we don’t even have a dedicated page for Kitsune Luigi even though it’s a peculiar form, with its own name (both in English and Japanese) and appearance - pretty different from that of the Tanooki forms. When it comes to naming powerups outside of page names, due to established naming conventions from Nintendo the only relevant part is the “powerup” part, which is what comes before the character’s name. In any case, suspect cases like Giga Cat Plessie are indeed marked as conjectural, but that’s mostly because we aren’t sure it’s a Giga Cat form to begin with.—Mister Wu (talk) 03:16, December 9, 2024 (EST)

Here's an example I think completely destroys this proposal's argument: Goombud. Its Japanese name, and indeed, its purpose and role, have it as a combination of Galoomba (Kuribon) and Goombrat (Kakibou), and indeed its Japanese name is Kakibon reflecting that. Ahead of release, at least a few people took to calling them "Galoombrats," but lo and behold, their English name ended up being totally different. This is a recent example, too, so not like how Clubba (Gabon-hei)'s English name is completely irrelevant to Spike (Gabon)'s despite their linked Japanese names. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 15:38, December 10, 2024 (EST)

A portmantau is given as an example in the original proposal through Baboom, whose japanese name is a portmantau of hanabi (fireworks) and Bomuhei (Bob-omb). It, Kakibon, and any other subject whose name isn't [unique trait][space][subject] would not be subject to the changes made by this propsal.--PopitTart (talk) 15:46, December 10, 2024 (EST)
It's proof enough that this proposal is building off a false premise, though. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 15:52, December 10, 2024 (EST)
It feels like this argument stems from a misunderstanding of what the proposal's premise is to begin with. The goal as I understand it is to use derived English names in cases where the official name can be straightforwardly translated, for the sake of accessibility, while still making clear that those derivations are not actually official. Since PopitTart already clarified the proposal's stance on other kinds of names, I struggle to understand what argument is left from bringing up Goombud/Kakibon to begin with. Reese Rivers (talk) 12:40, December 11, 2024 (EST)
It shows that "straightforward" is a false premise. Just like with Clubba or Pyro Guy. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 17:24, December 11, 2024 (EST)
Putting aside that "Galoombrat" isn't really a "straightforward" translation in the same way... sure, it's subjective, but that's why the proposal suggests implementing the names on a case-by-case basis. And even if a name turns out to be wrong later, it can simply be moved to the right one — again, it's not as if derived names will be treated with the same importance as official ones. Reese Rivers (talk) 17:53, December 11, 2024 (EST)
I think you're overselling the difference in importance, here. It's going to amount to a template at the top of the article. Everywhere else on the wiki — navboxes, article text on other articles, everything — is going to treat a name we made up as if it is official. If you don't click on the article and check the top, it'll be impossible to tell. Ahemtoday (talk) 18:27, December 11, 2024 (EST)
How does this differ from the wiki's current use of fully conjectural names? --PopitTart (talk) 18:31, December 11, 2024 (EST)
Fully conjectural names are supposed to be simple. That's why stuff like the conjecturally-named Virtual Boy Wario Land enemies were renamed a while back to not sound less like somebody's idea of official (ie. many of them had hyphen stylizations like in the manual). In a sense, this will do the opposite of that. LinkTheLefty (talk) 11:48, December 12, 2024 (EST)
I'm not sure how applicable this is to variant subjects, like this proposal is for. It is very reasonable to move Upside-Downer to crawling skull, but is it even possible to give Gold Mini Goomba, Fortune Toad, Big Note Piranha Plant, or Puffy Lift Mario conjectural names that accurately describe them and don't sound official? My argument is that these kinda of names are the simplest ones, and it would be more helpful to readers to see them rather than Japanese or internal names.--PopitTart (talk) 12:34, December 12, 2024 (EST)
On a related note, once, someone moved the page that is now known as Flipbug to "Flying Mandibug" because they thought it sounded "more official," despite their resemblance to Mandibugs beginning and ending with "they're beetles found in similar places in the same game." The discussion to move it back had some people seemingly under the impression the page was actually about a "flying Mandibug" rather than the completely different subject it described. This is a slippery slope that should be avoided at all costs. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 15:42, December 12, 2024 (EST)
Because for conjectural names, no other name exists. In these situations, we already have a name we can call them. Ahemtoday (talk) 19:03, December 11, 2024 (EST)
For whatever it's worth, a suggestion has been offered on the Discord server to extend conjectural name formatting guidelines to derived names as well, using hoverable text. That, I think, would solve any problems there, though I don't know if that will need to be a separate proposal after this one passes. Reese Rivers (talk) 18:46, December 11, 2024 (EST)
The conjecture template is not universally used whenever an article with a conjectural title is linked to. In fact, I'm fairly certain the only places they're used consistently is for glitches on the pages covering them, and on the tables on game articles. So using a similar template in the same way would fix little of the potential problems. Ahemtoday (talk) 19:03, December 11, 2024 (EST)
Hoverable text is far from ideal because it does not adapt well to smart devices. On those, the way you can interact as an end user with text marked as hoverable is to tap on it, which replaces the text outright with the note that would show up beside on PC. Try this. The problem arises when you make hoverable text out of linked text: how are you supposed to interact with this on mobile without loading up a new page? Or is mobile accessibility not worth pursuing? -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:05, December 11, 2024 (EST)
These suggestions isn't set in stone, anyway, and I think there are a number of solutions that could be considered for this (footnotes, for instance). That might need to be hashed out after this proposal is passed, however. Reese Rivers (talk) 19:16, December 11, 2024 (EST)
This is a problem that goes beyond the scope of this proposal. Ideally, all unofficial names, conjectural or derived, would have an easy-to-access note stating as such. If Big Trottin' Piranha Plant is easy to mistake as official, then the same goes for Gold Big Piranha Plant.--PopitTart (talk) 19:23, December 11, 2024 (EST)
Replying to both of y'all here — I don't think an issue of implementation as major as this one can just be shrugged off and "saved for later". That's an indefinite period of time where links to "derived names" indistinguishable from real ones are going to plague the wiki, with no plan to fix it that can take mobile users into account. I recognize that the proposal is likely to pass anyway, but I don't think that's an excuse to just sweep the problem under the rug. Ahemtoday (talk) 19:50, December 11, 2024 (EST)
PorpleMontage has recently updated Template:Conjectural and created Template:Derived which can apply a hovertext note to a name when its in plaintext, and add a supserscript note when the name is a link. Would this be an effective option?--PopitTart (talk) 20:13, December 11, 2024 (EST)
The problem is putting these everywhere these "derived names" appear. That includes navboxes, so as an aside I'd like to say that even quote marks in navboxes feel like a waste of width to me, so entire superscript notes on multiple items apalls me. But the real problem is tracking down every use of these derived names and sticking these notes on them. I'll be honest — I do not believe that will happen. There are many "derived names" and many references thereto, and given the infrequent usage of Template:Conjectural currently and this very proposal's vote ratio, I don't expect the effort to be expended. Ahemtoday (talk) 22:35, December 12, 2024 (EST)
At that point, why not just leave the enemy's name intact? Footnotes? Why all these convoluted ways to tell readers that "hey, just letting you know this is a name we made up even though the enemy has an official name. Just a heads-up, oki? Feel the warmth of a c c e s s i b i l i t y.--when the altnernative is both much simpler to manage, eludes all these lengthy discussions on the "right" manner to name subjects, and is ultimately more accurate to the source material? Why try to fix a problem that literally does not exist, only to bring about multiple problems in the process?? -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:39, December 11, 2024 (EST)
I'm sorry, but I really am not sure what you're trying to say with this reply. Conjectural names specifically exist because there is no official name, so a solution for this is nessesary regardless of how it relates to derived names.--PopitTart (talk) 20:13, December 11, 2024 (EST)
I think we've really gotten in the weeds here with all this talk about putting footnotes on conjectural names. None of that is actually relevant here. The truth is, conjectural names being unmarked outside of their own article is fine to me. I recognize I may not have come off that way, and I apologize for potentially misleading the discussion, but referring to arrow fields consistently as "arrow fields" without any disclaimer on other articles is fine to me. The reason I'm not fine with unmarked "derived names" is that "derived names" themselves are not fine to me. They are an entirely different situation to conjectural names, as instead of no official name existing, here there is an official name that we have decided an unofficial one is superior to. I'm sorry I let talk of some kind of indicator template sidetrack us, but the truth is, even if we had a perfectly smooth to read and perfectly easy to upkeep implementation of them (and we don't), warning people we made up a name we didn't have to is a bandaid fix for the fact that we made up a name we didn't have to in the first place. Ahemtoday (talk) 22:35, December 12, 2024 (EST)

Broaden the scope of the {{rewrite}} template and its variations

With the previous proposal having passed with being more specific as the most voted, I've come up with a proposal about the possibility to make the {{rewrite}}, {{rewrite-expand}}, and {{rewrite-remove}} templates more specific. As you can see, these templates are missing some smaller text. As such, I am just wondering if there is a possibility to have the smaller text added to the {{rewrite}}, {{rewrite-expand}}, and {{rewrite-remove}} templates.

First of all, the {{rewrite}} template currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten'''. {{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|'''Reason:''' {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten.

However, once the proposal passes, the {{rewrite}} template will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten'''{{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}}.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten for the following reason(s): <reason(s)>.
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article.

And another thing—the {{rewrite-expand}} template currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' and '''expanded''' to include more information. {{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|'''Reason:''' {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information.

However, once this proposal passes, the {{rewrite-expand}} will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' and '''expanded''' to include more information.{{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}} by filling in the missing details.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information for the following reason(s): <reason(s)>.
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article by filling in the missing details.

Lastly, the {{rewrite-remove}} currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' to have <u>{{{content|{{{1|content<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}}}}}</u> '''removed''' for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{2|???<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}}}}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{3|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten to have content removed for the following reason(s): ???

However, once this proposal passes, the {{rewrite-remove}} will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' to have {{#if:{{{content|{{{1|}}}}}}|<u>{{{content|{{{1}}}}}}</u>|content}} '''removed'''{{#if:{{{reason|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reason(s):{{{reason|{{{2}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{3|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}} by removing the unnecessary details.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten to have content removed for the following reason(s): <reason(s)>.
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article by removing the unnecessary details.

That will be a perfect idea to make the {{rewrite}} template and its variations as more specific as the {{media missing}} and {{unreferenced}} templates. That way, we'll be able to add smaller text to the remaining notice templates in the future.

Proposer: GuntherBayBeee (talk)
Deadline: December 23, 2024, 23:59 GMT

Support

  1. GuntherBayBeee (talk) Per proposal

Oppose

  1. Altendo (talk) As far as I can tell, the proposal that was linked added parameters that allowed what was supposed to be referenced to be referenced. This one simply adds a subtitle to the bottom of each template. "Be more specific" does not mean saying general information and helpful links, but rather exactly what needs to be done; in terms of that, the existing templates not only all already have parameters, but filling them out is enforced. As Nightwicked Bowser said, "Be more specific - Similar to this proposal, what exactly needs references must be specified in the template when putting it in the article. A parameter for this will still need to be added." This only adds a subtitle and does not make this "more specific". As for the changes, this is actually harmful in some way, as the (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}}) tag will be added to the subtitle, rather than the main body, which could make it more confusing in my opinion. Feel free to update this and add in what "more specific" actually means, or just change this to "add subtitles" and change the location of (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}}) to the main body, but until then, my vote is staying here.

Comments

Here's how I would fix some things:

First of all, the {{rewrite}} template currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten'''. {{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|'''Reason:''' {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten.

However, once the proposal passes, the {{rewrite}} template will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten'''{{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}}.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten for the following reasons:
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article.

And another thing—the {{rewrite-expand}} template currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' and '''expanded''' to include more information. {{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|'''Reason:''' {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information.

However, once this proposal passes, the {{rewrite-expand}} will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' and '''expanded''' to include more information{{#if:{{{reason|{{{1|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{1}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{2}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}} by filling in the missing details.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information for the following reasons:
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article by filling in the missing details.

Lastly, the {{rewrite-remove}} currently reads as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' to have <u>{{{content|{{{1|content<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}}}}}</u> '''removed''' for the following reason(s): {{{reason|{{{2|???<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}}}}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{3|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}})}}
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten to have content removed for the following reason(s): ???

However, once this proposal passes, the {{rewrite-remove}} will read as follows: 

<div class="notice-template maintenance" style="background:#9CF;border:1px solid #000">
It has been requested that this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}} be '''rewritten''' to have {{#if:{{{content|{{{1|}}}}}}|<u>{{{content|{{{1}}}}}}</u>|content}} '''removed''' {{#if:{{{reason|{{{2|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> for the following reasons:{{{reason|{{{2}}}}}}|.<includeonly>{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}||Gallery=[[Category:Articles with incomplete maintenance tags]]}}</includeonly>}}{{#if:{{{date|{{{3|}}}}}}|<nowiki/> (tagged on {{{date|{{{3}}}}}})}}<br><small>Please review the [[MarioWiki:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] and [[MarioWiki:Good writing|good writing standards]] and help {{plain link|{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}}|improve this {{#if:{{{section|}}}|section|article}}}} by removing the unnecessary details.</small>
</div>

It has been requested that this article be rewritten to have content removed for the following reason(s):
Please review the Manual of Style and good writing standards and help improve this article by removing the unnecessary details.

This should fix some things, and I also recommend you change the title or at least context of this proposal. If so, then I might change my vote. Altendo 19:58, December 9, 2024 (EST)

I fixed this problem for you. How does it look? GuntherBayBeee.jpgGuntherBayBeeeGravity Rush Kat.png 09:40, December 10, 2024 (EST)

Decide what to do with Template:Move infobox

A while ago (November 4th, specifically), I created Template:Move infobox. After all, we had templates for essentially all the Browse tabs on the wiki sidebar, except for moves. There WERE templates about specific types of moves, such as Template:M&L attack infobox, but no general template in the same vein as items, characters, species, games, locations, etc.

I discussed it on the Discord briefly, nobody said no, and a bit of feedback later about how it should look and what it should have, I created it. It has since been applied to exactly four pages at the time of writing, half of which I was the one to apply it to. In hindsight, this could've used with a proposal instead of me just making it, so here's a belated one.

Should we keep Template:Move infobox around? If we do keep it, is it good as is, or does it need changes?

Proposer: EvieMaybe (talk)
Deadline: January 1st, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Keep Move infobox, as is

  1. Sparks (talk) I can see this template working really well for moves that aren't in every Mario game, like Spin. This has lots of potential!
  2. Nintendo101 (talk) Per proposal.
  3. Camwoodstock (talk) We don't see why not--having a dedicated Moves infobox could come in handy, especially if we get any more Mario RPGs in the wake of the weird little renaissance period we've been getting with the back-to-back-to-back SMRPG remake, TTYD remake, and release of Brothership. Per proposal.
  4. Pseudo (talk) Per proposal.
  5. Technetium (talk) Per proposal.

Keep Move infobox, but with changes

Delete Move infobox

Move infobox Comments

Allow blank votes and reclassify them as "per all"

There are times when users have nothing else to add and agree with the rest of the points. Sure, they can type "per all", but wouldn't it be easier to not to have to do this?

Yeah sure, if the first oppose vote is just blank for no reason, that'll be strange, but again, it wouldn't be any more strange with the same vote's having "per all" as a reasoning. I've never seen users cast these kinds of votes in bad faith, as we already have rules in place to zap obviously bad faith votes.

This proposal wouldn't really change how people vote, only that they shouldn't have to be compelled to type the worthless "per all" on their votes.

Proposer: Mario (talk)
Deadline: January 1, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Blank support

  1. Mario (talk) Per all.
  2. Ray Trace (talk) Casting a vote in a side is literally an action of endorsement of a side. We don't need to add verbal confirmation to this either.
  3. PopitTart (talk) (This vote is left blank to note that I support this option but any commentary I could add would be redundant.)
  4. Altendo (talk) (Look at the code for my reasoning)
  5. FanOfYoshi (talk)
  6. OmegaRuby (talk) While on the outset it may seem strange to see a large number of votes where people say "per all" and leave, it's important to understand that the decision was made because the user either outright agrees with the entire premise of the proposal, or has read discussion and points on both sides and agrees more with the points made by the side they choose. And if they really are just mindlessly voting "per all" on proposals with no second thought, we can't police that at all. (Doing so would border on FBI-agent-tech-magic silliness and would also be extremely invading...)
  7. Shy Guy on Wheels (talk) I've always thought of not allowing blank votes to be a bit of a silly rule when it can be so easily be circumvented by typing two words. I think it's better to assume good faith with voting and just let people not write if they don't have anything to add, it's not as if random IPs would be able to vote on this page.
  8. TheDarkStar (talk) - Dunno why I have to say something if I agree with an idea but someone's already said what I'm thinking. A vote is a vote, imo.

Blank Oppose

  1. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) - Honestly? I'd prefer to get rid of "per all" votes since they're primarily used for the "I don't/like this idea" type of thing that has historically been discouraged. If you don't care enough to explain, you don't care enough to cast IMO.
  2. Technetium (talk) I don't think typing "per all" is that much of an annoyance (it's only two words), and I like clearly seeing why people are voting (for instance, I do see a difference between "per proposal" and "per all" - "per all" implies agreeing with the comments, too). I just don't think this is something that needs changing, not to mention the potential confusion blank votes could cause.
  3. Camwoodstock (talk) Maybe we're a little petty, but we prefer a "per all" vote to a blank one, even if "per all" is effectively used as a non-answer, because it still requires that someone does provide an answer, even if it's just to effectively say "ditto". You know what to expect with a "per all" vote--you don't really get that information with a fully blank vote.
  4. Ahemtoday (talk) Forgive me for the gimmicky formatting, but I want to make a point here — when you see a blank oppositional vote, it's disheartening, isn't it? Of course, it's always going to be that way when someone's voting against you, but when it doesn't come with any other thoughts, then you can't at all address it, debate it, take it into account — nothing. This also applies to supporting votes, if it's for a proposal you oppose. Of course, this is an issue with "per all" votes as well. I don't know if I'd go as far as Doc would on that, but if there's going to be these kinds of non-discussion-generating votes, they can at least be bothered to type two words.
  5. Jdtendo (talk) Per all (is it too much to ask to type just two words to explicitely express that you agree with the above votes?)
  6. Axii (talk) Requiring people to state their reason for agreeing or disagreeing with a proposal leads to unnecessary repetition (in response to Doc). Letting people type nothing doesn't help us understand which arguments they agreed with when deciding what to vote for. The proposer? Other people who voted? Someone in particular, maybe? Maybe everyone except the proposer? It's crucial to know which arguments were the most convincing to people.
  7. Pseudo (talk) Per Technetium, Camwoodstock, and Axii.

Blank Comments

I don't think banning "per all" or "per proposal" is feasible nor recommended. People literally sometimes have nothing else to add; they agree with the points being made, so they cast a vote. They don't need to waste keystrokes reiterating points. My proposal is aiming to just streamline that thought process and also save them some keystrokes. Mario (Santa)'s map icon from Mario Kart Tour Mario-HOHO! (Talk / Stalk) 20:34, December 17, 2024 (EST)

I think every sort of vote (on every level, on every medium) should be written-in regardless of whether something has been said already or not; it demonstrates the level of understanding and investment for the issue at hand, which in my opinion should be prerequisite to voting on any issue. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 20:53, December 17, 2024 (EST)
There is no way to actually determine this: we are not going to test voters or commenters their understanding of the subject. Someone can read all of the arguments and still just vote for a side because there's no need to reiterate a position that they already agree with. BabyLuigiFire.pngRay Trace(T|C) 20:55, December 17, 2024 (EST)
My personal belief is that "test[ing] voters or commenters their understanding of the subject" is exactly what should be done to avoid votes cast in misunderstanding or outright bandwagoning. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 23:06, December 17, 2024 (EST)
My personal view is that a change like the one you are suggesting potentially increases the odds of inexperienced or new users feeling too intimidated to participate because they feel like they do not have well articulated stances, which would be terrible. I think concerns about "bandwagoning" are overstated. However, more pressingly, this proposal is not even about this concept and it is not even one of the voting options, so I recommend saving this idea for another day. - Nintendo101 (talk) 23:32, December 17, 2024 (EST)
@Mario I agree. Banning people from saying that in proposals is restricting others from exercising their right to cast a vote in a system that was designed for user input of any time. I'd strongly oppose any measure to ban "per" statements in proposals. Super Mario RPG (talk) 00:11, December 18, 2024 (EST)

Technetium: I understand, but blank votes are a fairly common practice in other wikis, and it's clearly understood that the user is supporting the proposal in general. Mario (Santa)'s map icon from Mario Kart Tour Mario-HOHO! (Talk / Stalk) 20:36, December 17, 2024 (EST)

Fair point, I didn't know that. Not changing my vote just yet, but I'll keep this in mind as the proposal continues. Technetium (talk) 20:48, December 17, 2024 (EST)
There's a lot of variation in how other wikis do it. WiKirby, for example, doesn't even allow "per" votes last I checked. Hewer (talk · contributions · edit count) 04:13, December 18, 2024 (EST)

Stop integrating templates under the names of planets and areas in the Super Mario Galaxy games

Based on the vote so far, this proposal may be eligible to close one week early. Please use {{proposal check|early=yes}} on December 25 at 23:59 GMT and close the proposal if applicable.

The aims of this proposal is to repeal this one that passed earlier this year. I will reiterate my position here:

The planetary bodies in galaxies do not just "lack" publicly accessible names - they are straight up not supposed to have names. The Shogakukan guidebook for Mario Galaxy does not give planets name. The game does not give planets name. The instruction booklet does not give planets name. The only "source" that applies discrete names for planets are from the developers and we have no reason to think these were intended to be the planets. These galaxy articles are generally a bit outdated, and I think the mistake in the first place was suggesting that some of the planets have real names "except where otherwise noted." They largely do not. I think it would would healthier to recognize that they are just different sections of a greater whole, much like areas in courses for the earlier 3D games, and apply titles accordingly.

To elaborate on my perspective, I think using dev data to provide names for these planets is completely fine, and I understand the desire to do so. Citing the Prima Games guidebooks for potential names for these areas is fine. That is not what this proposal is about. Rather, integrating the templates themselves - be it for conjectural or dev data-derived names - underneath the individual headers for each planet, in my view, looks very poor, as you can see here for Yoshi Star Galaxy and Honeyhive Galaxy. They are detractingly eye-catching and break these articles without substantive benefit. I think having a nonintrusive note at the top or bottom of these articles - as was the case before the proposal I link to above passed - is perfectly sufficient and healthier for these articles.

I provide two options:

  1. Support: Do not put conjectural and dev-data name templates beneath the names of individual planets and areas in the Super Mario Galaxy games: This is a full repeal of the proposal I link to above.
  2. Oppose: Change nothing

Proposer: Nintendo101 (talk)
Deadline: January 1, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Support: Do not put templates underneath the name's of planets and areas

  1. Nintendo101 (talk) Per proposal.
  2. 1468z (talk) Per proposal.
  3. Waluigi Time (talk) The previous solution looked a lot nicer. I also agree with Nintendo101 that we should rethink how we approach planet names in general. They don't necessarily "need" names any more than specific portions of levels in other games do.
  4. Jdtendo (talk) I still don't agree with the "planets are not supposed to have names" argument, but I do agree that having templates beneath every section heading is excessive.
  5. Camwoodstock (talk) Per all, especially Waluigi time. The overall assumption that the planets have names unless otherwise stated feels like the consequence of a decision made very, very early on into the wiki, that's just kind of gone unquestioned or unnoticed until very recently. This won't stop that particular case of WikiJank™ completely, but it's a step in the right direction.
  6. Sparks (talk) Per all.
  7. EvieMaybe (talk) if all the names are unofficial, then we only need to say it once. if there's an official name, we can just say "all names are unofficial unless specified" and specify in the one planet that has a name (is there any planets with names even???). having the template on each individual section is both ugly and inefficient
  8. Mario (talk) Yeah, the setup before this was satisfactory. Per Evie, but I also agree with Waluigi Time that we probably don't need to require naming these parts of the level either.
  9. Ray Trace (talk) I always thought assigning these objects meant to be part of the environment conjectural templates has always struck me as odd and I don't know why only Super Mario Galaxy gets singled out out of all games. We don't name the rooms the Mario Party minigames take place in.
  10. Tails777 (talk) I was sincerely confused when I saw the templates put back on the various galaxy articles and questioned "Why? It was better beforehand." Per all.

Oppose: Keep the templates

  1. Ahemtoday (talk) I'm opposing this proposal as currently slated to be implemented — as in, just removing Template:Conjecture and Template:Dev data from these sections and leaving it at that. These need to be marked, and I don't feel that an "unless otherwise noted" disclaimer is an elegant way to do that. However. There is a way of accomplishing this that I would be amenable to: replacing those templates with Template:Conjectural or a new dev data equivalent to it. This is the same way our glitch pages do it, for exactly the same reason you want to get rid of these templates on the galaxy pages. I think it makes perfect sense to use this convention here as well to solve this problem.

Comments on the planet template proposal

Set Vector-2010 to the default wiki skin

This proposal is about setting the 2010 Vector as the default wiki skin (screenshot here) for desktop users, with the focus being on people who are new to wikis in particular, while obviously keeping the existing MonoBook skin as an option. What made me think to create this proposal is when I made a Talk:Main Page proposal about the to-do list tasks and how they are more accessible than clicking the "Wiki maintenance" on the sidebar, I had to uncomfortably squint to find "Wiki maintenance" on the wiki sidebar. But Vector-2010 has the sidebar links slightly larger and a bit more spaced out. With the existing interface, there could be some who may struggle to find options listed on the sidebar.

While we're clearly different from Wikipedia (that's why I'm not Vector-2022, since it'd be too much of a departure and likely uncomfortable for several), I do want to refer to this page, which summarizes why Wikipedia transitioned to it. Though it is vague, they cite accessibility as the reason, which I think this wiki has been taking steps toward doing.

I'll cite my reasons for preferring Vector and applying this to possible people who are visiting a wiki for the first time. The text is larger, which is especially important for larger screen monitors, some of the lesser used tabs are collapsible on the sidebar, summarizing the most commonly used options, and the user links at the top right are also more noticeable and less close to the body of the article where the content is read.

Though it could take time getting used to the Edit button being on the right (not to mention the search button), the button is at least larger, making it more usable on even lower quality screen monitors, and I like how it's separate from the Page and discussion options, meaning that options that involve viewing articles are on the left while options that involve editing or changing the page in some form are on the right.

If this proposal passes and others don't like the change, they can always return to the MonoBook option in their preferences.

Proposer: Super Mario RPG (talk)
Deadline: January 1, 2025, 23:59 GMT

Support

  1. Super Mario RPG (talk) Per.

Oppose

  1. Camwoodstock (talk) Admittedly, this vote is largely a matter of preference--we just don't like Vector that much--but we can't think of any real reason to switch to Vector 2010 as the default over the current Monobook beyond the mentioned text spacing; while that is a nice boon, we personally find the weird gradient buttons for the various tabs up top a little grating looking, and we're a fan of the more compact design that Monobook provides--though, this is likely a byproduct of our personal preference for more neatly packed web design. And uh, the less said about the other two options (Vector 2022, and. Timeless. Which is the most dated theme possible, namely to mid-2010s mobile web design.), the better. If you like Vector 2010, that's great, and we're fine with that! Heck, if anyone likes Vector 2022 or Timeless, that's cool too, and more power to them! Variety is the spice of life, after all. But switching it to the default is something that should not be taken lightly, and the reasons for a switch in this proposal feel a little too loosey-goosey for us, we're sorry.
  2. DryBonesBandit (talk) Per Camwoodstock.
  3. Nintendo101 (talk) I like how MonoBook looks a little more than Vector. It is what I am comfortable with. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Comments

@Camwoodstock That is true that it's a major change. It's based mainly upon impression from newcomers from them seeing a more prominent edit tab, slightly larger text size, and other minor details like tab names that are easier to read (including a collapsible feature for the lesser used tab). The skin change was based on old Wikipedia research at the time (like how WikiLove was a result of their research). I have no strong feelings whether this passes or not. Although it's vague, since there's no way to tell the statistics (and the wiki's already successful at the moment), I still have a feeling it could help some, but to each their own. Super Mario RPG (talk) 18:32, December 18, 2024 (EST)

We feel like if anybody would be capable of providing any statistics on skin usage, it'd be Porple, but even then, we don't actually know if that's one of the things he tracks, and it feels a little silly to pester him over this of all things... ;p ~Camwoodstock (talk) 18:55, December 18, 2024 (EST)

Miscellaneous

Use official alt text as a source

Based on the vote so far, this proposal may be eligible to close one week early. Please use {{proposal check|early=yes}} on December 24 at 23:59 GMT and close the proposal if applicable.

What I refer to here as "alt text" is text that is either:

  • shown in place of a file, such as an image, when the file doesn't load;
  • shown as a small note when you hover your mouse on an image on PC. See for yourself with this pic: This is a Mario Star.

To quote the Wiki article I linked above, alt text "is used to increase accessibility and user friendliness, including for blind internet users who rely on special software for web browsing."

Nintendo's web content makes hefty use of this feature, particularly in activities on the Play Nintendo site, where it is employed for decorative stickers users can select and manipulate. Alt text is certainly a unique means to convey information that, currently, is not treated in any the entries laid out in the wiki's "acceptable sources for naming", including entry 2 concerning web material, and hasn't been discussed to my knowledge. Since alt text can bear information of its own, as explained below, it might be time we decided if this quaint thing should be supported in the policy.

The following aspects should be kept in mind as a decision is made on this topic:

  • tempting as it may be, alt text cannot be construed as internal material in the way filenames are. A filename, whether pertaining to a file in a video game or a file on a web page, serves a utilitarian purpose that is, above all, an organizational tool meant to aid the developers of said game or website. Contrarily, the very purpose of alt text is to be seen by the end user (that is, the regular Joe or Jane the product is being shown to) under special circumstances.
  • on the other hand, alt text may display some level of unprofessionality or unfamiliarity with the source material on the part of its author--that is to say, it can lend to some pretty weird information about a given subject. The few examples I've come across are an ornament resembling a mushroom item being referred to as a "Toad ornament" (play.nintendo.com via archive.org), Koopa Paratroopa being called a "Koopa Flying Trooper" (play.nintendo.com via archive.org), and Meowser being called "Cat Bowser" (play.nintendo.com). I'd like to stress that this is far from the norm, as evident in those links--Mario is called "Mario", Goomba is "Goomba" etc., heck, some lesser known characters like Lottie, Wardell, and Niko from Animal Crossing are correctly identified in that Ornament Creator activity--, but I believe it's fair of me to show you a comprehensive image of the situation.

Most importantly, beyond the typical "they offer unique names and spellings" claptrap, I've noticed that citing such material is genuinely practical in select situations. The one recent example that comes to mind is that the alt text of some Play Nintendo activities helped me delineate a few otherwise non-descript stars shown at Gallery:Super Star. The Super Star item, the one used in games to make player characters invincible, has in the past shared 2D graphics with the Power Star collectable McGuffins from 3D titles, so when identifying a given Star graphicMedia:MH Oct 4.svg with zero context to its nature, all bets are off; rather than resort to speculation and potentially erroneously place a non-descript star graphic in the Super Star's gallery (as previously done), one can look up the graphic's alt text on Nintendo's website and use that as a crutch, if there's absolutely nothing else.

I propose three options for handling material presented in this manner.

  1. Cite alt text the same way media, including other web content, is typically cited. This means that if a Goomba's alt text is "Toothy Mushroom" in a context where most or every other element from the Mario series is given their usual names, then "Toothy Mushroom" is treated as a valid alternate name for the Goomba, shown on the Goomba article, and referenced from the aforementioned alt text. As argued above, alt text is meant to be seen by the end user, placing it somewhere above level 6 (concerning internal game filenames) of the current source priority policy under this option.
    1. Some exceptions can be made in this scenario. If, for instance, wiki users deem that a discrete piece of web content handles alt text in an overwhelmingly unprofessional manner, they may choose not to cite it. As a concrete example, the 2024 Calendar Creator activity at Play Nintendo reuses the exact same alt text from its 2023 iteration for its decorative stickers, even though said stickers changed. According to that activity, Cheep Cheeps are also called "Monty Moles" and Pokeys are also called "Chain Chomps". This obviously represents some level of carelessness that shouldn't be reflected on the wiki even if the content is technically official. However, it's also the exception, not the rule.
  2. Cite alt text only for redirects and/or when no other source is available for a given thing. This means that "Koopa Flying Trooper" and "Cat Bowser" will be removed from the Koopa Paratroopa and Meowser pages respectively, but will remain as redirects to these pages. The explanations at Gallery:Super Star#Notes and Gallery:Miscellaneous mushrooms#Notes will remain as well, because alt text is currently the only means to identify certain graphics on those pages as being a particular type of star or mushroom.
  3. Do not cite alt text in any of the ways described above.

Note: The articles concerning the Play Nintendo activities mentioned above (Cat Transformation Center, Paper Mario: The Origami King Collage Maker etc.) will continue to list the alt text of each graphic as captions regardless of the proposal's outcome. This provides quick cross-referencing to someone who really wants to know how a decoration is called in those activities.

Proposer: Koopa con Carne (talk)
Deadline: December 31, 2024, 23:59 GMT

Support: cite alt text for everything, including unique names

  1. Koopa con Carne (talk) Per proposal!
  2. Hewer (talk) I'd think alt text would be covered under "web content" in the naming policy. There's no reason for it not to be, given that it's official text, and is more intended to be seen by the end user than image filenames, which we already agreed are fine. If something's obviously a mistake, we can say that without discrediting the whole source, like we already do with other sources (e.g. the Cleft article acknowledging the "Moon Cleft" name from Super Paper Mario despite deeming it "mistaken").
  3. Camwoodstock (talk) The future is now, old man! We're in an era of Bluesky and screen reader compatibility! Okay, jokes aside, we're a little surprised that alt text hasn't been accounted for already, given it has been around the internet for a very, very long time. Still, better late than never, we suppose. Per proposal, and Hewer especially!
  4. EvieMaybe (talk) per Hewer
  5. Altendo (talk) Per all.
  6. Nintendo101 (talk) Per Hewer.
  7. Super Mario RPG (talk) Per everyone.
  8. FanOfYoshi (talk) Spear Guy.gif
  9. OmegaRuby (talk) It's kind of surprising how this hasn't been implemented nor standard in some way yet - there's no reason that it isn't! I'm all for increased accessibility and the use of accessibility features such as alt text. Per all.

Support: only cite alt text for redirects and/or if there is no other source available

Oppose: do not cite alt text at all

Comments (alt text proposal)

RE the "Toad Ornament": I think it's worth mentioning that calling some type of mushroom item a "Toad" is not unheard of in official works. But ok, it's less likely the typist of that Play Nintendo activity was thinking of Hotel Mario, and more likely they just confused Super Mushrooms with Toads due to their similar appearances. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 16:45, December 17, 2024 (EST)

Tsurara

@OmegaRuby: The proposal itself is about allowing alt text to be considered a valid source, not broadening usage of alt text as a whole. That being said, on that note, I do wonder if we could perhaps do just that (likely as part of another proposal), mostly in the context of sprites--such as this example on the left from the Icicle article. A usual caption would absolutely not fit on this, but alt text could help provide something for a screenreader to read out. The main issue is that, to my knowledge, the "frame" parameter inherently means the alt text is the caption, which could cause issues if we need the actual, well, frame... ~Camwoodstock (talk) 12:43, December 18, 2024 (EST)

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