Forum:CT Archive/Audio files as a requirement for status articles

This topic was originally brought up by me at the latest EC meeting, but it was decided that this is ultimately a decision that should be made by the entire community of this wiki, not just the members of the reviewing bodies. This is why I'm bringing this up to this CT.

My issue deals with how we should treat audio files in relation to status articles. Currently, there are no set rules pertaining to their usage there. The FAN, GAN and the CAN pages say nothing on the matter. For the longest time, the unofficial rule was that audio files were always welcome, but not required for an article to achieve status. However, in recent months, I've noticed an influx of objections on all three nomination pages, specifically pointing out the lack of audio files and asking the nominator to add them. This, as has been established, is not a valid reason to make an objection, since it's not required by the rules.

Personally, I think that our unofficial policy was perfect. I'm not opposing the addition of audio files, but I don't think that it's something that should be an absolute necessity. There's an argument that P&T info can be extrapolated from them, based on the tone of voice and somesuch, yet I hold the opinion that any such information tends to be highly subjective. One person might think that the speaker sounded angry in that quote, but someone else might say that the speaker was "sad" or "indifferent," you name it. It also should be considered that acquisition of audio files is often times a painstaking process, sometimes forcing the nominator to dig through hundreds of game files to extract a line of dialogue and add it to the article, for the purposes that consider to be purely aesthetic and unneccessary to the encyclopedic documentation of the topic in question.

That being said, I believe that it's time to set up some concrete rules on this matter. I therefore propose two options:

Option A Add the following line to the list of requirements on all three status nomination pages: ''At the nominator's discretion, audio files can be added to the article to provide audio reference for relevant quotes. The lack of audio files does not constitute a vaild reason for objection by the reviewers, but their addition can be suggested in the "Comments" section.''

Option B Add the following line to the list of requirements on all three status nomination pages: If audio reference material exists for the quotes used in the article, appropriate audio files must be added in every such instance.

I honestly do not see any middle ground here. We either go all out and make it a strict rule, or we codify our previously unspoken policy so that up-and-coming reviewers (and let's face it, even established ones) become aware of it. I realize that this might spark a debate, so I encourage everyone to do so in the discussion section. Please suggest any wording changes to the proposed options, suggest new ones.

Share your opinions. Let's hear them! QuiGonJinn (Talk) 13:46, February 26, 2019 (UTC)

Support Option A

 * 1) Per my reasoning above. QuiGonJinn  Senate seal.svg(Talk) 13:46, February 26, 2019 (UTC)