Forum:CT Archive/Real-world biographies

As of late there has been some discussion about whether or not we should include a biography on real people even though most of that information will not relate to their work in Star Wars. For example, should an article such as Mark Hamill have extraneous information that doesn't relate to his work with Star Wars?

Include biography even if it doesn't relate directly to their work in Star Wars.

 * 1) Cull Tremayne 23:50, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 2) .  .  .  .  23:52, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) &mdash;Silly Dan (talk) 00:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 4) tzzA 00:23, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 5) This user supports going a little easy on the non-Star Wars-related material, however.  Gonk  ( Gonk! ) 00:28, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 6) Wait, you mean these people had lives outside of Star Wars??? -- Darth Culator  (Talk)(Kills) 00:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 7) Adamwankenobi 00:42, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 8) Per Cull. - Lord Hydronium 01:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 9) JMAS 01:27, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 10) Ozzel 03:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 11) jSarek 04:13, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 12) Though Hamill's article doesn't have much not related to SW. --  Riffsyphon  1024 04:24, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 13) Atarumaster88  [[Image:Jedi_Order.jpg|20px]] ( Audience Chamber ) 04:27, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 14) -- Doquis (HoloConference)[[Image:Czerka Logo.JPG|30px]] 16:37, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Include full biography for people with major SW roles, and short/only SW-pertinent bios for people with smaller roles (i.e. have common sense and don't write something like the Angus Mcinnis article)

 * 1) Based on last few comments. Don't know if anybody else will like this enough to change their vote at this point, but that's my two cents. Wildyoda 01:35, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 2) I think this is a wise position. --Eyrezer 08:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 3) Green Tentacle (Talk) 08:51, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 4) KEJ 09:04, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 5) Like candy! Darth Maddolis 09:07, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Comments

 * I'm of the opinion that if we're going to have an article on a real-life person that we may as well try to have as much verifiable information on them as possible. I don't think that an article Ian McDiarmid that just says that he played the Emperor in prequel trilogy and in RotJ is beneficial to this encyclopedia as a whole and seems unprofessional, even if the information can be found elsewhere like Wikipedia. Cull Tremayne 23:50, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * It seems to me it should should focus on what a Star Wars fan would specifically find interesting, of course. For example, an actor's article would pay more attention to small Star Wars roles, or other science fiction roles for that matter, than a Wikipedia article on an actor's entire life would.  Despite this, a Brock Peters article that doesn't mention To Kill a Mockingbird or a Paul Reubens article that doesn't mention Pee-Wee Herman would be useless. &mdash;Silly Dan (talk) 00:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Or a Burl Ives article that didn't mention...uh...hmm. Got me there. .  .  .  .  03:04, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Agree with above, however I still have a problem. Which is that we should have some sort of limit. Look at Angus Mcinnis, an article for a minor part in a movie that mentions EVERY other MINOR PART in every other MINOR MOVIE he's ever done. I think a good chunk of this could stand to be removed. Can we add a "have common sense and link to IMBD" clause here as well? Wildyoda 04:50, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree that is overkill. Doesn't he have a Wikipedia article? --  Riffsyphon  1024 04:51, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * That's not even a biography. That's just one random fact after another with no format whatsoever. As most already know, this relates to an article like Burl Ives, who's role in Star Wars is minor at best, but having a biography on him shouldn't be something that is looked down upon or removed. I agree that Hamill's bio has little that does not relate with Star Wars, but do we need to know who he's married to? Or how many kids he has? Or that he worked on Broadway? Or that there was a TV special regarding the damage to his face? That info isn't related to Star Wars, but it is something that would be put in a biography, and therefore I think stuff such as that should stay. If we have an article on a real person, we should want to have a biography about said person. Notice, this doesn't relate to an article like Angus McInnis, which is just random facts listed one after another without any semblance of appropriate style. Cull Tremayne 06:20, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Cull, I agree, but only to the extent that the person in question is notable in SW. Mark Hamill obviously deserves a full, detailed write-up, fuller than Wiki's if we can manage it. Burl Ives, not so much.  Gonk  ( Gonk! ) 16:52, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * But Burl Ives won an Oscar...that's more than GL ever achieved! .  .  .  .  01:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)