Forum:CT:"Characters" or "Dramatis personae"?

Wookieepedia > Consensus track > CT:"Characters" or "Dramatis personae"?

Most of our articles on books, films, television episodes, etc. include lists of the characters featured. Sometimes, our articles call this list "Characters", but other times, "Dramatis personae" is used. Recently, Adamwankenobi and I had a little back and forth on the issue at "The Cries of the Trees", so we decided to call this CT to see what others thought.

Should these lists of charactrers be called "Characters", "Dramatis personae", or something else? — SavageBob 19:03, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Vote

Characters

1. — SavageBob 19:03, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
2. RMF 21:16, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
3. Maybe I'm dumb, but had to look it up the first time I saw it. WhiteBoy 15:39, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
4. Characters, unless the book itself has a Dramatis personae...then it should have both, IMO. —Jaymach Ral'Tir (talk) 15:41, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Dramatis personae

1. Although I could go either way as long as one becomes the standard. Adamwankenobi^{Talk to me! My home.} 19:20, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
2. SFH 19:27, 2 June 2006 (UTC) It makes us look less like a bunch of foam-at-the-mouth-nerds and more like the traditional book nerds.
3. Riffsyphon1024 00:34, 3 June 2006 (UTC) More sophisticated.
4. Darth Kevinmhk 03:39, 3 June 2006 (UTC) just follow the book~

Comments

• I realize that many of the Star Wars novels are using dramatis personae nowadays, but it sounds snobbish and pedantic to me. Wikipedia should be accessible to as many readers as possible, and that means not using fancy language for the sake of using fancy language. — SavageBob 19:03, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
• Wookieepedia tries to follow standards set out by the Star Wars publishing companies when setting its own policies (like canonicity). IMO, following the standard name established by the novelists seems to be the best choice. However, as I said above, as long as one standard is settled on, either one is OK with me. Adamwankenobi^{Talk to me! My home.} 19:20, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
• I think we should use Dramatis Personnae with books that have one, and Characters for books without one. That way, it's clear we're quoting the list where it exists and creating it where it doesn't. jSarek 00:17, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
• Another problem with "dramatis personae" (aside from the fact that it is horrendous purple prose, is that it doesn't work very well with {{mo}} characters. If Han mentions Big Bunji in the radio adaption of ANH, that does not make Big Bunji a dramati (?) persona. It makes him a character, {{mo}}. We'll also have to adopt "dramatis personae" for RPG supplements, video games, comic books, etc. Ugh. -- SavageBob 21:08, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
  • I think "Dramatis Personae" should be used ONLY if there is an official dramatis personae. Otherwise, "characters" can be used. This distinguishes between official info and our info.--The Erl of the CT:"Characters" or "Dramatis personae"? ^{talk What I do} 20:57, 5 June 2006 (UTC)