Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Will Schuester

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Will Schuester[edit]

This case has been accepted by the Mediation Committee. There may be a delay while members of the Committee review and select cases they will mediate. If your case is not assigned within two weeks, please feel free to request a status update by contacting the Committee. Recommended reading for now is Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Guide, and especially the #Assigned cases section.
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Formal mediation case
ArticleWill Schuester (talk
Opened21 Jun 2010
MediatorNot yet assigned
StatusAwaiting a mediator (?)
NotesNone

Dispute specifics[edit]

Involved users
  1. WCityMike (talk · contribs), filing party
  2. Ctjf83 (talk · contribs)
Auxiliary individuals (the dispute is between Ctjf83 and WCityMike -- these are not disputing users -- just people who offered an opinion)
  1. Deddly (talk · contribs), third-opinion provider (opinion rejected by Ctfj83 due to belief that user was insufficiently experienced)
  2. Frickative (talk · contribs), (sole) provider of opinion on Ctjf83's talk page
  3. Bignole (talk · contribs), (sole) provider of opinion on RfC
Articles concerned in this dispute
Other steps in dispute resolution that have been attempted

Issues to be mediated[edit]

I'm open to this framing being modified by moderator or Ctjf83, but my view is that the disagreement focuses around these issues:

  • Whether the presence of a paranthetical note following an individual's name as a modifying explanatory item (i.e., "(widowed)", "(divorced)", "(father)", "(mother)", "(ex-wife)", etc.) is:
    • Issue 1: In-Universe-Ness
      • WCityMike: WP:WAF-INFO: "[U]seful infobox data might include [...] in-universe information essential to understanding the entity's context in the overall fiction. What qualifies as essential varies based on the nature of the work." Given that Glee -- as well as most of the television shows to whom the example characters that are later cited (see issue 2) belong -- are almost soap-operatic in the extent of emphasis they place upon the relationships between characters, I think the "nature of the work" does qualify relationships between characters -- as well as the status of same -- as in-universe information that is indeed essential to understanding the character's context in the show. Knowing that, in this specific case, Will is divorced from Terri and has a burgeoning relationship with Emma is, I feel, information that is essential enough to merit that in-universe information being present in the infobox.
      • Ctjf83: see 3rd section
    • Issue 2: Editor Community Consensus on the Issue
  • Issue 3: Whether information laid out in an infobox must be true throughout the length of the series per Ctjf83's opinion expressed in this edit (i.e., if a character is married in episodes 1-7, divorces in episode 8, and the episode lasts through episode #200)
    • WCityMike: Infoboxes are written as of the fictional universe's present, or, to put it in a real-universe way, as of the most recently released episode. If a character is dead, that character's infobox is going to reflect that he or she is dead, even though "it makes the infobox false" for the episodes where they were alive. Therefore, information laid out in an infobox need not be factually true in every single episode of the series. To suggest otherwise would be a severe deviation from the way the community currently and even instinctually approaches maintaining information in infoboxes.
    • Ctjf83: I disagree in that the infobox should remain as true to the series as a whole as possible. Since Will and Terri Schuester are now divorced, should her article name be changed to her maiden name? Another example, Eric Cartman, for 12 years (from Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut to 201 (South Park) it was said that Eric's mom was a hermaphrodite and was both his mother and father, until 201 came along, changing 12 years of storyline, with a new father. So in this situation what do you do for the infobox, ignore 12 years of episodes, because 1 new episode contradicted it. (I know this is a little different then the divorced situation, but it explains my reasoning.)

Parties' agreement to mediation[edit]

All parties please indicate below whether they agree to mediation of this dispute; remember to sign your post. Extended comments should be made on the talk page of this request.
  1. Agree. WCityMike 21:53, 21 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Agree CTJF83 pride 07:48, 22 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Decision of the Mediation Committee[edit]

A member of the Mediation Committee will indicate whether this request is to be accepted or rejected. Notes concerning the request and questions to the parties may also be posed by a committee member in this section.
  • Accept. For the Mediation Committee, AGK 11:45, 23 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I am available to mediate this case. Andrevan@ 05:06, 24 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.