Template talk:Infobox person

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bagumba (talk | contribs) at 04:07, 27 December 2019 (→‎Proposed removal of Weight parameter: post support). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For pending merger proposals (2009 to date) see Template talk:Infobox person/Mergers

Proposed removal of Weight parameter

I'm proposing we remove the Weight parameter from this infobox. Weight is almost never an encyclopedic, it can rarely be properly sourced to reliable sources, is often the source of fierce and pointless edit wars (see the recent edit history of Brendan Schaub) and, worst of all, it changes frequently during the subject's life. Which weight is this parameter meant to record? Because it's meaning isn't specified, it is almost impossible to populate this parameter in a verifiable way. I think it causes plenty of trouble without adding value and should be removed. It appears it was added here during the infobox actor merge, and looking through the talk page archive it's addition was never discussed and has always been controversial. Thoughts? The Mirror Cracked (talk) 21:31, 31 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The Mirror Cracked You forgot to sign your post :-) I would support the removal of the field. I don't know that I've ever seen a number in the field reliably sourced and, as you so rightly point out, it changes during a persons lifetime. MarnetteD|Talk 21:28, 31 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Support - I can't imagine a single case where weight should be in the infobox. Even in cases where a person's weight is notable (such as people who are remarkably skinny or remarkably fat), the article can state their body type or particular weight points that were notable for them. 李艾连 (talk) 16:16, 11 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
This is uncontroversial so I'm going to move it forward to an edit request. Sandbox with proposed edit here: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Infobox_person/sandbox&oldid=925720681 李艾连 (talk) 22:24, 11 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
 Done despite limited discussion here. Weight parameters appear to be used in about 1,300 articles. In case this is controversial after the fact, I did not renumber the labels. Please adjust the template's documentation to match this change. – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:34, 12 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Post-support The weight of athletes in certain sports is notable, but their specific infoboxes can handle that. With any other person, the info becomes dated, if it was even notable to begin with.—Bagumba (talk) 04:07, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Pronoun infobox field

Could a pronoun infobox field be added? With more people using neutral pronouns it would be a helpful reference point for both future editors and readers of the page. Lewishhh (talk) 15:09, 2 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Nah. WP is already rife with drawn-out, uncivil, WP:BATTLEGROUND stuff about this kind of thing (already leading to topic bans). Combining that with the other source of constant inter-editor warfare – infoboxes – is about the worst idea I've seen proposed here in years. >;-)  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  10:31, 6 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I think there should be more discussion around this idea. Currently, MOS:GENDERID says that a person's gender identity (and by extension a sentence like "This person uses they/them pronouns.") shouldn't go in the lead unless it is significant to that person's notability. Because of this, the gender and pronouns of most transgender people end up in their personal life section. That's all fine and good for someone whose pronouns are widely used/known about. Say, though, someone lands on the article Sam Smith after Googling them - one of the first pieces of information they might want to learn is what pronouns Smith uses. A user who isn't familiar with they/them pronouns or with how Wikipedia decides what pronouns to use for a person in their biography might not understand that Smith uses they/them pronouns just from seeing the lead refer to Smith. To me, this seems like the perfect use case for a pronoun field in the infobox. That said, a change like this would definitely need to have some guidance go along with it. For example, when should a person's page include pronouns in the infobox? I think that pronouns should be included whenever someone has stated what their pronouns are. For instance, Elizabeth Warren (stated pronouns in Twitter bio), Laverne Cox (stated pronouns in Twitter bio), and Sam Smith (stated pronouns in an interview) would all have pronouns included in their infoboxes, but Miley Cyrus (out as gender-fluid but has not stated pronouns), Joseph Lobdell (lived as a man, Wikipedia revers to him with he/him pronouns, but he never specifically stated that he used he/him pronouns), and Barack Obama (obviously uses he/him pronouns, but he's never stated his pronouns) would not have pronouns included in their infoboxes. I think including pronouns in the infobox along with a guidance like this would ensure that a persons pronouns are easy to find in their biography when they are relevant. 李艾连 (talk) 16:45, 11 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. At a minimum, pronouns should be listed for people who have explicitly stated their pronouns publicly. Pronouns are important biographical information for many people, and are certainly encyclopedic information. This has also been previously requested at [1]. Gbear605 (talk) 15:35, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
There is likely to be a problem. Considering that the vast majority of people haven't explicitly stated their pronouns publicly, isn't this just inviting editors to misuse the field by adding the new parameter in cases where a source doesn't exist or is poor? If the subject's pronouns are not key to their notability, wouldn't this be bloating the infobox with trivia? The same argument exists for height, weight, etc. which regularly have to be removed. --RexxS (talk) 17:45, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I'd say, as with all things, we should follow the sources and not lead them. Do biographies explicitly state the pronouns of the biography subject? Or do they just use the pronouns? I don't think we should be getting into the habit of writing like "Levivich (born Jan 1, 1900, he/his/him)" (or adding pronouns as an IB field) unless/until that's what the majority of RSes start doing. As of now, my impression is that explicitly stating pronouns is too new and not widespread enough for us to adopt. – Levivich 18:37, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Not needed in the infobox IMO. For those cases where it is important it should be discussed in prose in the body of the article. MarnetteD|Talk 19:02, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Residence parameter

(non-admin closure) There is consensus to remover the |residence= parameter. - MrX 🖋 21:35, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion 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.

The |residence= parameter of the {{Infobox person}} instructions say: "Location(s) where the person notably resides/resided, if different from birthplace." Assuming all information is sourced, how should this parameter correctly be used:

  • Option A - Multiple locations the subject has resided. (Judi Dench, John Waters)
  • Option B - Wherever the subject currently lives. (Amitabh Bachchan, Theresa May)
  • Option C - Only if the subject is notable for living in that location or those locations. (Angelyne, Snooki)
  • Option D - Some other idea, please explain.

Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 06:26, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

  • Option D Remove the parameter altogether.
  • Option E Some other idea, please explain.
Since nobody has commented yet, I'm adding a new Option D.—Bagumba (talk) 11:11, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Survey

  • Option D The few people for which this parameter might truly be relevant is outweighed by the copycat nature it gets added for ones that don't. (Bill Gates in Medina, Washington?) Per MOS:IBXPURPOSE: The less information it contains, the more effectively it serves that purpose, allowing readers to identify key facts at a glance. The nature to which they might strongly be tied to a particular location outside of their birthplace should be obvious in the body, if not the lead.—Bagumba (talk) 11:11, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D Bagumba is correct. The field is rarely sourced in my experience - nor does it get updated when people move. MarnetteD|Talk 19:21, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    • Most people won't get press when they move, so this becomes easily dated and warrants an WP:ASOF if it's even notable enough to be in the body, let alone the infobox.—Bagumba (talk) 05:09, 6 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D I can see ways in which this could inadvertently promote publicising information about LPs which should not be on Wikipedia (eg actual addresses).--Goldsztajn (talk) 22:21, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D Remove the parameter. Per Bagumba et al. - Ryk72 talk 04:50, 6 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yep, option D. If there's ever a case where it's somehow really, really important to indicate something like this (e.g. someone very notable for two different things in two different places), then it can be done on a case-by-case basis with a custom parameter.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  10:33, 6 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option C + option Wikidata It is not possible to understand a biography without having location context. The infobox should contain this location information. The Wikipedia default outsider of infoboxes is to present information which is notable. In infoboxes, for most people there will be one location affiliation, for some people 2-3, and rarely more for anyone before the modern age. For the modern age we should say something but it would be hard to come up with a rule quickly. Wikidata is the right place to sort most of this. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:38, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    • Option D, delete I changed my mind. In cases where this is most relevant, the circumstances are too often too difficult to explain as statements of fact in an infobox. If someone's residence is near their place of birth, then that is the historic norm. Historically if someone traveled, they had an unusual reason, and that is too much for an infobox. Nowadays when people change national residence it may not have particular meaning. This is not an easy field to interpret. Let's keep place of birth and remove this field. The place for this information is in the prose article and in Wikidata, but not the infobox. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:53, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D per Bagumba. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:27, 16 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D per above. – Levivich 04:50, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • D is for Delete per the above arguments. If a residence is notable it can always be outlined (and sourced) in prose. DonIago (talk) 04:54, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D per others, as it have no value there. -BRAINULATOR9 (TALK) 22:27, 24 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option A but if Option D is chosen by consensus, then I would ask that we ensure there are multiple "other" parameters which could be used for residence/birthplace/etc. and which allow us to set custom names for the parameters. Doug Mehus T·C 16:51, 26 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Option D because the majority of people adding this parameter to articles leave it unsourced. If somebody's residence is notable, it can be added and sourced to a personal life section. – DarkGlow (talk) 20:15, 4 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

  • Comment To get some idea of how and where the residence parameter is being used, I've added a tracking category to the template. See Category:Infobox person using residence. It will take several hours to populate properly, so it won't give a good estimate of how many articles have the parameter until tomorrow.
    Using an insource search (hastemplate:"infobox person" insource:/residence *= *[A-Za-z\[]/) shows 36,844 results, but it might have missed a few (like {{plainlist}}); there are at least 766 uses of the parameter with a blank value. --RexxS (talk) 23:43, 5 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I checked some of these, and I was seeing that the place of birth was often near the residence. To me that is not the meaningful information I want in an infobox. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:57, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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.

Removal

As a first step I've commented out the parameter in the template and removed it as valid in the check. That leaves us with a temporary marker where the parameter was, just in case. At some future point that can safely be removed.

I think I've removed from the documentation all mentions of residence that need to be removed.

There are still over 38,000 pages in Category:Infobox person using residence, so there's some clean-up to do, but it's obviously not urgent. It will show up as an unknown parameter in preview mode, so it will eventually be eliminated, but if anybody wants to do a bot run, that would speed things up substantially. --RexxS (talk) 22:24, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@RexxS: Is removal of dead code that doesn't affect the display considered a cosmetic change or a minor edit?—Bagumba (talk) 05:49, 26 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@Bagumba: It's the sort of change that should not be done alone – not because it's intrinsically "cosmetic" or "minor", but because it's not urgent. There's no good reason to hit the server job queue for so many pages just to remove a hidden comment, so it's best done later at the same time as a substantial edit. Hope that makes sense. --RexxS (talk) 17:20, 26 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
That is a stupid bot job, nine characters residence vs. nine characters home_town. Or use {{{home_town|{{{residence}}}}}}, or any other recipe not ending up with thousands of mutilated BLPs. –84.46.52.176 (talk) 02:20, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@RexxS: so they should all be removed (i.e. a simple find-and-replace removal of the residence parameter)? DannyS712 (talk) 02:44, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
It would be better to wait until the holiday season is over and people have had a chance to absorb the fact that residence no longer does anything other than show a warning in preview. Perhaps wait until 13 January 2020 to see if anyone raises a problem. I would hope that a bot can do something other than remove this parameter if it is going to edit over 38,000 articles. I think AWB has the ability to remove parameters as part of its general cleanup, and that might be better. Johnuniq (talk) 03:03, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Let's not insult the natives (BLP)

Template:infobox officeholder does not show the string native_name if the native_name parameter is filled; instead it shows that native name in a similar fashion (centred, bold, large font) to the English transliteration, without telling the reader that it is a "native name" (the reader will presumably infer this without having to be told, as s/he also has to infer from the English transliteration of the name).

It seems to me that in Template:infobox person, writing the string native_name explicitly violates WP:BLP for many of our articles whose subjects are living people, for obvious reasons of colonial history and some of the connotations of "native" being pejorative. I propose that at least for the moment we make the minimal edit from: 

 | label1     = Native name

to 

 | label1     =

In other words, we leave the label blank. Or we could use something like the officeholder code, if it applies without too much change: 

 | subheaderstyle = font-size:125%; font-weight:bold;
 | subheader = {{#ifeq:{{lc:{{{embed}}}}}|yes||{{#if:{{{native_name|}}}|<div class="nickname" {{#if {{{native_name_lang|}}}|lang="{{{native_name_lang}}}"}}>{{{native_name}}}</div>}}}}

An example to check right now is Seham Sergiwa, a psychologist who happens to also be a member of parliament, so Infobox person is her main template, infobox officeholder is a module. She's hopefully still a living person, although chances are she was assassinated (see the article for details). Boud (talk) 22:44, 14 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The heading is informational. Rather than just displaying a string of characters in the infobox, we tell readers what that string of characters represents. You have not provided a reliable source for your implied claim that the phrase "native name" is pejorative. Since it is used tens of thousands of times in articles on Wikipedia, you might want to move this discussion to a more wide-ranging venue, like Wikipedia:Village pump (policy). – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:19, 14 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
this was discussed for infobox islands and the result was to remove the label as suggested if |local_name= were used instead of |native_name=. Frietjes (talk) 15:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Suggest to remove param Foreign names can already be in the lead sentence per MOS:FORLANG. However, this is English Wikipedia, so I do not see the need to also overload an infobox with this foreign name. Per MOS:IBXPURPOSE: The less information it contains, the more effectively it serves that purpose, allowing readers to identify key facts at a glance.—Bagumba (talk) 05:24, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose the removal of the parameter. This is the English-language Wikipedia, but it's not the Wikipedia-only-for-English-readers-who-are-monolingual-and-monoscriptual. Some readers will know the original script and wish to see the name in that script. The case of Arabic names is an especially strong argument against this suggestion. Not only does Arabic in common written usage omit most vowels, but the pronunciation of some of the consonants varies across the Arabic-speaking world, and presumably within Arabic-speaking countries. Which makes it unsurprising that a person with a well-defined name in Arabic can easily have half-a-dozen different English/roman transliterations in English-language sources (and French/roman transliterations will tend to vary a bit too). There are also many readers in between, who know enough of a non-roman script to be able to search on it, without being fluent. It also seems a bit disrespectful to the subject of an article to suggest that only the English/roman version of his/her name is significant. Boud (talk) 20:03, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]


Summary: The Village pump proposal got comments, overt support from several people, and only mild opposition.

Could someone with technical access please make the changes? Either my minimal edit (leave label1 blank) or a better formatted equivalent. Thanks. Boud (talk) 22:49, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

native_name pointer

This is just a pointer to Template_talk:Infobox_person#Let's_not_insult_the_natives_(BLP) above, which after giving plenty of time for discussion appears ready for someone with editing access to act on. Boud (talk) 22:51, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protected edit request on 14 December 2019

The minimal edit request is to change from:
| label1 = Native name
to
| label1 =
in order to avoid the risk of the label being perceived as insulting (colonial) (BLP issue) and/or because the rendered result looks better without the label.
For a more detailed discussion see Template_talk:Infobox_person#Let's_not_insult_the_natives_(BLP) and the discussion at village pump, which got comments, overt support from several people, and only mild opposition. One month is plenty of time for anyone to lodge serious objections if there were any. A more sophisticated, stylish way of implementing this BLP fix is possible too - I'm requesting a minimal version that is fairly sure to work. Boud (talk) 10:20, 14 December 2019 (UTC) (copyedit Boud (talk) 10:21, 14 December 2019 (UTC))[reply]

A centered subheader under the English name would be better than having right-adjusted data in the infobox table without a label.—Bagumba (talk) 11:03, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
No objections from me - but someone with editing rights needs to actually do one option or another... :). Boud (talk) 11:26, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
How would the centred subheader look if the infobox were used as a child of another infobox? Can we see sandbox and mockups, please, because templates with very high levels of transclusions shouldn't be updated until we're absolutely sure the change is correct. If any tweaks needs to be made, it's best they happen in the sandbox to avoid overloading the job queue. --RexxS (talk) 19:13, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I tried Infobox person/sandbox in Seham Sergiwa and previewed based on the sandbox with these two edits by Galobtter. It looks fine to me. I tried Infobox person/sandbox on Abdalla Hamdok with a preview and it also looks OK to me. Boud (talk) 22:18, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I'd suggest adding a testcase to Template:Infobox person/testcases as well, so this isnt broken in the future. Also, what does it look like when |honorific_suffix= is specified?—Bagumba (talk) 23:42, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I added Sergiwa + Hamdok to the /testcases page - this is a good way of testing. I arbitrarily converted Hamdok into an Esquire, for the honorific_suffix. I guess if a suffix is needed, that should be OK. I also added a Hamdok copy with the |native_name_lang= missing; the rendered output looks the same to me, but the source html has lang="ar" missing. For the sake of readers for whom these hidden attributes are important, I guess a warning in red could be given when editing if |native_name_lang= is missing - or else robots could add those in later. Boud (talk) 00:03, 15 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

information Administrator note I find there is consensus for this change. RexxS above questions how the change will look in child infoboxes, and I just wanted to confirm that this has been addressed. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 10:31, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@RexxS: Would the generic Infobox person ever be embedded into another (more specific) infobox?—Bagumba (talk) 10:36, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. Here is a list of 800+ articles that use Infobox person as a child infobox. Sheryl Crow, for example. – Jonesey95 (talk) 13:30, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting backdoor.—Bagumba (talk) 13:49, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@Boud: can you do some tests with Sheryl and confirm that everything looks okay? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 04:20, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@MSGJ: - Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Sheryl_Crow_with_fictitious_japanese_native_name uses testcase table in the outer infobox, and looks fine, but I don't think that tests the potential flaw. Have a look instead at Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Sheryl_Crow_with_fictitious_japanese_native_name_in_inner_infobox and Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Buzz_Aldrin_with_fictitious_arabic_name. These both appear somewhat odd, because the native_names, which I have inserted into the inner infobox, appear mid-way along the main list of parameters. For these two insertions of a native_name to occur, the Sheryl Crow version would appear to a parameter at the same level as alma_mater; and the native_name in the Buzz Aldrin case is for an inner infobox of which the only original (native ;)) parameters are children, spouse, website, signature. If باسس الادرين really were a native_name for Aldrin's family, then this would make sense, and to me look OK, especially as the hypothetical editor of the wiki source would appear to see this as something more closely associated with Buzz Aldrin's family, and as a separate sub-group to his space career, rather than a native_name of Buzz Aldrin himself.
Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Abu_Bakr will have duplicates of the native name, but that in fact is already the case in Abu Bakr, where the version with the label "native_name" appears at the bottom of the box, and another copy is hacked into the name parameter using the br tag. So cases like this could be argued to already look a bit odd, and fixing cases like this by hand will help remove some cases of hacked name parameters, like this.
I checked a few others on the list like Boris Grebenshchikov and Hirokazu Tanaka; these have native_name in the outer infobox, so no problem is expected; Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad uses {{Infobox religious biography}}, where native_name is already a subheader.
To summarise: there is at least one use of native_name in an inner infobox that is redundant with a hacked name parameter (Abu Bakr), but even without editing, it will still look OK, and with editing, it will be cleaner (no need for the Arabic version both at the top and the bottom); any other uses of native_name inside an inner infobox are likely to be rare, and if they exist (the Crow and Aldrin examples have artificially inserted native_names), would probably make sense with the new layout, and if not, would probably be noticed quickly and fixed. So no 100% guarantee of no complaints, but to me it looks reasonable to make the present /sandbox version live, unless someone can think of more tests to make. [The testcase table itself failed to be useful for these inner infoboxes - but that's a bug in testcase table, not a test of the sandbox version of Infobox person.] Boud (talk) 22:55, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Not sure if it's technically possible, but native name should ideally be disabled if detectable as a child. Editors should keep it in the parent infobox paired with the English version of their name.—Bagumba (talk) 01:59, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
It's technically quite possible. Something like | data1 = {{#if:{{{child|}}}{{{embed|}}} || {{#if:{{{native_name|}}}|<div class="nickname" {{#if:{{{native_name_lang|}}}|lang="{{{native_name_lang}}}"}}>{{{native_name}}}</div>}} }} will suppress the field if the parameters |child= or |embed= have values – you could refine it by testing for the parameters having the value "yes", which Module:Infobox tests for. However, I'm not sure if that's always going to be a good idea, because it presupposes that the parent infobox processes the |native_name= parameter. As we don't know which parent infobox may be used (and that's open-ended), that presupposition may not always be true. --RexxS (talk) 03:11, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I have deployed a version of the above test in the sandbox. If I am reading this discussion correctly, our goal is to display the person's name in their native language below the name they are usually known by in English. If this infobox is used as a child infobox, I do not think having the |native_name= parameter from Infobox person display anywhere within the rendered Infobox person template will be useful in achieving that goal. I welcome a test case that shows that I am incorrect, as I may be misunderstanding the goal, the technical function of the infobox, or both. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:31, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. The testcases starting from Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Sheryl_Crow_with_fictitious_japanese_native_name_in_inner_infobox and below demonstrate that native name is not displayed when specified in a child. I'm satisfied.—Bagumba (talk) 05:38, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I've added Template:Infobox_person/testcases#Lennon/Ono_devil's_advocate_case to test the current version by Jonesey95 at 04:26, 18 December 2019. In this hypothetical case, the editor decided that Yoko Ono's Japanese script name is vital to the article about John Lennon, so s/he inserted 小野洋子 into the inner infobox as native_name, along with spouse = Yoko Ono.
The result is that this gives a misleading result with the standard (existing) template: the reader gets the impression that 小野洋子 is Lennon's Japanese script name, unrelated to any spouse(s) he may or may not have. With our sandbox version, 小野洋子 disappears totally, so the reader is not misled. On the other hand, the reader is unaware of how to write Yoko Ono's name in Japanese. I don't think that this is a problem: the article is mainly about Lennon, not his best-known wife. If his wife is WP-notable, then she can have her native_name in the main infobox on her own article. In the spirit of not overloading the reader with too much info in infoboxes, this effective ignoring of native_name in inner infobox person infoboxes seems reasonable to me. The editor will be annoyed, but if this really is an exceptional case, then a hack using 'br' and including extra text in the spouse parameter will not be blocked by the template (it will be up to editors to discuss its exceptional justification).
Current status: all the test cases look OK to me. Boud (talk) 22:38, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

 Done. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:57, 24 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Criminal charge(s)

Please change the label "Criminal charge" to "Criminal charge(s)" (or "Criminal charges") and the variable "Criminal_charge" to "Criminal_charges". This is necessary because criminals are often charged with multiple serious crimes. 12:22, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit template-protected}} template. Sceptre (talk) 07:04, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Sceptre Do we actually need consensus to pluralize something already in the infobox that should have been pluralized to begin with? Also, WP:BOLD. - MrX 🖋 13:00, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Why does this template need any criminal parameters at all? Seems like {{Infobox criminal}} would be used for most notable criminals. In the other rare cases when it passes BLP and UNDUE muster, the criminal template should just be embedded into this one.—Bagumba (talk) 07:35, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Bagumba that's not really my concern, although it's probably because some people are known primarily for heinous crimes, and other are known for other things and less heinous crimes. It is in the infobox, so I just want it to be pluralized. - MrX 🖋 13:00, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

RfC: Should the Criminal charge label be changed to Criminal charge(s)?

Should the label "Criminal charge" be changed to "Criminal charge(s)" (or "Criminal charges") and should the parameter variable "Criminal_charge" be changed to "Criminal_charges"? - MrX 🖋 13:08, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

  • Yes - This is necessary because criminals are often charged with multiple serious crimes. template:Infobox criminal is not appropriate for people who have not committed heinous crimes. See for example, Roger Stone. - MrX 🖋 13:08, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Embed Infobox criminal into Inbox person using |module=, and have it be consistent with {{Infobox criminal}}. Ibx criminal currently shows "Criminal charge". Not saying that is right, but we should not reinvent the wheel, whatever direction we decide to take. Embedding the template ensures a solution only needs to be implemented once, and not have to propagated to multiple other templates. It ensures consistency.—Bagumba (talk) 09:06, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    Yes, I agree that we should implement the change in one place and propagate it to the others. - MrX 🖋 13:27, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes – usually there's more than one. – Levivich 18:33, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Per WP:TESTCASES, I suggest that the proposed changes be put into Template:Infobox person/sandbox and demonstrated at Template:Infobox person/testcases, so that we can see exactly what is intended. For instance, this use of the word "variable" - Wikipedia does not use variables except in JavaScript and in Lua modules, and I don't see any suggestion of how such code will be incorporated. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:56, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    Redrose64 there is no code and no need for a test case. This is a simple cosmetic change to a label and the corresponding parameter name. Obviously, I was referred to "variable" in the general sense of the word, not the programming sense. Was it really not clear that I was referring to the parameter "Criminal_charges"? What else would I be referring to? - MrX 🖋 20:35, 7 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    There is no parameter |Criminal_charge= - there is |criminal charge= and its alias, |criminal_charge= - parameter names are case-sensitive. If we change these to |Criminal charge(s)=/|Criminal charges= and |Criminal_charges= respectively, existing uses will break. This is why I want to see exactly what is intended in the sandbox. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 11:02, 8 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes That would be helpful. Most criminals don't commit just one crime.HAL333 00:59, 6 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • In theory, yes. Like Redrose64, I want to see it sandboxed and testcased, and like Bagumba I want to see parameters consistent between i-boxes, and even directly reusing code where possible.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  12:57, 7 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Let's not complicate this. See my response to Redrose64 above.- MrX 🖋 20:35, 7 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Extra parameter

We get regular requests to add a new parameter to this infobox, sometimes for use in only a handful of articles. It would be possible to add a generic "extra parameter" field by passing its label and value to the infobox module, for example by adding to the template something like: 

| label63 = {{{extralabel|}}}
| data63  = {{{extravalue|}}}

That would allow editors to create their own custom field by using those in an article; for example, something like: 

| extralabel = Pronouns
| extravalue = they/them

This would move responsibility for the extra field to the editor, rather than the template designer.

Now, I'm not very keen on the idea, personally, because of the possibility of misuse (although a tracking category could easily be added). Nevertheless I raise the issue because other editors might find it a useful option. What do others think? --RexxS (talk) 20:40, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not keen either, not unless someone can show a really good need. It just invites an anything goes approach where people will argue that since extralabel exists, it must be ok to use it, and anyone wanting to remove it must prove that the usage is inappropriate. Call me jaded... Johnuniq (talk) 23:39, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Given that Category:Pages using infobox person with unknown parameters currently has about 4,750 pages in it, there are more editors adding unsupported parameters than gnomes can keep up with. Adding a parameter like this is just asking for more maintenance work. Editors will insert all sorts of junk in there, like religion, height, weight, hair color, ethnicity, and other stuff that has been argued about on this page for years. No thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:56, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
This would not work on crowd-sourced Wikipedia. People seem to add more trivial info (sometimes vandalism) to inboxes than they do with prose. As it is, we have too many existing parameters that go against WP:INFOBOXPURPOSE.—Bagumba (talk) 04:45, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah. |extralabel=Dog's name |extravalue=Fido. To see what happens with a real case of free-form parameters, see how the "blank fields" of {{infobox settlement}} get used. There's no control. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:16, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per RexxS, Johnuniq, Jonesey95, and Redrose64. To add to that chorus: this is a recipe for WP:INDISCRIMINATE trivia, for PoV pushing, and in particular for tendentious efforts to get around the consensus removal of various parameters like ethnicity and religion. And, no, we don't need a pronoun parameter. This obsession with gender-related browbeating really needs to stop. Our article prose, by the way it is written, will already make it clear what the appropriate pronoun is, in encyclopedic, general-English terms. The last thing we need is some parameter that will mostly be used to "advertise" made-up non-English like zir and hirs and whatever.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  13:00, 7 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal to remove salary parameter

I think revealing someone's salary in the infobox is quiet disrespectful. In many cultures, asking about someone's salary is considered disrespectful. I think it is too personal and too private. Therefore, I think it should be removed from the infobox.--SharabSalam (talk) 23:45, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support: even if it's public (i.e., there exists a reliable source), "salary" is often misleading & transient. It doesn't tell you a fact about a person, so much as how much money they currently are paid to do a job. = paul2520 (talk) 00:57, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support – on grounds it's misleading and transient, even if it's public. – Levivich 06:06, 28 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per above. I'd thought of nominating this for removal myself. I can see keeping it in some specialty infoboxes, where this stat is commonly used within a specific field for comparative purposes (most often with sports figures).  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  12:56, 7 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per Levivich. Desertborn (talk) 21:09, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

☑Y Removed.—Bagumba (talk) 10:54, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Articles with missing wikidata information

Agnes Geijer is being placed in Category:Articles with missing wikidata information rather than Category:Articles with missing Wikidata information (capitalising Wikidata) and I assume it's something to do with this template being called but can't see immediately where it's happening. Can someone help? Le Deluge (talk) 12:43, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The template in question was {{infobox person/Wikidata}}, which is (somewhat confusingly) not this template. I have implemented a workaround there and posted a query on that template's talk page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:35, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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