Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2017-07-15/Humour
The infobox game
Empress Barbara X. Page (If I had an infobox this is what it would be) | |
|---|---|
Barbie (before age 8) | |
 everyone wants to be me | |
| Pronunciation | βa-βa-ɻa pʷeɪj |
| Born | Barbara PahTootey Falks May 6, 1960 Upper Schlabutkeeville, Michigan |
| Disappeared | you wish Linn Run State Park |
| Status | lost in the woods |
| Died | not established |
| Cause of death | premeditated murder |
| Body discovered | envied by a top modelling agencies |
| Resting place | there is no rest for the wicked |
| Monuments | |
| Nationality | French, Canadian, English, Polish |
| Other names | just expletives |
| Citizenship | world and galaxy |
| Education | self-taught |
| Alma mater | Spring Arbor University |
| Occupation | Wikimedian |
| Years active | ten |
| Era | common |
| Employer(s) | me and I have two library cards |
| Organization(s) | secret, there really is a cabal |
| Known for | making other editors crazy |
| Notable work | Empathy in chickens, English two-letter words, Monarch butterfly migration |
| Style | encyclopedic |
| Television | nope, too busy writing WP articles and voting on new administrators |
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) |
| Title | "The magnificent..." |
| Term | lifetime |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | none |
| Political party | there is always a party whereever I am |
| Movement | smooth |
| Opponent | read my talk page |
| Board member of | mahogany |
| Criminal charge | failure to disperse |
| Criminal penalty | 3 hour jail term |
| Criminal status | unconvicted |
| Spouse | wishes to remain anonymous |
| Children | six |
| Parent(s) | Carol and David |
| Relatives | Many |
| Family | Bros. and sisters |
| Awards | Nobel prize for ridiculousness |
Ah yes, the infobox. I am a big fan. These boxes come in handy when I only have seven seconds to read an article. My absolute favorite parts of the infobox are the amazing parameters that can be included. For once, I would like to see each parameter filled in with each tiny fragment of information. So I made one about myself.
You are probably familiar with the infoboxes for entertainers, gaming, movies, cities, et cetera et cetera.
But DYK....that there are infoboxes for:
- CHERUB, a series of young adult spy novels by author Robert Muchamore, about how the British Security Service employs children, predominantly orphans, under the age of 17, as secret agents? There are actually 14 different infoboxes for this one author.[attention spam hunters]
- Four different Dungeons & Dragons infoboxes for the classes of characters? (But what template do you use if an entity is a deity and a creature?)
- Hill of Rome used 15 times, but I thought there were only seven hills of Rome...?
- Huts?
- Heteroisoform? Which probably needs an article so we all can know what it might be.
- Bullfighters?
- Yoga schools?
- Water buffalo breed?
- Craters on Venus?
- Volcanic hotspot?
- Pandemic?
- Artificial fly (not a fake bug)?
- Telephone area code?
and DYK...
- ...that the baseball biography infobox is used over 22,000 times?
- ...that the football (soccer) biography infobox is used over 100,000 times?
- ...that the cricketter biography infobox is used over 16,000 times?
I think infoboxes have a firm future because of our ever decreasing attention span. And it would take little effort to commercialize infoboxes by transforming them into trading cards. Instead of detailed arguments about pogs, we will hear: "I'll give you one Joe Negri for a Phil Ochs, a Melissa Greener and Caroll Spinney". I already have mine in a binder and inserted into those dandy plastic sleeves. I anticipate forming a massive collection. I can see my children at the estate sale after my death trying to unload my infobox/biography trading cards off on some clueless investor who trades in infobox futures.
Discuss this story
I think you misspelled "wherever." ~TPW 03:00, 16 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I would collect infobox trading cards. I can already imagine a game based on the different infobox templates. Are soccer biographies strong against comic strips? "You got a Hill of Rome? Damn, those are rare. I'll trade this artificial fly card for it." ~Mable (chat) 10:20, 16 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- ooo! ooo! Each infobox card could be ranked by the daily average pageviews. So if one infobox card was for an article with 1000 views per day, it would be worth two infobox cards with 500 page views per day. You are a genius. AND there are no copyrights! Good job Maplestrip. We are going to be millionaires. Wouldn't it great to have this set up for Wikimania in 2018?
- Barbara (WVS) ✐ ✉ 22:33, 17 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- Well, the images would often be copyrighted (though not always). I would love to see something like this happen, but it sounds like a lot of work :p ~Mable (chat) 07:53, 18 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- Way too much work. Barbara (WVS) ✐ ✉ 11:47, 19 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
This is fun. I just now read it (cleaning out my talk page). Thanks! Softlavender (talk) 23:01, 27 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]