Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters

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Why not copy from "List of characters in the Harry Potter books" in Wikipedia?

Our book may be able to use that list as a reference, but our purpose is different from Wikipedia. Each character needs time to be worked on. I think in the style of a book, we will expand over time, not just start with some huge list. -Matt 00:41, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Alphabetical Order

We should group characters alphabetically because otherwise, an "overlap" of characters occurs. Lucius Malfoy is a member of the Malfoy family, a member of the Ministry of Magic and also a Death Eater. This can make finding characters easier. --Roonil Wazlib 15:19, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

If people need to find characters, then they should be using the Index. The list now can always be reorganized some but its purpose is to put characters into groups. The character should go into the group he/she/it is most importantly featured in. Families will always get the character under their listing. I'm adding a message at the top of the page. Your issue should really be solved by using the Index. The purpose of the Characters page is groups. Also, I understand that some clashing may occur (i.e. I think the Black family members shouldn't be listed under "Black Family" or at least not until we can write up info on some of the main members first), but we have to work with the groups as best as possible. -Matt 00:42, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

I agree to a certain point. I think that the characters should be listed in some type of order such as alphabetical order within the specific sections. This is just needed for the teachers section which has no seen organization. --User:Luckrider7

Teachers' section is alphabetical by last name, no? Chazz 00:56, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple Groups, Family Info

I am personally wondering why characters can not be put under several different groups. It could effectively show that these groups are in this family, in this House at Hogwarts, etc. If someone could explain why they need to be/should be in the group that they are most importantly featured in, then I will be quiet and move onto other thoughts. Also, I was wondering if somewhere else in the Muggle's Guide that would do a short summation of the family? It could even be on this page, just a short explanation of the family/group. Of course, if someone could point me in the direction where they are, again I'll just move on. Thank you for your help. ~Peter 03:16, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

I do a lot of the oversight here, and you've brought up some valid points. If you can do a good job with it, then add multiple references to a character on the page. If it's done professionally, then it could work. Having small paragraphs about a group would not be a bad idea either. Stay away from descriptive sentences however; the Guide is about analysis, not description. -Matt 04:51, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
A thing has occurred to me, thinking about groups. In the students, would it not be useful to group students by year, as well as by house? We have a list of students by house now, but if I wanted to look up who was in Harry's year in each house, I would have no place to do that. Is that worth adding? Chazz 20:36, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
I personally find that confusing and difficult to manage across all 7+ years of the book (since there were others ahead of Harry). Marking a character with something in the template might work, but I don't know if there's value in separating by year. -withinfocus 23:35, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
No argument about complexity; it would be 13 separate years ranging from those who are 7th year as Harry is entering, up to those who are first-years in the seventh book. It's just that I think it might be useful to have an easy way to look up that the Slytherins in Harry's year are Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, one other unnamed boy, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and three unnamed girls... just for instance. Chazz 00:45, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Minor descriptions/explanations

I don't know whether it actually looks any good, however I have added bullet descriptions of what the staff memebers do at Hogwarts. It looks a bit strange and hard to follow, but I thought this information should be included. Thoughts? --DanielBC 23:39, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

I like the idea, but I think it could be added upon. Would you be interested in creating pages under the Magic section regarding those professors' subject areas and then linking to them? Having pages to explain the subjects the professors teach seems like it would be quite helpful. -Matt 00:37, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
Sure, I would but I'm just coming into exams right now, so it will have to wait until after then. But I like your idea. I will work on it when I can. --DanielBC 00:11, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contradictions in sub-pages

There are some contradictory statements that the Longbottoms were tortured by either Barty Crouch Jr or by Bellatrix Lestrange. -- Jokes Free4Me 13:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

In our current state of development, I think the best technique for this is to remove the content and let it be formed later. With a book so large, inspecting existing information can be much more difficult than starting new content from scratch. -Matt 13:41, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
This particular issue could easily be dealt with once the truth is established. I was not 'inspecting' pages looking for contradictions, but i had stumbled across one by accident. Since i don't have time to check the books right now to see which statement is right, i've just made a note of it, and will hopefully get it done in a while. -- Jokes Free4Me 13:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
This first issue has been solved (a while ago). I've made about five pages have decent text and layout on this occasion. :-) -- Jokes Free4Me 19:21, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Character Page Locking

I've placed this section above the status section so that people will hopefully notice it. Since the Characters page is insanely long, and even though I placed a warning on the page to ask people to stop adding characters, I'm considering protecting the page from editing to avoid junk three-word additions by anonymous editors. Does anyone else support this action, and are there other pages that anyone would like protected? With all the recent activity here, it's becoming a task to manage pages within the namespace. -withinfocus 15:36, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

I am slightly concerned about this. As I go through the chapter summary, I do keep finding characters which are not mentioned here, but have a role in the books, and I have to take the time to add them. For instance,a while back I found that we had no entry for Bartemius Crouch Senior, and I haven't yet needed to check if there is an entry for Ludo Bagman. If you're OK with me asking periodically to have a character added, then fine, lock it up. I'm doing a lot of adding to the Magic page as well; I'd prefer that one not be locked. Chazz 08:06, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
I won't lock anything for now then. We can let some time pass to get final characters in, but in the future I'd like to lock it once we think we have a sufficient set. -withinfocus 15:23, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you. Case in point: I just had to add Armando Dippet. He's still a stub, but I'll template and fill him in over the next couple of days. He appears in CoS and HBP for sure that I can recall, and he may have a cameo in OotP as well -- one of the portraits in Dumbledore's office. Chazz 08:22, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current Status

I notice that we have a Rosier Evans, a Rosier, and an Evan Rosier on the Characters page. I suspect that Rosier (a Death Eater, probably mentioned in either the Pensieve scenes or in the return of Voldemort) is not the same as Evan Rosier (listed as a Slytherin), but I think Rosier Evans is incorrect. I think we may have to combine these into one or two over time. I am not suggesting we do anything immediately; but I would like to keep a note here so that when we see "Rosier"s in the chapters, we can then decide how to correct it. Chazz 23:44, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Minor characters

I propose either deleting each or merging minor characters in one article which is redirected to by the individual pages. John Reaves 06:35, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

This discussion is now at Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter. -withinfocus 23:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
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