Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Will Schuester

Dispute specifics

 * Involved users
 * , filing party


 * Auxiliary individuals (the dispute is between Ctjf83 and WCityMike -- these are not disputing users -- just people who offered an opinion)
 * , third-opinion provider (opinion rejected by Ctfj83 due to belief that user was insufficiently experienced)
 * , (sole) provider of opinion on Ctjf83's talk page
 * , (sole) provider of opinion on RfC


 * Articles concerned in this dispute


 * Other steps in dispute resolution that have been attempted
 * Initial one-sided discussion in edit summaries
 * User_talk:Ctjf83/Archive_5 -- initial talk page discussion between editors and third opinion process
 * Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Television -- request for comment -- insufficient participation
 * User talk:WCityMike -- Query from Ctjf83 re: whether I accept results of RfC or not

Issues to be mediated
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
 * WCityMike: In my edit summary, I initially provided examples of famous sitcom characters past and present: Allison Cameron, Perry Cox, Miranda Bailey, Addison Montgomery, Mary Richards, and Ross Geller. These were not responded to by Ctjf83 when reverting; when we began interacting via the talk page, these were rejected by Ctjf83 as insufficient examples due to being "low quality articles."  He asked for GAs and FAs.  I responded with 13 GAs (Adrian Monk, Alexander Mahone, Betty Williams, Chrissie Watts, Dimitri Marick, Ellen Harvelle, Erica Hahn, James Wilson, John Winchester, Maggie Horton, Ned Flanders, Smoking Man, and Todd Manning) and 1 front-page FA (Troy McClure).  I believe that editors' actions on these articles reflect the community's consensus that said information belongs in the infoboxes.  The consensus is present not only in the "low-quality" articles' day-to-day natural state of equilibrium; it is present in the fact that 12 articles with said notations are currently classified as GAs (per Frickative, Erica Hahn being an exception); and it is especially present in the fact that the "ex-wife" notation for Troy McClure survived the extremely detailed spit-polishing that proceeds an article being a featured article on the front page.
 * Ctjf83: As User:Frickative pointed out here, how many GAs/FAs don't list divorced or deceased, or other in universe/trivial info in the info box, I agree with her question.
 * 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

 * 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)
 * 2) Agree C T J F 8 3  pride 07:48, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Decision of the Mediation Committee

 * 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)
 * I am available to mediate this case. Andrevan@ 05:06, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
 * }