Wikipedia:WikiProject Soap Operas

WikiProject Soap Operas was created to guide the structure of articles related to individual soap operas and telenovelas, and to centralize the effort to improve and organize these articles.

, over 17,900 articles, lists and other elements bear the Project banner.

Open tasks

 * Please add the     template to the top of the talkpage of all soap opera-related articles
 * Please participate in the discussions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Soap Operas.

Ongoing tasks

 * Stub-class soap opera articles in need of expansion
 * Start-class soap opera articles in need of expansion
 * Unassessed soap opera articles: Assign a class!
 * Cleanup listing of soap opera-related articles needing specific issues to be addressed

[[Image:Nuvola apps kdmconfig.png|20px]] Participants
To join the Project, just add your name to the list below.

There is also now a userbox available for members of this Project (see right). To use it, add  User WP:Soaps   to your user page.

Adding the userbox to your user page automatically places you into Category:WikiProject Soap Operas participants, which will help the Project in organizing and contacting its participants in the future. If you prefer, you may simply add the category itself to your user page:

Technically speaking, anyone who edits or contributes to soap opera-related articles is a participant, and there are no requirements other than that. However, using the userbox and being listed as a participant helps spread the word about the project, and can help other editors see what types of articles you are interested in editing.


 * Participants


 * 1) Zzyzx11 07:48, March 9, 2005
 * 2) JamesB3 12:24, March 16, 2005
 * 3) Peterwill 08:19, December 17, 2006 - I'm not a US citizen either. Both the descendant projects are British Soaps.
 * 4) Elonka 21:55, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 5) Flyer22 23:46, May 14, 2007
 * 6) TAnthony 00:09, May 19, 2007
 * 7) Glo145 00:44, October 3, 2007
 * 8) Toropop 16:40, October 20, 2007 - Loyal viewer of the American soap operas, Another World (1984 - 1999), All My Children (2000 - 2005), As the World Turns (2007 - Present), Days of our Lives (1971 - Present), Santa Barbara (1986 - 1993), the British soap opera, EastEnders (1998 - Present), and the Australian soap opera, Neighbours (2000 - Present).
 * 9) WTGDMan1986 - Days of our Lives, One Tree Hill (for a friend in Wilmington), and other teen soaps. I'll work to revert vandalism.
 * 10) Alessgrimal
 * 11) King Gemini - All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, and Days of our Lives
 * 12) KingMorpheus-Days of our Lives, All My Children, EastEnders, and General Hospital
 * 13) Spanish lullaby — telenovelas and Passions; I also have some basic knowledge about Days of our Lives and General Hospital
 * 14) M42380 - General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live
 * 15) Candyo32 - The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital
 * 16) Conquistador2k6 - Neighbours, Home and Away, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale are my main specialities. While I don't really watch/care for Hollyoaks, I will still clean up the articles. I'm also trying to raise consciousness on the late Brookside and Family Affairs.
 * 17) Ani  Mate  00:25, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 18) Chris Bulgin - The Young and the Restless
 * 19) Nk3play2 - General Hospital, One Life to Live, Days of Our Lives, All My Children, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful.
 * 20) JuneGloom07 – Mostly Neighbours and Home and Away, but I often help with the British soaps (including The Archers).
 * 21) Raintheone – Neighbours, Hollyoaks, Coronation Street, Home and Away and sometimes Emmerdale and EastEnders.
 * 22)  Anemone  Projectors  – EastEnders
 * 23) CloudKade11- One Life to Live and Days of our Lives
 * 24) Jester66 - All My Children, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, One Life to Live, and The Young and the Restless and the cast/characters.
 * 25)  Ar  re  – All four American soaps that are currently airing.
 * 26) livelikemusic - I have a vast knowledge of all of the current daytime soap operas from the past 13 years. I am an avid soap fan, and have been watching since age three. Soaps include: All My Children, As the World Turns, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light and The Young and the Restless.
 * 27) Creativity97 - Primarily The Young and the Restless.
 * 28) Tamravidhir - Primarily Indian and Pakistani soap operas.
 * 29) FrickFrack - A primary article creator and contributor to One Life to Live and ABC Daytime-related articles
 * 30) Caringtype1 - Mainly General Hospital
 * 31) Cambalachero - Argentine telenovelas
 * 32) SoapFan12 — Daytime Emmy Awards and Mainly The Bold and the Beautiful . However, still contribute articles related to General Hospital, Days of our Lives   and The Young and the Restless
 * 33) Bradford - Mexican, Colombian, Venezuelan and American telenovelas.
 * 34) Kiraroshi1976 Contributes to General Hospital.
 * 35) Bigpoliticsfan General Hospital and related character articles as necessary.
 * 36)  Azuxingmi  talk – Red Rock and EastEnders mainly, others occasionally.
 * 37) Soaper1234 — mainly EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City, but also Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
 * 38) CaptainWill98 20:40, May 11, 2016 - Holby City, Eastenders and Casualty are my strong suits.
 * 39) AMS1970 - a huge and dedicated fan of the entire genre in many of its forms (America/British/Australian, daytime/nighttime, TV/radio, etc.) but most passionate about All My Children and As the World Turns, also very skilled with grammar/style and being able to determine what's necessary information and what's not
 * 40) Hatio93 – Generally Neighbours and Shortland Street articles, but I also occasionally help out on Emmerdale articles too.
 * 41) Anusil - huge fan of The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and General Hospital. I have huge knowledge of each soaps and I watch them daily.
 * 42) Braxton C. Womack - Soap fan of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.
 * 43) Bayonett - I have contributed to articles about U.S. daytime shows and actors and British, Australian, South African, and Mexican shows, most notably Another World, Egoli: Place of Gold, Neighbours, One Life to Live, and 7de Laan.
 * 44) Meena – Doctors, EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Casualty, but will edit anything in soap.
 * 45) Rickyurs
 * 46) DaniloDaysOfOurLives – Hey! I edit mainly UK and US soap operas, mainly working on the storylines sections. I also mainly work on the Previous Cast Members Sections of the current US soaps, and have worked very hard on the cast members pages for defunct soaps One Life to Live and All My Children, among others. I work tiredlessly to make the lists as complete as possible :)
 * 47) Therealscorp1an - I mainly edit Neighbours pages. I'm relatively new, so I may make mistakes, please let me know the mistakes I make and how to fix it. Thank you!
 * 48) GeekyDave (talk) 07:28, 21 July 2022 (UTC) - I'm a rather new wikipedian and mainly do EastEnders, please bear with me as I'm learning the ropes.
 * 49) FishLoveHam (talk) 16:18, 30 May 2024 (UTC) - Forgot to add myself to this ages ago. Mostly EastEnders :).


 * Inactive participants


 * 1) General Eisenhower
 * 2) Wootking
 * 3) Miss Burkle 04:44, 15 April 2007 (UTC) I can help with Days of our Lives and Passions.
 * 4) Charleenmerced - on General Hospital
 * 5) Yllianos - Town profile pages of Llanview, PA (OLTL) & Pine Valley, PA (AMC); Template of FictionalSoapOperaCities; Caretaker of GH: Night Shift
 * 6) Nicolete
 * 7) JAltman752
 * 8) Mosquera - I mostly focus on telenovelas, specifically those that air in the US on MyNetworkTV and Telemundo, such as Dame Chocolate, Madre Luna and Watch Over Me
 * 9) MysticBlue - General Hospital
 * 10) TheRhani: Interested primarily in ABC soaps, but happily format and clean up any article that needs it (and there are more than a few that do!)
 * 11) Jessie val jean A bit of maintenance on ABC soap characters
 * 12) Liamodwyer13
 * 13) AMCOneGen - Lover of ABC daytime soaps, General Hospital in particular
 * 14) Evaglow — My focus is mainly on the characters and their portrayers on The Young and the Restless ; however, I also edit and format articles that are in need of clean-up... in addition to implementing the new character infobox and soap templates.
 * 15) Dmarex
 * 16) Youngandrestless - A lot of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful
 * 17) Dougie WII 05:43, 2 November 2007 (UTC) - Passions
 * 18) King garthur - Hollyoaks
 * 19) WaterOB - The X-Family
 * 20) Kevdawg2007- can help to some extent with articles on characters from the ITV soap Emmerdale
 * 21) 65852002o - Any page dealing with General Hospital or One Life to Live. Also some All My Children pages.
 * 22) Cregrexec - Hollyoaks, Hotel Cæsar
 * 23) Michellekerchal- General Hospital, All My Children, The Young and the Restless and One Life to Live
 * 24) Jenan34- any soaps
 * 25) Mkk08
 * 26) AJ21SW - Viewer of and contributor to British soap operas EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, Australian soaps Home and Away and Neighbours, and American soaps The Bold and the Beautiful and As The World Turns. Also interested in expanding articles for axed soaps Brookside, Family Affairs and Crossroads.
 * 27) User:GCFreak2 - I have good knowledge of Australian and New Zealand soap operas such as Shortland Street, Neighbours and Home and Away
 * 28) User:MVHS2009 - General Hospital and All My Children
 * 29) Correctone -
 * 30) Whoniverse93 - EastEnders and Hollyoaks.
 * 31) BigPadresDUDE Mostly General Hospital and One Life to Live, All My Children, And B&B
 * 32) KrissyP Mostly General Hospital and One Life to Live, All My Children, And B&B Like my husband User:BigPadresDUDE
 * 33) Familiae Watt§ - EastEnders is my area of expertise.
 * 34) Tangyanzixuan
 * 35) Kinson — Young and the Restless and related cast/characters.
 * 36) User:Jacque FDS — Indian soap operas (Malayalam & Hindi)
 * 37) Mike Halterman (versed in varying degrees of all soaps, but prefer Days, Y&R and AW)
 * 38) OLTL2002 - I will be working on articles pertaining to All My Children, General Hospital, and One Life to Live, as well as As the World Turns.
 * 39) Rocksey - All My Children, General Hospital, and Young and the Restless
 * 40) Andrewmc123 - Mostly River City
 * 41) Awtribute - Another World
 * 42) Lilithilien - Alles was zählt
 * 43) Kelly Marie 0812 - Primarily General Hospital
 * 44) Ooh, Fruity - Coronation Street mainly, others occasionally.
 * 45) M.Mario - Partly EastEnders (Poppy Meadow) and Doctors.
 * 46) D4nnyw14 - Hollyoaks and sometimes EastEnders. Occasionally Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
 * 47) GSorby - EastEnders and Coronation Street. Includes other general tasks.
 * 48) Frickative - Primarily EastEnders and Coronation Street.
 * 49) Thepoodlechef - SO FAR I have only watched one soap opera House of Anubis I'm completely new to this.
 * 50) ILoveLizWebber -DAYS, Passions, PC, AMC, OLTL, GH, Y&R, and B&B.
 * 51) Miss X-Factor — Young and the Restless and related cast/characters.
 * 52) Facts.People — Soap fan, especially The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless and relatives pages.
 * 53) Zayya - General Hospital

[[Image:Nuvola apps mozilla.png|20px]] Barnstar
There is now a Barnstar to award to anyone who has made significant contributions to soap opera articles or the Project:

Associated Wikiprojects

 * Parent WikiProject
 * WikiProject Television


 * Descendant WikiProjects
 * WikiProject Coronation Street
 * WikiProject EastEnders
 * WikiProject Emmerdale
 * WikiProject Holby
 * WikiProject Hollyoaks
 * WikiProject River City

Recognized content
Many WikiProject Soap Operas articles have been recognized for their quality.

Assessment

 * See WikiProject Soap Operas Assessment

The WikiProject Soap Operas banner template now automatically categorizes articles by quality based on class ratings.

Ratings are helpful in this WikiProject to identify:
 * Stub-class and Start-class soap opera articles in need of expansion
 * Unassessed soap opera articles

As the Project grows in size, ratings will be an important part of the process to expand and improve articles.

Remember to tag all soap opera-related Talk pages with:   

Useful assessment resources
Using the Soap opera articles by quality categorization, WP:1.0 automatically produces the following useful resources by bot:
 * Automatically generated lists of WP:SOAPS articles, by rating
 * Statistics table of articles within the Project, by rating
 * Log of article assessment/renaming activity

Templates

 *  - The WikiProject banner. Please add     to the top of the talkpage on all soaps-related articles. Remember that performer articles do not fall within the scope of this Project.
 * Note a Class if you can, using the ratings scale.
 * As a shortcut for this template, you can use:
 *  - For all character articles that fall within the scope of this Project. The new infobox contains all Relationship information in a collapsible section, which is intended to replace unencyclopedic Relationship lists at the bottom of character articles (see fictional sample, right). The infoboxes in general should be kept as uncluttered as possible. Extraneous information and redundant detail should be minimized; though there is no "official" way to present this information, parenthetical notes should only be used when clarification is needed. Years suffice instead of full dates (which presumably are noted in the article itself). See Template:Infobox soap character for more information.
 * - Infobox for show articles.
 * - For stub articles on soap opera characters.
 * - For stub articles on drama television programs.
 * - For performer articles.
 * - To tag overly-long plot summaries
 * - To tag articles written in an inappropriate in-universe style.
 * Image templates: and, which are used in conjunction with each other.
 * See for a list of templates that allow to generate links at the Internet Movie Database (which can be added at the "External links" section). There are specific templates for actors, television series, episodes, episode lists, companies and fictional characters.

Guidelines and recommendations
All articles within this wikiproject's realm of influence must follow all commonly accepted guidelines and policies, mainly the article titles policy, the Wikipedia Manual of Style guideline (and its subpages on fiction and on television), as well as the notability guideline. Nevertheless, the following recommendations relate some of these rules specifically to soap opera-related topics.

Program articles
A soap opera article should include:


 * The name of the series (in bold italics), network affiliation, first airdate and, if applicable, final airdate
 * A brief overview of notable historical and current storylines on the show
 * Cultural impact of the series and/or its characters
 * Notable cast members

Notability standards
All soap-related articles, and character articles in particular, must meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines, including the general notability guideline. Though there is no special guideline for the notability of fictional elements, a topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.

An article should be created about a soap opera character only if the character is notable within the series and has been the subject of third-party discussions. Otherwise, the character should simply be included in a "List of characters" for that particular program.

Character articles should always be written from a "real world" perspective, and should definitely not consist simply of in-universe plot summary. As such, it should include:
 * Real-world dates for when the character was created
 * Which actors have played the character, and when
 * Any awards which were won by the actor for playing that character

The article should not be used for a collection of storyline trivia about the character. As a rule of thumb, only those events which were significant enough to have been written about in third-party sources should be included. Remember that we are here to create an encyclopedia, not to provide a comprehensive guide to soap opera storylines. Wherever possible, try to discuss the character in "real world" context: Why are they important to non-fans, how are they affecting modern culture, what have they done that is historic in a real-world context. If a detail is only interesting to those who watch the show, it is probably not worth including in the Wikipedia article. See WP:CRUFT and alternatively WP:NOCRUFT.

See the "Examples" section lower on this page for samples of good articles.

Character article format
Articles should include:
 * The Infobox soap character, with basic information included. See the template documentation for important notes on usage.
 * A lead paragraph which indicates the name of the character, when it originated, current or last portrayer, and a very brief summary of the other material in the article. A good lead encapsulates the entire article in a couple of paragraphs.
 * Notation of all of actors that have played the character, and the dates; this is usually done in the infobox, and often summarized in the lead section.
 * Storyline summary; 500-1000 words maximum
 * A list of the awards that have been won for the role
 * Sources and references. Every article must have verifiable sources such as newspaper and magazine articles that talk about the character, or at the minimum, links to character biography pages on the official website for the series (per policy, fansites are usually considered unreliable). If a character is not notable enough to be mentioned in outside press, then they're not notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia!
 * Appropriate categories; see Category:Soap opera characters

Character relationships
Soap opera characters tend to have complex family and romantic relationships. Obviously, notable relationships can and should be mentioned in the text of the article as they apply to a character's storylines. Though extensive relationship lists within the body of articles may seem helpful for navigation, article quality assessments have generally deemed them trivial and as having a negative impact on article quality. To keep articles visually appealing and manageable, relationships should be "listed" only in the infobox. The Infobox soap character contains a collapsible section to accommodate this. In order to keep these lists manageable, use judgment on which relationships to include.


 * For most characters, relatives listed should be limited to closer family and generations having some relevance to the character in question. Remember, more distant relations (step-great-grandchildren?) will be noted in the infoboxes of other characters more closely related to them. This is especially important for long-running characters, who tend to have an excessive amount of relations. See Template:Infobox soap character.
 * For miscarriages or other unsuccessful pregnancies (common in soap operas), list these only on the pages of the parents, along with the year that the event occurred. In many cases a footnote may be preferred to present this information.
 * To conserve space and improve readability, Common names (usually the article name) should be used for links in infoboxes. For example, Sami Brady instead of the piped link Samantha "Sami" Brady DiMera.

Notable couples
In general, articles should be about individual characters, rather than about couples; however bonafide supercouples and other highly notable couples may be eligible for their own Wikipedia articles if: However, large amounts of information should not be repeated on multiple articles; consider instead interlinking individual character and couple articles in a logical way to present all pertinent information without redundancies.
 * They have won a major award as a couple
 * They have appeared on multiple "couple" lists
 * They have been cited in outside (non-soap) press as a notable couple

Plot summaries

 * Keep summaries brief.

Plot summaries should be kept brief, only as an overview of the topic. The main purpose of Wikipedia articles is to provide encyclopedic information about a subject, such as its cultural impact, and not to provide a detailed and lengthy description of story events. The Wikipedia articles can then provide links to other websites which have more detailed storyline information.

"Brief" in this context means a plot summary of approximately 500 words for a typical character article, though more may be appropriate for longrunning characters where there has been a great deal of real-world impact.

Storyline sourcing
As agreed by WikiProject participants, storyline sections do not require sourcing, as the programme itself acts as the source. These sections can be verified by watching the series.

Tense
Articles about fiction, like all Wikipedia articles, should adhere to the real world as their primary frame of reference. The approach is to describe the subject matter from the perspective of the real world, in which the work of fiction and its publication are embedded. The Wikipedia Manual of Style guideline for fiction and WP:FICTENSE advise writing about fictional subjects in the present tense. Works of fiction are generally considered to "come alive" when read or viewed; they exist in a kind of perpetual present tense, regardless of when the fictional action is supposed to take place relative to "now." Dates should be used when possible to establish the relative passage of time and establish real-world context:

"In 1995, Amanda schemes to seize control of Warren's fortune, making several enemies along the way; she is murdered on January 22, 1996, leaving a string of suspects."

The basic intent of this tense guideline is to stylistically differentiate between real-world and fictional events. Past tense may sometimes be used for plot information which is framed by real-world content and described from that perspective:

"When contract negotiations broke down, Stevenson was replaced by actress Judith Cray in 1976. Cray's Angelique immediately seduced longtime series patriarch Trent Dunham (original cast member Larry Braxton), branding her a villainess in viewers' eyes. Ratings soared when Trent's wife Olivia (Barbara Swain) finally learned of the affair and confronted her rival. Olivia slapped Angelique and called her a "whore," a choice the network had debated and initially regretted, before the anger of key sponsors was overpowered by a flood of viewer accolades, press coverage, and the highest ratings the show had seen in five years."

Prose vs. lists

 * Avoid lists within articles whenever possible.

The Manual of Style specifically notes "Do not use lists if a passage reads easily using plain paragraphs" and Embedded list asserts that (among other things) "Most Wikipedia articles should consist of prose, and not just a list of links. Prose allows the presentation of detail and clarification of context, while a list of links does not. Prose flows, like one person speaking to another, and is best suited to articles, because their purpose is to explain ... In an article, significant items should be mentioned naturally within the text rather than merely listed."

Trivial lists such as "Crimes committed" or "Previous occupations" are also inappropriate, as they generally fail notability requirements. If events and details are notable, they will have a natural place within the text of the article.

Images
The use of non-free (copyrighted) images is of course tightly regulated to protect the rights of copyright holders, and all editors should familiarize themselves with the non-free content guidelines, policies of image use, and non-free use rationale guideline so our articles and images stay in compliance. In the context of soap-related articles, we need to remember to use only as many images per article as are necessary, and as few images as possible. Specifically:

Usage

 * One main title image to identify the show in Show infobox
 * One image per performer to identify the character in the Soap character infobox
 * Subsequent images as necessary, to illustrate only notable elements discussed in the article, such as characters/relationships, storylines, or real-world coverage on magazine or book covers
 * For articles featuring several characters, try to only feature images of the most notable, as necessary. Too many images in such articles may appear to be a gallery or repository of images, which push the boundaries of fair use.
 * For a non-free image of the actual soap opera actor, if that person is living and neither retired nor deceased, do not add it to a biography of the living person. An image of that person may exist with either "some rights reserved," an expired copyright, or a failure to comply with copyright laws.

Image description page
Images themselves must have certain information on their description pages, in particular the names of articles in which the image is used must be noted (not just auto-displayed under "The following pages link to this file") and each use must have its own fair use rationale.

The image upload process can automatically insert the proper non-free use rationale template. Be sure to put in the proper info for each parameter, or the image will be tagged by a bot and deleted for non-compliance. You must also designate licensing by inserting the appropriate image copyright tag, which can also be chosen by pulldown during the upload process.

For images used in multiple articles, each use much have its own rationale, so the separate templates Non-free image data and Non-free image rationale can be used in conjunction with each other. Each image should contain one instance of Non-free image data with all parameters filled in, and then one instance of Non-free image rationale for each use. It is also helpful to note the uploader of the current version under "source", whether or not an actual source weblink is available.

Many shows have image categories, so categorize images as appropriate. And of course, existing images should also be made fully compliant if not already. Be sure to "watch" any images you upload or care about, so that if they are tagged you can make the proper adjustments.


 * Image examples for copying and study:
 * File:Tina-AndreaEvans-2008-06-11.jpg - Clean example of a character screenshot which is used in only one article.
 * File:Vanessa Gold.jpg - Example of a promotional image used in one article; note the different copyright tag under Licensing.
 * File:Super Friends.jpg - Image used in multiple articles; note that the "media data" (blue) template appears once but the "media rationale" (pink) template is repeated, and the "purpose/rationale" may be slightly different for each, depending on that particular use.

Wikipedia policies and guidelines

 * Manual of Style (writing about fiction)
 * Fancruft
 * Notability (fiction) (essay)

External websites
The following websites may be useful in referencing articles:
 * Entertainment Weekly
 * Soap Opera Digest
 * Soaps In Depth
 * TV Guide
 * TV Line

Community discussions
List here links to past discussions that may be useful for future reference.
 * WP:TV Discussion on removal of age fields from all fictional character infoboxes
 * WP:SOAPS consensus for all soap infoboxes to use the same color for consistency.

External watchlist

 * Wikiproject Watchlist - WikiProject Soap Operas