Synopsis namespace not thriving

With "recap" being synonymous with Synopsis, there is another alternative to encourage. People won't look for a page to summarize a work (either entire or episode) if they already see a page that says summary.

I know that's what fooled me. A brief description of the episode can go on one page, and a spoilery summary can go on a different page. Right now, both tend to be on the Recap namespace.

Maybe we should have a crowner for this issue so we can decide it once and for all. This isn't the first time the Synopsis page has been discussed, but we can make it the last.

<changes class to necromancer>

Bringing this back up because none of the issues ever got resolved. I'd start a crowner, but I'm inclined to think this is too complex for a single one to solve, meaning multiple crowners are needed. If so, which problem should be dealt with first?

"The Synopsis namespace has only a few pages" is the main problem mentioned here.

Well, then, here we go. Three options to start, and more can be added if we think of them.

Hollering so the mods can attach it.

Well, I've already thrown in my vote:

• "Merge Synopsis and Recap into a single namespace. " because nobody has justified the merge in a satisfactory manner and the usages are very different.
• "Create a dedicated thread for the construction and promotion of Synopsis pages. " because why not.
• "Do nothing, as the current usage level is fine." as I am a little unclear whether this is a problem that needs fixing. In my mind the distinction against other namespaces is more important than the usage for estimating the worthiness of a namespace.

Hooked (and voted).

Usage stats for Recap/ (8230 pages) and Synopsis/ (89 pages). Both are fairly good in my mind, and they also mean that any sort of merge will have to happen in the direction of Synopsis/ —-> Recap/.

As I mentioned before, raw numbers are only part of the story - the actual usage is a factor. Hence why, if the merge gets approved, we'll probably need another crowner later, since Recap has its own issues.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:02:52 PM by TotemicHero

I personally believe that any change to Recap/ would need its own thread. The issues are fairly unrelated.

My concern here has a similar basis to our guidelines for renaming tropes, in that we have to make sure the name isn't the problem's source. While Recap and Synopsis are close in terms of meaning, the latter is admittedly a bit more of a "formal" term.

Can we be certain that's not part of the problems with Recap and/or Synopsis?

edited 30th Sep '13 1:17:56 PM by TotemicHero

None of the Recap/ problems mentioned so far sounded like they would have anything to do with the name.

Functionally, the namespaces are identical. There's no real reason to have them separate. Saying that Synopsis is for whole plot summaries and Recap is for episode summaries is an after-the-fact justification.

Synopsis/ doesn't have trope lists, though. And all Recap/ pages I've seen have them (or are indexes of other Recap/ pages). Recap/ pages are more like work pages of episodes.

Which is why, if we do a merger, we'd have to hammer out a set of unified guidelines. And if those guidelines are closer to the current general style of Synopsis, it would be simpler to merge in that direction. Association by name is a thing we have to deal with among both tropers and readers, after all.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:28:44 PM by TotemicHero

That's an arbitrary distinction. It doesn't have to be that way; a whole-plot Recap wouldn't have tropes either. For example, I wrote Synopsis.Airplane, but it could just as easily have been Recap.Airplane with no loss of information.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:28:36 PM by Fighteer

It is that way right now, which is why I am opposed to a merge. If it weren't that way, I would agree on a merge.

Simple, then, we fix it. What's the namespace count for Synopsis? We could hack that out in an hour or two.

89 pages in Synopsis/, but shouldn't that question be about Recap/?

To state that Recap/ will now allow whole-work recaps, except that they don't get tropes, would appear to be a minor fix. After all, what's the point — the trope list is already on the main article.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:35:00 PM by Fighteer

Checking 8200+ (that's the page count for Recap/) pages is not a "minor fix" - let alone deleting the trope sections and moving the tropes over (and split the example sections if they hit the size limit).

I don't understand. Do we already have whole-work Recaps with separate trope lists? Nothing would need to be done with any other pages.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:38:27 PM by Fighteer

Oh. I get it now - I thought you wanted to apply that treatment to all Recap/ pages - you only want to say that Recap/ can be used for what is now in Synopsis/, without trope lists in that case, but without touching already existing trope lists.

Actually, guys...yes, sort of (minus the actual recapping the plot). We also have collections of pointless unfinished stubs, as well as recap pages that redirect to the work page.

With all these forms of misuse going on, do you see why I'm a little leery of the Recap namespace right now?

edited 30th Sep '13 1:43:16 PM by TotemicHero

That means little. It just means that Recap/ is popular and Synopsis/ is not, otherwise we'd have more activity in Synopsis/ and hence more misuse. Misuse, as long as it isn't a huge percentage of the articles, is grounds for simple cleanup.

Correct.

edited 30th Sep '13 1:48:49 PM by Fighteer