Talk:In the Best Families

message: The infobox has been modified to conform with the novels project style guidelines, which indicate that the infobox should describe "only the media types in which the novel was originally available. For example, eighteenth-century novels were never published in 'hardback and paperback' nor in audiobook so it is inappropriate to list those print subtypes." Since the Nero Wolfe books (1934–1975) were originally available in hardcover, and only later published in other formats, the infoboxes for these Rex Stout novels and novella collections are being amended to read "Print (Hardcover)" -- with "Media type" describing only the first-edition printing. 
The ISBN field will be completed, but read "NA" by request of the novels project. Subsequent releases of the book are listed with their ISBNs in a section of the article headed "Release details."
The genre in the infobox is being listed as Detective fiction, a classification that includes both the novels and the novella collections. Novels and novella collections are clearly differentiated from each other in the articles' lead paragraphs, and in categories that appear at the bottom of the articles. — WFinch 00:23, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Notes on infobox 

message: The writers of the article are to be lauded. They have fully described the events in the story without spoiling it by revealing the incredible  twist.Lestrade (talk) 16:19, 12 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Applause

message: Seeing the rewrite of the plot summary here today, and the edit summary that reads in part, "It's still perhaps a bit long", I went out in search of a recommended length for plot summaries in articles about fiction. After first taking a look at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Writing about fiction, I was led to an essay titled Wikipedia:How to write a plot summary, which provides helpful guidance.
Although no set length is given for a plot summary, the essay notes that some projects identify target word counts. This is noted in the section titled Length:
While it is hard to quantify a strict word limit, since no two articles are equal, for films, Wikipedia:WikiProject Films/Style guidelines offers guidance that “plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 and 700 words”; Wikipedia:WikiProject Television/Style guidelines recommends “100–200 words; upwards of 350 words for complex storylines” for television episodes in episode lists, or “200–500” in standalone episode articles; and for novels Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Style guidelines says that plot summaries “should aim to be no more than three or four paragraphs”.
I checked the plot summary I wrote quite some time ago for The Father Hunt. It’s 1,178 words and certainly more than three or four paragraphs. By comparison, the plot summary written for Plot It Yourself is 525 words; "Black Orchids" is 583 words; and "Instead of Evidence" is 727 words.
And I found something very enlightening in the section of the essay titled Spoilers:
… Information should not be intentionally omitted from summaries in an effort to avoid "spoilers" within the encyclopedia article. … However, when summarizing a plot and choosing what details to include, editors should use discretion. The advantages of exhaustive coverage of the work are in dynamic tension with the desire to preserve the artistic qualities of the work for readers. Wikipedia should contain potentially “spoiling” detail where it substantially enhances the reader’s understanding of the work and its impact but be omitted when it merely ruins the experience of the work of fiction for our readers [emphasis mine].
I feel that the edits made today to the plot summary of In the Best Families fall into that latter category, giving information that ruins the experience of reading the story. In support of that opinion, note the March 2011 comment in the section immediately preceding this one — complimenting the author of the previous plot summary for describing the plot "without spoiling it by revealing the incredible twist".
Thoughts? — WFinch (talk) 01:36, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plot summaries: length and spoilers