Scrooge McDuck Wiki:How to Make a Character Page

Creating a good character page on the Wiki can seem like a daunting task. Here are some guidelines that, if followed, ought to help.
==Naming the page==
* Use a character's true name. It's “Scrooge McDuck”, not “Uncle Scrooge”. When titles are almost always part of a character's name, they can be added, like with Captain Pedro Alvarado or Captain Smollett. When characters are known by an alias, that alias is to be used instead of their birth name: the DuckTales 2017 character is still "Flintheart Glomgold", not “Duke Baloney”. 
* If two characters share the same name: 
** The best thing is to 'cheat' and find an alternate name for one of the two; for example, if you have two characters called "John", but one of them is a navy officer, have one page be John and the other be Officer John.
** Failing that, put a descriptor that sets them apart in parenthesis: if one of the two Johns is American and the other is from Australia, "Joe (Australian)" and "Joe (American)" would be a suitable distinction. See “Use Displaytitle” below for additional info.
** Unfortunately, this is sometimes impossible, when the two characters are very similar. You can, in that case, put the year of their debut in parentheses, thus Gotrocks (1967) and Gotrocks (1970). See “Use Displaytitle” below for additional info. 
** Special case: counterparts of characters in a parallel universe, unless they have a different name (e.g. Donald Duck versus Sir Donald Duck), will have the name of their home universe in parentheses, as opposed to the date of their first appearance. Thus the DuckTales 2017 version of Donald Duck can be found at Donald Duck (2017 Continuum). 
* Use the Displaytitle tool if needed:
** In cases where a page shares its name with another (e.g. Wispy Willie the character and Wispy Willie the story), name each page with a distinguishing feature in parentheses, and then type {{DISPLAYTITLE:Insert Page Name Without Parentheses Here}} into the page's source code at the beginning.
** In cases where a page's name is too long to fit in a single line, go into the page's source code at the beginning and type {{DISPLAYTITLE:<small>Insert Page Name Here</small>}}.
* If a character has no name:
* Check if they had one in a foreign publication of the story. Helmsman Benny is just "the helmsman" in the original English, but in one French translation, his name was given as "Benny", and that's good enough for us. 
** If you don't find anything, see if they have a preexisting fanmade name. "Semiramis" for "the plant lady" originated on The Feathery Society, but it's better than just naming the page "Plant Lady". If you do this, make a note on the page that the name is unofficial. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
* If a character has no English name, use the original name if it could plausibly be the name of the character. If it sounds too obviously foreign, however, find an English equivalent (though as above, you must mention that this translation is not official). For example, the character of "Mac Paperson" (from the Italian version of The Secret of Success) has no English name; but it's easy to render the name as Duckson. Before you translate it yourself, check if there is already a fanmade translation out there.
==Writing the page==
* Put a Character Infobox. Don't worry, it's nothing complicated: you can just go into another character page's source code, copypaste the template, and change the information. 
* Use an in-universe viewpoint in the "Description" sections. That is to say that you need to discuss a character as if they were a real person within that universe, and not mention things like in what stories they debuted or who voiced them in a cartoon. That's what the "Behind the scenes" section is for.
* Write the Description section as a short bio. For recurring characters, it should ideally start with a description of the character's role and personality in the 'present', then have one or two paragraphs about their past. Don't go too detailed; for characters like Scrooge McDuck whose biography would take up thousands of words, it's preferred to create a separate "Biography" page.
==Picking an image==
* Find an image that represents the character. It should give a general idea of what the character is like. This means several things:
** The image should depict the character in the "present day" (unless it's a character from the past). This means a present-day image of Scrooge McDuck is preferable to one from his Klondike days, for instance.
** If they have one, the characters should wear their iconic costume. This would not be an acceptable image of Donald Duck.
** The character's expression should befit their general personality. While otherwise a good image, this wouldn't be a good fit for Donald Duck either, as it far from suggests Donald's abrasive and egotistical personality.
* A white background is preferred, especially for recurring characters. If you can't find one, that's okay, but at least try to find one centered on the character and where the background isn't too distracting (see Abis Mal for a good example of this sort of compromising).
* Official images are preferred, but if semiofficial or unofficial images are perfectly on-model and better-suited than any official image found (such as having a white background when no official piece does), it is acceptable.
Category:Rules
Category:Policy
Category:Scrooge McDuck Wikia
Category:Browse