Talk:Television shows/Dialog formatting

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For some shows, like Firefly, most of the good quotes are dialog. It's been quoted in a number of ways here on wikiquote. Ideally the chosen format should work well for shows with only single character quotes. Following are several dialog formatting examples (separated by type each time), with examples, pros, and cons. Please add new example styles instead of changing the existing ones here.

Left side 1

Normal left alignment.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Clean, simple, easy

Cons

Requires HTML line breaks. Less visual distinction from smaller headlines. Problem distinguishing separated dialog under Monobook style (may be temporary).

Left side 2

Left indent.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.

Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]

Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."

Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"

Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!

Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Doesn't require HTML linebreaks, and looks quoteblockish. Provides visual distinction from smaller section headers.

Cons

Left side 3

Bullet for every line.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Similar to common Wikiquote practice.

Cons

Makes it harder to distinguish different pieces of dialog, especially under Monobook style (although Monobook problem may be temporary).

Left side 4

Bullets for every line said, secondary bullet for successive lines.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
- Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
- Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
- Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
- Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Easy for contributor.

Cons

Jarringly strange. Also gives false impression of precedence. Problem distinguishing separated dialog under Monobook style (may be temporary).

Attribution 1

Character:

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Would look better with a special "Formatting words said".

Cons

Attribution 2

Character: in italic.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Cons

Confusing if certain words said need to be emphasized.

Attribution 3

Character name and colon in bold.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Distinguishes between character and quoted text. Similar to IMDb quotes.

Cons

Slightly more work for creator.

Attribution 4

Character name in bold, colon not.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Distinguishes between character and quoted text. Familiar to IMDb quote readers.

Cons

Slightly more work for creator.

Comments

I don't see the distinction between Attribution 3 and Attribution 4. -- Jeff Q 06:23, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Attribution 3 has the colon in bold; 4 doesn't. I've indicated it better in the descriptions. - Jeandré, 2004-06-14t21:31z

Attribution 5

Dash character after line.

Examples

Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail. - Wash

Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right. - Mal

I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life. - Sir Warrick Harrow
And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community. - Mal

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land." - Wash's Stegosaurus
I think we should call it "your grave!" - Wash's Ceratosaur
Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! - Stegosaurus
Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die! - Ceratosaur
Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven! - Stegosaurus

Pros

Similar to the way quotes are normally attributed.

Cons

Doesn't work for dialog at all.

Linking speakers 1

Links to the actors' article on en.wikipedia.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Likely to already have an article. Follows IMDb practice (although that may make more sense for IMDb than Wikiquote).

Cons

Unlikely that the actor wrote the line, tho they did deliver it. Doesn't link to what it says.

Linking speakers 2

Links to articles about the characters on en.wikipedia.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Links to article (if it exists) that describes highlighted character.

Cons

Unlikely to have article, fictional characters should very rarely have articles devoted to them. Wikiquote won't differentiate between existing and non-existing Wikipedia links, so all links show as blue (none red).

Comments

[I]t's true that characters frequently don't have articles on Wikipedia. I would suggest that, if a character is not there, simply don't provide the link. They can always be added if and when such an article is created. Also, the non-existent Wikipedia articles have blue links because Wikiquote isn't smart enough to detect page existence on its sister project. You have to follow the link to find out if there's a page. (Another good reason to include or leave out character links as needed.) -- Jeff Q 06:35, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Linking speakers 3

Link to character articles here on wikiquote.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Cons

Unnecessary. Unlikely to have article.

Comments

I disagree that the Wikiquote character links are unnecessary, although they should be quite rare. Again, one could leave out links except in those rare cases. -- Jeff Q 06:35, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Linking frequency 1

Link only the first time a character is mentioned in the article.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Easier on the eye for short articles.

Cons

Not practical for long articles. If someone sees the page via an anchor (not at the top), they may miss the links.

Linking frequency 2

Link the first time a character is mentioned, for each and every quote.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

If someone sees the page via an anchor (not at the top), they'll see the links.

Cons

Looks bad. Can be confusing for contributor.

Comments

I don't understand the Pro. At the very least, it sounds like a Con, not a Pro. I'd suggest that that Pro should be "Follows Wiki practice of linking first occurrence in a logical section, while providing links in all areas of the article. (Perhaps the latter is what you're trying to say?) -- Jeff Q 06:23, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I messed up the 2 linking frequency sections after swapping them. I'm not sure I understand your suggested pro, but I've added Linking frequency 3 below. - Jeandré, 2004-06-14t21:42z

Now I messed up. I was trying to express the Wiki practice of only linking text occasionally in an article, either once in the entire article or perhaps once per headed section (it varies), and trying (but failing) to imply that that was roughly equivalent to Linking frequency 2 (which is why I used LF2 for the TV show pages I created). All I did was confuse things. ☺ Since dialog excerpts aren't articles, sections, or even paragraphs, I'd suggest the three logical linking frequencies are: once per article (LF1), once per dialog excerpt (LF2), or every single time (not currently shown). The last is how IMDb does it, but their own experiences in getting contributors to format quotes correctly demonstrates the excessive burden it puts on contributors. -- Jeff Q 22:31, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

By the way, I think this form may look less uniform, but not bad. My main objection to it (even though I think it's the optimum form) is that a contributor just using existing quotes as a guideline (as is frequently the Wiki way) may not notice or understand the principle. My solution on several TV show pages was to list the "rules" at the top of the Talk page, then suggest that if it's too confusing, don't worry much about the formatting and let someone else clean it up (as is also the Wiki way). -- Jeff Q 22:53, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Linking frequency 3

Link the first time a character is mentioned in each major section.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

Imagine the following is in a different section:

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

If someone sees the page via an anchor (not at the top), they'll see the links.

Cons

Linking words 1

Don't link things said, link instead in comments afterwards

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Cons

Linking words 2

Link things said to en.wikipedia, or themes here in wikiquote, or other anchors in the page.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

It's the wiki/web way.

Cons

See discussion at User talk:Hyacinth. Kalki and Hyacinth do not support linking words within quotations. [Seeking to clarify: I do not think links should generally be used within the quotations, for aesthetic and other reasons, but links within notes about them, and in headers are fine. I do not seek to prohibit them, but if they are used at all within a quotation, I think it should be sparingly. We do not have the encyclopedic function of Wikipedia that is enhanced by extensive interlinkng, and I feel that the extensive use of links within quotations themselves can often be distractive from the reflection and contemplation that some expressions deserve or even require, for fullest appreciation. ~ Kalki 20:38, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)]

Formatting descriptions 1

No formatting for descriptions.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Easier to create entry.

Cons

Hard for reader to distinguish quoted text from descriptive text.

Formatting descriptions 2

Italicize descriptions.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Stands out clearly for reader.

Cons

Slightly more work for creator.

Formatting words said 1

No formatting of words said.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Since this is what wikiquote is about, it looks best it unadorned. Remember that this style will most likely be combined with a formatted "Linking speakers" style. It also makes it possible to italicize (or embold) emphasized words in dialog; e.g., "Not that one, you fool!"

Cons

Formatting words said 2

Italicize words said.

Examples

Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.

Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm all right.

Sir Warrick Harrow: I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life.
Mal: And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community.

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land."
Wash's Ceratosaur: I think we should call it "your grave!"
Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Ceratosaur: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

Pros

Cons

Lots of italicized word are hard to read, especially on computers. Opposite of existing general Wikiquote practice and many printed quote references.

Formatting words said 3

Put words said in "double quotes".

Examples

Wash: "Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail."

Mal: "Mercy is the mark of a great man." [stabs Atherton] "Guess I'm just a good man." [stabs Atherton again] "Well, I'm all right."

Sir Warrick Harrow: "I know him. And I think he's a psychotic low-life."
Mal: "And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic low-life community."

[Wash, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash's Stegosaurus: "Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land.""
Wash's Ceratosaur: "I think we should call it "your grave!""
Stegosaurus: "Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
Ceratosaur: "Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!"
Stegosaurus: "Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!"

Pros

Familiar.

Cons

Messes up quotes in quotes. Redundant if characters prefixed. Messier when mixed with descriptive text. Doesn't match existing practice in other dialog references (e.g., IMDb).

Quote breaks 1

Blank line between separate quotes.

Examples

Xander: I laugh in the face of danger! Then I… hide until it goes away.

Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?

Willow: Maybe because they met her?

Pros

Standard practice; already in use on most pages. Looks good using Classic, Nostalgia, and Cologne Blue page styles.

Cons

Hard to see quote separation using Monobook (current default) page style.

Quote breaks 2

Flush-left equals-sign between separate quotes.

Examples

Xander: I laugh in the face of danger! Then I… hide until it goes away.

=

Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?

Willow: Maybe because they met her?

Pros

Works for all predefined page styles. Easy to add. Quote separation is clear.

Cons

Looks messy. Uses most vertical space of options.

Quote breaks 3

Half-size horizontal rule (line) between separate quotes.

Examples

Xander: I laugh in the face of danger! Then I… hide until it goes away.

Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?

Willow: Maybe because they met her?

Pros

Works for all predefined page styles. Neat and clear. Uses little vertical space.

Cons

Separator text not as simple (although easy to copy & paste).

Support

Left side 1

Jeandré, 2004-10-09t16:21z

Left side 2

Jeandré, 2004-06-13t22:00z
Jeff Q 07:07, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC) (at least until Wikidom creates better poetry/dialog/lyrics format)

Left side 3

Left side 4

Attribution 1

Attribution 2

Attribution 3

Jeandré, 2004-10-09t16:21z

Attribution 4

Jeff Q 22:14, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC) (Attribution 3 just as good for me, except already using Attribution 4 in three TV show articles.)
RoboAction 10:46, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC) (I like, it's clean and good for the eyes)

Attribution 5

Linking speakers 1

Jeandré, 2004-07-29t18:58z I'm still not solid on any of the choices.

Linking speakers 2

Jeff Q 07:07, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Linking speakers 3

Linking frequency 1

Linking frequency 2

Jeff Q 07:07, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Linking frequency 3

Jeandré, 2004-06-14t22:09z

Linking words 1

Jeandré, 2004-06-14t22:01z I changed to 1, but can think of a few exceptions, especially foreshadowing linked to pay-off episodes.
Jeff Q 07:07, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC). Don't know why I had originally voted for LW2. I think Kalki's summary comment in LW2 is the definitive argument against it, though I agree there could be exceptions.

Linking words 2

Formatting descriptions 1

Formatting descriptions 2

Jeandré, 2004-06-13t22:00z
Jeff Q 07:07, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Formatting words said 1

Jeandré, 2004-06-13t22:00z
Jeff Q 22:41, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC) (See MST3K, Season 8 for complex examples demonstrating my preferences.)

Formatting words said 2

Formatting words said 3

Quote breaks 1

Jeandré, using the Nostalgia skin, because Monobook (the default) is all sorts of wrong. I started these options after seeing how Monobook mangles paragraphs; I'm hoping it'll be corrected, or cast into Mount Doom. 2004-07-29t18:57z, 2004-07-30t17:52z

Quote breaks 2

Quote breaks 3

Jeff Q 08:46, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC), using Monobook skin (page style) but testing Classic periodically. (See Buffy and MST3K for live examples of this format.)

General comments

In the Pros and Cons, I try to make a distinction between easy/hard for readers and for contributors, since:

Readers (hopefully) outnumber contributors by an order of magnitude (or more).
Articles will (hopefully) be read far more often than written or edited.
Contributors are almost necessarily more Wiki-experienced, so it's worth putting a modest additional burden on them for the sake of better readability.

-- Jeff Q 07:12, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

When I changed my Wikiquote skin to use the new default Monobook style, I realized that all four "Left side" options are poor at distinguishing between separate dialog sections. I conscientiously added this issue to the Cons of all four options, in the hopes (but not expectations) that someone will suggest a new "Left side" option that doesn't have this problem. At the very least, it provides yet another example for the ongoing argument I've had with Wikiquote, Wikipedia, and MetaWiki admins that this new default style utterly fails to consider the vast amount of poetry, song lyrics, and dialog in Wiki articles that count on this visual separation. -- Jeff Q 07:45, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I started this page because of the MonoBook skin turning line brakes (LBs) into paragraph breaks (PBs). That skin seems to be changing constantly (another reason making it a bad default I think). At the moment MonoBook messes up Left side 3 and 4 by turning LBs into PBs. Left side 2 has little space between paragraphs, but you can still see the difference between LBs and PBs — I've removed 1.2.3. - Jeandré, 2004-06-14t21:51z

Jeff, what happens between Giles' and Willow's tadpoles lines? As someone who hasn't seen the episode, it looks like they immediately follow each other. -- Jeandré, 2004-07-28t19:08z

There is some demon-of-the-week discussion between the two quotes. I chose that particular pair of consecutive quotes from the Buffy page specifically because the page formatting changes in the past few months made it look like they were a single quote. Upon reflection, I think this is probably too good an example, as even proper separation doesn't remove this impression. I'll replace it with a less confusing example shortly. -- Jeff Q 00:04, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

For the sake of precision, I should correct my earlier statement. I checked my notes and found that the pair of Buffy quotes formerly used in the "Quote breaks" examples were separated by four unquoteworthy lines of verbiage, which is why they're omitted on the Buffy page. Not really relevant anymore, but I hate leaving erroneous info uncorrected. — Jeff Q 12:08, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I see little action here recently. Standardization is more important for me than any particular standard being chosen. Any hope of moving this forward? Is it waiting for something specific I could possibly help with? MosheZadka 13:16, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This article held perhaps the first substantial discussion on TV show formatting, but these issues have been more recently dicussed at Wikiquote talk:Templates#Films & TV Shows, where there are many links to examples and other discussions. The real problem is that different people have different opinions on how to organize and format shows. We haven't really managed to come anywhere near a consensus in the past. However, you're always welcome to reinvigorate the discussion. — Jeff Q (talk) 13:25, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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