Wikipedia talk:Proposed guideline for magic methods
As an example on how an article that follow established format might look.
First, I found two articles that looked like this (these are the complete original texts):
- Steve Fearson's Cig. Levitation: This trick consists of an invisible thread that the magician wraps around his body and sticks to himself with magicians wax. He then manipulates it to give the illusion that the cigarette is floating.
And another:
- Steve fearson's Area 51: This is performed exactly the same way as his cigarette levitation, except it adds the ending of the "ufo" flying off into the distance.
What is that supposed to be? There is absolutely nothing of value in neither of the articles. Okey, so thread can be used to animate stuff, but that was known long before Fearson, so why is this under separate headings, and not filed under the more general heading "Thread"? As it turns out, there are a valid reason to have both him and the first example (but not the second) in an encyclopedia - but that's nothing you would know from the examples above. Also, the author has put another title than the original on the piece, without explaining why. No clue on when it was created either. And, there is not even an attempt to detail any historical lineage. Do the author of the article want us to believe that there are no precedents before Fearson?
What is needed is to change the title back to the original. Put a correct date on it's creation. Give a proper description of the effect (how it appear to a spectator). Put it in the right context, so it is possible to track its importance and historic lineage, and point out what the creator has added to the method's predecessors. The second example adds nothing new, viewed in a historic perspective, so it should be merged with the first example.
Compare the examples above to this: Fearson's floating cigarette.
If anyone complains about a secret is revealed, it is quite easy to show that this description follow established pubishing ethics and the industry standard, and by that it should be easy to stifle any flame wars.
The only thing missing from the edited and corrected version is Steve Fearson's permission. I could ask him myself, but he would probably refuse to give permission just because it was me asking, since he despise me after a discussion at the Genii forum. I've got nothing but respect for Fearson as a creator, but I'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to his person. In any case, his work is worthy of a proper description, instead of the original articles. --TStone 23:43, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
Another example
Yet another example on how it can look when following the established format:
The original text at Balducci levitation was: The Balducci levitation is a simple magic trick, credited to Ed Balducci. It produces the illusion of a person briefly levitating a few inches above the ground. It is a popular illusion with magicians because it can be performed impromptu and without special equipment.
Magician David Blaine performs this trick. On television, his act, which features reactions of the audience, is intercut with shots of him levitating with hidden mechanical assistance. This allows him to appear to have both feet quite a few inches above the ground in certain shots, something impossible with the Balducci levitation. The controversy among magicians about Blaine's television specials focuses on this, as some consider it to violate one of the rules of the television performance of magic: that the at-home television audience sees exactly what a live audience would see.
The illusionist is simply standing on the tip-toe of the foot farthest from the audience. That foot is concealed from view of the audience by the foot nearest to the audience and by the illusionist's clothing. The effectiveness of this trick is dependent on restricting the audience's point-of-view and being aware of the body's angle with respect to the viewers.
And it had an external link to a magic-fan page that didn't add anything relevant. Problems: It talked more about how Blaine uses the TV-medium than the illusion - something that should be on the Blaine page instead. No credits, dates or sources. No hints on why this illusion is important. Not formatted properly.
Compare the text above with: Balducci levitation --TStone 15:37, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
More examples
Suggestion
Generally, Wiki policies are developed by writing the policy page as closely as possible to the desired final policy, then discussing changes to it on the discussion page. Most of the current 'policy' page is discussion and arguments in support of having a policy, all of which should be on this discussion page, and deleted from the policy page. Write what you think the policy should be, on that page, and move everything else that isn't a necessary part of the policy here, where it can be discussed. Aumakua 17:08, 22 January 2006 (UTC)