Forum:Changing Summary Sections

I'd like to suggest changing the "Summary" section on all articles to "Plot". "Summary" suggests that what follows will be a brief description. "Plot" is more general in terms of length, and it just implies that what follows will relate to the plot. I think using "Plot" as the new title will let us continue to make our plot summaries detailed without misleading readers.

I also want to suggest breaking our plot summaries into multiple subsections. This will make the longer ones much easier to read and navigate through. There may be a problem breaking them up as there technically aren't any major story arcs in HOTD, but I think we'll be able to agree on something. Here are my ideas for the subsection titles: High School, Rika's House, Takagi Estate, The Mall, and Police Station. It seems best to use the major locations where main group encounters for the sections, however, we could also use events to make it into less sections. Examples of this could be Outbreak, Before/After EMP, and Evacuation.

Please leave feedback on these suggestions. You don't have to agree with both, but please make it clear what you think in your response. I'll begin on the first one as soon as I get enough support, but the second one will need to stay open for further discussion. If you can, please let me know what you like or dislike about what I suggested and of any changes or improvements you'd like to suggest. Thanks, and I'll look forward to your feedback.Turambar1  04:47, February 16, 2011 (UTC)

That seems like a good idea. You could also just classify stuff as it happens by volume if you don't want to try to break the plot up, though I don't think that'd be too hard. Hotdcups 04:08, February 18, 2011 (UTC)

I do agree to changing the summary to plot. It seems odd why we went with summary in the first place when we basically explained that character's roles in the story. What I do see some faults with your sections is that what if a character only plays a minor role in that certain scene? I don't think writting 1-2 sentences per section would look too good...but personally I can't think of any other way then how you've mentioned it. Maybe we should have a bigger discussion on how to split the sections up? 08:30, February 18, 2011 (UTC)

Separating it by volume does sound like a good idea. The only problem I see with it is we won't really know how many of the most recent chapters will be included in the next volume. Of course, the way I suggested may have the same problem as we don't really know how long the group will stay at a new location and if it deserves a new section. Either way though, we would still have the problem Donuts brought up. No matter how it's split up, some characters won't have more than one or two sentences in some sections, but this is a fair trade for having the main characters' pages look much better. I think a solution could be to add an image to each section on all character pages.Turambar1  16:08, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

Hmm...I think I like the idea of adding an image to each section. That way we can probably include a highlight and make the page look less "boring". I mean, not everyone wants to just stare at text and visualize. What I am curious though, for the images, are we going to be using ones from the manga or the anime? Well I guess that's just a minor issue now...we can settle on that late. Definitely a good idea you brought up Turambar. Not that I want to look like the "Rejector of Ideas" here, but I do see the same problem with HOTDcups idea that Turambar has brought up. Although it can be easily fixed, the non-tankoubon volume sections would eventually get ridiculously long as we don't know when they'll be releasing a volume featuring whatever chapters...Anyways good thing we're brainstorming here! 06:56, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

I think we should separate the plot sections by location for now and see how it looks. Separating them by volume does seem better to me, but I realized that it technically goes against our perspective policy. If we use a new section for every location where the group spends two chapters or more, we should have less than the number of volumes anyway. There are obvious difficulties such as the chapters in between the main locations and the chapter or scenes that take place away from the main locations. The most awkward of these would be Rika's chapter. I guess we could include something like, "During the time the group is..." to avoid confusion.

Here are my suggestions for the sections: Fujimi Academy, Tokonosu City Streets, Rika's House, Takagi Estate, Toiei Shopping Town (or possibly The Mall), East Police Station. I'm open to any changes or additions anyone may have.Turambar1  03:50, March 2, 2011 (UTC)

Hmm...I think the sections you suggested are totally fine. In fact, that's what I would hae suggested if you hadn't said anything XD. By the way, perhaps we can split up the Tokonosu City Streets into separate sections for some characters, because as you know, Takashi and Rei went on a totally different path from Saeko and the rest of the group, so perhaps we can find a way to emphasize that.

Anyways, I'm all for the section idea so the sooner we can get everyone notified about this plan, the better

05:04, March 3, 2011 (UTC)

I actually chose the name "Tokonosu City Streets" because it applied to all of the characters in their different situations. I was trying to have no less than two chapters to each section. I think the title will just have a different meaning on Rei and Takashi's pages than on the others. I'm going to start adding the sections to the main characters for now to see how it looks, and we can do the others later.

There's another issue I'd like to address. I think it's time to get rid of the separate plot sections for anime. There are some minor things that I think we can incorporate into the main section, but the major stuff will have to be removed or denoted in a more obscure way. I have an idea that involves hiding the anime differences and anime-only material and placing a link in the article that reveals it. It's similar to what some sites use to hide spoilers. Let me know what you think.Turambar1  02:01, March 4, 2011 (UTC)

I do agree that it's about time we do something about the plot sections, but with the other things coming up such as references and etc, perhaps now is not the best time? Also, I'm not really for the idea of having a link, but rather, perhaps there's something that is like a "click to show/hide" option that we can incorporate into the articles? I'm not sure if that method is existent, but it seems like a good idea to me. 06:03, March 4, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, the "show/hide" thing is what I was talking about. I'll have to create a template, but it's not difficult. I was thinking we could put it at the end of each section and have one for the anime-only stuff like "Drifters of the Dead" when that comes out.Turambar1  13:14, March 4, 2011 (UTC)

Okay, good! I think it's important that we need to incorporate more of this show/hide template. Our pages are a bit too long and I think it might become a hassle for most readers. 04:46, March 6, 2011 (UTC)

I'll go ahead and create the template and get started on hiding the anime summaries. By the way, I noticed the plot sections on the Saeko and Takashi pages are in desperate need of a revision. They're almost embarassingly bad in some areas. The other pages could also use a little revising in the way of adding/removing detail to balance out the subsections. I'm sure I'll fix some stuff as I'm adding reverences, but we should probably give the specific task(s) to people who are willing to help.Turambar1  05:33, March 6, 2011 (UTC)

Hmm okay...seems like we have a big problem with Takashi and Saeko...I'll look into it tonight...but it'll probably be around 10PM. I'll see what I can fix but I'm not entirely sure what you are talking about just yet. 00:38, March 8, 2011 (UTC)

There's a lot that can be done, but I'll go over a few major problems. Takashi's plot section isn't too bad, but it needs minor revisions throughout. The major thing that needs to be done is adding detail to the "Tokonosu City Streets" section. All it has right now is a very small paragraph that completely leaves out Chapters 4 and 5. The later part of the Rika's House" section could also be elaborated. The Saeko page is much worse. Her plot section is the smallest of the main characters whereas it should be one of the longest. There are only two sentences up until the group reaches Rika's house, so the first two sections need to be newly written. The "Rika's House" section can be made longer. Also, the "Taiei Shopping Town" section basically needs to be newly written like the first two sections as there is only a small paragraph there. Other than that, general cleanup is needed throughout the page.

Is that 10 p.m. your time or mine? If it's my time, I may be working on Takashi's page around then.Turambar1  01:46, March 8, 2011 (UTC)

Sorry I meant my time but I never got to doing it. I'll try to look over it tomorrow when I'm at the airport. Hopefully the internet connection won't be absolute crap there. 00:43, March 11, 2011 (UTC)

I have run into yet another dilemma with the plot sections; particularly Takashi's page. Takashi, as well as Rei and Hisashi, have a large section of Chapter 1 which takes place before the initial starting point of the chapter. We need to decide whether to leave the plot section in chronological order or put it in the order in which it occurs in the chapter. Obviously, chronological order would be better for the continuity of the story; however, the section that goes back two hours is technically a flashback in the chapter, so it could be seen as chronological relative to the actual plot. Takashi's is in chronological order now, so I'll leave it like that, but we should discuss whether we want to change it or not.Turambar1  15:36, March 12, 2011 (UTC)