View source for SmashWiki:Smasher article guidelines

{{Proposed policy}}
{{shortcut|SW:SMASHER}}

'''Smasher articles''' are a valued part of the wiki, providing "Smash biographies" of the players, tournament organizers, and contributors, that make the competitive scene and greater Smash community possible. These articles are meant to chronicle the contributions and endeavors in Smash of notable smashers, and provide a source for other smash-relevant information on these individuals that is of interest of readers. This page will guideline what is expected and accepted in Smasher articles, and how Smasher articles should be constructed, when creating and modifying existing smasher articles.

==[[SmashWiki: Notability]]==
The very first, and most important, thing to keep in mind when it comes to creating smasher articles is if the article's subject merits an article to begin with. Articles about smashers with dubious notability, and articles that contain next-to-no relevant information, are liable to be tagged for notability-based deletion, where then if information isn't presented proving notability and/or an admin handling the notability check doesn't find enough evidence of notability, the article will be deleted.

Keep in mind however, that the wiki documents smasher articles on a historical basis. So if a smasher was found to have satisfied our notability guidelines at some point-in-time, they will be considered notable enough to have a smasher article here regardless of how irrelevant they end up becoming in the future, barring an update to the notability guidelines or new information/arguments being brought up that finds the original notability-approval dubious. 

==Smasher article essentials==
The following guideline what every Smasher article must contain, and will be expected to have at their creation.

===[[Template:Smasher Infobox]]===
This is an infobox designed specifically for smasher articles, to organise basic-yet-necessary information, such as the characters the article's subject uses in tournaments for each game and their location. Every relevant field should be filled out with the appropriate information. Specifics on what should go into each field is covered on the template's documentation page.

===Intro===
Each Smasher article needs an intro describing who the article subject is, what they do in Smash that makes them notable, and a concise explanation of their accomplishments and endeavors that make them notable. Intros should additionally have information about the article subject's current status in the Smash community.

===Tournament results===
All smashers that achieved notability for their playing in the competitive scene require documentation of their tournament placings. Tournament results should be inserted into the article in table form, and separated into subsections based on game, such as the following:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Tournament!!Date!!1v1 placement!!2v2 placement!!Partner!!Earnings
|-
|[[CEO 2014]]||June 27th-29th, 2014||2nd||&mdash;||&mdash;||$548
|-
|[[Kings of Cali 4]]||July 5th-6th, 2014||1st||3rd||{{Sm|Scar}}||$959.25
|-
|[[EVO 2014]]||July 11th-13th, 2014||1st||7th||{{Sm|Lucky}}||$5,820
|-
|[http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=364615 Carroll Fest 5]||August 16th, 2014||1st||1st||{{Sm|Juggleguy}}||$160
|-
|[[Smash the Record]]||August 22nd-25th, 2014||3rd||2nd||{{Sm|Colbol}}||$0
|}

All verifiable tournament results should be added. However, if the article's subject has competed in a very large amount of tournaments, only the smasher's results at the most notable tournaments they competed in should be listed, while the rest of the results should be listed in a linked subpage. Also keep in mind that the results must be sourced; tournament results that aren't linked to something proving its veracity, like a Smashboards results thread, will be removed. Additionally, if the tournament in question has a SmashWiki article, it is preferable to link to it over external sources.

====Tournaments directed====
If the article subject has directed any Smash tournaments, they should be listed too, in table form like tournament results:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Tournament!!Date!!1v1 attendance!!1v1 prize pot||2v2 attendance!!2v2 prize pot
|-
|[[The Big House]]||October 22nd, 2011||115||$1,619||39 teams||$780
|-
|[[The Big House 2]]||October 6-7th, 2012||128||$1,920||40 teams||$800
|-
|[[The Big House 3]]||October 12th-13th, 2013||172||$2,400||48 teams||$960
|-
|[[The Big House 4]]||October 4th-5th, 2014 ||574||$5,701||114 teams||$2,280
|-
|[[The Big House 5]]||October 2nd-4th, 2015 ||1,317||$18,170||224 teams||$6,480
|}

And like with tournaments, links to a source proving the tournament's veracity is required, while SmashWiki links are preferred over external links.

===Categories===
On any Smasher article, every category the wiki has that the article's subject fits into should be added; such as if the player uses Mario competitively in ''Smash 4'', the Mario (SSB4) professionals category should be added. For a comprehensive catalog on the categories that may be applicable to a smasher page, go [[:Category:Competitive play|here]].

==Other information of interest==
The following is additional information Smasher articles should contain.

===History===
A detailed synopsis of the subject's history with Smash, starting from when and how they got into Smash and its competitive scene.

===Play style===
A detailed synopsis of the subject's playstyle, and why they play the characters they main. If the subject additionally has known particular views about Smash, they can be elaborated on in these sections.

===Controversies===
If the subject has been involved with any noteworthy controversies within the Smash community, they should be covered in a dedicated section. However, these sections must be thoroughly sourced with links verifying said controversy, the injection of rumors will not be tolerated. Additionally, while the common reactions from the Smash community and involved parties should be covered, editors must avoid injecting their own opinions into these sections.

===Trivia===
Is the subject noteworthy for competing in other games? Is there a well-known joke/meme about the subject within their region or the greater Smash community? Any other Smash-related facts about the subject not covered elsewhere in the article that would be of interest to readers? Write about any interesting trivial facts in a trivia section. Keep in mind that [[SW:TRIVIA|SmashWiki's trivia guidelines]] still apply.

===External links and videos===
Any noteworthy videos of the subject, such as a popular combo video or highly notable match, should be linked or embedded in the article in a dedicated section. Additionally, an external links section should be made, where any smash-related accounts on external sites run by the subject should be linked to.

==Self-creating/self-editing==
While it may be seen as unsavory for one to create and edit Smasher articles about themself and their friends, it is allowed on SmashWiki; we recognize that the best source for information about a smasher can be directly from the smasher themself, and that facts are objective regardless of who writes them into an article. However, smasher articles created/edited by the subject and/or their friends will be more heavily scrutinized, and any misrepresentations of the facts and overindulgence will not be tolerated; do not abuse our Smasher articles to get an ego boost.

==Other guidelines to remember==
These are additional guidelines not covered in the prior sections that should be heeded when editing Smasher articles.

*In cases where a smasher goes by multiple names, their article's title should be the tag the smasher is most commonly referred to by.
*The picture used in a smasher infobox should be a recent picture of professional quality, preferably of the subject alone in a tournament setting. Selfies or any other such low-quality pictures of the subject should not be used. The picture additionally must be of the subject, no other sort of image will be acceptable in the infobox.
*If you think an article's subject is not notable enough for a Smasher article, be sure to check the talkpage and page history to see if the subject already had a notability check. If they did and you still think they shouldn't have an article, bring it up on the talkpage to discuss it; if you put a notability tag back on without doing so, it'll be taken back down and you will risk being reprimanded.
*If an article's subject desires, personal information such as their name and birthdate must be removed from their article. Beyond that, no information should be removed nor modified based on the subject objecting, and a smasher article should never be deleted just because its subject does not want an article of themself up, barring extenuating circumstances.