Forum:Major overhaul for "List of rumors"

Forums: Index → Proposals → Major overhaul for "List of rumors"

This discussion is in regards to a proposed change on SmashWiki. The discussion must first meet with a consensus before it is implemented.

There's been a discussion going on at Talk:List of rumors about cleaning up the rumors page; specifically, splitting the Ultimate section into subsections to address its increasingly ballooning length. However, I believe this is merely a "band-aid" solution to an already very apparent issue, and discussion on the Discord has agreed with me: the rumors page needs a serious overhaul. I believe there are three major issues with the page, as outlined below:

1. Rumors are treated like a play-by-play with up-to-the-minute detail. This is mostly because people use SmashWiki as a sort of "news source" for these types of things, which we shouldn't be covering to begin with: we focus only on official information.
2. Listing in-progress/unproven rumors leads to endless, undue speculation. Plenty of times I've had to truncate information that, for example, speculates on what characters a leak could be referring to even after it's already been disproven. See here and here for examples. SmashWiki is not speculative, period.
3. Rumors are added regardless of whether they are notable or not. The Ultimate section especially is filled with rumors that are dead-on-arrival and now remain there as a sad archive of what people used to believe, however implausible. In most cases, these are not worth noting after they're disproven.

I do not believe that the rumors page should be deleted, because it is a notable aspect of the fan community just as much as leaks are; instead, I want to propose solutions to each of these issues that could be strictly enforced to make the rumors page a more objective overview of the subject. Here is what I believe could help resolve the issue:

1. Rumors should only be listed once they are disproven. The most important guideline. Leaks are only listed once they're proven, right? This rule would allow the page to be written without the clouded judgement of an unproven rumor, and also make it more apparent which ones are notable and which ones are passing speculation.
2. Rumors should be written about from an objective, neutral standpoint with emphasis on citations. This one is self-explanatory, but important; all info on SmashWiki should be written from an unbiased standpoint, and rumors are no exception. No speculating, just the facts about the rumor and whether it was true or not.
3. Only the most notable rumors should be added. This one is the least clear of the three points, as there's no real "rule of thumb" for what makes a leak notable, but it is noted in the page's guidelines and should be emphasized, especially regarding the current state of the page. While something like the Grinch Leak is notable, as it was covered by major news sources and is remembered as an especially elaborate hoax, I'd say over half of the existing rumors are not notable.

This, I believe, would greatly improve the quality of the rumors page and make it useful as an actual resource of notable rumors rather than a running news bulletin for any rumor that pops up. This is my first time writing a major proposal, but I feel like this is important for such a contentious page. If you have any comments, please direct them below. ~ Serena Strawberry (talk) 21:20, January 21, 2020 (EST)

Support

1. As outlined above. ~ Serena Strawberry (talk) 21:20, January 21, 2020 (EST)