Forum:Removing definitives in Smasher articles

Forums: Index → Proposals → Removing definitives in Smasher articles

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

So recently, someone has made a tweet about our wiki's bias towards American smashers, or rather, how we mostly say Americans are the "best players in the world" and very top Japanese players "the best in their country."

I have questioned the validity of some of these statements myself, and have, for the most part, tried avoiding using definitives like that; at the same time, I do admit I used some definitives in the past. I also believe that, since most people on the wiki don't focus on the competitive scene pages in the first place, that it's always one person making the decisions. My proposal is that we get rid of definitives like that, or, if possible, remove all similar ones altogether, since being "the best" is highly subjective in many cases. CookiesCreme 16:23, September 9, 2019 (EDT)

Support As you said, who's considered one of the best is subjective, and I believe that 1) shouldn't be our call; 2) makes us sound unprofessional; 3) subjectivity doesn't belong on the wiki in general (possibly under SmashWiki is not speculative). The most we should do is just provide the facts on how well they have placed in tourneys. VoqéoT 16:41, September 9, 2019 (EDT)

I think that if we are going to call someone the "best in X" it should be backed up by PR and not just a wild claim. SerpentKing 16:55, September 9, 2019 (EDT)

There are some problems with that. 1, Not all characters are ranked on PRs. For example, there is no Cloud player on the PGRU, nor are there any Jigglypuff players in New York's Power Rankings. 2, Even if some characters are ranked, the player rarely even uses the character (eg. Captain L's Kirby). Finally, PR themselves are generally controversial since the algorithm may have made some players higher ranked than others; a player that hasn't attended much tournaments but place very well at the ones he did may be ranked lower than a player who has consistently placed somewhat highly at tournaments. CookiesCreme 17:03, September 9, 2019 (EDT)

It's fine to list people who aren't ranked, but we shouldn't be able to make "best of" claims without some kind of proof. SerpentKing 17:09, September 9, 2019 (EDT)

I think barring extremely notable players (whether globally, regionally, or character specific), we should refrain from making claims like that as a whole and let tournament results and power rankings speak for themselves. --Rdrfc (talk) 05:17, September 10, 2019 (EDT)