User:OttselSpy25/First TW appearance infobox variables

Introduction
So I had this idea a few days ago, and I thought it would be a good idea to pitch it to the fourms. It's a really good idea I think, and it's something a little less contentious than some of the other big rule changes we've been making. It's basically about inter-wiki linking and infoboxes.

For many many years, infoboxes on TARDIS wiki have had the "first=" variable. Historically, this has been used to denote the first valid source where this character appears. Despite sounding simple, caused a lot of headaches. For instance, Zog from the stage play Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure once listed a short trips story as his premiere story, despite this being an out-of-universe variable.

We recently changed this, making the standing rule that the earliest piece of fiction that Tardis Wiki has a page about will be the "first" variable for this topic. So Zog's page now says his first appearance is the stage play, even thought it's not a valid source.

However, I've now realized that this shift in rules actually might give us a chance to go even further with this. Basically, I am proposing the introduction of a new variable for infoboxes:


 * firstTW=

So why would we ever need this? Well, the idea is that we specifically would only use this for characters and concepts which originated in non-DW stories, and that instead we would use first= to denote their actual premiere in fiction. THEN we would use the firstTW variable to list their first appearance in a story we have a page on.

So, Mickey Mouse's first variable would link w:c:disney:Steamboat Willie. Jeff Tracy's first variable would list w:c:Thunderbirds:Trapped in the Sky. (obviously in each of these cases we'd hide the inter-wiki guts and gears, but I wanted you to be able to see how it works if you're not familiar)

I originally wanted to have it be "firstDWU", with the infobox text reading "First DWU appearance," but I realized this would just reset us to things which are non-valid being once again discluded from the first variable... But I'm open to alternate suggestions.

Also, in these cases we'd want to retire |only=. Having Picard's page list Assimilation2 as his only story would not make it totally clear that the "first" link goes off-wiki. Also, I think it should go without saying that we'd really only do this for franchised concepts. There's no need for, like, John Lennon to list w:c:Beatles:My Bonnie (EP) or for Globe Theatre to list or whatever.

I also don't think this should apply to Doctor Who concepts which have been retconned to being related to other franchises. Like, I know the novels in the 90s were all excited about constantly retconning that, uh, Kandyman is Cthulhu or whatever. But I would still list The Abominable Snowmen as the first appearance of the Great Intelligence. I would not list w:c:Lovecraft:The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. But if the page for Yog-Sothoth had an infobox, sure you could list it there.

The test template I'm using in this OP is at Template:Infobox off-wiki first. I changed barely anything, it's probably not good enough to be used right away, and I am not good at coding templates. But this is the basic idea of what I'm suggesting.

Complications
There are only one big complication I can think of for this.

While our infoboxes will allow very easily for FANDOM wikis to be linked, off-site wikis are going to be a challenge to link in the infobox. So far, there are three non-FANDOM wikis I can think of that we would want to link for this: TFwiki, the Magrsverse, and Wikipedia.

TFwiki we'd need to cite for Death's Head (Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!), Magrsverse wiki we'd want for a few things but mostly Iris Wildthyme (Marked for Life) and then Wikipedia for... I don't know, something where the first story isn't popular enough to have a wiki but does have a Wikipedia page. I don't have an example. Sue me.

So basically, we may need to either make a functioning template that making off-FANDOM linking more realistic, or we need a second variable, something like:


 * firstoffsite =

Which would just let you do a typical [link title] sorta vibe. I went ahead and added this to the template... and it pretty much works!

Here is what I inputed to create the Death's Head infobox on the right:


 * firstoffsite = Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!
 * firstTW     = The Crossroads of Time (comic story)

Tell me what you all think! OS25🤙☎️ 23:17, 10 April 2023 (UTC)