Template talk:WikiProject Biography

Migrate living parameter to banner shell

MSGJ Is there anything similar in place for Category:Biography articles without living parameter? -Kj cheetham (talk) 12:04, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Not yet, might be worth exploring though! — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 18:51, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

That category is fairly empty in part because I've been keeping an eye on it and adding the parameter manually. |blp=/|living= exists in Template:WikiProject banner shell at least. I guess if the two templates have one =yes and =no that should be flagged as a conflict somewhere. If it's explictly set (i.e. not blank) in the banner but not here, the WikiProject template could inherit it? Not sure about the other way round. I'm also assuming the only WikiProject which cares about it would be Biography. -Kj cheetham (talk) 08:54, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Should we attempt to standardise, either on |living= or |blp=? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 13:13, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Is there a benefit to that? If so, my feeling is go for |living= simply because what's what this WikiProject has. One is just an alias for the other in the banner shell anyway. https://bambots.brucemyers.com/TemplateParam.php?wiki=enwiki&template=WikiProject+banner+shell wasn't much help trying to check which is more common. -Kj cheetham (talk) 13:24, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

I've had a look at the code and thought about it. The {{{living|{{{blp|{{{BLP|}}}}}}}}} parameters are checked 6 times for different purposes. I can replace it with code that checks for the blp parameter in {{WikiProject banner shell}} but it is quite resource-intensive (needs to read and analyse the text on the whole page) so I would not want to do that 6 times on every page. Might have to write a little Lua module to do it once and then call the banner module directly. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:18, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Update. I have simplified the code and remove what seemed to be some unnecessary uses of the |living= parameter. (The "image needed" note displayed an extra warning about getting images of living people, and the "politician work group" was automatically triggered if |activepol=yes and they were also living.) If these changes are not opposed, then we only need to check the page content twice (once for "living" and once for "blp") and I think we can start moving this parameter to the banner shell. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 13:54, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Maybe as a compromise |activepol=yes could trigger the "politician work group" whether they are living or not? -Kj cheetham (talk) 14:14, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes, that's what I have done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 14:23, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

I have written Module:Check blp parameter to check for conflicting, missing or redundant values of blp/living/BLP. I plan to add a call to this module to the template. Then the tracking categories will be used:

• Category:Pages using WikiProject Biography with conflicting living parameter (0)
• Category:Biography articles without living parameter (0)
• Category:Pages using WikiProject Biography which need living parameter transferring (0)
• Category:Pages using WikiProject Biography with redundant living parameter (0)

Any concerns or questions about this? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:41, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

 Done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 18:56, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Now in preview mode, after an edit, I am getting this error message: Preview warning: Page using Template:WikiProject Biography with unexpected parameter "living"

I am using living=no and no banner shell. living=yes get the same message. Since it is stated to be compulsory, it should not be unexpected! Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:01, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Hi Graeme. There should be a banner shell on every page and the living parameter should be in there not in the biography template. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 05:26, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Biography Review and Help

Moved to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography § Biography Review and Help

 – Peaceray (talk) 15:21, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

I'm looking to see if I can get feedback on a biography that I have written. I am new to Wikipedia as a creator but would love feedback as I am trying to promote Atlanta History and then move into Georgia History. I recently wrote a blog on my first wiki page and would love feedback or review. Thank you! AtlantaHistory101 (talk) 11:36, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

politician-work-group -> politics-work-group

I'd like to make |politician-work-group= an alias of |politics-work-group=:

1. to match the name of the work group, Politics and government,
2. to match the scope of the work group, which extends beyond politicians to include activists, proponents of various ideologies, etc.
3. per the discussion @ Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Politics and government#Category tagging for Category:People by political orientation

~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  12:27, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

|politics-work-group= is available as an alias, for now.   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  14:50, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

|politics-work-group= promoted   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  01:02, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

"T:WPBIO" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect T:WPBIO has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 January 3 § T:WPBIO until a consensus is reached. Utopes _{(talk / cont)} 21:06, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Insert a template UI fields do not match Template parameters

When using the "Insert a template" UI wizard to add the WikiProject Biography template, I've noticed that adding a value into the "Priority for filmbio work group" field results in the value showing up instead under the musician-priority= parameter. Furthermore, there are _two_ UI fields for adding "Priority for A&E work group" – the first one listed in the UI will correctly place the value into a&e-priority= whereas the second one listed as "Priority for A&E work group" will placed the value into filmbio-priority= which is very confusing. I have a screen shot, but here's a textual representation of how the UI field values get inserted into the Template parameters in the Talk page:

{{WikiProject Biography
 | a&e-priority=Low (value entered into 1st "Priority for A&E wg" UI field)
 | filmbio-priority=Mid (value entered into 2nd "Priority for A&E wg" UI field)
 | musician-priority=High (value entered into "Priority for filmbio wg" UI field)
}}

Now, I don't have a problem manually entering filmbio-priority= into a Talk article, but shouldn't the "Insert a template" UI wizard be fixed for inexperienced users? ThanQ IA ~<}:^> GreyElf (talk) 21:19, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

On second look, seems the fix is easy – only UI Label changes are needed. The UI's Optional Parameters are ordered:

1. A&E work group     Keep
2. Priority for A&E work group     Keep
3. Filmbio work group     Keep
4. Priority for A&E work group     Change to Priority for filmbio work group
5. Musician work group     Keep
6. Priority for filmbio work group     Change to Priority for musician work group

Hope that helps. ~<}:^> GreyElf (talk) 03:39, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

The documentation does state Note: setting either |filmbio-work-group=yes or |musician-work-group=yes will cause |a&e-work-group=yes to be ignored. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:53, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

Yes, @Redrose64 I know that. That's not the problem. The problem is the UI has the wrong Labels. An editor, wanting to insert only "filmbio-priority=" will mostly likely select "Priority for filmbio work group" from the UI, but the value will populate "musician-priority=" instead. Likewise, an editor selecting "Priority for A&E work group" from the UI is given TWO to choose from (UI choices #2 & #4 above). #2 correctly populates "a&e-priority=" while #4's label says it will populate "Priority for A&E work group" it actually populates "filmbio-priority=" which will confuse newbies. Hope that clarifies the problem. ~<}:^> GreyElf (talk) 01:06, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

Edit Template:WikiProject Biography/doc#TemplateData. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 14:14, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

Spot on! That was very helpful. Brilliant! Got it working. Time for a pint-o-bitter. Cheers mate! ~<}:^> GreyElf (talk) 00:10, 23 April 2026 (UTC)