Dune Wiki talk:Guidelines

What about the status of the Dune/Children of Dune miniseries? These deviate from the novels in a number of important ways - see, for example, the article on Princess Irulan which seems to draw on the plot elements from the miniseries. Also, the enormous differences between the original novels and the ones written by Brian Herbert demand something more than just a statement that "some fans do not consider these canon" - as someone who considers the new novels non-canon (not to mention bad writing and contrary to the spirit of the original novels), I would prefer the new novels be omitted.


 * Those are good points. No articles yet exist on the Sci-Fi miniseries (or the 1984 film come to that) on this wiki, but they can certainly be added. Specific details on how they deviate from the novels would be nice. I'll add some links.


 * You are welcome to fix or improve the Irulan article; or any others. I know there are plenty of holes. Wikis are all about collaboration, and this one is no different. :-)


 * As for the Brian Herbert novels, that's a trickier issue. Many people who follow Dune did enjoy the B.Herbert/Anderson novels (despite their many flaws), and so for better or worse consider them part of the 'Dune universe'. I wanted to make this wiki inclusive, and so felt a compromise was needed: to include their plots/groups/characters in the wiki, but to differentiate them from the original novels. But I acknowledge that a simple statement is not enough (I've been debating that myself for a while). I'm sure a better way can be found. Perhaps a restructuring of categories and home page, breaking out Herbert/Anderson info into separate articles, and the creation of a new visible 'non-canon' template. Aside from removing all references to them, what do you suggest?


 * --Careax 17:53, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

I notice that several pages mention the fact that it is in a book series. Wouldn't this wiki benefit from keeping the articles to an in-universe feel wih a specific section for the out-of-universe stuff? I admit, I draw my experience from the Wookieepedia but I find that it is handy, discussing things as if they really happened, then moving to a specific section of the article for the out-of-universe content. --Jedimaster415 15:16, 26 March 2006


 * Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Which specific articles do you have in mind?
 * --Careax 23:25, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I was thinking of any article that deals with an in-universe topic like a character or one of the Houses, something of that nature. Paul, The Butlerian Jihad or House Harkonnen would fall under in-universe articles so they would be treated like Irulan or Farad'n were writing them. But the books or the authors would be treated normally.
 * I noticed it while I was working on several of the articles, like House Corrino or Irulan. I was thinking of this as a general rule, without any real article in mind.
 * For an example, I altered the Bene Gesserit article to demonstrate what I meant. While it is not perfect, it does help to make it feel like we are in the Dune universe, like when we are reading the books.
 * --Jedimaster415 19:31, 26 March 2006


 * That looks good. That writing style also provides more consistency. A footnote system might be easier for the reader. I've used the Bene Gesserit article as an example of what I mean (it also still has the 'Behind the Scenes' section). I don't mind either way, as long as there's consistency, and as long as we provide enough details in the 'Behind the Scenes' section for the reader. Feel free to change the Bene Gesserit article to one or other method, whichever one you think works better.
 * --Careax 04:13, 27 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Works for me.
 * --Jedimaster415 01:25, 27 March 2006


 * I think the end note reference is unnecessary: the 'Behind the Scenes' section should be enough. I've modified the Bene Gesserit article to reflect this, and to removed the unecessary endnote template. I think keeping the footnote markers is still valuable, but they can just point to 'Behind the Scenes'.
 * --Careax 07:20, 29 March 2006 (UTC)