Template talk:Infobox basketball biography

NBA.com

Is there any reason to use both NBA.com and Basketball Reference for stats? Also, nether link works for players that never played in the NBA like Oscar Schmidt but the BR link still shows as the infobox is calling Basketball Reference NBA player ID from Wikidata when local values set aren't set, so how could this be handled? ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 21:26, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

The sites have slight variations in what they present and how. I don't think we should have a WP:LINKFARM, but two isn't excessive. Re: Schmidt, the Basketball Reference link goes to https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/schmios01.html, which is a working—albeit (currently) mininal—page. Basketball Reference is evolving beyond the NBA, so the Wikidata description of "Basketball Reference NBA player ID" is no longer entirely accurate. Perhaps the site will eventually not have a separate international page for him. —Bagumba (talk) 15:48, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

True, but that still doesn't solve the issue of having stat profiles listed with no stats actually provided. The NBA.com and BR links would at least look better on a single line (if both exist). And on a related note, would it be worth renaming the Medals section to "International" and include the international stats page there? ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 15:57, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

I never liked "international", because it's ambiguous whether it means playing for a national team or playing professionally away from one's home country. Most NBA bios have a section named "National team career" in prose (e.g. LeBron James § National team career), if relevant. —Bagumba (talk) 16:07, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

True, but that still doesn't solve the issue of having stat profiles listed with no stats actually provided: Perhaps, but we're just blindly providing the link because it's in Wikidata. What's the alternative? FWIW, the Schmidt page does have "More Oscar Schmidt pages at Sports Reference" at the bottom. —Bagumba (talk) 16:12, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

It can be suppressed locally on his page if deemed unnecessary. I'm not that knowledgeable about the history of basketball, but I can't imagine there are many other cases like this anyway. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 17:53, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Template protected edit request 26 April 2025

Under the template parameter "header28", please add the word "major" to the sub-parameter "title" so it reads Career highlights and major awards. This emphasizes to readers and editors that it's not meant to be an exhaustive indiscriminate list, but should rather only include awards according to due weight per MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE:

The less information that an infobox contains, the more effectively it serves its purpose, allowing readers to identify key facts at a glance.

For example, there has been extensive discussion and consensus at the NBA project shown at WP:NBAHIGHLIGHTS and WP:NBA5+ that is very selective about what types of awards merit infobox inclusion. Thanks. Left guide (talk) 07:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

p.s. just did a test in the sandbox, see comparisons and results on the testcases page, everything looks good to go. Left guide (talk) 08:55, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

If we're going to change this, I'd suggest the more concise "Career highlights". The same people "major" is intended for are likely to quibble over what is "major" anyways (WP:OTHERSTUFFGENERAL: the same "Career highlights and awards" wording is at Template:Infobox NFL biography and Template:Infobox baseball biography). —Bagumba (talk) 09:12, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

@Bagumba: I would support that too. Anything to get away from the standalone "awards" word (which seems to encourage drive-by editors to think it's a dumping ground for any and all awards) would be an improvement. Left guide (talk) 09:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

At any rate, the phrase "career highlights" by its definition seems to imply that it must be major and important. I've implemented your suggested change in the sandbox, so anyone can see how it looks on the testcases page. Left guide (talk) 09:24, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 13:53, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

@Bagumba: If you believe the NFL and baseball infoboxes should undergo a similar change, feel free to propose that at the respective talk pages. Left guide (talk) 23:32, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

Template protected edit request 27 April 2025

For the "position" parameter display label (label2), please add a piped link to the article Basketball positions like this, tested fine. Left guide (talk) 05:36, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 07:24, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Template protected edit request 27 April 2025 (2)

For label13 and label14, please add piped links for High school basketball and College basketball like this, tested fine. Left guide (talk) 13:14, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

 Done Primefac (talk) 13:31, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Linking field titles

Why are we linking position, college and high school field titles? This isn’t necessary in my opinion, nor is it typical of biographical infoboxes. Was there a consensus discussion I missed? Rikster2 (talk) 14:00, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

I reverted it since you contested (and it's template protected). @Left guide: Feel free to establish consensus, either here or at one of the projects and notifying the others (NBA, Basketball, CBBALL). —Bagumba (talk) 14:31, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

An admin bureaucrat and another template editor both independently reviewed the proposed changes, and seemed to find them uncontroversial and productive enough to simply implement without further questions or discussion. Said links demonstrate utility by educating readers on relevant topics in compliance with the guideline MOS:LINK, and are placed in a convenient and intuitive manner without increasing the pre-existing amount of visible text. Not being "typical" (whatever that means) on other templates isn't a helpful rationale as that's a totally subjective and arbitrary measure; one person can point to infoboxes with links in labels just like another person can point to infoboxes without any, proving that neither exercise would help develop consensus on this template's individual merit. Is there any policy or guideline prohibiting the use of links in infobox parameter labels? The guideline talk page at WT:MOSLINKS has been notified to seek wider community input. Left guide (talk) 02:13, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

@Paine Ellsworth and Primefac: Pinging you as the template editors whose edits were reverted. I'm not sure if you were endorsing the edit request or merely fulfilling the request for a non-template editor. As a non-template editor, Rikster2, later objected, and there was neither a strong established consensus nor did it seem like an obvious error, I reverted to status quo, as presumably they would have done had it not been template protected. Feel free to explictly state if you support the edits' merits.—Bagumba (talk) 04:26, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

I, too, would have reverted the edits based upon the ensuing challenge, but you beat me to it, editor Bagumba. I'm sensitive to the argument that involves US-centric links when the ibox is used in other countries. If there are similar global links, yes, but it would be misleading to readers in other nations to link to an article that just describes sports in the US. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 14:28, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

WT:MOSINFOBOX has also been notified. Left guide (talk) 02:31, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

Note: Notification of this discussion has been left at WT:NBA, WT:BASKETBALL, and WT:CBBALL.—Bagumba (talk) 04:34, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

I'd object to linking to U.S. centric high school basketball and college basketball articles. A few other countries have similar competitions. As for position, the soccer infobox doesn't link it, and it does look clean with the links all being the "answers". I can imagine the idea though on why this may be necessary, WP:OSE and all. Howard the Duck (talk) 10:28, 28 April 2025 (UTC)