Forum:A Fun Fact About Header Quotes

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Did you guys know that Wikipedia, or any encyclopedia for that matter, NEVER starts an article with a quotation? Additionally, no-one in the real world, or in any imaginary world except Uncyclopedia, formats quotes like we do? Even Unquotable does not use {{Q}}. Wikipedia does have a quotation template, but it creates "real world" block quotes, and is used for block quotes. Short quotes are almost always formatted with quotation marks in paragraph.

I am not proposing any changes to the current quotation templates. My point is that the formatting and typical use of our quotation templates have no parallel to the real world. --Mn-z 15:41, March 15, 2013 (UTC)

Regarding the optimal usage of initial quotations, Mnbvcxz and I are violently in agreement. "They almost never help."

Regarding the current appearance of {{Q}} templates, it is mostly my fault; see Forum:The Q (Quotation) template from 2010. Spıke Ѧ 16:08 15-Mar-13

Other Wikia wikis start articles with quotes, I don't know if you just aren't counting them as encyclopedias or what, but while "databases" might be a more appropriate word, they are still a type of topical encyclopedia. I wouldn't mind the style being adjusted a little or some articles using less of them, but I see no problem with starting an article with a quote, even if Wikipedia doesn't do it (we aren't after all copying them, we're parodying them).◄► Tephra ◄► 09:50, March 21, 2013 (UTC)

I don't think anyone has a problem with it. Mnbvcxz comes closest, but even he has allowed some to remain. To me, the issue is that it be done to impart actual humor and cleverness--at the point in an article when the reader is deciding whether to read the rest--and not be done merely as imitation. There is a lot of stuff that new users do merely because they think they have to do it. Spıke Ѧ 12:32 21-Mar-13

Header quotes are rarely used. I've seen at them used in fundamentalist religious literature, but those are the same guys who type use all-caps, bold, underline, and italic at the same time. The only good header quotes I've seen are at Fish Puns. Header quotes originated as a way to create one-liners at the top of articles. There are instances in which people start articles with quotes, and that can be parodied. However, using a header quote is not parodying Wikipedia. Parody involves exaggerating a trait or behavior of something for comic effect. Parody implies that the subject has a trait or behavior that is being parodied. Making fun of Dick Cheney's mustache is not parody, but rather, randumbo, as Dick Cheney doesn't have a mustache. --Mn-z 13:06, March 21, 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification, and I didn't mean to speak for you. Another small argument for using quotations--also {{Wikipedia}}, which we pepper our articles with, although everyone knows how to look something up there; and other templates, as here--is to make the page more visually interesting. Spıke Ѧ 13:15 21-Mar-13

@Mnbvcxz: I'm not suggesting using quotes at the beginning of articles is a parody of Wikipedia, I'm saying because Uncyclopedia is a parody, we don't have to follow their format. Wikipedia doesn't invoke Oscar Wilde either, or anybody else for that matter, doing so here is not a parody of any specific thing on Wikipedia. I think the more important question is not "does Wikipedia or anyone else do it?", but rather "is it funny?"
◄► Tephra ◄► 20:00, March 21, 2013 (UTC)

Unununium, I agree with you here. We are a humor wiki, so the point is to be funny. As long as the quotes are funny, let them be, if they're not, kill them. -- Simsilikesims(♀GUN) Talk here. 00:06, March 22, 2013 (UTC)

@Spike, my comment was directed at Unununium. I wouldn't go far enough to suggest that every instance of {{Q}} should be removed. However, when you do use a header quote, you are following an Uncyclopedia cliche, rather than engaging in parody, in almost all instances. Additionally, quotes are a bad way to start an article, as it begins the article with a one-liner. --Mn-z 16:29, March 22, 2013 (UTC)