Talk:Mayor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Son and Grandson

I know the above notice says to direct comments toward the Buffyverse talk page, but that page seems to be about the Big Issues, and not about minor corrections. I just wanted to point out that, contrary to the past version of this article, it is stated explicitly that Wilkins did indeed masquerade as his own son and grandson; Oz says observes he's the "same exact guy" while the Scoobies look at a 19th Century photo of the Mayor.

It's in one of the two last eps of season 3. (Enemies, actually)

Excessive linking

Please try to avoid linking to words that can be looked up easily on Wikipedia and elsewhere. They distract readers.

To Do items

"The characters are not related, as Firefly is not part of Whedon's Buffyverse" needs to be rephrased. One does not imply the other. Xiner 15:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I so didn't realize that an aricle about the Mayor already existed. I only wrote the second one because I stumbled upon a link for Mayor Wilkins that was red, indicating that an article needed to be made. I should have searched more thuroughly before writing one. I really like my article, however the older one is much more detailed. I would love to work with someone on merging the two. luckykitty89

Wasn't the library blown up with an ANFO bomb? I don't have the DVDs with me, but I think we see Oz and Willow delivering sacks of fertilizer

Edna's name

Was the Mayor's wife named Edna May or Edna Mae? The shooting script uses the latter; does May appear anywhere semi-official, e.g., in the "Choices" subtitles or the comics? -- Hqb 19:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

It's spelled "May" in No Future For You, Part 4, so I'm going to change it to that. It's a minor concern, anyway. -- Noneofyourbusiness (talk) 18:16, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Buffyep56.jpg

Image:Buffyep56.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 06:01, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Typo in quote?

In the Writing and acting section, first bullet, Groener is quoted saying "parts that corrupts". Is this a typo on Wiki, or is this the actual quote? If it's the actual quote, do we need a [sic] for the improper grammar? I don't have a copy of the cited magazine, so I can't check. -- Supāsaru 23:39, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Richard Wilkins - Tales of the Slayers.jpg

Image:Richard Wilkins - Tales of the Slayers.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:23, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

School Building?

The explosion destroyed the entire building??? Lots42 (talk) 22:55, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Repetition

The following is repeated in the article:

Unlike many Buffy villains, Mayor Wilkins had quite a pleasant demeanor. A family man with an aversion to swearing, he nearly always wore a smile on his face.

I would like to get rid of it. --Maurice45 (talk) 20:39, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Article rewrite

I'm going to be rewriting this article with full citations in a sandbox, which anyone interested can find here. --Moni3 (talk) 17:04, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Moni, how attached are you to the mysophobia term? I see you've used it twice, in the lead and later in the body of the article. I find it distracting and disruptive to have to find out what an obscure word means right at the start of the article--can we use "phobia about germs" or something like that and put mysophobia in parentheses then use that word later? I haven't touched it at this point, but would like to discuss it. Perhaps others have an opinion, too?--TEHodson 07:22, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I took this backstory bit out, as I don't think it's necessary, but preserved it intact here:

"The mythos behind the Slayer is that a 15-year-old girl is chosen by mystical powers to be endowed with superhuman strength to fight demons and vampires. She is assigned a Watcher, someone who is trained and knowledgeable about evil forces, to mentor her. When one Slayer dies, another is activated somewhere else in the world. Buffy briefly died at the end of season one. The Slayer who replaced her, Kendra (Bianca Lawson), was killed at the end of the second season."

It's not directly relevant to the Mayor-Faith relationship, so I think it's okay to leave it out of this article.--TEHodson 08:07, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I've finished the first pass. It seemed at the start of the article that you were capitalizing the T in The Mayor, so I continued that, but I'm not sure if you meant that it should continue. I think there are both small and big T's throughout at this point, so let me know which you want and I'll fix them. I also took out the bit about what's in the box of Gavroc, as it interrupted the flow of the paragraph and wasn't necessary to the understanding of events, but it's on my notepad, so if you want me to fit it back in, it's available. I have to go to bed now! See you tomorrow.--TEHodson 10:02, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

• I initially meant the name to read as "the Mayor", but it's hard to set that consistency in the first sentence.
• I figured folks who aren't familiar with the series would wonder why there are two Slayers, hence the Kendra-Faith backstory. I dunno. If not, I guess it's not a problem.
• Re mysophobia...well, germphobia is not a word so I guess "phobia of germs" would have to replace it. I'm not married to mysophobia.
• The lead can't say the Mayor is a surprising villain if none of the sources say it. It's accurate to say the characters were kind of surprised, but the way it was worded makes it unclear who is surprised that he's a villain.
• I thought the Creation and casting section started better with "In planning for the third season..."
• I didn't find any information in the sources that said the mayor built the town or his actual age. I removed this because it reiterated info that was actually in the sources: how long he's been in office and the fact that he pays tribute to a bunch of demons. If you know of a source that states this, show me the way. I looked because I saw it in the article before the rewrite.
• K. Todd Freeman should have an article. I hope someone sees the red link and creates it.
• The "mask of humanity" wording was a point made by a source, esp. the humanity part.
• I didn't take out "she is vulnerable to the dark impulses associated with being a Slayer" from the lead, but I think it's controversial. Buffy clearly flirts with a dark side and can't stay away from men associated with evil. I think that wording needs to be made clearer.
• For encyclopedic writing, I try to stay away from parenthetical statements. In an encyclopedia, if it's an aside in parentheses, it's probably unnecessary. I've shifted to using emdash to set clauses apart. It's also problematic to say Buffy never shirks her duties. I mean, people die all the time in Sunnydale, and she took off that one time...we can't really say she never shirks them.
• I included the bit about the insects in the box because it's gross and it shows readers how far the mayor will go to be evil.
• Faith was in a rehabilitation program? I just watched these episodes. What did I miss? Or forget?

Thanks for the review. --Moni3 (talk) 01:02, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Okay: I've got your points on one screen, and this next to it, so I hope not to miss any questions. If I do, it was an accident. Here we go.

• From this I take it you want the "t" in "the" to be lower case, but before I do the whole fix, just confirm that for me.
• Re the multiple Slayers bit, it was intrusive where it was, but we could stick it into the backstory section of the lead if you think readers really need to know all that history. My thinking was that people familiar with the show already know why there are 2 Slayers and how it happened, and others will be trying to keep up with lots of information that's already new, so the details of how Faith got there isn't necessarily important; she's there, and keeping the focus on her relationship with the Mayor is what's important. Right now the lead doesn't make the point of "one Slayer"; it says she's the latest, but not the only. I did check that. I agree it's not perfect, but we could just say Buffy is a Slayer. Anyone going deeper into the mythology of the show will quickly discover that Buffy's sole role is brief and that one of the marks of her time as a Slayer is the changing from sole to many. My point is (and I'm sure I could have made it more briefly, but I'm trying as much as possible to reproduce the brain-storming we'd do if we were in the room together), the back story doesn't directly relate to the relationship with the mayor, so not having that history here doesn't do the article any harm.
• Mysophobia and an immediate need to exit the article to figure out what the heck that is seems like a problem to me (I figured it out because I know the show, but it's not a word that very many people are familiar with, I think). I think it should simply say he has a phobia about germs. We could stick the word into parentheses in order to educate people, part of our mission here, and possibly an exception to the "no parentheticals in an encyclopia" rule, then let the word stand where it appears the second time.
• Can we call him "unusual"? We've set up that he's a nice guy, if you will, so the rest of the sentence is a rather abrupt left-turn. The article later discusses the unusual choice of having a nice guy human villian. I'll keep thinking about that one.
• I did, too, which can be solved by moving the current first sentence into the lead--it's part of the set-up for what's to follow, so it should come before the planning of the third season, otherwise it ends up being a parenthetical, even if it's not actually in () if you follow me. It's a sidebar if it doesn't come first. I'll move it up.
• Faith says to Buffy that the Mayor "built this town" to set himself up for his Ascension, and that "come Graduation Day, he's going to get paid." It's stated as fact within the show itself. That's where I got it from.
• Agreed. Normally we're expected to take them out, but it's just the one, and maybe it'll work.
• The way the "mask of humanity" phrase fits into the sentence now is better than the original one. Good.
• Faith is particularly or especially vulnerable? Your change is good--Buffy isn't perfect, just committed. And I'll do dashes, not parentheticals from now on.
• Good point about the gross factor. I took it out because, again, it was a sidebar and interrupted the flow, but there should be a way to get it in, right about where Faith is sent to fetch it. I'll try it.
• After she escapes Wes, she ends up back in Sunnydale, pretending to be good. They take her off active duty while Wes puts her through tests. Hence the pretence of turning Angel back to Angelus to "out" her, after which it's clear she's with the Mayor. I'll check tonight to be sure--I have the eps streaming, which makes it easy to go through them more quickly than switching out DVDs.

Did you see the re-direct issue on the Buffyverse page? It got fixed, but I wanted to make sure you intended this article should just be called "Mayor," not his full name as it was before. And on Talk pages I refuse to go to all the trouble of using emdashes, so don't think I forgot how, just was too lazy. It's looking good. If you were at my loft right now, you'd think you were about to die; the storm is so bad, the wind is @60 mph, slamming into the side of the building like multiple earthquakes going on for days. It's a bit scary. Very Cathy on the moors weather! Luckily, I love it.--TEHodson 03:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

I think it reads much better now; the opening is all background, and the end of the first paragraph takes us back to the Mayor so he fits in neatly to the context. Re Faith's wounds, there is a lack of conformity between the incident itself, where the doctor in the ER says blood loss has nearly killed her, and This Year's Girl, where they discuss a head wound. Let's just leave it as "injuries" so we're not married to either version. She got very badly hurt--we can agree on that! I left out the rehabilitation stuff until I've looked at the eps again, but I'm pretty sure that's right, and I put in the box of Gavroc in such a way as to keep intact the narrative flow. Holy fucking shit--my windows are bowing in the wind. I'm going to die.--TEHodson 04:04, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Oh, and thank you for correcting my contractions again; I'm primarily a fiction writer (though I also write essays and reviews), and therefore can contract all I like. I will work harder at avoiding that here. --TEHodson 04:08, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Re the rehabilitation thing: I was thinking of all the hoops Wes put them through when he first arrived. I remembered Faith mouthing off to him, then saying, "I'm on board, just shooting my mouth off" then in "Enemies" after Buffy and Angel come out of the movie theatre, Angel asks Faith if the Council has her back on active duty, implying she'd been off it, and I guess my memory linked the two sequences together. She does go through something Council-directed, but we don't see it. Thanks for correcting it.--TEHodson 04:46, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

• Re how Faith comes to Sunnydale: it can go in a note or simply not be in the article until someone either comes along and puts it in or asks on the talk page how Faith came to town. If the article ever goes to GA or ... whatever...someone may ask at that point during a review.
• I'm ok with leaving mysophobia out of the article altogether. Doesn't matter to me.
• Re the Mayor "building the town", or how Faith says the Mayor "built this town". I took that less literally, like the way, say, Ford Motors (or Motown) built Detroit, or Starship Built This City on Rock and Roll. The Watcher's Guide Vol. II prints the Mayor's backstory and as that's pretty much written by the series writers (or approved as canon material) and doesn't include where he came from or when he was born. The previous version of the article cites Tales of the Slayers as the source saying the Mayor built the town or was there when it was incorporated. I haven't read Tales of the Slayers and although it was approved by Whedon, it's not considered canon material nor really a reliable source.
• Somewhat less a concrete issue, and nowhere I can find in the Manual of Style on Wikipedia...writers prefer and abhor certain words and phrases, that for some reason sound like a mental rake across a chalkboard. You'll find British copy editors here will remove "approximately" and "prior to" so fast it'll make your head spin. I had a composition teacher who refused to let students use the word "strive" because she hated it. When I taught younger students, I refused to allow them to use "things" and "stuff" if only to force them to be more precise and broaden their vocabularies. If I can help it, I'll construct articles to leave out past tense form of "having". I absolutely despise the verb tense of "having done that thing a long time ago" when it's easier and clearer to say "it was done". It's that tense, whatever the name of it is, that abuses "having". Also, "opine". I'd rather stab myself in the eye than have to read that word. Freakin' "opine". It's odious. That's why I changed "his wife having died of old age". Ick. I've already filled my rational quota for the month so now I don't have to be so rational.
• I saw the thread you started about the redirect but I didn't quite understand what the issue was. I didn't move the article from "The Mayor" to "Mayor" or change a redirect. I just rewrote the prose. I see it now. "Mayor Richard Wilkins III" is a redirect page with its own history (see here). When Rusted AutoParts went on his redirect spree, a bot came in and fixed the multiple problematic redirect loops he created.
• I generally quit using contractions since I started writing for Wikipedia. It probably makes me sound like I have a broomstick up my ass, but I can't turn it off and on...oh, wait. I just did it. Nevermind. --Moni3 (talk) 18:03, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

There are all kinda words and phrases I can't stand, either. I much prefer "his wife having died of old age" to the abrupt and inelegant alternative, and don't have a general problem with that tense. When I edited for Lonely Planet I ran into issues about such things, too, and discovered myself a much more "old-fashioned" (in their opinion) writer than the jaunty, journalistic, journeyers whose prose I edited (I also hate alliteration). Besides, leaving in "having died" proves that you are able to work and play well with others, and the next time someone accuses you of not being able to do so, you can point to it as an example of your forebearance. Anyway, the article looks good now. It was fun working together more closely. Looking forward to the Mastah. Take care.--TEHodson 18:56, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

This article is really bad.

This article is really bad. Most of the stuff is totally irrelevant to "The mayor" it just talks about things I would expect to find on OTHER pages, not this one, instead im sitting here reading this poorly worded college essay about the themes in buffy the vampire slayer when I just wanted a page about the mayor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.251.251.75 (talk) 12:31, 24 April 2015 (UTC)