Talk:The American Bible Challenge

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Realkyhick (talk · contribs) This user has contributed to the article.

Tense change

Last series was in 2014, so shouldn't the lede and elsewhere be in the past tense? Klbrain (talk) 09:50, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

MOS:TENSE says "By default, write articles in the present tense, including for those covering products or works that have been discontinued." The article uses present tense in description of what the show is, but past tense to refer to specific events (e.g. "The show became..."); this is the correct style. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 12:20, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Bilorv: Thanks for that very clear guidance. Klbrain (talk) 13:46, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Having a look at the details, I agree that the first sentence is correct in present tense, but much of the rest, describing events, is incorrectly in the present tense. For example:

Second sentence: "is hosted" should be "was hosted". Switching to "the hosts are ..." would match with style, but seems odd for presenters who are no longer actively involved with the process of hosting.
Second paragraph: "is played" should be "was played"

etc. Klbrain (talk) 13:57, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... the article's choice of tense makes intrinsic sense to me, but I'm struggling to explain why. The show itself is a work rather than an event, and the host is part of that – if someone was watching an episode, they would say "this episode is hosted by Foxworthy". Similarly, when watching a series, they would talk about it being in the form of the 6-2-1 tournament structure. The show is non-fictional, so of course these events really happened, but I think the examples you list more fit the "products or works" category. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 16:53, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

And that is intrinsically nonsense to me because if I am watchkng it it must have already occurred, thus it would be past tense. --Khajidha (talk) 17:25, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I've just seen an example in WP:FICTENSE, "Friends is an American sitcom that was aired on NBC." Now I'm thinking maybe it should be "The series was hosted", but still "Each season of the series is played" (using historical present tense for description of the work). Does anyone else care to weigh in? Otherwise, I'm unsure how to resolve this issue. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 21:17, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]