I've removed the small text in the infobox, previously used to display {{{subscriber_date}}}, {{{view_date}}}, and {{{statsupdate}}}. As per WP:FONTSIZE, this text did not meet the policy on accessibility standards. This is a temporary fix; if anyone cares to reformat the infobox to display this text in a more sensible way now that it is not reduced in size, that's probably a good idea. Keep in mind that you should not replace the reduced text size in doing so, though. See WP:ACCESS for more details on accessibility standards in general. ~ RobTalk18:22, 1 August 2015 (UTC)
WCAG 2.0 AAA compliant colors
Hi all, a heads-up that the color combo for this infobox is not fully WCAG 2.0 AAA compliant and may not be consistent with WP:COLOR. See this. I am, however, not an expert on accessibility issues. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:12, 25 August 2015 (UTC)
Could someone make a "signature phrase" or "catchphrase" parameter?
Lots of Youtubers have a catchphrase that is directly associated with them. I know that Template:Infobox_person/Internet_info uses it so it can't be that far-fetched to ask. Thanks. -ImWithStoopid13 (talk) 08:11, 10 January 2016 (UTC)
Channel name
This isn't a major issue. Just a matter of aesthetics I've come across multiple times. If the image representing the subject isn't wide enough, the "Channel name" section is shifted a bit, appearing as:
Channel ExampleChannel name
I'm proposing it be changed to:
Channel ExampleChannel
Would changing "Channel name" to just "Channel" be acceptable? This format causes a rather unsightly gap that I believe can be fixed with this update, and I think most people searching for YouTubers on Wikipedia in the first place would understand that "Channel" is referring to the subject's YouTube channel. — snoɯʎuoɥʇuɐ01:18, 21 June 2016 (UTC)
YouTubers with multiple play buttons
There is an option to add play buttons. Some YouTubers like for example Matthew Patrick have play buttons for multiple channels (The Game Theorists, The Film Theorists). Is there a way to add multiple play buttons in the template? --Adrio (talk) 12:20, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
Is there a way to note when a YouTuber is still waiting for their play button award? For example, I had to put (pending) after the diamond_year for PewDiePie but it would be nice to indicate that YouTubers actually receive the award. AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 21:19, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
We really should change the color of this template, so it follows YouTube's Color Specifications guidelines. These outlines say what HEX colors should be used to represent their brand. It would be nice (but not neccessary) to change the color of the template to one of these colors:
What do you guys think? I know we might need to tweak the colors just a bit for accessibility if we need. Jamesjpk (talk) 23:33, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
New Parameter
I was wondering if we should add a parameter under "YouTube Information" called "Channel Language" in which you would show the channel's language that the majority of videos are posted in. This would be useful to add more information into YouTuber articles. I don't understand the syntax of the template though, so I don't know how to add it myself. Let me know if you can add this! Jamesjpk (talk) 02:40, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
Is there a way to easily count those from youtube? And is that notable? The views and subscribers are found on their "About" section. AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 16:07, 26 January 2016 (UTC)
NNot a good idea. Channels' video counts change often, and channels that upload daily, would have their info-boxes really inaccurate. Jamesjpk (talk) 02:46, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
Personally, I think that's best handled in the prose. A "Personal life" section would be appropriate for this information. Since Youtubers aren't known for their spouses and their spouses are usually not well-known at all, it doesn't seem like good information to include in the infobox. ~ RobTalk16:58, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
When trying to list more than one youtube channel with the (current) and (former) suggested method, the resulting presentation is a mess. Could someone look into tweaking the infobox so that it can either handle more than one channel or enable listing of former channels? AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 17:59, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
Should the play button year be for when they cross the threshold on subscribers or when they receive the actual award from YouTube? The former would probably just have citations where they post a thank you note on their channel. The latter would be referenced by an unboxing video. AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 18:17, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
The description states "year in which the channel reached x subscribers". Therefore it's not the year in which he received the award. The play buttons were introduced only in 2012. But indeed, it could be ambiguous in some cases. Raphaël Dunant (talk) 22:49, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
Changing channel link format
Just a suggestion, but with YouTube allowing different display names on channels and many youtubers utilising this feature, the channel_name box could possibly be updated to not automatically generate a link but could utilise the channel_url box? It just seems quite annoying if a youtuber has a potentially embarassing channel username or the channel has changed since creation. Thanks :)
AFJGIRL (talk) 09:08, 7 June 2017 (UTC)
Could use a little formatting help
Hey all, I could use a little formatting help if you don't mind at Bhuvan Bam, please.
In this version, the infobox uses |channel_name=BB Ki Vines. This displays oddly in the infobox as Ki Vines BB Ki Vines and points to this closed channel so that's clearly not formatted properly.
I looked at the template instructions, but I'm not sure if I've formatted the content properly in this version of the infobox. Now I'm using |channel_name=www.youtube.com/channel/UCqwUrj10mAEsqezcItqvwEw but /channel/ isn't consistent with the /c/ formatting in the instructions. Also, it seems weird that we can't tell readers what the name of the channel is. Can someone please educate me on the correct way to format that infobox? Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 16:26, 15 October 2017 (UTC)
Update Button
Youtube channel's number of Subscribers is dynamic. So I think there should a button called Update in front of these informations for updating in short time. If an user clicks it, he will see a dialogue box with two input fields-
Can we set a unified format for view count and subs count. Lets say, a youtuber with 7,522,465 may be shown as 7.5 million+ instead of the exact number. Same for the view count.
This isn't relevant either for YouTubers. If it's that important for the person to be in the infobox, they should use infobox person. AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 16:55, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
Cannot add 'channel' with space in name
Similar to 'Could use a little formatting help' above, I am having difficulties entering a 'channel' (as opposed to a 'user', which works fine). When I enter 'UC78cxCAcp7JfQPgKxYdyGrg' and click through, youtube advises that 'This channel does not exist.' Additionally, is there a syntax for adding a channel name with a space in it (i.e. two words) as this does not work either?
I have tried various alternatives, e.g. camel case, underscore, double quotes, including 'channel/', etc… but to no avail. Please let me know if you need further information. Thanks, ogenstein (talk) 01:47, 1 June 2019 (UTC)
YouTube/Twitch compatibility
It is great that we can add {{Infobox Twitch streamer}} as an embedded module to {{Infobox YouTube personality}} because so many online creators use both platforms. I just wish the spacing would line up. To show what I mean, look at Dr DisRespect a Twitch streamer with an embedded YouTube and Hbomberguy a YouTuber with embedded Twitch streamer. The information for Twitch is offset further from the parameters than it is for YouTube. I hope we can get them to line up. Cheers, --SVTCobra (talk) 02:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
Multiple Channels
Please can this infobox be amended to allow for YouTubers with multiple channels to have all channels displayed. This is as current information is being mixed from different channels eg some may show the years active for one channel but the subscriber count of another. The only way I've seen around this is to use the infobox person however some youtubers don't have the notability outside of youtube for this to be warrented. Mn1548 (talk) 14:26, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
You don't have to go back to infobox person. You could list them out as external links as with Korean Englishman. It might be nice to have the template figure out multiple channels though like channel2_name, etc. AngusWOOF (bark • sniff) 19:14, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
That's what I tried to do for Taras Kulakov but I had trouble formatting the external links to his two channels in the channel_name section. But I shall try again mimicking the format of Korean Englishman as you have shown. Thankyou. Mn1548 (talk) 16:14, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
Trying it anyway, recently I got into a silly edit dispute about stats_update. My theory is that one parameter stats_update is nicer than two identical view_date + subscriber_date, is that correct or only me? I'm no fan of these statistics and try to limit the damage. –84.46.53.117 (talk) 20:23, 1 February 2020 (UTC)
Clarification of play buttons being "awarded"
The infobox criteria for play buttons states "only use if the individual/channel has been awarded with a silver play button by YouTube". Can I get some clarification as to what this means exactly. Does reaching the subscriber threshold count as the button being awarded, or does the channel need to in some way acknowledge that they have actually received the button itself? The use of 'awarded [...] by YouTube' feels quite ambiguous and unclear, as you are surely only awarded by YouTube once you actually receive your award, which doesn't really coincide with the section of the infobox for the play button dates, as that just requires the year in which they hit the subscriber milestone. I ask this because a page I maintain the Youtube stats for recently hit 1 million subscribers, yet they have not been 'awarded' with anything by YouTube yet, so with the current wording of the criteria, should this technically not be added to the page at this time?
I used the infobox on Draft:Adam Dahlberg. After |channel_name=, I put | channel_name = Sky Does Everything, but the article shows the channel name as "Does Everything Sky Does Everything". Could someone please fix this? —Melofors15:13, 19 December 2019 (UTC)
I am trying to write a bot that can update view and subscriber count for a Wikipedia page. I was wondering how is it updated as of now? Is it manual or is there an existing script/tool for it. I just want to be sure that I am not trying to reinvent the wheel. --Maskaravivek (talk) 16:29, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
Please stop this disruptive spamming. Just take a look at the table above. There are major differences in the parameters supported by each template. Also, as I have already told you at one of the far too many pages on which you have spammed tables like this, your parameter list for {{Infobox person}} is incorrect. |1=, for example, is not supported by Infobox person. The documentation page for the tool you are using has a caveat explaining that you need to validate its output. – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:46, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
Social media
Hi!
I am currently writing a article about a YouTube personality and would like to add his public social media handles to the sidebar, under his regular Youtuber information. I am using the YouTuber sidebar template, but it does not support social media information and displays error messages if I try to manually add categories to the template.
For openers, I am aware of the failed attempt to merge this into Presenter and agree it's not a good match. That said, we have a "presenter" infobox, not a "BBC presenter" infobox specific to that brand, colored to match BBC's current logo. While we do have infoboxes specific to brands (NFL comes to mind) there are plenty that do not (e.g., comics creator, not DC comics creator).
This is not an area of Wikipedia I commonly work in, so forgive my ignorance.
1) What is so specific to YouTube that this infobox does not cover other forms of social media?
2) Why the color choices? Certainly YouTube can do whatever they want and their logo will likely change over time. At Talk:Stefan Molyneux we are currently looking at the infobox and the color choices for this infobox seem to emphasize the subject's controversial notability. - SummerPhDv2.015:35, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
I understand the desire to match the template color to the YouTube logo, but the current color contrast between #FF0000 (red) and #FFFFFF (white letters) is not fully compliant with WP:COLOR (see the Color tool) and impedes accessibility. Even changing the text from white to black (#000000) is only compliant on three of the four criteria (see [1]) The color needs to be changed to a compliant color: for example, #B50000 (Bright Red), which is similar but compliant (using white letters). Thanks.— TAnthonyTalk15:59, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Hey thanks, sorry I just realized that the color was a new change. I actually restored it to the original pre-existing color chosen by the shapers of the template.— TAnthonyTalk20:03, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Does anyone know what the intended usage of the logo parameters are? There are no instructions. I'm looking at Ajey Nagar, and there's a cartoon of the guy in the infobox. Shouldn't there be a photo of the individual in the infobox? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:25, 31 July 2020 (UTC)
Almost every YouTuber article I've looked at lately has serious WP:DOB issues. This is common in BLPs, but seems especially bad for this topic. Specific dates are often included without any source, or the date has a citation attached which doesn't mention a birthdate at all, or it has unreliable sources. It might help to have the hidden comment in the template directly explain that reliable sources are required for this. Something like:
<!-- Reliable sources are required. {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Birth-date and age|birth date†}} -->
Is this template broken for the automatic citation of the subscription number? Look what happened here when the channel name contains non-latin characters: Ms YeahPieceofmetalwork (talk) 09:58, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
Pieceofmetalwork, had nothing to do with non-Latin characters. Her {{{name}}} contains a newline (<br/>) that messed up the cite. I fixed the template with {{Plain text}}. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 07:50, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
Proposal: Move subscriber counts to Wikidata and update using bots
Reading the VPI thread from above, I'm seeing desire to move the subscriber count metric to Wikidata. This is precisely the sort of thing automation is great for: information that has to be regularly updated and is tedious to do manually but straightforward for a bot. As Berrely recently mentioned on the Discord, it's also clogging up watchlists. {{u|Sdkb}}talk21:54, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
Sdkb, not sure we even need a proposal for that. Using a bot seems like a good idea to me, avoids the possibility of copy-paste errors. But whoever would run this bot should be aware that Google blocks IPs that make automated requests. IIRC the threshold is 32 requests per 24 hours but I could misremember this. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 22:41, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
I don't think this infobox should have a section for creator awards. It's trivia, in the sense of "information only of interest to a few" (i.e. YouTube fans). The subscriber count is already listed. Someone reaching 100,000 subscribers is not really notable outside of the person's own channel. Not only that, it lists them in badge form, with each one they received in list form. Creator Awards are not really something reliable sources consistently talk about when discussing subjects, while subscribers are. Opencooper (talk) 06:27, 28 October 2021 (UTC)
Edit request
Hi! For phrases that I may add in catchphrase parameter should have quotation marks (" ") or no need? Any comments, could you please clarify it on the parameter description. Thanks in advance. —Ctrlwiki • talk • 15:05, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Ctrlwiki, I'd say that's up to you. If you want quotation marks you'll have to enter them with the catchphrase. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 15:42, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Ctrlwiki, I should have probably clarified that this isn't a template matter. If you want quotation marks you have to enter them with the catchphrase, whether you should is a WP:MOS issue which I generally don't get involved with. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 16:05, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Yes, if possible. There is a parameter here called Catchphrase(s) and the description provided was: Unique phrases said by the YouTube personality, if applicable, is it required to add quotation marks for that unique phrases like in the article of PewDiePie, or should we italize it instead of putting a quotation mark. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say, I'm not good in speaking English. —Ctrlwiki • talk • 16:48, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
The template should NOT add the quotes on its own. Since it renders as Catchphrase(s), multiple catchphrases are contemplated e.g. with bullets. For the template to mindlessly add quotes at the beginning and end would make a mess. As an aside, I personally wonder whether this is a useful thing to have in an infobox at all -- borders on trivia/fancruft. EEng18:37, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
EEng, it's probably more sensible to mention catchphrases in the article text with some context. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 18:53, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
I said the same thing over at WT:MOS.My vote would be to get rid of the parameter entirely. It's so rare for someone to have a catchphrase that is widely considered to be a defining characteristic that I can guarantee that 90% of the time that parameter is just going to be used for trivia that has no place in an infobox. Unfortunately, "there's a hole, I must fill it!" is such a common human character trait that having a blank space for that parameter is just inviting misuse. Only this template, {{Infobox Twitch streamer}}, and {{Infobox Instagram personality}} use that field, but mainstream ones like {{Infobox character}} and {{Infobox person}} don't, and for good reason. --Ahecht (TALK PAGE) 18:54, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Ahecht, not sure it's that rare, but when it is a defining characteristic (like "What where they thinking?!" for AVGN) it's more useful to explain the catchphrase and its context in the article text. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 19:04, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
I also agree with completely getting rid of the parameter. They are rare and are almost all unsourced. And as Alexis Jazz said, it would be more useful to have it mentioned and explained in the article body instead. - Brojam (talk) 20:00, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
I believe using quotes (not italics) is the right approach -- if there's going to be a catchphrase in the infobox. As you can see above, though, there's some feeling that they shouldn't be in the infobox, just in the article text. EEng00:45, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
I'm also agree to remove the catchphrase parameter, could you please remove that template, is consensus needed for this removal? —Ctrlwiki • talk • 00:52, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
Some channel URLs have the form "www.youtube.com/c/<name>" (An example). Not all of them can be accessed with "www.youtube.com/user/<name>" or "www.youtube.com/channel/<name>". The only way to add them properly is by setting "channel_direct_url = c/<name>" and "channel_display_name = <name>". Maybe it's worth adding another parameter for this URL type? Gk7Huki (talk) 00:27, 6 February 2022 (UTC)
Creator award years
Hi everyone. There seems to be some statements about the YouTube Creator Award years contradicting each other in the template. Specifically, the Template Data Descriptions for the award years are written as "The year the YouTube channel was awarded a [YouTube Creator Award] by YouTube," while the parameters for the award years are written as "year in which the channel reached [x] subscribers" in the document. I'm just wondering if an admin or member can clear this up.
But in my honest opinion, the YouTube Creator Award year should be the year when they reached the milestone required for the award. The problem is, these awards aren't released at the same time, and some of these channels passed the subscriber milestone before the eligible award was announced.
For context, the Gold Creator Award was revealed in 2012, the Silver Creator Award was revealed in 2013, and the Diamond Creator Award was revealed in 2015. That means every silver year would have to be 2013 and onwards, gold year 2012 and onwards, and diamond year 2015 and onwards. It would get pretty confusing as to when they passed the subscriber milestone.
If Smosh, for example, has its Diamond Creator Award year be 2015, users would easily misunderstand the information as if the Smosh channel reached 10,000,000 subscribers in 2015 and not 2013. I also find that the year the channel reached the subscriber milestone is much more interesting than the year the channel received the award. Of course, the award icon will still appear depending on whether the channel received an award or not.
Just updated the Template Data descriptions after considering the discussions at the archive. Besides, the examples shown here have their award years before 2012, when YouTube Creator Awards were released. —Sparkl (talk) 22:55, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
Do channels have their subscriber count history recorded somewhere? If not, such information ("year in which the channel reached [x] subscribers") might not be sourceable and that could be an issue. Gk7Huki (talk) 00:05, 6 February 2022 (UTC)
@Gk7Huki: I just think it's pretty awkward to have the gold year listed as 2012 while the silver year listed as 2013. SocialBlade is the most prominently used source for subscriber count data, but there are others such as Trackalytics. If a year can't be sourced or recorded, the year parameter could be blank. Sparkl (talk) 14:29, 6 February 2022 (UTC)
'Template:Totalthumbnails'?
Nasty redlink popping up in the infobox with unclear meaning - unsure of whether it's best to keep it or to ditch it. Lucksash (talk) 19:26, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
Associated acts without their own Wikipedia article?
I have a concern about including associated acts without their own Wikipedia article in infoboxes. What prompted this is the fact that, right now, TommyInnit has a "Slimecicle" as an associated act, but there is currently no existing article for such a person. I've seen instances of people removing associated acts without their own article, such as those on Cr1TiKaL's, but I can't find any guidelines pertaining to this. What do you people think I should do? L33tm4n (talk) 20:28, 5 June 2022 (UTC)
Following the deprecation of the associated acts parameter on Template:Infobox musical artist, are we following suit on here? I see no valid reason to keep the parameter on this infobox for the same reasons listed on the discussion for the musical infobox. – DarkGlow • 08:58, 6 June 2022 (UTC)
Yes remove. The discussion at special:permalink/1091721708#Associated_acts_confusion is a comparable situation. In that discussion I read general opposition to the inclusion with some acknowledgement that the field is useful in certain circumstance. Until and unless someone produces a best practice guide which can prevent this field from being problematic then remove it.
Yes, definitely should be following suit here. Should be similarly replaced with current_member_of and past_member_of for those that are part of larger groups that have their own article. - Brojam (talk) 15:37, 6 June 2022 (UTC)
No, keep the field. YouTubers are significantly less likely to have articles on groups they are a part of than musicians, and the proposed membership field won't be used. YouTubers to their YouTube groups is not the same as musicians are to bands. For example, despite the publicity it's received, Team 10 (influencer group) is not a standalone article. As the current notability guidelines stand, there will be near-zero articles on YouTube groups and thousands of articles on bands. Keeping the associated acts around also means that we don't need to put them in the 'see also' section of an article. SWinxy (talk) 23:28, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
"Games" and "teams" parameters
I feel like a "games" and a "teams" parameter should exist in the infobox. I don't think it should be required, nor do I care if it's included in the basic parameters or not, but I definitely think it should be included in the infobox (e.g. TommyInnit is notable for Minecraft on his YouTube channel; KSI is a member of the Sidemen + CouRageJD is a member and co-owner of 100 Thieves). These parameters also exist on "Infobox Twitch streamer". L337m4n (talk) 18:15, 28 August 2022 (UTC)
Personally not interested. Maybe 'Minecraft videos' could be considered a genre? There are, after all, 1 trillion views of the game. Maybe there should be a page about Minecraft on YouTube... SWinxy (talk) 01:37, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
Oppose for games. Streamers and YouTubers play hundreds of games in their careers, and all this would do is encourage editors to add even more useless data to this already bloated infobox. If a game is important enough to be mentioned, reliable sources will do so. There's no need to have unverifiable information in the infobox, especially since Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Pilaz (talk) 01:11, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
Sorry JalenFolf, I've undone your recent edit that removes the reference definition this template automatically generates. The articles using this template depend on that reference definition for referening claims in their prose, and removing the reference definition breaks them by making those claims unreferenced and placing them in the Category:Pages with broken reference names tracking category. Also, I don't see where consensus for this change was developed.
If the reference definition must be removed, I think it's necessary to come up with a plan for fixing all the effected articles. -- Mikeblas (talk) 21:35, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
This template is also causing an erroneous reference in Kevin Paffrath. If this issue is not going to be addressed, then this template should be deleted, as it is introducing errors to articles. BD2412T18:08, 30 November 2022 (UTC)
I don't think I've seen an infobox utilize an egregious usage of an award. For example, the Tonys and Grammys utilize navboxes for their awards. Doesn't the usage of the awards in the infobox give undue weight? – The Grid (talk) 19:06, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
It is not in the template documentation, nor have I found any evidence that it was ever in the template documentation.
According to this report there is only one page in all of Wikipedia that uses that parameter, which is the one you specified above.
Probably need to discuss to get consensus on adding it or not. If we do have consensus to add it, then the parameter checking code will need to be changed (this is trivial to do) and the documentation will need to be updated. — Archer1234 (talk) 15:56, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
The code was added 5 years ago. A lack of use likely stems from the simple fact that, as you say, it is not in the documentation. Unless someone objects to this being in there, I would say to update the /doc and template code (the latter I will be doing shortly) so that it stops displaying as an error.
Also, while whatever enterprising individual is updating the /doc for this, please update the second/third channel options (as mentioned above). Primefac (talk) 10:43, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
I have completed an update to the documentation to add |language=. I held off on making updates for the second/third channel options because I detected some issues with some of those parameters when I added an example to the /doc. I'll follow up with a reply with more details on that to the "Second channel" topic above. Note, too, that I found other inconsistencies between the /doc and the template code. I will start new threads for each of those so they can be separately considered. — Archer1234 (talk) 17:00, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
"Games" and "teams" parameters (redux)
Back at the end of August 2022, a request was made to support two new parameters, |games= and |teams=. L337m4n (later blocked as a sockpuppet) was the one who made the request and in about 8 hours concluded, with not a lot of dicussion that there was consensus to add |games= and went ahead and added it to the /doc along with |teams=. But nothing was added to the template code. So, when I made the update to /doc today to add |language=, I removed |games= and |teams=. I am posting this just to document what was done and why. If anyone wants to reopen a discussion for adding those parameters, feel free. My removing them from the /doc is not meant to bias any discussion one way or the other. I just did not want the /doc to list parameters that are not actually supported. — Archer1234 (talk) 18:02, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
I started to update the documentation for this but pulled back because I observed some anomalies with the behavior of the parameters. Look at the infobox at Roman Atwood where three channels are listed using these parameters:
|channel_name=RomanAtwoodVlogs
|channel_name2=RomanAtwood
|channel_name3=RomanAtwoodPodcast
These three channels display correctly in the infobox. However, for the third one, the correct URL for the channel is actually www.youtube.com/RomanAtwoodPodcast, not https://www.youtube.com/user/RomanAtwoodPodcast. That is not the fault of the infobox. That is just what the infobox correctly displays for the |channel_name3= parameter. What it does mean is that we need to use |channel_direct_url3=RomanAtwoodPodcast instead, which should generate the correct URL. But when using that, the infobox just displays the first two channels and not the "RomanAtwoodPodcast" channel.
When I switched the channels around like this:
|channel_direct_url=RomanAtwoodPodcast
|channel_name2=RomanAtwood
|channel_name3=RomanAtwoodVlogs
the first channel listed, RomanAtwoodPodcast, displays correctly with the proper link to the YouTube channel. But the other two channels are not listed in the infobox at all.
This was just cursory testing. I did just enough to observe that there was an issue and so aborted any attempt to update the documentation with an example. Someone will need to dive into the code and do more thorough testing to identify the underlying issue(s) and resolve them.
A couple of other things about this. First, I am confused about how the |channels= parameter fits into specifying second and third channels.
Second, the infobox generates a reference link for the "About" page for the first channel but does not for the second or third channel. I think it should generate refs for all three channels and cite them all for the subscribers and views. I say that, though not knowing how much effort it will take. — Archer1234 (talk) 17:46, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
When I saw the code a few days ago i was not overly thrilled with how it was presented, so I'll see if I can clean things up and hopefully sort out the above-mentioned issues. Primefac (talk) 12:38, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
Children
As of 15 December 2022, {{Infobox YouTube personality}} has support in the code for the |children= parameter, but it is not in the /doc. In January 2019 a request was made to add support for |children=. The only reply came in March 2019 with a definitive rejection of its use (see talk page discussion). Nevertheless, support for this parameter was introduced into the code a year later on March 8, 2020. I could find no discussion on the talk page or talk page archives about it. FWIW, per this report, the |children= parameter is used on 15 pages. For comparison, |relatives= is used on 12 pages and |parents= on 5 pages (out of 1,587 pages that use this template).
I would say that if the original discussion resulted in rejection of the idea, then the addition later was inappropriate. Like some of the other parameter discrepancies you are finding, no one seems to have noticed about the parameter being slipped in, so the fact that it has existed for two years is not necessarily something we can call tacit agreement. I have no opinions on the matter, but will defer to discussion here. Primefac (talk) 12:41, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
It looks like recent changes in this article have made it incompatible with channel display names that have spaces in them. One example is 4K Gaming Nepal. Maybe there's some other trigger, but it seems like the "4K" name isn't building a usable reference name and that results in an undefined reference error in the article. @Prefall: do you know if your changes might have caused this? -- Mikeblas (talk) 01:37, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
Yes, this was caused by my rewrite of the ref markup in the |subscribers= parameter. I've restored the previous ref markup for now while I try to figure out a solution. Prefall02:02, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
Okay, fixed this issue and two others I discovered (which were present beforehand). Hopefully that's everything. Prefall05:41, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
Youtube has updated how they link to accounts, so for instance the view count hyperlinks to a broken URL. I first noticed this on Burkard Polster's page. LANCE 2497 (talk) 12:39, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
From what I can tell, this is simply an error by whomever set up the infobox on Burkard Polster. They incorrectly entered |channel_name= as if it were |channel_display_name=, and used |channel_url= to link to the channel, which was overridden (and incorrectly formatted, anyway). I have fixed the issue on that article. Prefall12:59, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
@Sdkb This is minor point - but is there a reason this discussion is being held on WikiProject talk page rather than here, on the template talk page (as it really should be, since this is a discussion that only primarily affects this template). Galobtter (talk) 07:49, 10 April 2023 (UTC)
Apologies for the delayed reply here! It could've been held at either spot; I figured the project page might have a few more watchers, though. On checking now, though, I see that this page actually has more. {{u|Sdkb}}talk04:02, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
Proposed changes
I recently proposed a number of changes to {{Infobox Twitch streamer}} and would like to propose some similar changes here, as that template was derived from this one. Maintaining consistency between the two templates seems beneficial as they are commonly bundled together.
Add|organization=
I'm leading with this as it has the most potential to be contentious. A notable aspect of content creation these days is that personalities can often get signed to an organization (e.g., OfflineTV, 100 Thieves, One True King, etc). Now, these are usually just tossed into "Associated acts" but I think they're notable enough to warrant their own distinction. The "Organization(s)" parameter would include past and present organizations a creator has been signed to, accompanied by a year range, and be placed below |relatives= in "Personal information", as it is not directly tied to their YouTube channel.
Remove|height=
Rarely notable characteristic that generally doesn't fit into the scope of YouTube personalities. If there is some instance where this is notable, {{Infobox person}} can be used as the parent infobox instead.
Given this is a YouTube template, it makes sense to restrict the color options to YouTube's red branding or no color at all, which are already implemented. (Note: this parameter currently only works on the "Creator Awards" header when |embed= is used. If kept, its functionality needs to be expanded.)
Reorder and rename|pseudonym=
Move above |education=, as its current position under the "YouTube information" header suggests these names are directly tied to the YouTube channel, which may not necessarily be the case. And this next part is less important, but I think it's worth changing the label to "Other names" for consistency with {{Infobox person}}. These changes would lend itself to removing the unnecessary "use only for individuals" limitation in this parameter's documentation.
Reorder and restrict|location=
Move below |creator= and |presenter= as those are more notable aspects of the channel. Also, the documentation of this parameter should be updated to state it is only to be used when the location of the channel is notable, and is not for mere residence of individuals—as residence was deprecated on {{Infobox person}} in December 2019 per consensus.
Reorder|spouse=
Move above |partner= as spouses are generally more notable.
Reorder|channel_website=
Move to the very bottom of the "YouTube information" section, in line with how websites are normally handled in infoboxes. (Not to be confused with personal |website=, which is separate.)
Reorder|language=
Move above |associated_acts=, as it is a more notable aspect of the channel. "Associated acts", much like "website", is more akin to "see also" and should be at the bottom.
I agree with these changes. I'd also be interested in seeing an |alma_mater= parameter added for those associated with notable universities, and mother/father parameters when there is only one notable parent that would automatically change the label from 'parents' to 'parent' and put the associated term in brackets, such as [[name]] (mother) or [[name]] (father) when using a {{para|mother}} or {{para|father}} parameter. I do wonder about the use of the |origin= parameter a bit, probably because it's not widely used. – Handoto (talk) 16:03, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
Regarding |alma mater=, know that {{Infobox person}} advises to use |alma mater= or |education=, but not both. Generally, those parameters should list only higher-education institutions (no secondary, middle, primary, etc. schools) from which a non-honorary degree is earned/awarded, although local consensus could differ if listing attendance at a higher-education institution where a degree was not earned/awarded is deemed key/important (i.e., WP:DUE) (e.g., Bill Gates).
Furthermore, |alma mater= should be used to list one, and only one, institution. When listing more than one higher-education institution or when adding details like degree, year, field of study, and/or location, |education= should be used (with a list format like {{Ubl}} for multiple institutions). Absent a compelling reason, I think that use of |education= and |alma mater= (if it is added) in this infobox should be consistent with {{Infobox person}}'s guidance. — Archer1234 (t·c) 16:46, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
Of course, completely agree. Use of either |alma_mater= or |education= should match the use case and guidelines already spelled out at {{Infobox person}} for here. – Handoto (talk) 19:47, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
I wouldn't mind the addition of |alma_mater=, but I agree with Archer1234 that we should follow {{Infobox person}}'s documentation if it is added. Also, completely agree in regards to |mother= and |father=—I went ahead and imported that functionality into the sandbox.
As for |origin=, I originally had concerns about it as well and was going to propose to remove it, but its documented limitation of general use for non-individuals seemed fine enough. The main issue I see, much like |location= being misused as residence, is that |origin= is frequently misused as "home town" of individuals—which was deprecated on Infobox person in September 2020 per consensus—but I'm not sure if that's worth nuking the entire parameter over. With that said, I would not be opposed to its removal if others agree. Prefall19:43, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
I wouldn't be opposed to it's removal in the future if consensus changes, just thought I would briefly bring it up as it is one of those parameters that is rarely used has been misinterpreted in the past. I wouldn't mind the addition of |alma_mater= as the only way people are able to use it so far is to either use {{Infobox person}} and embed the {{Infobox YouTube personality}} (like at Tom Scott or Max Miller), or to embed the templates the other way around (like at Matthew Santoro). – Handoto (talk) 20:15, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
These changes look good, but |organization= parameter should go under the YouTube information section since that infomation pertains to their YouTube careers not their personal lives. It should also not have a date range; save that information for the main article as this degree of detail is better discussed in prose like the |label= parameter of {{Infobox musical artist}}. I'd also propose the |network= parameter be removed. The days of MCNs like Machinima owning Youtubers channels are gone so pointless to have. In fact, maybe the |network= parameter shoud simply get renamed to |organization= with updated documentation for the parameter. - Brojam (talk) 21:18, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
I get what you mean by it being better to leave out the year range for organizations in favor of discussing in prose, but my thought is that, if we're going to include both past and present organizations in this parameter, it will be difficult to discern which one they're actively a part of. Also, an issue I have with putting organizations under "YouTube information" is that it becomes a conflict when we bundle this infobox together with {{Infobox Twitch streamer}}—it would suggest the organization is directly tied to just one of their platforms rather than being general information about the individual. Prefall21:51, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
@Brojam: Hoping to get your thoughts on my concerns above, so we can avoid any potential holdups to implementation. I'm flexible when it comes to the year ranges, but I'd very much like to keep the placement. If the "Personal information" heading is too specific for organizations, I'd rather we just remove the header altogether to be safe, because it is not necessary for better understanding of the information being presented, unlike "YouTube information". Prefall20:58, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
I'm good with your placing to avoid conflict when the Twich infobox is also used. So will we combine it with network parameter or simply remove the latter? - Brojam (talk) 21:03, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with Networks/MCNs to give an opinion on that front. I think I'd rather leave that decision up to those that are more informed. Prefall21:08, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
Building on my earlier reply about |alma mater=, for all parameters that correspond to equivalent ones in {{Infobox person}}, I would harmonize the description/guidance with what is over there. Over time we'd just need to keep them in sync by monitoring for changes. It might be worth also pointing editors to the examples and test cases for {{infobox person}} to see appropriate uses instead of trying duplicate them here. Presumably the code for processing those parameters ought to be the same or nearly the same, although any code for placing articles in tracking categories would probably target tracking categories created specifically for {{Infobox YouTube personality}}. — Archer1234 (t·c) 21:40, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
I think I can add my thoughts. Pseudonym should stay under YouTube information because it is mostly used for alternatives of a channel name/online name that someone uses, not necessarily a real name used outside of the Internet, so putting it under personal information is not best. Renaming pseudonym’s Also known as to Other names could cause conflict of using it to list another online name versus a person’s other real name. If nicknames/other names want to be added, there should be a different field under personal information for that instead. Networth should be deleted. If almamater is used to list a college or university, then I think it should be included like other templates. Prefixes and suffixes that are linked use a blue color font that makes it hard to read on the YouTube red background. Maybe it could be made white or something, like the name at the top? Network should stay because while it is not as common anymore, there are still many users part of a notable network, and others that show former networks. Switching spouse and partner would match other templates. Thank you! 2605:B100:128:DF39:DC0F:F9EE:CF03:11BF (talk) 18:47, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Alternate online names may not necessarily be tied to their YouTube channel though, as I said. Plus, there's nothing wrong with putting online monikers in personal details alongside real names—that's how aliases are handled in {{Infobox person}}. But if it's still an issue, we can add a separate "Other names" parameter under "Personal information" for flexibility, I suppose.
As for the color issues with links, I just updated this template (and the Twitch one) to fix this issue. Thanks for mentioning it. Prefall03:38, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
Thank you for fixing the color issue! I have also noticed that both the prefix and suffix fields for some strange reason automatically bold the text written in those two fields, which it should not do because it blends in with the already properly bolded name text, and does not match the unbolded style with other templates use with those two fields. Also I think the best thing to do would be to have Other names with the same label under personal information, and pseudonym with the label Also known as to remain under YouTube information to be able to give flexibility on whether additional names are related to the channel’s pseudonym or just other names in general. Thank you! 2605:B100:128:DF39:DC0F:F9EE:CF03:11BF (talk) 14:56, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
The bold prefix/suffix should be fixed now as well. Might take a little while to be reflected on live pages as I've noticed style changes sometimes require cache to be purged. Prefall18:35, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
Okay, with no opposition, I think enough time has passed to go ahead and implement the supported changes. I've also implemented these changes into the Twitch template for consistency. We can continue discussing other proposed changes that were brought up here, such as the addition of |alma_mater= and merge/removal of |network=. Prefall11:19, 1 May 2023 (UTC)
I support the inclusion of |alma_mater= as there are quite a few pages that currently use the parameter in one way or another. Its inclusion would simplify the use of it without the need for embedding, and it seems to be one of those oddly missing parameters. As for |network=, it should stay the way it is, at the very least for historical reasons, but also that there are a number of notable YouTubers that often talk about and have a close connection with their network publicly. While MCNs aren't as common as they used to be, news sources often discuss if a person is dropped or switch networks, in which this parameter can be used. – Handoto (talk) 23:28, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
It feels like you wanted to remove height possibly to hide Linus Sebastian's height. Height is a common request for celebrities/personalities, that's why sites like CelebHeights.com are so popular. --TIB (talk) 00:22, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
They're popular, but seldom verifiable. Most of those heights are unreliable guesswork or based on random social media posts, so they're a magnet for vandalism and BLP violations. If a YouTuber's height is notable and has coverage in reliable sources, it can go into the article. The WordsmithTalk to me16:13, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
Not a good idea. Channels' video counts change often, and channels that upload daily, would have their info-boxes really inaccurate. Jamesjpk (talk) 02:46, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
Agree- This revision of BuzzFeed, is a mess in the section "BuzzFeed YouTube Channels". Jamesjpk (talk) 02:50, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
Fixed –84.46.53.117 (talk) 20:45, 1 February 2020 (UTC)
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Done Looks like the old verson, oh well. Darth Flappy «Talk» 17:18, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Done. Made the bot request here. {{u|Sdkb}} talk 18:14, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject YouTube § Upcoming transition to automated updating of subscriber counts. {{u|Sdkb}} talk 18:32, 28 February 2023 (UTC)