Template talk:Advicealt

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Revision as of 22:39, 26 January 2022 by Ge0ff (talk | contribs) (re: a disclaimer about disclaimers)
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So, I feel that templates like this are useful on the pages that are primarily strategy-guide type stuff (Choosing a god, Escaping from (and avoiding) trouble, Background and race combinations for beginners, etc). There's probably a few more pages where this sort of template would probably apply, but that's the general idea of where I would put this sort of disclaimer.

However, a great many pages on here have strategy sections. (The god pages, the species pages, the unrandart pages, the monster pages, the spell pages...) Do we feel that every single instance of such sections on this wiki merits a disclaimer saying "This might not be up-to-date/helpful"? (We also already have a version template to indicate when pages are out of date and may no longer be accurate.) How do we choose where to apply the template and where the advice we give is "good enough"? Can we make that choice, knowing that any strategy suggestion in a game as complex as Dungeon Crawl is going to be at least partially subject to a player's equipment/situation/preferred playstyle/dumb luck?

If a strategy section is out of date or not good, wouldn't it be better to just update or improve it instead of slapping a disclaimer saying "maybe don't pay attention to this part" on it? (For questions on whether a strategy is worth using, there's always the Talk Pages on articles.)

If we have no confidence in the advice we're giving even when it is up to date, why are we even bothering to give advice at all?

I personally feel the version template is as good a warning as any that an article might not be applicable to the latest version, with the addition of the Template:Advice disclaimer for any page that is entirely strategy suggestions/advice with no raw data. Anyone else want to weigh in on this? --spudwalt (talk) 08:09, 26 January 2022 (CET)

Adding a disclaimer to god pages is definitely an overkill. Disclaimers have a value, but it feels like we are overusing them already.
Tips and tricks/strategy suggestions/advice with no raw data are obviously subjective and might contain inaccuracies and errors, even though we constantly improve and update the wiki. It's not like we claim anywhere that the wiki contains the Absolute Truth and describes The Only Correct Way To Play The Game. Come on, our readers are smart enough to understand this and don't need a reminder on each and every page!
Instead, I suggest to add 1 (one and only one) disclaimer to the main page after/instead of the {{spoiler}} warning. Something like a more balanced version of Template:Advicealt (without "outdated" and "ill-advised"), something that reminds players to use their judgement before following any advice. What do you think? --Ge0ff (talk) 21:39, 26 January 2022 (CET)