Talk:Houp La!

Cast list

I deleted the names of the minor players, other than bluelinked ones, and suggest that the minor characters be summarized as "Circus performers and chorus girls" (or something similar). This was reverted by User:Moonraker, who reinstated the list of minor characters. I am copying here the relevant parts of a discussion that we had about this:

...In the case of Houp La!, for instance, I find all the character names are useful in throwing light on the nature of the show and I shall now reinstate them... Moonraker (talk) 22:40, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I replied: Would you kindly leave a note on the article's talk page explaining why you feel that including the full list is helpful in "throwing light on the nature of the show", so that other editors can understand your thinking? See WP:CONSENSUS. Thanks. -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:19, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Moonraker replied ...The matter has many complications. For instance, there is no disagreement about the inclusion in Houp La! of Binnie Hale, a minor character who was also an understudy, evidently because she went on to be a big name, but with Ivy Tresmand, who is also notable, your judgement was to take her name out. As a general rule, I'm sure non-notable names can be included in articles, so long as there is some useful purpose in including them, and to my mind completing a cast list (within reason) is useful to some of those who come to the page. I should not wish there to be a principle that I needed to demonstrate (which I could do rather easily) that Ivy Tresmand was notable before I could include her name. Please do feel free to copy this conversation to Talk:Houp La! if you feel that would be useful. Moonraker (talk) 23:59, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I believe, to the contrary, that non-notable names of minor characters should not be included in articles per the consensus reached by WP:MUSICALS. As Article Structure page there says: "Long, detailed descriptions of characters are not needed (unless necessary to convey the story-line). Rather at the first mention of an important character in the Synopsis, some effort should be made to convey the personality or characteristics of the character. If a story is complex, the characters confusing, then a list of principal characters may be given." (emphasis mine). I think that the reason for this is an extension of the principle of WP:NOT. I think that if, at a later date, someone writes an article about one of the people who played a minor role and who later became a notable star, then that person's name can be added and blue-linked at that time. Most of these people never became famous, and therefore, IMO, including their names is clutter. Does anyone else care to comment? -- Ssilvers (talk) 00:57, 31 January 2012 (UTC)