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Welcome to the Westerns WikiProject! Wikipedians have formed this collaboration resource and group dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of Westerns and the organisation of information and articles related to this topic. This page and its sub-pages contain their suggestions and various resources; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians interested in the topic. If you would like to help, please feel free to join the project, or inquire on the talk page.
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Scope[edit]

WikiProject Westerns encompasses a wide range of article subjects across the Western (genre). The project began with films and actors, but expanded to include television, radio, books, and animation. Since many of the articles within the Westerns project are also part of other projects, the Westerns project is largely one of organization and maintenance.

Primary roles of the project[edit]

  1. To identify and categorise all Western-related articles on Wikipedia.
  2. To improve and maintain Western-related articles to excellent quality standards.
  3. To develop practical standards that allow us to maintain high quality standards.
  4. To ensure articles are written in accordance with Wikipedia's core polices:
    No original research, maintain verifiability, present a neutral point of view, and have no copyright issues.
  5. To offer advice and support to Wikipedians, with regards to our work as a dedicated WikiProject.

What WikiProject Westerns is not[edit]

  1. The project is not a Task force under WikiProject Film, but a WikiProject in its own right, and has since expanded to incorporate more than just film media.
  2. The project is not limited to articles based on traditional North American Westerns, but may also incorporate other Western formats: e.g., Northern films and Space Westerns. Focus is largely on U.S. Westerns, including their actors and directors, due to the notability and popularity of the genre in American culture; and also Spaghetti Westerns which achieved global popularity in the 1960s.
  3. The project is not historical as it deals primarily with fictional Western themes. For the real American West, see: WikiProject American Old West. Exceptions may include real-life characters, locations and events that have been the subjects of biopics or dramatisations in films like Geronimo! (1962), Dodge City (1939), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957).
  4. The project is not limited to TV series and Western films – it includes any media for which Western-related material has been produced, such as novels, comics and video games.

Project task forces[edit]

Standards and guidelines[edit]

Project banner[edit]

Please add the project banner to the talk page of any article of interest to the project with suitable ratings for class and importance.

Categories[edit]

In each article, include various categories applicable to the topic. A typical grouping might be:

Category:1949 films
Category:1949 Western (genre) films
Category:American films
Category:American Western (genre) films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films directed by Lew Landers
Category:RKO Pictures films

For silent films, use a grouping like:

Category:1911 films
Category:1911 Western (genre) films
Category:1911 short films
Category:American films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American silent short films
Category:Silent American Western (genre) films

Short description[edit]

Every article must begin with a short description which complies with WP:SHORTDESC. If the article is about a film, the shortdesc must include the year of release and the word "film". For Stagecoach, the shortest acceptable description is "1939 film" and the longest is "1939 film directed by John Ford". The shortdesc must not include genre, nationality, distributor or acting information – only the year and, optionally, the director.

Infobox[edit]

There should always be an infobox in which the parameters are vertically aligned to facilitate readability and editing (for films, align all equals signs with the one for the cinematography variable). Variables without parameters must be completed if possible and should not be left empty if the information is unlikely to be found. For example, there is no point having a music variable for a silent film and no point having a narrator variable for any film that did not employ a narrator.

Lead section[edit]

Always begin the lead of a Western film article with a sentence that uses a format based on one of the following examples, depending on whether the film is silent or has sound:

Fighting Fury is a 1924 American silent Western film directed by Clifford Smith and starring Jack Hoxie, Helen Holmes and Fred Kohler.
Stagecoach Kid is a 1949 American Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Tim Holt, Jeff Donnell and Richard Martin.
Calamity Jane is a 1953 American Technicolor Western musical film directed by David Butler and starring Doris Day and Howard Keel.

In the opening sentence, write the title in full using both italics and bold highlighting, as shown. State the year of release and the nationality, both unlinked. Do not use country instead of nationality. Colour process (e.g., black and white, Technicolor) in the third example is optional but if used should always be placed between nationality and Western.

The word Western must always be capitalised and always used in the opening sentence as per each of the three examples. On this first use, it must be linked to the Western (genre) article and keyed as [[Western (genre)|Western]] (do not use any kind of redirect). The word "film" is not linked because it is not a constant – other media like television are possible, and there may be a sub-genre such as comedy Western, musical Western, horror Western or science fiction Western. If the film belongs in a recognised sub-genre, use the format in the third example above. The opening sentence is completed by naming the director and the lead players as shown.

Nothing else should be in the opening sentence. The distributor and/or production company should be mentioned in the second sentence and the rest of the lead section must comply with MOS:LEAD in the normal way to present a concise summary of the article.

Sub-genres and variations[edit]

The Western has recognised sub-genres which include comedy Western, fantasy Western, horror Western, Western musical and science fiction Western as well as specific variations like Neo-Western, Northern and Revisionist Western. All of these terms may be used freely as applicable.

However, try to avoid the use of terms like action Western, Western adventure, Western drama, Western romance and thriller Western. In the past, attempts were made to try and present these as sub-genres and several related categories were deleted, on the effective grounds of WP:OR, following WP:CFD discussions. It is a fact that all Westerns are dramas so a term like Western drama is to all intents and purposes a tautology. Equally, a Western is almost by definition an action film which invariably involves adventure, romance and thrills. The adjectives are unnecessary and can convey a misrepresentation of Western film classification.

Members[edit]

Please feel free to join by adding your username to our members list. You can also use our member userbox on your userpage.

Assessment[edit]

The assessment of articles on Wikipedia is essential to help editors improve and maintain quality standards. Within the scope of a WikiProject, members with shared interests can identify and assess articles, in order to appraise editor contributions, using an established quality grading scheme.

For complete details on how to assess articles, the grading scheme used, and how to request assessment, see the Assessment section.

For current statistics of assessed articles, see current statistics on the assessment page.

To indicate an article lies within the scope of the project, add the ((Westerns|class=grade)) banner to the top of the talk page of any article concerned.

Templates[edit]

Template Usage Description Subst?
Project templates
((Westerns)) or
((WikiProject Westerns)) 		Talk page The project banner. Adding this to an article's talk page brings it into the project scope and into our article categories.
See Template:WikiProject Westerns for full instructions on using this template. 		No
((Westerns invite)) User talk page This can be used to invite Wikipedians who appear to be actively editing related articles but may not be aware of the project.
Use: ((subst:Westerns invite)) – this template should not be spammed indiscriminately. 		Yes
((User WikiProject Westerns)) User page Project userbox – this will identify you as a participant in the project. No
TV stub templates
((Western-tv-prog-stub)) Article page Placed at the foot of an article page, a stub-template increases awareness that an article needs expanding and improving. An appropriate stub template should be placed last – after category tags and before any interlanguage links. No
Film stub templates
((Western-film-stub)),
((1890s-Western-film-stub)),
((1900s-Western-film-stub)),
((1910s-Western-film-stub)),
((1920s-Western-film-stub)),
((1930s-Western-film-stub)),
((1940s-Western-film-stub)),
((1950s-Western-film-stub)),
((1960s-Western-film-stub)),
((1970s-Western-film-stub)),
((1980s-Western-film-stub)),
((1990s-Western-film-stub)),
((2000s-Western-film-stub)),
((2010s-Western-film-stub)) 		Article page Placed at the foot of an article page, a stub-template increases awareness that an article needs expanding and improving. An appropriate stub template should be placed last – after category tags and before any interlanguage links. No
Novel stub templates
((Western-novel-stub)),
((1900s-western-novel-stub)),
((1920s-western-novel-stub)),
((1930s-western-novel-stub)),
((1940s-western-novel-stub)),
((1950s-western-novel-stub)),
((1960s-western-novel-stub)),
((1970s-western-novel-stub)),
((1980s-western-novel-stub)),
((1990s-western-novel-stub)),
((2000s-western-novel-stub)),
((2010s-western-novel-stub)) 		Article page Placed at the foot of an article page, a stub-template increases awareness that an article needs expanding and improving. An appropriate stub template should be placed last – after category tags and before any interlanguage links. No

Resources[edit]

Related WikiProjects[edit]

Categories