Wikipedia:WikiProject Magic
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Welcome to the Magic WikiProject on the English Wikipedia! The Project was set up with the aim of significantly improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to magic as a performance art. If you would like to join us, please feel free to add your name to the list of project members. But perhaps the most important thing is to look around the current articles and contribute wherever you can.
Goals
mali niŋ- To significantly improve Wikipedia articles related to magic as a performance art and to maintain their content and quality.
- To get pages to featured status
- A long-term aim to make a WikiReader
Scope
mali niŋThe project generally considers any article related to magic as a performance art to be within its scope. The project is specifically not concerned with magic in the context of a mystical or occult phenomenon. Topics such as wicca, the occult, mysticism and magical realism are outside its scope.
A more detailed description of the scope, and our primary focus areas within it, may be found in the sections on project structure.
Structure
mali niŋThe term structure is used here to mean the overall organisation of the project, the categorisation of articles, and the internal structure of articles. The project began with a very loose structure but, in order to reduce confusion, efforts are being made to be more rigorous about this aspect of the project. Full detail can be found in the "Structure" section below.
Guidelines
mali niŋThe sections on structure and Magic methods/Exposure constitute guidelines. These have been established following discussion among editors and are derived from general Wikipedia policies and guidelines. It is important that they are followed.
Structure
mali niŋThe structure of the project is reflected in a structured set of categories that fall under the main heading - Category:Magic (illusion). Among other things, these categories will be an attempt to reflect generally accepted branches of magic.
The internal structure of any particular article will depend upon the type of article.
Magic Collaboration of the Week
mali niŋEvery week, a new page is selected as the Magic Collaboration of the Week. Voting is open to all Wikipedia editors.
Types of article
mali niŋMain articles
mali niŋThese are articles that give a broad overview of the whole subject area. They help to define the project. They include:
- An overview of magic as a performance art (Magic (illusion))
- Timeline of magic
- List of magic tricks
General magic topics
mali niŋThese are articles that have relevance to themes in a significant number of other articles within the project but which are more specialist in nature than the main articles. Current examples and future possibilities include:
- Intellectual rights to magic methods
- Exposure (magic)
- List of conjuring terms
- List of magic museums
- An overview of each branch of magic
Magician biographies
mali niŋHopefully a self explanatory heading. Articles within this section of the project should have regard to Wikipedia's general guidelines on biographical articles WP:BLP and to the guidance for WikiProject Biography. The following additional guidelines apply:
- Notability should be considered in terms of notability within the field of magic
- Magic biographies should be placed in categories within Category:Professional magicians
- If the subject is or was a noted specialist in a particular branch of magic then the article can also be categorised within the relevant branch.
- Performers needing pages:
Magic tricks
mali niŋThese should be placed in Category:Magic tricks and may also be categorised into one of the branches of magic - (see below), although this is not essential. In rare cases a trick might be relevant to more than one branch.
The following are guidelines on the structure of an article about a trick:
- It should begin with a brief statement that the subject is a magic trick and giving some general description, such as the area of magic it falls within and whether it is classified as a "vanish", "restore", "penetration" and so on. If it is associated with a particular performer or inventor then that should also be made clear in the introductory paragraph.
- The second section should be a description of the trick as it is perceived by the audience.
- There should ideally be a section on the history and origin of the trick.
- Any publication of methods must follow the specific guidelines on methods set out below (see #Magic Methods and Exposure).
Magic publications
mali niŋAll articles within this section should be put in the main category - Category:Magic publications, whether or not they are also placed in sub-categories. Currently, we are making a large push for properly formatted and cited articles pertaining to the more obscure magic publications/periodicals.
Magic organisations
mali niŋ- This includes Magic clubs - (need to merge these categories + re-categorise articles)
Television shows
mali niŋArticles on notable magic shows. These should be placed in Category:Television magic shows
Branches of magic
mali niŋBranches of magic are included as sub-categories within Category:Magic (illusion). (However not all sub-categories of Category:Magic (illusion) are branches of magic).
- Grand illusion
- Stage magic (there might be some debate about where this overlaps Grand illusion)
- Parlor magic
- Close-up magic
- Street magic
- Mentalism
- Escapology
- Card magic (currently referred to as "Card manipulation")
- Bizarre Magic" or "Bizarre Magick"
- Sub-types within "Close-up"
Parentage
mali niŋRelating to magicians - WikiProject Biography
Relating to performance - WikiProject Arts
Descendant WikiProjects
mali niŋCurrently there are no descendant projects.
Participants
mali niŋ
- 7&6=thirteen (☎) 15:53, 29 January 2018 (UTC) I created List of magic museums and American Museum of Magic, La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin. Lots of magic museum articles. Helped on Cardistry. Plus several DYKs for Houdin and Houdini-related articles.
- Bddmagic (talk) 17:54, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
- Elonka - magic conventions, living magician bios, and deleting non-notable bios
- Nsmith 84 (talk) Want to see card magic in its own article again, separate from Card manipulation. Also think Flourish should be merged into Card manipulation. Theres a lot I think needs cleaning up on the magic pages, I'll help out as much as I can.
- Circusandmagicfan - I'm a collector of books and materials rather than a magician. I'm intersted in design and methods for large illusions. Also history of magic and swindles, scams and cons. In addition I have an interest in aspects of circus (for example impalement arts)so maybe I can help if ever topics overlap into that area. I'll try to contribute where and when I can.Circusandmagicfan 20:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan
- Deflagro I will help what I can, won't help nor look at articles with exposure though. Will try and help with articles on magicians and that sort of thing.
- Bddmagic Amateur magician; past V.P. of IBM Ring 266 (Tyler, Texas)....presently serving 2nd year as that Ring's Ring Reporter; avid reader and student of magic history and magic literature; magic book library = approx. 45 titles.
- ₪ ask123 {t} I don't have much experience with magic but am interested in illusions and tricks. As far as exposure is concerned, I have no problem with it, as long as the methods are accurate and from the originator. Exposuring a magic trick in a Wiki article is kind of like revealing the plot of a movie in a Wiki article. A good movie article will have a concise description of the film's plot (and without "spoiler alerts," since a plot description must be expected in an encyclopedia article). It's just my opinion, but, similar to an encyclopedia article about a movie, a good encyclopedia article on a magic trick should have a concise description of how the trick is done from the perspective of the performer. Of course, the method must be cited, i.e. it must be the original method crafted by the originator of the trick.
- Michael Pascoe (talk); Thank you for adding me to your list. I have added a few bios of the greats in our art. I hope to add more as time permits.
- Skeptic sid Will push for more commons content and history of magic content Skeptic sid (talk) 23:24, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
- Steve Drury Co-founder of PSYCRETS British Society of Mystery Entertainers. Performer, author and consultant. Can assist with mentalism, storytelling and bizarre magic entries.
- PriceDL (talk) 10:39, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
- PhantomRed I have substantial experience in magic and mentalism. I am hoping to revamp WikiProject Magic, and overhaul magic-related articles on Wikipedia. I substantially expanded The Magic Castle.
- Magus314 Look forward to being involved! I've made contributions to several magic pages, just started to expand Mentalism and will continue to work on this one and others whenever I'm able. I've been involved in magic as a hobby for 30+ years, and also have my own collection of magic/mentalism books and training DVDs.
- SVnative Over 20 years of experience with magic - performance and sales. Looking to contribute to expansion of magic related wikipedia pages and submit/write new ones, in particular biographies.
Inactive
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Census performed in December 2017 – users with no contributions for more than 12 months have been moved here. PriceDL (talk) 12:56, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
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Special guidelines
mali niŋMagic methods and exposure
mali niŋThe publication of magic methods has proved controversial and so it is especially important that any attempt to do so should adhere strictly to the established policies and guidelines that are Wikipedia's foundation. The following aspects must be considered:
Attribution
mali niŋIf information about a method is quoted from another freely available source then it becomes more difficult for magicians to argue that Wikipedia is the point at which exposure is occurring. Proper citation of sources should also help to defend Wikipedia against any action for breach of confidentiality. In addition, some unsourced information on methods that has crept into Wikipedia appears speculative and inaccurate, which undermines the quality of the Magic Project generally and contravenes WP:NOR. It is therefore especially vital to adhere to WP:Attribution.
Intellectual property
mali niŋBecause the concept of intellectual property often forms part of arguments about exposure of methods and because magicians have occasionally resorted to the courts in an attempt to suppress publication of methods it is important that attention is paid to relevant areas of law. Generally "methods" (i.e. choreography of covert movements, not to be confused with industrial and scientific methods) cannot be protected by copyright but any particular description or presentation of them can be. The Wikipedia policy on Copyright problems deals with part of this but there might also be additional issues to do with information that is covered by laws on confidentiality (eg. this might be because it is covered by a non-disclosure agreement but could also be because, in some jurisdictions, there are laws that automatically give certain information a confidential quality).
Note: This section does not pre-empt proper legal advice, which Wikipedia already has provisions for. Neither is it intended to be taken as an argument in favour of prior restraint. It is merely intended as cautionary advice. Before adding material concerning methods, contributors should take reasonable steps to confirm the material is not covered by copyright or confidentiality. There might be debate about what constitutes "reasonable steps", but to some extent the solution again resides with application of WP:Attribution.
Rapid action
mali niŋIf a method is added to an article but no reference is provided the following from WP:Attribution will apply:
- "Any edit lacking attribution may be removed, and the final burden of evidence lies with the editor wishing to add or retain the material."
Given the sections above about controversial material and original research this can be applied immediately and overrides the practice of tagging information as unsourced and then waiting for a period to see whether citations are subsequently provided. A request for sources for a method should be placed on the talk page. Only when a full citation can be provided can the method be added to the article. It is recommended that a link to these guidelines be included in the message.
The editor placing a note on the talk page may also include a link to the edit difference that removed the secret. The editor may also include the removed secret as part of the post on the talk page. If the latter action is taken, then the {{Magic secrets}} template must be added at the top of the talk page, just below the {{Magic}} template.
Action for secrets exposed on article talk pages
mali niŋSecrets are sometimes discussed on the talk pages which may or may not be accurate. Do not delete these, as this is classed as editing other people's words, and is not permitted unless they violate copyright. Instead, add the {{Magic secrets}} template at the top of the talk page, just below the {{Magic}} template.
Resources
mali niŋWebsites
mali niŋI thought it worth mentioning that there is a wiki on magicians called Magicpedia, and it may definitely be of some use to this project. Arctucrus (talk) 19:29, 23 January 2013 (UTC)
- There is also a German wiki dealing with the art of magic called Zauber-Pedia --Artius (talk) 06:23, 6 October 2018 (UTC)
Project templates
mali niŋ
The code {{WikiProject Magic}} is positioned at the top of the talk page for each article within the project. It produces a box that looks like this...
Tɛmplet:WikiProject Magic
The code {{Magic and Illusion}} is placed at the bottom of each article. It produces a box that looks like this...
Tɛmplet:Magic and Illusion
The code {{magic-stub}} is used to indicate stub articles within the project. It produces a footnote that looks like this...
Tɛmplet:Magic-stub
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The code {{User WikiProject Magic}} is a userbox for member User pages.
Tɛmplet:User WikiProject Magic
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The code {{WikiProject Magic invite}} may be used to invite users to join the project on their talk page.
Tɛmplet:WikiProject Magic invite
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The code {{The Magic Barnstar|put your message here ~~~~}} is an award placed at another users talk page for improving Magic-related articles.
Tɛmplet:The Magic Barnstar
Article alerts
mali niŋCurrent tasks
mali niŋList of open tasks
mali niŋSee also
mali niŋ- Recent changes in all magic articles (not talks)
- Requested Magic articles
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Magic
- Wikipedia:Proposed guideline for magic methods (inactive guideline)
- Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Intellectual rights to magic methods (deletion proposal, result was keep)