Talk:Harry Potter

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DVD commentaries

This is something that has come up before: do DVD commentary references really count? I mean, if the page can stand without them, go ahead and add them, and Rankin/Bass is kind of on the line, but then you have... this. Provided nothing has been overlooked in this page's creation, there have been zero Harry Potter references on the website, zero in DVD toons, zero in games, and... one arguable one on a T-shirt. Everything else is DVD commentary. I say we need to draw the line, and this is out, but hey, I'm just one voice. What do all y'all think? (PS. I have nothing against Harry Potter the franchise; I'm something of a fan. I'm just trying to be realistic as to how it relates to Homestar Runner, and that is this Wiki's focus.) --Jay o'Lantern (Haunt) 05:06, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I hadn't noticed this was nearly all DVD commentaries. Yeah, I tend to think this is iffy. It's appropriate to mention DVD commentaries in cases where the site itself also includes enough references to justify an article, but I don't think an article should rest entirely or even mostly on them. I continue to believe that there is, in fact, a Harry Potter reference in the HR body of work, but that was declined in STUFF, and even if we accept that one, it's only one. So this article doesn't seem to have a good basis for existence. Heimstern Läufer 05:13, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I think DVD commentaries should count as references, since they are done as if the characters were saying the commentaries, and even when they're not doing the voices the Brothers Chaps have entered themselves into the Homestar Runner body of work before (in Sbemailiarized!), so they're pretty much characters themselves. I personally view the commentaries as an in-universe look into the H*R characters views on stuff. Jennifer 05:24, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I cannot say I agree with the thought of most DVD commentaries being an "in-universe view" on anything. Especially not the ones simply commentated by Mike and Matt Chapman (and the other real-life people that assist them). I think the only commentaries that really count as being in-universe views are the ones on the website. --Jay o'Lantern (Haunt) 05:30, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

If all but one instance are on the DVD commentaries, which appear to be comments made by Matt and Mike at the spur of the moment, then this definitely has no reason to be called a running gag. Despite being spur of the moment, however, I think that it is okay to include DVD commentaries in these articles as long as they don't count toward the required number of references needed to contitute a running gag here. Also, in another issue, the overuse of running gag articles is one of the few problems I have with this wiki. I believe that running gag articles about popular TV shows and movies should need more than just three instances to be made into an article. In my own opinion, if we should see six mentions of one TV show or movie, then we can create a running gag article about it (although personally I still wouldn't say that the article fits the definition of "running gag"). The Brothers Chaps don't seem to be huge Harry Potter fans (I could be wrong), and they certainly are not trying hard to find references they can squeeze into their toons. Thus, I do not think we should keep this article. Homestar-Winner (talk) 05:40, 30 December 2010 (UTC)