Template talk:Infobox social media personality: Difference between revisions

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:::Just noting [[:Category:Reddit people]] and [[:Category:Pinterest people]] already exist, though the ladder is only used for employees. [[User:Mikeycdiamond|Mikeycdiamond]] ([[User talk:Mikeycdiamond|talk]]) 11:10, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

:::Just noting [[:Category:Reddit people]] and [[:Category:Pinterest people]] already exist, though the ladder is only used for employees. [[User:Mikeycdiamond|Mikeycdiamond]] ([[User talk:Mikeycdiamond|talk]]) 11:10, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

::::In that case I suppose Reddit should have its parameters. [[User:DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Frank]]<sub>(has [[Special:Contributions/DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Demo<span style=”color: red”>”’C”'</span>racy]] [[User talk:DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Depriva<span style=”color: red”>”’T”'</span>ion]])</sub> 11:18, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

::::In that case I suppose Reddit should have its parameters. [[User:DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Frank]]<sub>(has [[Special:Contributions/DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Demo<span style=”color: red”>”’C”'</span>racy]] [[User talk:DemocracyDeprivationDisorder|Depriva<span style=”color: red”>”’T”'</span>ion]])</sub> 11:18, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

:::I’m fine with adding two parameters for Substack URLs, like YouTube, but not sure if that’s truly what’s best in this case as I don’t know anything about Substack. Pinging {{ping|Polarmadewell}}, who created the Substack infobox, to hopefully get their insight on this. [[User:Prefall|<span style=”color: #990000″>Pre</span>]]”'[[User talk:Prefall|<span style=”color: #990000″>fall</span>]]”’ 12:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

:I just noticed that Twitter is currently the only platform to not have a display name parameter alongside handle. Should this be added too? {{ping|User:Zackmann08}} [[User:Prefall|<span style=”color: #990000″>Pre</span>]]”'[[User talk:Prefall|<span style=”color: #990000″>fall</span>]]”’ 12:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

Since I came across the request for feedback from @Zackmann08 on certain aspects while looking into the merge proposal, I have a few thoughts:

  • There seems to be a (to my knowledge) unwritten rule of defaulting to human photos, and secondarily logos in social media infoboxes in the event that no usable human photo exists of all involved creators (i.e. large groups or companies like Glitch Productions) or the creator is faceless. My opinion is that it should be maintained and no additional parameters should be created for images.
  • Keep a stats-updated parameter for editor support, but for simplicity only have one stats-updated field total.
  • Links to the accounts of the subject should be ok to put in the infobox under WP:ELOFFICIAL.
  • I think the current order of websites is fine on account of matching the current number of transclusions on Wikipedia at the moment. I do not expect the addition of any extra accounts that are in their own right noteworthy to change how this (i.e. new additions of twitter accounts for the 3000 Youtubers).
  • I agree on the current name, though if it does change, I feel it should be more reflective of how some act on social media as groups as opposed to personalities, such as Corridor Digital.

UppercutPawnch (talk) 15:01, 6 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@UppercutPawnch: this is still a WIP. Thanks for the feedback. Once the TFD closes I’m going to ping all those involved with a detailed list of items that need to be reviewed. This will definitely be a group project with lots of input. Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 17:07, 6 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Prefall, Neegzistuoja, Mikeycdiamond, Earth605, PantheonRadiance, ViperSnake151, Pbrks, WikiCleanerMan, 1isall, Hansen Sebastian, Jjpachano, Kingsacrificer, XtraJovial, MinWat247, Cottagechez, HarukaAmaranth, Meena, QuicoleJR, A.Classical-Futurist, GeekInParadise, SpartanMazda, Jolielover, and DemocracyDeprivationDisorder: (I think i got everybody) you all participated in the TFD to create this template, so I’m pinging you now. If you have no interest in giving feedback on the merge, please ignore and forgive the ping, otherwise please subscribe to this thread and read on.

What I have done is to create a template wrapper for {{Infobox person}}, this way we get all the basic person information (|name=, |birth_date=, |spouse=, etc.) for free. Below that I have an Infobox module with sections for each of the different social media platforms.

There are a number of things that I opted to remove
  • The language the channel is in
  • Associated acts (who decides that anyway?)
  • YouTube creator awards. I’d argue this belongs in the article but am open to adding it back if there is opposition. Of course that opens the question does every social media platform get its own awards section? TBD…
There are a number of unresolved questions that I would love your input on.
  • What to do about the logo? Currently I have not included it. Should that be removed entirely? What if they have multiple accounts and therefore multiple logos? If we do keep it, where in the infobox does it belong?
  • Do we keep the |stats_updated=?? If so does each section get its own |youtube_stats_updated=, |instagram_stats_updated= etc… I would argue for NOT including this as so often people update the stats without updating the |stats_updated=. I think was is much better, and what seems to be the convention anyway, is to do |youtube_subscribers=123 {{small|(October 2025)}}
  • Should we autolink the channel_name/handle to the corresponding link on the social media site (this is done on the old infoboxes) or is that a violation of WP:EL?
  • What order do we put them in? I kind of did it by how much the separate infoboxes were used, but maybe alphabetical makes more sense? Don’t want to give undue weight to one site over another… One thing I do NOT want to do, is write some complicated logic to allow you to custom set the order for each transclusion. I think the order should be the same whatever page you look at.
  • What do we think of the name? I have already redirected {{Infobox content creator}} & {{Infobox influencer}} to this, but are there others that should be redirected? Once the merge of each individual template from the TFD is done, those will each, in turn, be redirected here as well. Obviously if a better name is proposed this can be moved to that.
Comments
  • Given that X is still listed as Twitter on Wikipedia (despite nearly a dozen discussions about renaming it), I aliased the |x_parameters= to |twitter_parameters= so that either one will work. In the documentation I have gone with the |twitter_...= params since that is still the common name.
Request/Disclaimer
  • At this point, I don’t think anyone has reviewed the code I’ve written so far. There are almost definitely typos somewhere so please help me flush those out.
  • Please give any and all feedback on the above questions. To avoid WP:edit conflicts I would ask that you try to limit the number of changes you make to the template. To be clear NOT trying to claim ownership here!! Just that if we have 20+ people making changes to a template that is under construction, it is going to cause havoc. Let’s flush out the discussion here and make changes accordingly.
Way forward
  • Once we finish the template, I will write a WP:JWB script with the help of a substitution template (See User:Zackmann08/subst for a previous example). I will take on the process of converting all the transclusions of the old templates to this new one as a simple redirect will not work. Too many param names have changed.

Thanks in advance for all the feedback! Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 19:53, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate the ping. I don’t have strong opinions on most of this stuff, but I agree with the removal of associated acts. I know that part will likely cause some controversy, but that whole thing was always a massive pile of original research that didn’t add anything useful. QuicoleJR (talk) 20:08, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if possible, I’d take out infobox person’s occupation= parameter for this template, since this infobox is for a specific occupation and adding that parameter might cause confusion. QuicoleJR (talk) 20:11, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I am going to courtesy ping two people you did miss: @GrafiXal: and @Some1: do you guys have any thoughts on this? I currently don’t. Thanks, 1isall (he/him) (talk | contribs) 20:12, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think it’s fine to keep the occupations since this shouldn’t be just for “sole” social media personalities. Alongside @Prefall‘s true statements, which I agree with, I also find it unnecessary to limit the usage on “sole” social media personalities since the way it is designed, which matches {{Infobox person}} in style and information priority, should also make it so that we use this for YouTubers, Twitchers, etc. with more than one “occupation” instead of using {{Infobox person}} and just embedding the infobox there to avoid headers in color (which we removed) and for any other reason there could be. GrafiXal (talk) 22:22, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree that this template fits a specific occupation. They may be social media personalities, but their actual occupations can vary wildly. Some are streamers, some are YouTubers, some are writers, some are political commentators, etc. The scope is quite large. Prefall 20:17, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
My thoughts:

  • I’m torn on including a logo parameter. I’m fine with logos in general, but not so sure that we want to support both a photo AND a logo at the same time.
  • Yes, I think a single, generalized “Updated” parameter should be added to the end of the infobox.
  • Linking should be fine, as long as it’s kept to a minimum. A problem with the previous infoboxes is that it was too easy to overload it with non-notable secondary channels. I think the removal of the “channel2” and “channel3” parameters is good, though a custom override in the rare occasion that multiple channels need to be linked might be worth considering.
  • The current order looks good to me. This isn’t a huge issue, but one worth considering: Is it possible to implement a way to customize the order of the sites? For example, a creator may be notable for both YouTube and Twitch, but their notability on Twitch may supersede that of YouTube, so listing Twitch first in that instance would be preferable.
  • I’m fine with “social media personality” or “internet personality”. The latter, at least, should become a redirect. I also think Template:Infobox live streamer should redirect, even though the scope extends beyond that.
Other things that come to mind:

  • A parameter for YouTube ID needs to be added as an alternative to YouTube handle. Currently, 500+ transcriptions use ID rather than handle. A channel’s ID is static and cannot be changed, even if its handle eventually is changed. These use different URL schemes.
  • Maybe a generic “Genres” and “Games” parameter not tied to a specific platform, for instances where multiple platforms are listed and each value is the same, as not to duplicate information.
  • Some parameters from the old infoboxes that might be worth re-adding:
  • A “display name” parameter to override handle or ID. This will be needed if we’re adding ID support for YouTube.
  • A “Created by” and “Presented by” parameter for when the channel/page is not a person.
Thanks for working on this, and good job so far. Prefall 20:14, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with your statement that Linking should be fine, as long as it’s kept to a minimum. A problem with the previous infoboxes is that it was too easy to overload it with non-notable secondary channels. Primary accounts should be enough to satisfy the infobox’s external links. Thanks, 1isall (he/him) (talk | contribs) 20:20, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Agree with the ID part for YouTube. I’m starting to think colors rather than logos might be the way to go (similar to how it is now). Specifically for YouTube, IIRC they only really give awards for subscriber milestones so it’d be redundant to have it listed. GeekInParadise (talk) 23:04, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed, but I think a logo wouldn’t be bad to include in the infobox for the sake of visual recognition (though maybe we can place the parameter for logos towards the bottom rather than at the top of the infobox [alongside the image]).
In addition, the statement about considering the return of the “Created by” and “Presented by” parameters makes me question whether we will use this infobox on social media channels (operated by entities / groups of people) as well? I think it might be better if we had a seperate infobox for such since this infobox seems to be mostly designed for social media personalities, as in people with a (main) social media-based career. GrafiXal (talk) 00:14, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I’m not opposed to logos at the bottom of the infobox, either. I’d like to see some testcases to visualize what these logos would look like in a normal case. That’d help us decide, I think.
It’ll be easier if we go ahead and support non-person channels / groups in this same template. Every time we add a new site or make an adjustment to this template, we’d have to waste time applying the same changes to a secondary template, which is what we wanted to avoid in the first place. Prefall 01:04, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I am going to copy what Prefall did and answer in a list format:

  • I am fine with what you removed, as the creator awards are niche and implied except for the language the channel is in. I feel like it is like the native name in other infoboxes and could be a good context tool.
  • Yes, we need a logo as many social media accounts are practically businesses these days.
  • I think we need a single stats updated -if every social media had a stats updated it would be too cluttering- to serve as a reminder.
  • auto links are fine. Wikipedia:ELBODY makes an exemption for infoboxes “if applicable” (which it is).
  • Keep the format of the template the same as before, but do the social medias alphabetical order (as you suggested).
  • I don’t care what it is called, but after I am done writing this I’m going to redirect {{Template:Infobox social media account}} to this.
Mikeycdiamond (talk) 23:04, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn’t the one that answered in list format. Thanks, 1isall (he/him) (talk | contribs) 23:10, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for correcting me! I was skimming other things before answering. Mikeycdiamond (talk) 23:12, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No problem! Thanks, 1isall (he/him) (talk | contribs) 23:14, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The one thing I wonder about is how (and if) it can be used for an infobox that’s for a single show YouTube channel that’s not a person but is mostly watched there (examples: Good Mythical Morning, BuzzFeed Unsolved, etc). GeekInParadise (talk) 23:10, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the ping (and apologizes for late reply). For me, I’m fine of what you’ve removed. I agreed with QuicoleJR about associated acts removed. I’m also fine with either “social media personality” or “internet personality” and the names like “YouTube personality” and others as redirects. However I do agree with GeekInParadise. I don’t have much to add, but if I do. I will comment again. SpartanMazda (talk) 02:02, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
On removed features:
Language and associated acts, yeah those can go.
Youtube creator awards can probably stay but only if the Youtube section of the template is at the bottom. I’d probably reorder the template’s segments in alphabetical order so that Youtube likely stays at the bottom for a while.
On unresolved problems:
Logo it depends. If it’s the only free logo and no free photo of the individual exists it can probably go to the top, otherwise place it at the topmost located template section? You might need secondary parameters for Youtube though since some content creators are known to have multiple channels there.
Stats updated parameters, sure it can stay.
Autolinking, I’d lean against that because then we would have to handle unpleasantries like Chaya Raichik and I would prefer not doing that.
Order, as mentioned let’s just go with alphabetical order and also we can do futureproofing by including Bluesky and maybe Reddit parameters per your TFD nom; I’d lean against including Pinterest though since that does not appear to have anything to do with social media personalities.
Name, not much I can add. Your suggestion works nicely.
On comments:
IMO you should take a look at if the content creator was active up to 2022, or stayed active after it. Maybe add parameters that determine whether it’s pre-2023 or 2023-present so that the section reads Twitter or X [alternatively X (Twitter)].
Side note we can probably include colours for the title row of each section. Frank(has DemoCracy DeprivaTion) 03:37, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Earth605’s message starts here
Removal of things:
I oppose excluding the language parameter. The others I agree to remove, even the awards, as it is not 100% important to feauture.
Unresolved questions:
Don’t keep the logos. Not worth it for the multiple account mess.
The stats updates parameter is not useful; the suggested Youtube subs has more sense.
In other infoboxes, there is a little section sometimes saying: Official Website. I guess it wouldn’t violate any rules.
The order: alphabetical. Only way to make everyone happy is to create something logical.
The name is fine.
Comments:
I agree with the decision.
Disclaimer
I could give a look into the code.
I think that is everything. Earth605talk 05:31, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

First off, thanks for the ping. I suggest that Youtube Creator awards be re-added and also a possible addition of Tiktok creator awards and Instagram Rings as well. I also suggest the inclusion of color coded banners separating each platform’s section. In my opinion, while the channel’s language should be mentioned in the article, I believe it’s an unnecessary inclusion in the already vast infobox, and associated acts is effectively just original research. Stats updated could remain as it shows how up to date the statistics are; but the person updating would effectively have to change the data in a singular edit as I believe that a singular “Stats updated” section would be better than multiple cluttering ones. Next, I believe that for logos, there should be a drop down box (like for creator awards) showing the logo within it. P.S, Sorry this comment is in complete and utter disarray, it’s true a mess. A.Classical-Futurist (talk) 03:24, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@QuicoleJR, Prefall, GrafiXal, 1isall, GeekInParadise, GrafiXal, Mikeycdiamond, GeekInParadise, SpartanMazda, DemocracyDeprivationDisorder, Earth605, and A.Classical-Futurist: Pinging everyone who has responded thus far.

I tried to read everyone’s comments and take them to heart. If I haven’t addressed your comments yet I apologize.

A few updates
  • I have implemented auto linking to the websites as was done in the previous Infoboxes.
  • Added a single logo option with a max_size set to keep it from getting out of hand. If for some reason you need to display multiple logos, you can always use {{multiple images}} as is done on a lot of settlement pages.
  • Re-sorted the social media sites to put them in alphabetical order. Got lucky that both Twitter and X would fall in the same place…
  • Added the ability to display up to 3 channels/handles per social site. There is also a pluralized option (example: |youtube_handles=) which takes a raw string so you can pass in a list of as many as you want. BUT in that case no autolinking will occur. I chose 3 because that was what all the previous infoboxes used. Easy to add more down the road if needed.
  • Added some basic documentation so that you all can get a look at how this will work without having to read through the code (which I of course welcome you to do).
  • Wrote a couple of testcases, need LOTS more though.
Still unresolved
  • Parameter names – I don’t do social media so I need others to check me that the parameter names make sense. For example is it |tiktok_page= or |tiktok_channel=? I know nothing about TikTok so I don’t know which one to use. Not a huge deal, but since we are starting fresh, might as well get it right from the start.
  • Language – Need to hear more people’s thoughts on the removal of the language param… I’ve heard a few thoughts on both sides but want to get clear consensus before we convert existing transclusions of the old templates and thus potentially remove information. What is not clear to me is where it will go… I feel strongly we should NOT have a separate language displayed under each of the 7 headings, but if we put it before the headings, then it blends in with the personal info. Also if it were to be embeded (say in {{infobox company}} then it looks like it applies to the company info, not to the channels themselves. I really am leaning towards removing it. For those in favor of keeping it, what is the value of it that I am not seeing? What am I missing?
  • Stats update – I feel strongly this should go. I’ve been working on a different project where I am cleaning up Unknown parameters. I’ve been working on a lot of sportsperson pages and I cannot tell you how many pages I have come across where the stats reflect the current season with dates of 2024 or 2025, but the |stats_update= says they were last updated in the 2010s. I just don’t think people update this parameter. IMHO we should document using a date when listing the stat. I.E. |youtube_subscribers=2.2 million (October 2025). Another point, how often does a reader even look at the stats update information and connect it to the data in question? If a reader is REALLY concerned about how recently the number was updated, they can look at the page history, or better yet, click on the link to the channel and see the current stats on the platform in question.
What we need now
  • Test cases – PLEASE look at the testcases page and add as many as you can think of. Need to test links to make sure that the URLs I put in the Infobox will actually direct you to the proper location on each separate site. For this we need to use real account/channel names/handles. We also need to check all 3 for each social to make sure there are no transliterations (I.E. I accidentally put {{{instagram_page2}}} where I need to have {{{instagram_page3}}}
  • Code review – Any errors should be flushed out in the testcases, but for those who are so inclined, please look through the code. I am open to any and all suggestions to make it more readable, easier to expand in the future, etc.

Thanks for all the good feedback and suggestions! Keep em coming. —Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 08:37, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I hadn’t responded to the previous one but I’ll state my thoughts here. Latest points on top.1. Language – Remove. Doesn’t add much, many people create multi-lingual content. There is not enough reason to include this here, as it will mostly be included in the article.
2. Stats – Remove. Keeps changing frequently. Milestones can be mentioned in the article.
3. Parameter names – TikTok page would be better, but either way doesn’t matter since Visual Editor allows you to embed it without using the parameter name.Associated acts and Awards can go too. A top, top award like Streamer of the Year can maybe stay.Ordering according to importance of platform is ideal. Youtube -> Instagram -> Twitch, etc. But most people may have a primary app to use and that’s why a custom ordering should be considered, if not now then atleast in the future. Kingsacrificer (talk) 11:38, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Re: unresolved:

  • For ease of use, I think we should prioritize consistency with parameter names for channels/pages and display names. |{{{platform}}}_handle= and |{{{platform}}}_display_name=, e.g. |tiktok_handle= and |tiktok_display_name=. I’m not overly familiar with TikTok, but I believed they were more commonly referred to as “pages”. Looking at Google Search results, “TikTok page” returns 5.2 million results, while “TikTok channel” returns 4.6 million. They’re very close and seem interchangeable. Regardless, I would prefer we only use “Channel” or “Page” as labels.
  • Regarding language, this is one of the problems I ran into myself when I was cleaning up the previous infoboxes. It is difficult to figure out where to place these generic, all-encompassing fields, because they can be misinterpreted or look out of place. If we’re going to include language, I think our best bet would be to add a footer (with <hr>, or an equivalent, used as a divider) and place it there. Other generic fields from the person infobox, like website and signature, already appear at the bottom of this template, per the testcases.
  • I agree that “Stats update” is not aesthetically pleasing and generally not well maintained by contributors. I’m fine with leaving it out as long as it is recommended that statistics be followed by the year in parenthesis, as shown in the first testcase. This is much better looking, immediately lets readers know when the stat was updated without having to look at the absolute bottom of the infobox, and is generally harder for contributors to not update alongside the statistic itself since it is directly inline. Losing the exact date that an update occurred is a little unfortunate, but does not seem overly necessary; the year is what is important and will suffice for an infobox listing.
Other thoughts:

  • Currently, |youtube_handle=, |youtube_handle2=, |youtube_handle3= and |youtube_handles= can all be used in conjunction. Is this intended behavior? In the old infobox, you could either use the “built-in” parameters OR the custom/override parameter, but not all together.
  • In the documentation, it says YouTube ID is deprecated. I assume this is meant within the template itself rather than from YouTube’s perspective, but I don’t think this should be stated. ID-based URLs should probably be preferred since they never change. Handle-based URLs are simply easier and more front-facing for users, which is why they’re more prominent.
  • How do you feel about including alternate, pluralized parameters? E.g., |twitch_genres= in addition to the singular |twitch_genre=. These were included in the previous infoboxes, and they seem to generally be used across other infoboxes as well. Prefall 11:47, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Prefall: excellent suggestions. Particularly appreciate the tip about YouTube IDs. That was 100% a complete lack of understanding on my part. Already fixed.
To your point about |youtube_handle#= and |youtube_handles= working in conjunction that was intended, though I’m open to changing it. My reasoning is that if for some reason a user were to use both, it can be very confusing as to why only half the information is displaying. Would require either parsing the code and understanding how the IF statements work, OR a thorough reading of the documentation (where we would need to explain that if |youtube_handle#= is not nil, then |youtube_handles= will be suppressed, or vise-versa). Also I don’t see any downside to having both. Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 18:02, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, readers can just view stats (subscribers, followers, etc.) when they go to the page of any social media account. Besides, they update constantly. Thanks, 1isall (he/him) (talk | contribs) 21:19, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
About the language param, it should be kept as it is important. The purpose of the infobox is to tell you the important things. Sometimes, the channel has more than one language. Sometimes the person is (my example) Brazilian and Portuguese but makes content (edits) in English.
Another issue:
What do we display in the X/Twitter? Dual naming it is not pretty. I think we should call it Twitter per Turkey. Elon can’t tell us what to do. Earth605talk 18:19, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Earth605: Thanks for the feedback. You say The purpose of the infobox is to tell you the important things. Agreed, BUT you cannot tell ALL the important things in the Infobox. You have to draw the line somewhere. I have zero issue with it being in the article, but I think the vast majority of cases are going to be people of one |nationality= whose channel is in that nationalities common language. Your example of someone who is Brazilian but makes content in English is not common.
To your second point, do you mean what is displayed in the header or what the param names are. I definitely want to support both x and twitter parameter names (they do the same thing). But I can get 100% get onboard with just displaying the name as Twitter, I’ll do that now. I’m with you about Elon… – Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 18:31, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Dude. I used myself as an example. Also, Cathodography is also Brazilian. Earth605talk 18:36, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I think a more likely example would be an American content creator who makes Spanish-language content, or a country like Canada where the nationality doesn’t reveal what language it is (English or French). I’d still support removing it for formatting reasons and getting this information across in the lead instead, but I don’t have a strong opinion on it. QuicoleJR (talk) 18:40, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Earth605: first off, not saying it doesn’t happen, saying its uncommon. Second, not saying anything against Brazilian people so not sure you point that there is another Brazilian person on Wikipedia?
I agree with QuicoleJR‘s point about putting it in the lead… – Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 18:41, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am not saying that you have something against Brazilians, I was just putting another valid example. Also, there are a loads of examples. I just put that one to throw a bit of humor there. Earth605talk 18:51, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Putting it in the lead works! Earth605talk 18:45, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Awesome. Sounds good. – Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 18:46, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, sorry for the late response. So far I agree with everything proposed, but I just have a couple thoughts.
1: For the Stats, is it possible to extract data via an API or another data scraping technique, whether directly from the accounts themselves or a third-party like Social Blade? That way the stats could automatically be updated with the date as needed, instead of others constantly updating the stats without the date? If too time-consuming to implement, then I support using the method in the testcases.
2: Also, I wanted some clarification on how the infoboxes would work for an individual YouTuber with multiple channels of differing content, but each channel isn’t notable enough for a separate page? For example, would we combine them into one like KSI, or keep multiple infoboxes like with TheRunawayGuys on Chuggaaconroy‘s page?
3: And finally, the name for it. I still prefer “Internet personality” over “Social media personality” because it’s not only less wordy, it also includes people who became notable through the internet without YouTube, Twitch or platforms like these (some of which are arguably debatable as social media platforms). Maddox, The Brothers Chap, and webcomic writers like Andrew Hussie and Randall Munroe come to mind.
Other than that, I like the changes made to the template. Thanks, PantheonRadiance (talk) 21:30, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The old YouTube template supported automatic fetching of Subscriber totals from Wikidata, which was being bot-updated periodically (once a year or so), but it was not used much at all. The update period was simply too long and no one seemingly wanted to maintain a bot to do it more often. And while YouTube’s API is pretty generous, the other social sites are much more restrictive, even with basic data. And they’re very combative with scraping as well, so it’s unfortunately a difficult task to automate. Prefall 21:57, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@PantheonRadiance: Thanks for the feedback. I’ll take your points on 1 at a time:

  1. Scraping the stats via an API seems beyond the scope of this project. Whether that data can be obtained via an API or Wikidata is certainly a neat idea and something consider as a future improvement, but I feel strongly it is beyond the scope of merging the infoboxes.
  2. You example of TheRunawayGuys is an interesting one. My gut says that it would stay the way it is now with multiple infoboxes. The bulk of the infobox is really designed to be used for a person, NOT for a channel. For exampel see Dude Perfect which uses {{Infobox company}} as the parent infobox. There was another one I saw that used {{Infobox web series}} as the parent, can’t remember which page it was now. But those are more appropriate for a Show/Channel.
  3. I think we should stick with social media personality because that is really what this template addresses, the social media side. While certainly notable people, those that you listed simply don’t fit the criteria of the intention of this template. Take Randall Munroe for example. He is an author and cartoonist who happened to get famous via writing stuff on the internet. He did NOT get famous through his social media presence. Therefore using him as an example, I think {{Infobox writer}} is much more appropriate. Now if he also happens to have a noteworthy YouTube channel or Instagram account, you can certainly embed this template via |module=. Another example would be a politician who has a noteworthy social media account. You would still want to use {{Infobox officeholder}} as the parent infobox.
On that note we need to do something about WP:NOTE. I for one would not be thrilled to see this template being embeded in every {{Infobox officeholder}} just because the person has a twitter account. IMHO the social media account needs to itself be noteworthy for it to be included in the Infobox. Not sure how best to document that.
– Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 22:24, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think we are looking pretty darn good! The only unresolved issue I have at this point is the name of the primary parameters for each social media site (the channel/handle and display_name/name). We currently have the following (I’ve excluded the params that are the same for all platforms like years_active). Do we want to unify them to all be the same or does this look good? 

| kick_channel      = 
| kick_display_name = 

| instagram_page         = 
| instagram_display_name = 

| substack_url          = 

| tiktok_page         = 
| tiktok_display_name = 

| twitch_channel      = 
| twitch_display_name = 

| twitter_handle    = 
| x_handle          =

| youtube_handle    = 
| youtube_id        = 
| youtube_name      =

Additionally we have this difference below. I think this one is ok because on YouTube it definitely is subscribers not followers… 

| kick_followers = 
| instagram_followers = 
| substack_followers = 
| tiktok_followers = 
| twitch_followers =
| twitter_followers = 
| x_followers = 
      BUT
| youtube_subscribers =

Open to ideas and suggestions! —Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 08:16, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I’ll reiterate that the primary parameters should be |platform_handle= and |platform_display_name= for consistency and clarity. You could retain the other parameter names as aliases, but a unified primary naming style will make it much easier to use.
The lone exception to the above is Substack, as its parameter takes a raw URL rather than a handle. Now, I’m not familiar with Substack, but from a quick glance, that site seems to have two verticals: one is a newsletter with articles (URL scheme: https://meidastouch.substack.com), and one is a Twitter-like feed (URL scheme: https://substack.com/@meidastouch). I’m not sure if we should leave this as-is, or limit the scope with a handle parameter.
The “followers”/”subscribers” (for YouTube) discrepancy is fine. If you really want to be careful, you could add an alias |youtube_followers=, but I doubt it’ll be much of an issue. Prefall 09:22, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Prefall: thanks for restating your thoughts. LOTS of feedback so I think I missed your first comment. Thanks for restating it. I’ll go ahead and unify to handle and display_name as you suggested. –Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 09:25, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have created a basic outline for the WP:TemplateData. If someone feels like taking the time to fill it in, that would be great… – Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 09:46, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I filled out most of it (except for |substack_newsletter=, someone more knowledgeable will have to handle that one). A lot of it was pulled/adjusted from the previous infoboxes’ TemplateDate, so it can be refined further. Prefall 10:58, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If I may give my two cents, maybe we can give Substack the Youtube treatment and allow both URL schemes the same way Youtube’s parameters here allow both the handle and the id?
And also in your opinion if we are to futureproof (as Zackmann suggested back in the TfD nomination, he specifically listed out three social media platforms – Bluesky, Reddit, Pinterest) which ones should/could be included? Frank(has DemoCracy DeprivaTion) 11:00, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Just noting Category:Reddit people and Category:Pinterest people already exist, though the ladder is only used for employees. Mikeycdiamond (talk) 11:10, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In that case I suppose Reddit should have its parameters. Frank(has DemoCracy DeprivaTion) 11:18, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I’m fine with adding two parameters for Substack URLs, like YouTube, but not sure if that’s truly what’s best in this case as I don’t know anything about Substack. Pinging @Polarmadewell:, who created the Substack infobox, to hopefully get their insight on this. Prefall 12:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I just noticed that Twitter is currently the only platform to not have a display name parameter alongside handle. Should this be added too? @Zackmann08: Prefall 12:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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