Help:Style guide/Trivia

This page is the style guide for Trivia. Many pages contain Trivia sections near the end of the article. These sections are meant to hold any small bit of trivia relevant to that page. Due to the ambiguous nature of trivia, it is sometimes unclear what should or should not be included. Before adding an item to a page's Trivia section, please consult these guidelines first.

Note to new editors: It is nearly universal that new editors to this Wiki start with contributions to Trivia sections; it is nearly just as common that these new editor's first trivia posts are severely modified if not outright reverted by experienced editors. Part of the situation is that this Wiki enforces encyclopedic quality on its content, including Trivia, which can be seen by comparing Trivia sections between this and fan wikis. There are common mistakes that novice editors make regarding these standards: posting trivia that is already covered elsewhere, posting essential facts about the subject that belong in non-Trivia sections, posting simply erroneous statements, simple observations, unsubstantiated speculations, uninteresting counting (X of Y), Workshop changes, etc.. Remember, trivia is trivial, really unimportant, and not worth getting upset about. Note that many of the Wiki Cap owners had their earliest Trivia postings reverted.

Writing trivia

• Trivia should be short, clear, and concise. All Trivia sections are styled as bullet points, not paragraphs. If the Trivia item you are writing about seems to have a particularly long description, consider summarizing it briefly and linking to a source with more relevant information.
• Do not post images or videos on the page to prove a point unless absolutely necessary; however these can be linked inline. Most Trivia is self-evident and does not need a visual aid. If it is absolutely vital that a video be included, it is better to link to the video than to embed it for Trivia. Images should be shown as thumbnails and should mostly be reserved for references to other media.
  • For Trivia that is about references to other media, including an image of the creator confirming it as a <ref> is mandatory (or simply put in the edit summary if you cannot figure out how to make a reference). It is required that this image is saved on archive.org. If you cannot figure out how to archive an image, avoid using an image host that has a short expiration date, such as a Discord link, and put it in the edit summary. A more experienced editor will replace this with the proper format.
• All trivia should still uphold to the rest of the style guide. This includes grammar, spelling, and formatting.

Removing trivia

Before removing any trivia entry, first consider whether or not it is indeed trivia by following the guidelines below. If it is found not to be trivia, then it should be removed. New editors especially are owed explanations for the removal - state why it isn't considered valued trivia in the edit summary - if you cannot justify removing a trivia entry in the edit summary, you should not be removing it, but opening a discussion. Offer obviously-novice editors a link to [[Help:Style guide/Trivia]]. At a minimum, use a tag in the edit summary to help the editor find the criteria in the style guide (e.g., speculation or observation). If further explanation is required, use {{Tr}} on their talk page.

If the information is relevant in some way, consider finding a way to work it into an existing article. It is sometimes possible that an item that is not trivia is in fact relevant information for another part of the wiki.

What if my trivia is removed?

If your own addition to the Trivia section is removed, do not immediately add it back into the article. First check the page's history to see who removed the item, and if they left a reason in the edit summary. If the person did not leave a reason or if you do not agree with their reason, consider asking them for an explanation or elaboration on their Talk page. If the matter is not resolved, make a new post on that talk page and state your case as to why your item is valid trivia. The resulting discussion will determine the final fate of that trivia item. If it is decided that a trivia item's removal was justified, do not ignore this decision. Repeated adding of a removed trivia item and ignoring the reason for its removal can be grounds for a temporary block from editing the Wiki.

Guidelines for trivia

“

Often, a new editor has a problem of not knowing where or how to add something to a page and thinks, "I know, I'll add it to Trivia." Now, they have two problems.

”

The following is a set of guidelines to follow when writing trivia. Before making an addition to a Trivia section, try to make sure that the item follows these guidelines. If you believe an item might qualify as trivia, but are uncertain, feel free to post on the page's Talk page and ask for opinions.

What is trivia?

• Trivia should be relevant facts about the item in question. They may only be tangent to the actual nature of the page in question, but should have a direct relation nonetheless.
  

Examples:

Good trivia: The Engineer's favorite equation is in fact part of the equation that governs character lighting in-game. (From Engineer)
Explanation: This item is not about the Engineer himself, but expounds on one of the pieces of information available about the Engineer. It is interesting, but has no place in the rest of page and as such is placed in the Trivia section.

Poor trivia: 'Razorback' is also the name of a minor Spider-Man villain who coincidentally, uses electricity to ward off foes who sneak up from behind.
Explanation: This item is not about the Razorback itself, but about the namesake of the Razorback, which is a kind of Australian feral pig. While the coincidence is amusing, it is not relevant to the item and was removed.

• Trivia should be interesting and/or helpful. This can be tricky since "interesting" and "helpful" are somewhat subjective terms. In general, trivia that displays a non-noteworthy example of something or whose relation to the page is tenuous at best will be considered uninteresting. Trivia should give a reaction similar to "Wow! I did not know that!" from the reader. If most readers' reactions to trivia is similar to "Meh, who cares?", then it is likely not a good piece of trivia.

Examples:

Good trivia: "Dalokohs" is "shokolad," the Russian and Ukrainian word for chocolate, spelled backwards. (From Dalokohs Bar)
Explanation: This item is of great interest to players who do not speak Russian or Ukrainian as it gives a simple, logical reason as to where the Dalokohs Bar's name comes from.

Poor trivia: The weapon is labeled 'wood_machete' in the game files. (Removed from Tribalman's Shiv)
Explanation: It is rather obvious that the Tribalman's Shiv resembles a wooden machete. As such, noting that the game files call it this is not particularly interesting or surprising. While some in-game items may have revealing file names, this one does not.

• Trivia items should be factual, not guesses, conjecture, or speculation. It is required that there is a verifiable source for citation of the Trivia, this citation should always come in the form of a screenshot of the creators of the cosmetic, map, taunt, etc. in question confirming it (regardless of it being a community-created or Valve-created item).

Examples:

Good trivia: Bill's Hat has its own intricate back-story, which reads as follows: "While conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's Hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe." (From Bill's Hat)
Explanation: This item is a hard fact about the history of Bill's Hat. The claims made by this item come from an external website - the TF2 Official Website in this case. Because the information is readily available and linked to, anyone can independently verify that the item is indeed factual. (Note: Within the page itself, the citation is placed between <ref> </ref> tags so that it appears in the References section at the bottom of the page.)

Poor trivia: The Heavy's boxing related items (Killing Gloves of Boxing, Gloves of Running Urgently and Pugilist's Protector) may be a reference to the similarities between him and Russian heavyweight boxer Nikolai Valuev (Removed from Heavy)
Explanation: While it is possible that the Heavy's boxing paraphernalia reference the boxer Nikolai Valuev, there is an equal chance that they reference any other Russian boxer, or no single boxer in particular. This item is entirely a guess and an assumption of Valve's intentions. While the fact that Nikolai Valuev being a Russian boxer is referenced via a link to Wikipedia, the trivia itself is not based in fact.

• Trivia items should be about released content for Team Fortress 2; meaning that changes during development, including any Workshop intention to submit items as a set (especially items that were not released) or any name changes do not need to be reported to the Wiki. This is a different thing altogether from permitted citing of the Workshop to support a statement that an item references some subject.

What is not trivia?

Trivia items should not be obvious to anyone who has played Team Fortress 2 for a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, "obvious" may have a subjective definition as veteran players may have a different opinion on what is obvious compared to novice players. Something that is inevitably discovered simply by playing the game or casually studying the subject in question should be considered "obvious", and thus not trivia.

Examples:

Good trivia: The Pyro has the same voice for English, German, Spanish, French, and Russian versions of Team Fortress 2. (From Pyro)
Explanation: This trivia is not considered obvious since most players will likely only ever play the game in one language. No matter how long they play, they could never discover this fact since they will only ever hear their language's version of the Pyro, and never make the connection to another language.

Poor trivia: The fez may exist from Turkish countries. (Removed from Familiar Fez)
Explanation: This trivia is non-specific and neglects other places where a fez may be worn e.g. Syria. However, where it is worn is subjective and it is irrelevant towards contributing meaningful information about the Familiar Fez itself.

• Trivia should not state how a characteristic of an item relates to the characteristics of others. This includes, but is not limited to, listing other items that share a certain characteristic, listing items that do not share a certain characteristic, stating that an item is the first or only item to have a certain characteristic, etc. Often, this will be in the form of "Only 'X' of 'Y' have this feature.", "This is the first 'X' to ...", "This is the only 'X' to…", or "This is one of 'N' 'X's to...".

Examples:

Poor trivia: Currently, this is the only hat, besides the Polycount Pack hats, which has its own blueprint. (Removed from Bonk Helm)
Explanation: It should not be stated that the Bonk Helm is the only craftable hat. Not only is it unfair and unnecessary to exclude the hats that are part of a set, but this information is also essentially embodied by the fact that it has a crafting blueprint visible on the page whereas most other hats do not.

Poor trivia: This is one of three 'hatless' hats, with the others being Texas Slim's Dome Shine and Baseball Bill's Sports Shine. (Removed from Ritzy Rick's Hair Fixative)
Explanation: It is not necessary to list every "hatless" hat as they are all visible on the Wiki. This item was nothing more than simple counting.

• Trivia should not be about references made by signs on a map. While some sign references are notable as signatures or tributes, signs commonly appear on multiple maps. Therefore, stating the reference in each map's trivia is not suitable. This issue was long ago addressed by List of signs and List of companies. Where any sign makes a reference, the procedure is to upload the sign from the game files and add it to either List of signs or List of companies, as appropriate. This does not apply to posters or signs that are specifically made for a specific community map. See also: Misplaced.

• Trivia should not be a bug or glitch with the item, especially if it is not noteworthy such as a visual glitch or a quickly-patched bug. Any noteworthy bugs should instead be placed in the Bugs section of the page (if there is one) or on the Glitch or Exploit pages on the Wiki. Trivia should be about the item addressed within the page, not the mistakes the developers made in the implementation. If it is a statement on the way an item once functioned, then it should be placed in the Previous changes section of that page. See also: Misplaced.

Example:

Poor trivia: There is a Glitch when you hold R {to reload the weapon} and shoot, it does part of the reloading and shooting at the same time. (Removed from Shortstop)
Explanation: This is a very minor visual bug and not worth mentioning in the article itself.

• Trivia should not be information available in the infobox nor information that should be or already is better covered elsewhere on the page or the wiki. Other examples would be details of weapon mechanics or cosmetic appearences, which should be covered in the lead section.

Example:

Poor trivia: This item does not have a kill-icon related to the item. (Removed from Frying Pan)
Explanation: The kill icon for the Frying Pan is already plainly visible in the infobox on the right-hand side of the page. This trivia merely restates what is depicted in the infobox.

• Trivia should not be a simple observation of the item. If it can be deduced by simply looking at the item, then it is not trivia. This includes, but is not limited to, descriptions of the item, resemblances the item has to something, or comments on the in-game appearance of the item. (The lead section is a place where literal descriptions are tolerated, but not necessarily appreciated.)

Examples:

Poor trivia: If you paint the Hound Dog with the Australium Gold Paint Can, the Heavy sort of coincidentally resembles Johnny Bravo. (Removed from Hound Dog)
Explanation: The visual similarity between the painted Hound Dog and the cartoon character Johnny Bravo is only of interest to readers familiar with that cartoon character. Since the visual similarity was not intentional, it is not interesting or relevant to any other reader. The similarity is also made obvious by the available image of the painted Hound Dog on the page. Commenting on what can easily be seen is not necessary.

Poor trivia: If the player decides to paint the "Master's Yellow Belt" with the paint "A Distinctive Lack of Hue" the player's "Master's Yellow Belt" would look very similar to a stereotypical ninja's black headband. (Removed from Master's Yellow Belt)
Explanation: This item states the obvious: that painting the hat black will make it black. This is again easily seen in the images of the painted hat in the page itself. Any similarities that the painted hat has to another object can easily be drawn by the reader.

Poor trivia: The Festive variant projectile features a name tag on the tail of the arrow with "Merry Smissmas -Sniper" written on it. (Removed from Huntsman)
Explanation: This is obvious to anyone who is curious about the the jigglebone tag on the Festive arrows. The fact was also covered elsewhere (in the Gallery).

• Trivia should not be an assessment of an item's worth. An item's perceived value in a trade is entirely subject to the opinions of those involved in a trade. This also includes an item's supposed value in real-world currency. Regardless of how much an item has gone for at one point, it in no way is directly associated with the item's creator or the reason for the item's distribution, and therefore is not noteworthy in the slightest.

Example:

Poor trivia: This is one of the rarest hats in the game, it is sought after by many collectors and can go for as high as 8-9 hats. (Removed from Max's Severed Head)
Explanation: This item implies a specific value for Max's Severed Head and that it is more valuable than others. This is only true and only of interest to those who agree with the assessment. There may be those who dislike the hat and would not trade for it at all. The subjective nature of this item means that it is not trivia.

• Changes to an item or any other game element after release are not Trivia; because the complete changes are reported in the Update history sections and notable changes are discussed in Update pages.

Example:

Poor trivia: During the introduction of the weapon during the Über Update, the Soda Popper could originally unleash mini critical hits when the HYPE meter is full, since the Crit-a-Cola was strapped to it. However, since the December 20, 2013 patch, it has been replaced with extra jumps and defeats the purpose of the strapped Crit-a-Cola. (Removed from Soda Popper)
Explanation: While it is true that the Soda Popper used to give mini-crits, the changes are already listed in the Update history section.

Trivia should not be solely about the community's perception of the subject. Things like popularity, common nicknames, and community fads are the community's response to the subject, and do not affect the subject itself. This is distinct from the situation of acceptable Trivia in which community response has influenced the subject.

Examples:

Good trivia: The Insult That Made a "Jarate Master" Out of Sniper marked the first appearance of Saxton Hale. At the time, Saxton Hale was a one-shot gag, but later proved popular with the community and became a notable figure related to Team Fortress 2. (From Comics)
Explanation: In this instance, the community's reception of Saxton Hale had a direct impact on his role and on the Team Fortress 2 lore.

Poor trivia: This cosmetic is know one of the most popular cosmetic in the community just because how cursed it looks.^(sic) (Removed from BINOCULUS!)
Explanation: The item's popularity among the community has not affected it or the game in any way. Note that the amount of usage of a cosmetic is not a notable impact, if any associated fads rise up they should be covered on the community fads page.

Trivia should not be about the item's Workshop page. Trivia about promotional images on the Workshop, the publicity blurb on the Workshop, or the name it was submitted with to the Workshop are not valid Trivia as they are not an official part of the game.

Example:

Poor trivia: Alcoholic Automaton's publicity blurb is translate to "We did it, mate!" (Removed from Alcoholic Automaton)

Trivia should not be a comparison to an item's real-life counterpart. Trivia about items that are purely about a real-life lookalike is not valid Trivia, in the past this has gotten quite controversial and has been constantly changed to a slightly different variant of said item/object. General item types (such as "shotgun", "vehicle", or "gas mask" ) are fine and should be in the intro.

Trivia should not be about a community mod/game/server featuring content. Often, community mods, servers, or standalone games will feature cut content, maps, or items made for or added to Team Fortress 2 in them. How these entities use this content is not valid Trivia, because this is not related to Team Fortress 2 or the item but only to the entities using them and often just look like advertising (usually, this Trivia falls under XofY too). This is different from appearances in unrelated games, or games with a promotion with Team Fortress 2.

Example:

Good trivia: The Soldier's Sparkplug makes an appearance in an easter egg in the game The Stanley Parable. Typing "hideous" into the game's console can randomly load this page [...]
Explanation: This Trivia is about another game referencing the Wiki page specifically.

Poor trivia: The Revolver Sniper Rifle appears as a weapon in Team Fortress 2 Classic, a fan-made game that includes many of Team Fortress 2's scrapped weapons.
Explanation: This Trivia is not related to the cut Sniper weapon, but only on how a Source mod has used it. This Trivia is also XofY, as it relates how this particular scrapped weapon is used in a mod (this is one of the X added to Y).

What if I created it?

If you created, or helped create, the item, map, taunt, etc., see this page on how to get verified to add Trivia to the pages of your creations. Note that these are still subject to the Trivia guidelines, remember to include "I am the item creator" in the edit summary when doing so.

See also

• Style guide
• Trivia Wall of Shame