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Wikipedia:WikiProject Magic

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
  • 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

The project generally considers any article related to magic as a performance art to be within 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

The 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

The 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

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The 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.

Types of article

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Main articles

These are articles that give a broad overview of the whole subject area. They help to define the project. They include:

General magic topics

These 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:

Magician biographies

Hopefully 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.
Magic tricks

These 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

All articles within this section should be put in the main category - Category:Magic publications, whether or not they are also placed in sub-categories.

Magic organisations
  • This includes Magic clubs - (need to merge these categories + re-categorise articles)
Television shows

Articles on notable magic shows. These should be placed in Category:Television_magic_shows

Branches of magic

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Branches 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")
Sub-types within "Close-up"
  • "Coin magic"

Parentage

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The part of the project that relates to magicians is a child of WikiProject Biography

Descendant WikiProjects

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Currently there are no descendant projects.

Participants

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  1. Mgm|(talk) (founder)
  2. — Asbestos | Talk (can contribute a little on Coin magic)
  3. ~ Lewis1350 (talk) | (@) -- I'll try to contribute however I can. I'm interested in magic, so I should be able to get some information.
  4. filx | talk
  5. LegendsEnd (talk) | (@) -- Contributing to card flourish. Currently created list of flourishes and explained Card Spring.
  6. MagicValentina (talk) | (@) -- Contributing to List of magic effects. Have currently created entries on The Pass, Cups and Balls, The Thumb Tip, and The Square Circle. I've started the Wiki list of conjuring terms. I'm an experienced magician and I passionately believe in the Wiki ideals of open knowledge. I'm not a member of SAM, IBM or any restrictive organisation, so I'm free to contribute to the knowledge pool as required by Project Magic needs.
  7. Tiksustoo 01:01, 21 November 2005 (UTC) I have been assiduously editing just about every item on list of magicians. I am a 'highly knowledgeable' amateur but want to contribute my skills as a wordsmith and editor. Please go check out my edits (and Afds i have put up!). I am however getting magic fatigue or withdrawal fever on account of the truly awful pages I have tried to wikify. I was on the point of calling it a day but thought I should log in for solidarity.[reply]
  8. Krash (talk) Might as well list myself here after all this time. History of tricks, magicians. Blatant exposition of effects. Sorting/categorizing/formatting. Obsessed with notability, cruft and deletionism.
  9. Kingofspades (@) -- I'm an experienced Magician who has a great knowledge of Card Magic. I intend to contribute anyway I can really, in the hope of improving all the magic related pages on Wikipedia, especially those concerning card magic and sleight of hand.
  10. Tennessee Wood
  11. Deadferrets
  12. Wootking
  13. Elonka - magic conventions, living magician bios, and deleting non-notable bios
  14. 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.
  15. 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[reply]
  16. DTGardner
  17. User:GTrendall I might be able to help on card magic

Special Guidelines

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Magic Methods and Exposure

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The 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

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If 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

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Because 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. 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

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If 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.

Resources

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Project Templates

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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...

WikiProject iconMagic Unassessed
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Magic, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of magic on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MagicWikipedia:WikiProject MagicTemplate:WikiProject MagicMagic articles
???This article has not yet received a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.



The code {{Magicbox}} is placed at the bottom of each article. It produces a box that looks like this...
{{Magicbox}}



The code {{Magic-spoiler}} is used to create a warning message ahead of any content that might explain information that some people might regard as secret or as likely to spoil the enjoyment of a trick if it were known to audience members. It produces a heading that looks like this...
{{Magic-spoiler}}


The code {{magic-stub}} is used to indicate stub articles within the project. It produces a footnote that looks like this...

Current tasks

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List of Open Tasks

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WikiProject: Magic

(edit or discuss this box)



[[Category:WikiProject Performing arts|Magic]]

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