It seems to me that when you create a common article for minor characters, it would be useful to keep the categories within the redirects so the names would continue to show up in each category. Its not always obvious if someone is minor or not and could cause confusion if the name is not in the story category. Also, the other classifications (such as soldiers, occupations, nationalities, etc.) should continue to have the individual names in them. What do you think? ML4E 21:14, June 2, 2011 (UTC)

I see no disadvantages to such a system, so I'd have no objection to implementing it. TR 21:40, June 2, 2011 (UTC)

I feel the same way as ML4E.

By the way I'm traveling this week so you might see a little less of me than usual until Sunday night. Try to contain your overwhelming sense of relief. Turtle Fan 01:56, June 3, 2011 (UTC)

There we go. Not having read any of the books, I just put the original categories back into the re-direct files. If you think of any others, then feel free to add them.

Hope you have a pleasant trip TF. Business or personal? ML4E 19:05, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

Personal. Meeting my brother as he returns from Afghanistan. I think he was a good deal more excited about his fiancee being here, though. Turtle Fan 01:04, June 5, 2011 (UTC)

Definition of MinorEdit

Gerhard Elsner makes me wonder about rules of thumb for determining who should be considered "minor". One scene individuals should, obviously, but Elsner appears only twice in HW. Now Saul Goldman's first tank commander doesn't have much more than that but his significance to the story and/or the character would negate him being considered minor. So where should Elsner fit? ML4E (talk) 22:12, July 17, 2012 (UTC)

At this stage, he's probably minor, but since we still have three books to go, and HT has pulled even more obscure characters forward, I'm ok with just leaving him be as an article. He might strangle Hitler to death or something. TR (talk) 22:43, July 17, 2012 (UTC)

So in future, if someone appears only twice in one book and doesn't do anything significant w.r.t. the plot, then class them as minor? ML4E (talk) 17:43, July 19, 2012 (UTC)

That would be my recommendation. When the series is an ongoing one, we might favor article creation pending future volumes. TR (talk) 21:19, July 19, 2012 (UTC)

Further to this discussion, I'm wondering if, for instance, Don Griffiths had enough scenes with Pound that he might not be a minor minor character. While not a major secondary character, he did first appears as a replacement for the wounded barrel commander towards the later part of DTtE and continued in "Grapple" for the first 120 pages. Thoughts? ML4E (talk) 20:33, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

Ok, my initial searches in Amazon didn't show he was in DttE. I'd certainly not object to restoring the article based on that. TR (talk) 23:24, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

I haven't actually checked the book but that is my recollection. He probably should be restored to a separate article. I also wonder about Max Fleischmann. As I recall, he appeared almost every time Flora came to the Party offices which would be most scenes in the early GW books and election day subsequent to her election to congress. His son not so much.

My searches on Max had him in AF, WiH and B&I.  He appeared on page less than 20 total pages.  So I'm comfortable with him being minor for the moment.  TR (talk) 20:15, March 6, 2013 (UTC)

That's all? My recollection was for more than that but if not then so be it. ML4E (talk) 00:20, March 8, 2013 (UTC)

More generally, I also wonder about Tim (Supervolcano). He has only two scenes and is mentioned in a couple of others, but his effects on Marshall and especially Colin might make him worthy of a separate article too. I haven't found anything much on what the criteria should be except for this Talk:Squidface Giacopelli where the idea of "Minor Characters" was first broached. ML4E (talk) 18:09, March 6, 2013 (UTC)

Tim may be important by next volume, but he seems to be a basic plot device right now, an important one, but he's still not terribly well developed beyond being the guy who inadvertently brings about the capture of a serial killer. I'm ok with leaving him in minor characters. TR (talk) 20:15, March 6, 2013 (UTC)

I expected the same for JerWilliam Ellis in AFD but he was not mentioned once. The way the series is progressing, I now expect no mention of Tim at all in the next book. ML4E (talk) 00:20, March 8, 2013 (UTC)