I think the best policy to have here would be that one-off pronoun references should be in the infobox, if that usage is from a character or other entity that would conceivably know the character's pronouns (including narration, menus, etc.), unless the text is generally used to refer to many different characters.[1] However, if a character is overwhelmingly referred by a particular pronoun, the number of references in the infobox should reflect that (e.g., Ralsei would have 2 or 3 he/him refs next to the singular ref for they/them).
I based this proposal off of these principles, which I think seem reasonable:
- "But its name wasn't YELLOW..." (or similar generic battle text) shouldn't put "it/its" into the infoboxes of every character that is ever battled.
- Some they/them uses are purely to signify that the speaker is unfamiliar with the subject, and do not signify that the subject uses those pronouns in any capacity (and thus are not relevant).[2]
- However, other usages of pronouns from speakers familiar with the subject,[3] including one-offs, are pronouns used to refer to the subject—even if they aren't commonly used, the wiki should present the fact that they are used.
- Although, the wiki should make clear which pronouns are commonly used and which are not, to prevent giving WP:UNDUE weight to one-offs.
e.g., "<PARTY MEMBER> spared <X>! But its name wasn't YELLOW..." ↩︎
such as:
"Who's Alphys? No idea who you're talking about.
... Why, did they do something illegal!?
Gotcha, if I see "Alphys," I'll tackle 'em!!
Fuhuhuhu!! They're as good as dead!!" — Undyne, Chapter 1
or
"Can we make them a bad guy?" — Lancer, referring about Noelle, Chapter 2
or all of Asgore's dialogue about Ralsei at the Dark Fountain at the end of Chapter 5 ↩︎which includes the game's narration ↩︎