Template talk:Did You Know

Policy
How often should the did-you-knows be refreshed? We have enough for the next revision. I suggest two weeks, or alternatively one week, but question is if w can keep that up. In any case, some form of policy would be nice. My suggestion: -- Redge 14:43, 22 Jul 2004 (CEST)
 * Anyone may suggest didyouknows.
 * Registered members may edit the active didyouknows for spelling and links.
 * Admins may replace the active didyouknows after the period has expired.

Also an important rule is to archive old DYK's (see archive link above), so DYK's are not used twice. -- Redge | Talk 16:04, 16 Aug 2004 (CEST)


 * On this note, I would suggest the current apparent pattern of once or twice a month should be sufficient. After all, these are a lot harder to come up with than things for the Article of the Week. -- Michael Warren | Talk 22:01, Aug 20, 2004 (CEST)


 * OK, this is terribly outdated, but seeing that we don't have any official policy on this, the fact that this template is deliberately unprotected and the fact that I saw this discussed somewhere in the last days. I don't think there's any good reason why there should be any restrictions on editing this template. If someone (whether logged in or not) makes a good edit, we'll keep it. If he vandalizes the page, we'll revert.


 * Much more important than that would be some rule about what to put here, I think. Can we agree on taking trivia that actually is taken from the articles instead of something that can't be found anywhere else on MA? -- Cid Highwind 20:17, 7 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Trying to bring some attention to this again:
 * Do we really need a complicated policy on when to add which of the suggestions?
 * Do we need suggestions at all?
 * Do we want to include information that can't be found on the article the DYK links to?
 * Do we really need an archive?
 * IMO, the answer to all of the above is "No". As I see it, the DYK feature is some sort of advertisement for the diverse and detailed content of MA. As such, it should be updated frequently, not only once or twice a month - and of course, information presented on the main page should be information taken from the article, not something somebody thought of just for the DYK. Following that, if the information is already available in the articles, there's no real need to archive it - having information twice on the DYK seems unlikely, and even if it happens, it doesn't really hurt.


 * So, my suggestion would be to add a comment to the template, stating that it should be updated not more than once per day, and that with each update, one information should be added to the top, and one should be removed from the bottom. Also, information added here should be from one of the articles, and that article should be linked somehow. I also think we should restrict ourselves to five entries. Any comments? -- Cid Highwind 09:57, 30 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Regarding the last point, the archive: In MA/de we have the template itself work as an archive, because we use the format template/week: de:Vorlage:Schon gewusst/. Woche and the de:Vorlage:Schon gewusst then includes all the 53 templates of a year -- Kobi - (   ) 11:03, 30 March 2006 (UTC)


 * That's nice. It removes the necessity to edit the template weekly, while at the same time making it possible to see and edit all future DYKs. I also like the fact that there aren't more than 2-3 entries per week, which makes that section less crowded. -- Cid Highwind 14:35, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Addition: I set up something like that on "Template:Did You Know/temp". Maybe we can put that to use... -- Cid Highwind 08:24, 31 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I have a competing idea of how this should be handled. It's called DYKBot. Comments appreciated. --Bp 09:03, 31 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I moved the suggestion to this template page. Let's now try to fill up the remaining templates with relevant information... -- Cid Highwind 23:11, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Requests

 * What episode has the most guest stars? -- Tough Little Ship 19:41, 6 Aug 2005 (UTC)


 * Didn't Levar, Patrick, Brent and Jonathan form a band of some sort (I remember reading that here at MA). I never knew that. It would make a nice did-you know as well. Redge 16:36, 4 Jul 2004 (CEST)
 * Found it, it was referenced in Brent Spiner. The band is called 'The Sunspots'. Could anyone make a DidYouKnow about this (and possibly even an article)? -- Redge 23:15, 27 Jul 2004 (CEST)

November 5th, 2004
In, Rom says he has to "go to waste extraction". That's a toilet reference, isn't it? -- s.k.

October 28th, 2004
Sorry, I had to change the quote to match the English version of FC, "take a leak" (at least I assume the movie dialogue matched the familiar American English idiom.

A question: What's the meaning of "Used as an artwork for" for the Romeo/Last Battlefield statement? I'm just not getting it -- Captain Mike K. Bartel
 * i concur. my guess would be they reused the set, but they also could have had the big screen with the episode running in the background. clarification, please. --kamagurka 20:08, 28 Oct 2004 (CEST)

regarding the "toilet" DYK: in DS9's Jake Sisko quite clearly refers to one part of the lightship as the bathroom (albeit with some bafflement). And in Enterprises's, Reed makes a (rather stupid) toilet joke. so the entry is at the very least exaggerated. --kamagurka 19:56, 28 Oct 2004 (CEST)


 * Agreed on that, I already changed the line about toilets themselves, theres the brig toilet in Star Trek 5, and the supposed toilet in B'Elanna's quarters in one VGR episode -- Captain Mike K. Bartel


 * In, there is one point where you can see the toilet door on the bridge, over Captain Picard's shoulder whilst he's talking with Mendon. Zsingaya  Talk 20:51, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

August 16th, 2004
I moved the last 4 DYK's from MediaWiki:DidYouKnow:Temp. They were posted by BlueMars with this message:

I decided to post possible future Did you knows? here. Otherwise I would forget them again... ;-) Actually we could use this as a kind of pool, from which the best ones can be chosen, thereby enabling a more frequent update of the DYK?s.

Guess that's already taken care of. Now it's just a question of getting the rest of MA to find this page on their own. -- Redge | Talk 13:50, 16 Aug 2004 (CEST)

June 22nd, 2004
(moved from Portal talk:Main)

in my opinion the main page is not updated frequently enough. (update "did you know", article of the week is more like an article of the month) --BlueMars 19:25, Jun 22, 2004 (CEST)


 * I agree, no offence to the admins. Perhaps the rst of us can help you guys out? We could have the custom messages displayed on the front page unsecured. That way, experienced members will know their way to update the main page. If those changes aren't satisfatory, you can always roll back the changes.


 * Oh, I know. What about a meeting where each week on a set day and time we discus what did-you-knows, articles, pictures, etc. to put on the front page. All the admins would have to do, is put in those changes in the custom messages. -- Redge 21:00, 22 Jun 2004 (CEST)


 * Good, then let's create pages, where the users may propose "did you knows" and articles of the week, so the admins simply have to choose from there, which should accelerate the process of keeping the main page up to date. --BlueMars 21:44, Jun 22, 2004 (CEST)


 * BlueMars, you'd better clear your browser cache. The AotW has been updated every week so far.  I was only late once, and that was last week.  But it's been kept up to date.  I haven't updated the DYK yet, but that's just because I haven't had any ideas for really good trivia to replace it with.


 * At any rate, anyone's welcome to update the DYK at any time. You can find it at Template:Did You Know. :-) -- Dan Carlson 03:23, 23 Jun 2004 (CEST)


 * If we allow anyone to update that message at will, it will probably either become a mess, or be updated faster than we can read them. Why don't we just agree to update them every week at, let's say, saterday? -- Redge 09:58, 23 Jun 2004 (CEST)

Klingon Proverb
I just wanted to note that the "Klingon Proverb" also appeared in the movie Young Sherlock Holmes as well. Sherlock, himself, uttered the phrase to explain his "revenge" on Dudley, a student and rival that framed him and got him expelled from school.


 * Sure, you can write that the quotation in  Young Sherlock Holmes  might be inspired by STII:TWOK. Just so you know, since Klingons do not truly exist, the quotation is a translation of the French,  "C'est un repas mieux avec devoir être vieil utile de le venger comme long temps comme froid."  STII:TWOK and to a lesser extent, STVII:FC are  Moby Dick  with Khan and Picard as Ahab. — — Ŭalabio‽ 04:08, 17 Oct 2005 (UTC)


 * I'm sure many movies have used the phrase "Revenge is a dish best served cold," but only Kill Bill added the in-joke of it being an old Klingon proverb. It really isn't an old Klingon proverb, but director Quentin Tarantino used the reference to Star Trek II anyway b/c he is a huge movie buff and loves to put those sort of in-jokes and references into his movies (i.e. the yellow suit Uma Thurman wore was based on Bruce Lee's suit in Game of Death, etc.). --From Andoria with Love 07:35, 17 Oct 2005 (UTC)


 * Yes, I forgot that  Kill Bill  specifically references STII:TWOK. — — Ŭalabio‽ 02:26, 18 Oct 2005 (UTC)

UFP Emblem
Regarding this bit of trivia ; "...that originally, the three brightest stars on the emblem of the United Federation of Planets was going to represent Vulcan, Qo'noS, and Earth?"

Nope, sorry. Writers didn't invent Qo'noS until well after the emblem had been established.
 * Thank you for being overly semantic -- the stars were originally supposed to represent Earth, Vulcan and the Klingon homeworld. :P -- Captain M.K.B. 18:32, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

How could the Klingon homeworld possibly be one of the stars if it wasn't part of the Federation until after the emblem was made?


 * In early TNG, the writers hadn't decided if they wanted the Klingons to be Federation members or not. At some points they implied they were (and on the emblem) but eventually they decided against it. - AJ Halliwell 05:53, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Cast of TNG
Did you know that most of the cast of Startrek:TNG also were voice actors in Disney's Gargoyles? -In addition, Kate Mulgrew Would also provide her voice for several episodes, appropriatly as: "Titania".

Largest/Smallest guest cast?
What episodes have the largest/smallest guest cast? -- When it rains... it pours 15:13, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Earth Starfleet seal
I've added this to the entry for Starfleet (Earth):


 * ''The Latin phrase on the Earth Starfleet seal--"Ad Astra Per Aspera"--translates roughly as "to the stars through hardships". It's a modified version of the NASA version "Per Aspera Ad Astra" ("through hardships to the stars"). It is also the current-day state motto of Kansas.

Interesting, no?

njr75003 08:57, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

DidYouKnow/53
(moved from User talk:Sulfur)...

Hi Sulfur. I'm not sure why you commented out week 53 on that page, so I reverted you. A 53. week is possible in some cases, so we should have a template for that. Is there anything I'm missing? -- Cid Highwind 10:16, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Yah. Talk to Shran.  People keep creating week 53, and he keeps turfing it, so I temporarily commented it out of the initial template (rather than deleting it) to stop that from filling up the recent changes. :) -- Sulfur 12:36, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Somehow I thought that was the reason, lol! I kept turfing it because I thought it was not being used and also because the DYKs had not been brought up for suggestion (at least, I don't think they were...) --From Andoria with Love 12:38, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I see... In that case, let's continue the discussion on Template talk:Did You Know (section "Policy"). I'm still not sure we even need to have a complicated system of suggestions, votes,admin approval and archives while half of the templates are still empty. On the other hand, we shouldn't add anything to DYKs that isn't in some way from one of the article pages we have. But, as I said, let's continue on the template talk page (and feel free to move all this there). -- Cid Highwind 13:00, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Error in DYN for week of 2-3
another toilet was present in the Cell that Kirk, Spock and McCoy are in in ST:V. Kirk presses a button on the wall and it pops out, it is also labeled as such, although I do not remember the exact text.

Also in the Enterprise episode Observer Effect Hoshi runs into a room connected to decon and vomits in what is presumably a toilet.

---

Your "did you know ...that throughout the entire Star Trek universe there has only been one reference to a toilet" is missing the ENT episode, where Trip and Mayweather talk about showers. Trip says something like "Be glad I managed to install a toilet up here".

And in the Episode, Trip and Malcolm ask Mayweather why they are carying these wastebags and Mayweather sais "We carry out everything we bring in" followed by a disapproving glance from Trip and Malcolm, because Travis obviously is referring to... something that belongs in the toilet ;)

~ Trent _ Easton  ~ talk 07:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Margin of Error?
The DYN currently says that the phrase should be "SMALL margin of error". I disagree with this point. The Margin of Error, statistically speaking is the liklihood that an actual value will vary from an estimate. IE: If I see 100 people, and I ask ten of them if they are hungry - let's say 3 respond yes. I might estimate that 30 of the hundred people are actually hungry. If I have a SMALL margin of error, I would say "30 people, give or take 2 people", or 28-32 people. If I have a bigger margin of error, I would estimate "give or take 10 people", or 20-40 people. A big margin of error means leaving yourself more margin (a larger gap) in which you could error. If you guess that the number will be EXACTLY 30 people, you leave yourself NO margin of error. The only difference between the phrases "Margin for error" and "margin of error" that I can think of might be that margin FOR error would refer to a situation where someone gives you a direction: "you must throw exactly 5 out of 5 balls into the basket" - they are leaving you no margin for error (you have no margin in which you can error). Margin OF error is used for statistics estimates - If Worf estimates he will need 8-15 seconds to lock on, he has essentially (to simplify) said that it will take 11.5 seconds, with a margin of error of 3.5 seconds, which is what Riker refers to in his statement. As far as I know, that is not an error.

And to top it all off, even if Riker's statement is wrong, I don't personally think that kind of common error (even if it were an error - whether you claim it's a script error or just the character making an error) is worth mentioning in a Did you Notice column. TheHYPO 20:45, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

?
Am I the only one who realizes that the line that states that all 'Did you know' lines end with a question mark actually lacks a question mark?69.119.113.88 09:55, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Xindi
I'm pretty sure the DYN on the front page is possibly incorrect. "...that the Xindi and the Klingons have joined the Federation by the 26th century?" I think the line where Daniels says this was on the bridge of the Enterprise J, while fighting the Sphere Builders, amidst the ever widening (hence, not stopped, hence alternate future) Expanse. If the Expanse still exists... wouldn't that make it an alternate future, and not necessarily "canon" (at least in regards to whether they're part of the Federation in the 26st century)? I'm not positive of this, and I might have a fact or two misunderstood... so I'm not trying to say *I'M RIGHT*... I'm just raising a point.Hossrex 23:03, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Ridiculous Statement
It is ridiculous to say that "Archer IV" was named after Captain Archer before the producers of Star Trek: Enterprise thought of inventing the show. We are talking about 10 years before as well. Simply ridiculous nonsense to say that the planet is named after someone who was not yet imagined. --SebastianProoth 15:59, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * It was made canon by production artwork seen in . --OuroborosCobra talk 16:03, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Well if that is the case then I am partially wrong. However, it said it was named in honour of him, and it aired 11 years earlier. It should read more clearly "Because of clever Star Trek writers connecting loose minutia..." Just to be totally correct as it wasn't named in honour of him by the writers of "Yesterday's Enterprise"--SebastianProoth 16:14, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Duh. Obviously in the world of scripts and television it wasn't.  In the world of Trek though?  It was. Adding something like "Because of clever writers connecting minutia" is just wankish. -- Sulfur 16:19, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

That is the second inappropriate, immature comment you have made to me in ten minutes. I don't understand the source of your disrespect but it isn't deserved nor welcome. After examining your user page I see you are an admin here. I hope your attitude does not reflect the opinions and values of the other admins here at Memory-Alpha.--SebastianProoth 16:29, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Stop stating the obvious then. Yes, in the real world of television as such, there's obviously no way in hell that anyone could've predicted Enterprise.  But adding such a comment is still pretty wankish, and in itself utterly ridiculous. -- Sulfur 16:35, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Only one planet... canon?
Um... "...that only one among 43,000 planets in the Milky Way Galaxy supports intelligent life?" Just checking if this is stated anywhere on screen... Which one is it, by the way? Vulcan? -- Hoogamagoo 15:46, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It means "one out of 43,000", it is a ratio. 1:43000. --OuroborosCobra talk 15:55, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Er, yes. I'm afraid I was too subtle (trying to have fun rather than being to the point is a terrible habit I know, I'm trying to get better about it). Anyway, here's the hammer. It should read: "One out of every 43,000 planets...." or "One among every 43,000 planets...." in order to reflect that it is a ratio. Otherwise it is ambiguous and a wee bit sloppy. It's a tiny change that would make a significant improvement on a minor part of the page. I'd change it, but I'm afraid to touch anything on the main page. -- Hoogamagoo 19:58, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Characters Named for Roddenberry
The DYK that sates that there are four characters named for Roddenberry in ST canon (week 22) links to an article that lists five characters named for him. Can someone confirm this is an error? -- Wheatleya 12:31, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Mixed Entries
Is the policy of never mixing real-world and in-universe entries still relevant because I can see multiple DYK boxes that have broken this rule? Is it worth simply removing this stipulation? -- TrekFan Talk 19:18, January 22, 2011 (UTC)