Talk:Discworld (world)

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[edit] Dragons??

Correct me if am am wrong, but offically the only dragons in discworld are swamp draons, and the dragons rincewind visted are not techniacally of the discworld, but of some parrell dragon world, or some such?Oxinabox1 10:12, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

According to the Discworld Companion, the noble dragons from TCoM originated on the Discworld during the Mage Wars but left for another dimension, that of the human imagination. Since they're barely referred to in this article, it doesn't need to be an issue, IMO. (BTW, please add new topics to the bottom of talk pages, not to the top) Vashti 17:18, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
Oh sorry, i didn't no that convention (ui've only just stated,) thanks for inorming me,

and also this artical isn't really about the place, discworld but the series right?Oxinabox1 11:40, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I guess you're wrong... Discworld (world) is the title! --80.242.32.51 09:20, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Physics and environment

Shouldn't we mention such aspect of the DW as the light/meta-light/dark concept and the absurdly-but-necessarily complex system of days and years described in TCOM? Especially since they've been referred to in the last few novels more than usual... or is there already a page for this? Tyrhinis 21:43, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

There is a page on the Discworld calendar, but I don't think there's much information about ideas like "dark light" and "anti-crime" and "pork futures" etc. It might be interesting to explain it. Serendipodous 10:52, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Discworld locations

Could I ask people to take a look at this page and see what they think of the recent change of making every location a link?

I disagree with it as I feel it makes the page look ugly, most of the locations referenced are done so in such a brief referenece as to never deserve an article, and the user who linked everything made no attempt to make sure the links were relevant - see [[Razorback]], [[Bugs]], [[Eskrow]], [[Brindisi]], [[Kom]] and many more. --Neo 09:49, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Magic (Discworld)

I really think this article should be merged with that one. You cannot give an overview of the Discworld without mentioning its standing magical field, the law of narrative causality and the power of belief.-Serendipodous 11:58, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

I don't believe that a merger would be a good idea, just that a summary should be written here (there is already a blank section ready for it). violet/riga (t) 10:26, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Revisions

I've just completed a revision of this article that I hope will make it more readable and accessible. I haven't added or taken away anything, but I've shifted some of the sections around and added some new titles. The information was a bit scattered before, now I hope it's better organised. Serendipodous 19:38, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copying?

This is obviously a very tricky matter, but a lot of the article reads like it was copied or lightly paraphrased from The Discworld Companion. Now obviously it's hard to describe the Discworld without using some of the words from the novels, but is it possible to do it in a way that feels more like a study of the books than a cut-and-paste? Confusing Manifestation 17:08, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Could you point out which sections you feel are paraphrasing the Companion? Serendipodous 20:40, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] map?

Nice idea, but apparently, even linking to an online map is not permitted, since it would violate copyright. I suppose someone could design their own map, but that might violate copyright also.Serendipodous 07:55, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

i don't know about image copy right but in graphic modeling (computer mesh and texture programing) it doesn't breech copy right if it is 'scratch' built, as in there wasa not direct copy and pastes etc. Oxinabox1 11:42, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merging

This article has been created from information taken from the following articles: Discworld, Sto Plains, Ramtops, Überwald, Borogravia, Counterweight Continent, Klatch, Circle Sea, Great A'Tuin. It needs work and the general idea is:

  • to have this as the central point of reference for the Discworld itself
  • the Discworld article being about the books and plays (etc.)
  • the country articles redirecting here
  • individual cities or aspects (Ankh-Morpork, Clacks for example) to have their own articles where such an article would be large enough

I haven't removed the content of the above articles (except Discworld) yet but plan to shortly, assuming there is no large objection to this process. violet/riga (t) 21:07, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I've chopped back all the continent/country information here and left it to the main articles - I think they're all worthy of their own articles and this one should just tie them together. violet/riga (t) 19:34, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
OK; I've merged "The Sto Plains", "The Circle Sea," and "The Hub" with this article, since they are essentially duplications. All information in those articles that was not in this article has been shifted here. I've also included "The Ramtops", "Klatch", "Howandaland" and "The Counterweight Continent", since they were, I think, short enough to be made into subsections. The other locations have articles of their own detailed enough to stand. I'm debating whether or not to merge "The Discworld Calendar" with this article as well. Serendipodous 10:48, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
Since every other Discworld continent now directs to this article, I feel it is right that the FourEcks article, even though it is relatively large, should also Serendipodous 13:07, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
I've just merged "Discworld calendar" and some of "Magic (Discworld)" with this article. I know this article is getting very large but there are a gargantuan number of Discowrld articles on this site, many of which I've only discovered since I began merging all the smaller ones. I think the Discworld needs a few portals to make some of these lesser known articles accessible. Serendipodous 07:55, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] End of the world

Methinks it would be worth it to mention somewhere that the end of the universe will be followed shortly by the beginning of the universe, or at least of a new one (as seen in the sequence when Death waits for this at the end of time in Faust Eric and implied by Azriel's thoughts, "I remember when all this will be again" in Reaper Man). Any thoughts on where this ought to be put? —Yar Kramer 14:43, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Great A'Tuin

I seem to recall as a kid learning about a myth about the Earth being held on the back of elephants, which in turn are on the back of a turtle. When I first was introduced to Discworld, I thought Prattchet had used that ancient myth as the basis of his novels. However, the only myth I could find that was similar was an Iroquois myth that had the earth on the back of a turtle. I have yet to find a myth that has both the turtle and elephants. I thought that perhaps I was just confusing Discworld with this myth, but this article indicates that it was in "reference to popular mythology." Can anyone help me out here? What was the myth? If it exists, it should be mentioned in the article.

-- Fogelmatrix 16:10, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

From a lecture on early cosmologies:[1]

Brahmin World Mountain, resting on the back of elephants, themselves on the back of a giant turtle swimming in an infinite sea.

OK. I found an authoritative reference to it in Brewers: [2]

The Tortoise which Supports the Earth is Chukwa; the elephant (between the tortoise and the world) is Maha-pudma.

This would suggest that it is of Hindu origin. Perhaps "Hindu" rather than "popular" is a better descriptor.

Serendipodous 15:47, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

I found something similar to this, mentioned by Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, in one of his lectures ("The Value of Science"). He says: "For instance, how much more remarkable it is for us all to be stuck - half of us upside down - by a mysterious attraction to a spinning ball that has been swinging in space for billions of years than to be carried on the back of an elephant supported on a tortoise swimming in a bottomless sea." See more of this speech at http://www.phys.washington.edu/users/vladi/phys216/Feynman.html

69.140.123.125 02:57, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

The story I heard was in one of the discworld books and involved a lecture given by George Bernard Shaw and a woman who believed it was 'turtles all the way down'

86.130.220.45 19:28, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] moving geography stuff

Would anyone mind if I merged "List of Discworld locations" with the geography section of this article into a new article called "Discworld geography" (or something). That way the main article would become a bit more managable without increasing the number of Discworld articles.

Sounds OK to me. Serendipodous 01:43, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dung beetles?

"A'Tuin is also orbited by a number of small "planets" made from the droppings of the elephants by giant dung beetles." I don't remember this bit - where's it from? It does seem Pratchetty. Mon Vier 13:04, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

The Last Hero. Leonard compares it to the Dhelibeybian (i.e. Egyption) myth of the Sun being pushed by a scarab beetle. Daibhid C 13:03, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Neo-liberal science"

"The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels, although some hold to it as more real than neoliberal-'scientific' ideas of reality."

...uh, what? Is this something mentioned in a book I haven't read (possibly the Science of the Discworld), or is it some fundamentalist Christian taking a swing at geologists who say the Earth is more than 10, 000 years old? 58.7.224.214 04:02, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

6000, but, uh, yeah. I think we need to do some reverting. —Yar Kramer 04:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] In-universe

To the editors who keep putting an "in universe" tag on this page: Of course this article is in-universe. So is pretty much every Discworld-related article on this site. The only way to deal with the problem is to nominate every Discworld-related article on this site for deletion. But if you were to do that, you'd also have to do it to every nearly every Harry Potter-related article, nearly every Star Wars-related article, nearly every Star Trek-related article, and nearly every Dune-related article. So unless you're willing to go the whole hog, bite the bullet and stop being pedantic.Serendipodous 06:30, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

If you actually read the article, frequent comparisons or references to the real world (unless your arguing their to roundworld) are not in universe, and the into is one of the least in universe I've seen! For the most part where it appears to be discussed in-universe it is on the grounds of the information reviled to readers, for example no-one, on the disc (or probably Prachett himself) knows the sex of Great A'Tuin. --Nate1481( t/c) 10:40, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
Haha, the article here says "Roundworld," completely in universe. To avoid in universe style try reading WP:WAF, find people in the real world who have written about this topic and use them as sources. It's not pedantic, it's required by Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. As is, this article is really just fanboy nonsense, with utterly no relevance in the real world. There is a such thing as a good article about fiction and this isn't it. IvoShandor (talk) 00:27, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
Not too mention the fact that if "editors keep adding" the in universe tag, don't you think that it means there is a problem here. Removing it and declaring that they are wrong really does little to improve this article, which has no real references to much of the material. How do I know it's true? Because you say so? Doesn't cut it. I would suggest thinking again before you summarily dismiss the concerns of others. IvoShandor (talk) 00:31, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
Not that I really care that much, but there is a trend on Wikipedia to eliminate pop culture articles that are written in universe, or without sources. I only came to this page because I watched Hogfather on Ion last night. IvoShandor (talk) 10:36, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

(unindent)I would also point out that this statement: But if you were to do that, you'd also have to do it to every nearly every Harry Potter-related article, nearly every Star Wars-related article, nearly every Star Trek-related article, and nearly every Dune-related article. So unless you're willing to go the whole hog, bite the bullet and stop being pedantic really is a logical fallacy. The status of this article has nothing to do with the status of other articles and vice versa. IvoShandor (talk) 10:39, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

If we're going to point out logical fallacies, it's not pedantic, it's required by Wikipedia's policies and guidelines is also a howler. Some of Wikipedia's guidelines plumb the depths of pedantry, Mr. Shandor, but that aside, I tend to agree with your general point. I've read some of the books, and many of the details are throwaway jokes. They're mentioned once and have no effect on the rest of the story or any other story. They seem to be of limited use in Wikipedia. Including them out of context without the accompanying joke is especially unforgivable. Well, just saying. --192.75.48.150 (talk) 14:48, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Howl away, the fact of the matter is, any encyclopedia must have some kind of references. Say what you want about Wikipedia policies and guidelines, they are open to discussion, and I suppose problems with them should be brought up there, though they are hard to change. But honestly, if you want an article to stand in Wikipedia, which I assume the authors here do, then it has to follow Wikipedia policies and guidelines. Not doing so would be like telling any other publication to shove their publication guidelines, because "I am gonna do what I want." Seriously, if any of the guidelines and policies are good, the one that requires authors to attribute their information is it. IvoShandor (talk) 15:21, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

As an added note, the show I watched last night intrigued me, not to be off topic but I may actually read some of the novels now. IvoShandor (talk) 15:23, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
And as I said, I am not that concerned with this, but I found the idea of Discworld interesting and came here, because even if it is unreferenced, at least I can find out something about it. I have seen a lot of pop culture deletions, many because of lack of sources, or lack of real world sources. Surely someone has written about the Discworld series in the real world. And, yes, while some policies and guidelines are pedantic (parts of the MOS comes to mind) several of them are nothing more than common sense, including some of the key ones. IvoShandor (talk) 15:28, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

(unindent)Also, I hope I am not coming off like a jerk, I am trying not to. IvoShandor (talk) 15:29, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seasons on the Rim

Technically, the fact that the Disc's sun, like Earth's, passes from solstice to equinox once a year should mean that the Rim would be alternately scorched desert and frozen wasteland rather than the balmy tropical region it is presented as, and the seasons generally would be significantly more pronounced than on Earth. It has been theorised that the standing magical field equalises the sun's energy across the Rim (the "slow light phenomenon").

Removed. Minus two points for dull pedantry and unfunny explanation. --192.75.48.150 (talk) 18:56, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:TheDiscworld.jpg

Image:TheDiscworld.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 19:58, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Making Terry Pratchett a Featured Article

This is a call to arms to make the Terry Pratchett article a Featured Article. It will greatly help the cause if all the side articles that link from it are of a reasonable standard. Terry Pratchett has around 40 side articles (ie the ones relating to his work) - I don't think they are all expected to be GA (Good Article) standard for TP to become featured, but certain basic elements will be looked at for sure.

A full list of the sub articles is here on the TP talk page: I'm posting this comment on the talk pages of each article on the list. Editors reading may also like to help with the TP article too?

The main issue, especially with smaller articles, is often a finding reasonable amount of citations, and prose can sometimes be a little POV too. Coverage of the topic is probably less important, but of course it needs to be reasonably good. --Matt Lewis (talk) 15:04, 28 January 2008 (UTC)