Thinking about what I'm going to put in Sinestro's bio, I've been checking out some other character pages. And the controversies they've been causing.
I agree with the idea that the character pages should be blissfully short descriptions of the major events that a character has gone through. It's not necessary to write out every detail. Why? Because we've already done that. All of the details are already in our posts. And if someone wants or needs those details to interact with a character, all they have to do is read those old posts.
I can see why someone may want to put every detail in these bios. It's because we all put so much work into our characters, and we want that hard work to be seen and recognized. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't think it's necessary for these pages.
As an example of what I mean, I'm going to look at Aquaman's bio and offer some constructive criticism. And no, I'm not picking on trusty or joining in on the earlier discussion. The reason I chose Aquaman is because, once I saw how long his bio was, I thought to myself 'If I was new to the character, there would be no way in hell I'd read that. It's just too long'.
But I did read it, and here's what I found. There are a lot of facts in the bio. trusty has done a lot of great work on Aquaman and has given the character a lot of rich history. But most of that history, most of those details, aren't necessary for a summary bio. They made all of his posts great to read (trusty is the reason I actually give a damn about Aquaman now), but they don't fit into a summary. And that's what I think these bios should be: summaries of our character's major events.
I went through trusty's bio on Orin and tried to pick out the most important/major items. Here's what I got the bio down to:
Aquaman and Tempest return to Atlantis after defeating the Thirst, but not before a spell is placed on Mera. The two take on a quest for the Lady of the Lake so Orin can gain the power to save Mera. They succeed. Orin also makes a trip to reunite with his son Koryak.
Aquaman is warned by the Justice League that Darkseid is coming to Earth. He unites the Seven Lost Cities of Atlantis to build an army against Darkseids forces while Koryak learns a powerful summoning spell from the Lady of the Lake. When Darkseid attacks Washington DC without an army, Orin battles him. Tempest and Koryak buy Aquaman the time to cast the summoning spell which merges him with the Titan Pontus. Together, they fight Darkseid but are still defeated. Orin is sent to the underworld in death while Atlantis generals, believing Orin and Mera's trust in the surface world led to their King's death, betray Mera and put Ocean Master in power.
Aquaman makes a deal with Hades and returns to the oceans while, unaware of this, Tempest and Wonder Woman search for Orin in Tartarus. While fulfilling his end of the deal by searching for Hades Helmet of Invisibility, Orin is imprisoned by the spell of the Sirens. Tempest and Wonder Woman learn Orin is alive and search the oceans with the help of Athena, Demeter, and Hermes. They find and free Aquaman.
In Atlantis, the generals that put Orm in power realize their mistake and overthrow him, restoring Mera to the throne even as Black Mantas fleet successfully attacks the city. These events drives Orm mad and he rampages through the city, slaying Atlantean and non-Atlantean alike. Aquaman returns and defeats all of his enemies that had been attacking the city. During the battle, Triton kills Koryak, sending Orin into a rage. Poseidon himself has to save Triton from Aquaman.
When the fighting ends, Aquaman makes funeral arrangements for his son with Dr. Mid-Nite. The events bring Orin and Mera closer together and they decide to re-marry. Mera tells Orin she is pregnant and the reconstruction of Atlantis begins.
When this shorter version is pasted into the bio page, it takes up just 16 lines. And it's a bio that covers most of the important events that happened to Orin in the season, while still only taking a minute or two to read through. I probably screwed a few things up (I notice I did leave out the part with Aquaman's clone), but it's a quick read. And if I was a newbie, I could pm trusty for details, or search the thread for them.