Template talk:Infobox YouTube personality

'channel_url' is not a 'url'

'channel_url' is not a 'url'. it's an 'id'. Everyone gets confusing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bcxfu75k (talk • contribs) 16:59, June 27, 2021 (UTC)

Can this template drop the bright red color?

It's unnecessary and distracting, and makes me want to take the template out of pages that use it. –jacobolus (t) 16:15, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

For what it's worth, you can bypass the color by using this infobox as a child of Template:Infobox person with |embed=. I'm not a fan of themed colors in infoboxes either, so I'm not opposed to its removal in general.

Unrelated, but while we're on the topic of possibly removing things, I think the "Creator Awards" should be on the chopping block too. It's such trivial bloat, and usually unsourced on top of that. Prefall 16:52, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, that's helpful, I didn't know about the embed feature. I also agree that creator awards seems of dubious value. Subscriber count, etc. should be sufficient. –jacobolus (t) 17:14, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

@ links?

So I tried to fix an issue that was reported at WT:WikiProject Infoboxes, but it apparently broke others. When a channel link is in the form of "youtube.com/@channel_name", how should that be handled? VanIsaac, GHTV ^contr_about 16:41, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

|channel_direct_url=@YouTube for https://www.youtube.com/@YouTube

|channel_direct_url=YouTube for https://www.youtube.com/YouTube (non-@ direct links are only available for specific channels—I believe this is the same custom URL as https://www.youtube.com/c/YouTube)

|channel_name=YouTube for https://www.youtube.com/user/YouTube (Legacy username links)

|channel_url=UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ for https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ (Using the channel's unique ID, which will always be the same even if they change their handle/name in the future)

YouTube's channel URLs have changed numerous times over the years. They always keep the legacy URLs around instead of redirecting, and each new URL format has its own unique IDs, so we can't redirect either, hence why this infobox is so convoluted.

I do think the names of the parameters could be made more clear though—"name" should be "user", "url" should be "id", and "direct_url" should simply be "url". We could maybe even add |channel_handle= to automate the @ URL. Prefall 18:03, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

It doesn't need to be convoluted really. You can start by deprecating the usage of any old style that isn't supported anymore, then add a tracking category for usages of those deprecated parameters, and convert them to the new style. When done, remove support from the old styles. Gonnym (talk) 18:57, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I'll get started on that now. The @ URLs and the ID-based URLs are the two formats YouTube encourages now, so I'll focus just on those two. I'll hyperfocus on the @ URL in updated documentation to try and make this both clearer and easier for users. Prefall 19:42, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

Channel rather than 'personality'

Given that this template is the only infobox about youtube, would it not make more sense for this to be called "Infobox YouTube channel" rather than personality?

It is currently used to cover at least four broad use-cases:

Those who are notable for other reason reason, who also have a youtube channel.
[Sometimes as a module of their main infobox, and sometimes as or a piece of structured data lower down the page].

1. individuals (for example in The Undertaker, or Jamie Oliver
2. groups/shows/brands (for example, Blackpink or Deal or No Deal (American game show)

Those whose primary/original notability is because of their Youtube channel:
[Where this is the main/only infobox]

3. Individuals (singular or plural) for example MrBeast or The Slow Mo Guys
4. Multimedia production companies for example Cocomelon and ChuChu TV

This template, as currently named "personality", implies that its primary intended use is option 3, but a quick look at the list of the ~3400 articles which currently use it seem to show that the majority are actually option 1. Also, the template name "personality" doesn't account for options 2 and 4 at all.

It seems to me that "Template:Infobox YouTube channel" is the most general name that can linguistically cover all these usecases. Do you agree, and if so would it be sensible for me to make a formal renaming proposal? Wittylama 14:01, 25 March 2025 (UTC)