Talk:V.F.D.

For the Wikipedia branch, see Wikipedia:Votes for deletion

Maintainer of this page may wish to note that Cyril M. Kornbluth (usually known as C. M. Kornbluth) is a well-known science fiction writer, and to create a disambiguation page as appropriate.

I've now changed C.M. Kornbluth into a disambiguation page (it was redirecting to Cyril M. Kornbluth), and changed every link to C.M. Kornbluth throughout Wikipedia into a link to Cyril M. Kornbluth. The reference in the V.F.D. article is no longer a link, but if anyone wants to write about Snicket's C.M Kornbluth, they could turn it back into a link and change the text of the disambiguation to read something like "This is an article about the Lemony Snicket character - for the science fiction author, see Cyril M. Kornbluth." TheMadBaron 00:08, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Cleanup request

In the Unautherizied Autobiographey, Gustave seebald announced in Zombies in the snow that one parent suvived the fire.

Sebald said there was one survivor of the fire. He did not specify which fire or the age of the survivor.-Bobguy7

I just fixed minor punctuation and layout errors. The references still need to be fixed. As someone who has not read these books, I find the article lacks enough plot context to be clear. I have added the apppropriate tags to the article. The generic cleanup tag remains until the above comment is addressed. -- Beland 22:40, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Becoming a member

The thing for becoming a member is run by a person promoting a personal project which is against the Wikipedia rules. I've deleted the offending text and let the editor know... Taylor 11:51, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Jaques Snicket

In this article, it says that Jaques Snicket was burned at the stake in the place of Count Olaf. This is not true; he was murdered by Count Olaf. HyperHobbes 14:22, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Insufficient context....

I've removed the "context" tag, which referred specifically to the introduction providing "insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter".... as one who is unfamiliar with the subject matter, I have not found this to be the case.

Various other parts of the article, on the other hand, do have insufficient context for those of us unfamiliar with the subject matter. I realise that it is sometimes difficult for experts to keep in mind exactly what it is that non-experts might need to know, and I provide this list in the hope that it will help those who have the required knowledge of the series to improve the article.

* "Next, in The Ersatz Elevator, the Baudelaires discover a tunnel from 667 Dark Avenue to the Baudelaire mansion." I have no idea what the significance of "667 Dark Avenue" is, or how this relates to V.F.D.

• "Kidnapped Eleanora and advised Mr. Poe to receive all telegrams he received"

I don't understand why someone would need to be advised to receive telegrams.... it would be like advising someone to receive their mail.... if someone sends you telegrams, surely you just receive them? Perhaps "receive" was written in error.... did this Eleanora imposter actually advise Mr. Poe to ignore the telegrams, or destroy them, or similar?

• "Although Kit Snicket is said to have been at the meeting in the transcripts, that is incorrect. Jacques Snicket, when in the transcript, says that he met everyone except for L (Lemony) at a previous spot where headquarters were. This proves she could have not been at the meeting."

This makes very little sense to a non-expert, I'm afraid. It sounds as if a meeting occured in a place called "the transcripts", though I doubt that this is actually the case.... If this information is to stay, we need to be told; a) what meeting, b) what transcripts, and c) how does this claim of Jaques Snickets to have "met everyone except for L (Lemony) at a previous spot where headquarters were" prove that Kit Snicket could not have been at the meeting?

• "Parents of the Baudelaire orphans, killed in mansion fire supposedly started by Count Olaf (although it is implied that one survives and that it's not the father)."

Is this intended to mean that it is implied that the mother survives? Why mince words?

• "His telegram from the Baudelaires was blocked."

Ah, these telegrams again - I presume that this is the telegram mentioned earlier, in which the Baudelaires requested help.... but we shouldn't have to presume.... I get the impression that this is a significant factor in the plot, so if the article is intended to cover those elements of the plot which relate to the V.F.D. in a comprehensible fashion, we could really do with knowing how the telegram was blocked.... I'm at a bit of a loss....

HTH

TheMadBaron 22:48, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

If I explain these points, could you write them in: I'll just make it just as uncontextual...

1. 667 Dark avenue is the setting of book the sixth: The Ersatz Elevator and the home of Jerome Squalor and Esmé Squalor. Esme is part of the fire-starting side and Jerome is believed to be part of the firefighting side. It is beklieved that this is how Olaf got into the Badeliare Mansion to burn it to the ground.
2. I have no idea.
   1. Meeting: This is in the Unauthorized Autobiography. I haven't read it so have little idea of any more detail.
   2. Transcripts: These are what is recoreded of the meetings.
   3. No idea - I haven't read it.
3. Well, it is said that one of three people in a photohgraph (2 of which are the parents) survives the fire. It is explicitly said that the father did not survive. Therefore it kind of implies that the mother survives, yes but not qwuite.
4. At the start of book the eighth: The Hostile Hospital, the Baudelaires are runing away. They pop into the Last Chance general Store and try to send a telegram to Mr. Poe saying that an angry mob is chasing them (because one is- it believes that they killed Count Olaf). When they send the telegram,m they recieve no reply. It is presumed that it has been blocked.

Hope that goes some way to clearing some of the stuff up. Please ask more if you are unclear about more. --Celestianpower ^hablamé 08:22, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Okay, thanks.

• I've dealt with 667 Dark Avenue.
• I could deal with the business of the mother, the father and a photograph, except that "a photograph" is a little vague. Can you tell us more? Do the Badeliare children find this photograph? Where? Who is it who says that one of three people in the photograph survives the fire? Is is Snickett himself, or one of the characters? Who is it who says that the survivor was not the father? And who is the third person in the photograph?
• Any idea what the fake Eleanora's advice to Mr. Poe regarding the telegraphs was? TheMadBaron 17:08, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

It's from a report called "The Snicket File". Its a confidential, 13-page report detailing the findings from the investigation into the fire at the Baudleaire mansion and found in the Library of Records at The Hostile Hospital. The Baudelaires only got the thirteenth page which had a photograph on it of the two Baudelaire parents and a third figure who is turned from the camera. The photo comes with a caption, "Due to the evidence discussed on page 9, experts now suspect that there may in fact be one survivor of the fire, but the survivor's whereabouts are unknown."

It's snicket in rhetoric in The Slippery Slope who says that the father did not survive.

No idea, sorry. --Celestianpower ^hablamé 17:29, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Incorrect information on the sugar bowl?

I've not tried updating articles or discussion in Wikipedia before, hope I'm not doing anything wrong....

"The sugar bowl was noted first in The Bad Beginning (containing fruit on Count Olaf's foyer tables),..." I used Amazon to search the text of the book for 'fruit' 'sugar' 'bowl' 'foyer' 'table' etc and find no references, other than to a bowl holding apple cores located in the bedroom the siblings are given.

"....again in The Hostile Hospital (on a table holding pomegranates and other fruits)" I cannot find any reference like this in the book. In the Hostile Hospital (book 8), the sugar bowl is mentioned by the author when he says he stole the sugar bowl from Esme Squalor (page 91). I believe this is the first mention of the sugar bowl in the series. Note: an Amazon text search indicates the word pomegranates does not appear in the book.

A sugar bowl is mentioned by the author on page 114 of The Carniverous Carnival (book 9). The sugar bowl really comes into the story in a big way in The Slippery Slope (book 10) and the following books (11 and 12 at this time). These books haven't been mentioned at all.

So do I just go in and edit the entry?

TJC.CA 03:26, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

The A Series of Unfortunate Events are unfortunately riddled with speculation. Every single bowl which appears in the books is described as a possible Sugar Bowl. The article is also pretty new (yesterday) so it could do with more info. Edit, certainly. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Ho Ho Ho!)} 10:21, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

It also seems like people see VFD members in every character. I would think that WP:NOR requires that anyone not explicitly mentioned as being a member or very closely affiliated to VFD shouldn't be listed, or at the very least have (suspected) next to their name, preferably with some evidence as to why they're a suspected member. I mean, I've considered the possibilities of most of those people being in VFD as well, but I don't have enough evidence to put it on Wikipedia. Confusing Manifestation 15:23, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

ASUE Merge

I don't think that the merge is a good idea. This is a fairly big article on the most important group of characters in a fairly major book series, and as such, would overload the article. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 21:56, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

• Not remotely should it be merged! However, list of VFDs should be merged with this.