View source for Forum:The Destroyers and other Lost Stories

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I realise that it's included as part of a Second Doctor boxset, but the ''[[The Destroyers (audio story)|The Destroyers]]'' doesn't feature the Doctor (specified on [[BFA]] as a requirement for that prefix), nor is the cover on the page advertised as ''Doctor Who''. In fact, [[The Destroyers (unproduced spin-off)|the original script]]'s a pilot for an outright spin-off.

Should this be reworked to a one-off prefix, as with the [[KAC]] pilot? Or should [[The Lost Stories]] as a whole be given a prefix instead to differentiate from the regular series? -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 18:20, June 28, 2012 (UTC)
:Hmmm. Really good question.  I tend to favor giving all the Lost Stories their own prefix.  It's a pretty easy bot fix, so the work time isn't an issue in this case.  The reason I like this approach is because the guys at Big Finish have been specifically asked about how the Seventh Doctor stuff is supposed to marry up, and Richardson said that the Lost Stories and the regular monthlies are "separate continuities". And there really ''is'' a tonal difference between the Sixth Doctor Lost Stories stuff and his regular BFA stuff. 

:Actually the more I think about it, the more I think we should change BFA to BFM — for ''monthly'' — just so it's clear what Big Finish audios we actually mean.  Again, it's not a hard bot fix.  {{user:CzechOut/Sig}}&nbsp;<span style="{{User:CzechOut/TimeFormat}}">03:42: Tue&nbsp;10 Jul 2012&nbsp;</span>

:: Would, in essence, anything not in the "monthly releases" segment of [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio stories]] page require a new prefix if we went throigh with that? -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 10:15, July 10, 2012 (UTC)

::: There's also the whole [[BFA]]/[[BBCR]], which were originally radio broadcasts rather than CD and download releases. -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 13:46, July 10, 2012 (UTC)

:: To rephrase what I said, if we're making an entire prefix for the Lost Stories (rather than JUST ''The Destroyers''), then we need to look at each "Doctor Who subseries" that the BFA prefix currently encompasses, not just stories with a "different tone". I LIKE the early seasons of ''Torchwood'', but I'll freely admit the tone isn't all too consistent. Doesn't mean we make a, say, TWCE or TWMD prefix.

:: Looking at the history of both [[BFA]] and [[Help:Prefixes]], it looks like it started off as "every BF audio" and gradually expanded out. Any older admins want to confirm that? -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 01:56, August 5, 2012 (UTC)

:::In fairness, the prefix [[BFA]] was more "catch all" in the past, because there simply weren't other lines around.  It was the monthly release ''only'' for a very long time.  The diversification into different ranges is relatively recent and therefore past decisions don't quite hold as much weight.  BFA ''used'' to work well, but I'd argue that it really makes no sense to new users to have BFA, when we really mean just the monthlies.  The more specific our prefixes, the more understandable — and therefore ''useful'' — they'll be.  

:::So I think you're right: we ''do'' need to look at all of the sub-series to make sure they're prefixed as clearly as they can be.  I wouldn't be opposed to [[BFEX]], for instance, for the ''Excelis'' series.  {{user:CzechOut/Sig}}&nbsp;<span style="{{User:CzechOut/TimeFormat}}">20:16: Sun&nbsp;05 Aug 2012&nbsp;</span>

::: You're right. Apart from the special case of [[ST]], it looks like a lot of these subseries were introduced in or after 2007, the year [[T:PREFIX]] was made.

::: My only certainty is "give each of the subpages [http://bigfinish.com/hubs/v/doctor-who here] its own prefix", not what specifically to name them or which needs "BF" in front or not. Naturally, we already have [[CC]], [[BFDWU]] and [[ST]] and I'm sure that "BFM" is fine for the monthly series (especially as [[DWM]]'s taken). -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 20:46, August 5, 2012 (UTC)

::: To hell with it. These are my suggestions for the sub-series. They can always be tweaked if they're rubbish.

::* BFM: Monthlies
::* BFE: Excelis
::* BFLS or LS: The Lost Stories
::* BFEDA: Non-monthlies Eighth Doctor Adventures. Might need to be something else considering the stuff co-produced with BBC Radio.
::* FDA: Fourth Doctor Adventures
::* WCA: Webcast audios (I was initially going to say BFWC or even make this the same as BFS; but then I noticed that the audio version of ''Death Comes to Time'' is part of the BBC Radio Collection)
::* BFS: Subscription exclusives that aren't WCA (or former subscription exclusives; everything before ''The Four Doctors'' seems to be available to anyone, going by the Big Finish website)
::* BFSP: Stage plays

::: How do these sound? -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 21:33, August 5, 2012 (UTC)

::::This sounds like a good idea. 
::::I have a recollection of discussing something like it in the past. (See [[Forum:Why do prefixes link as they do?#BFA]] for a previous discussion of this sort of thing)
::::Perhaps for Doctor specific prefixes go with numerals. So BF8DA, 4DA. Or does that make them awkward to type? --[[User:Tangerineduel|Tangerineduel]] / '''[[User talk:Tangerineduel|talk]]''' 15:07, August 6, 2012 (UTC)

::::: We don't really refer to incarnation numbers by figures. [[T:DOCTORS]] doesn't ''specifically'' say 1st Doctor, 4th Doctor and so forth are ''wrong'', but it doesn't seem right to shorten it to a figure unless necessary to disambiguate if we ever have some First Doctor Adventures series and so forth started for whatever reason. Would you suggest 8DA for the [[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novels as well? (I'm fine with leaving it as EDA, and not even adding anything in front. Is that being too inconsistent?) -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]])

::: I've noticed that I missed out on audios included with ''Doctor Who Magazine'' and ''[[The Davros Mission (audio story)|The Davros Mission]]''. Not sure how those would be prefixed, though presumably ''Davros Mission'' is part of ''[[I, Davros]]''. I guess maybe BFS could be "Subscriber bonuses and special releases", though that may be confusing. -- [[User:Tybort|Tybort]] ([[User talk:Tybort|talk page]]) 19:52, August 6, 2012 (UTC)