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| {{mosnav|p=Point of view|In-universe perspective|Real world perspective|c=Point of view}} | | {{mosnav|p=Point of view|In-universe perspective|Real world perspective|c=Point of view}} |
| {{moss|When writing an article, imagine that you know everything about your topic, but that it no longer exists. Write the in-universe portion of articles in the past tense, without exception.}} | | {{moss|We have two types of article: those about narrative elements — like characters, weapons and species — and those about production elements — actors, directors and stories. Each type requires a particular approach.}} |
| {{sc|T:POV}}It's important that our articles be consistently written from the same '''point of view'''. Otherwise, you'd end up with one article written in past tense, another in future tense, and yet another in present tense. Or maybe, some of the articles would be written from a character's perspective rather than the audience's. | | {{sc|T:POV}} |
| | Articles about narrative elements are also called "in-universe articles". The bulk of these are written as if the topic were a real, but one that no longer exists. For this reason, they are written in the past tense. |
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| We've therefore decided on a couple of simple rules:
| | Articles about out-of-universe things are also called "real world articles". Generally, these, too, should be written in the past tense, in order to minimise the amount of editing that has to be done on the article in the future. However, there are some instances in which the present tense may be warranted. |
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| #Use past tense for in-universe portions of articles
| | More information can be had by following the navigation at the top of this page. |
| #Write from the perspective of a neutral observer who has access to all known facts about your topic. You, the writer of the article, are omniscient, even though the subject of your article is not.
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| #Use only [[T:VS|valid sources]] — which is to say ''narratives'' — to write your article. Material from reference works, deleted scenes, or documentaries can only go in "behind the scenes" sections.
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| #All narratives, regardless of medium, have equal weight. Whether it's a comic strip, audio, novel or television story, it's all equally valid here.
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| Here are some common situations:
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| ! style="background-color:#8cb82c;border-bottom:1px solid black" width=50%|Correct
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| ! style="background-color:#e25822;border-bottom:1px solid black" width=50%|Incorrect
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| |-style="padding:10px;border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |style="background-color:#8cb82c; padding:10px;"|[[Liz Shaw]] was a [[companion]] of [[the Doctor]]'s [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]] during the early part of his exile on [[Earth]]...
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| |style="background-color:#e25822; padding:10px;"|Liz Shaw is a fictional character in the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction]] [[television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]''...
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| |-style="border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |-style="padding:10px;border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |style="background-color:#8cb82c; padding:10px;"|The universe was a vast region of uncertain proportions, comprised of, amongst other things, planets, satellites, asteroids and stars.
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| |style="background-color:#e25822; padding:10px;"|The universe is that place where most of the lifeforms in the [[DWU|''Doctor Who'' universe]] live.
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| |-style="border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |-style="padding:10px;border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |style="background-color:#8cb82c; padding:10px;"|[[Barack Obama]] was [[President of the United States]] on {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.
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| |style="background-color:#e25822; padding:10px;"|[[Barack Obama]] is [[President of the United States]] on {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.
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| |-style="border-bottom:1px solid black"
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| |}
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| [[Category:Policies|Point of view policy]] | | [[Category:Policies|Point of view policy]] |
We have two types of article: those about narrative elements — like characters, weapons and species — and those about production elements — actors, directors and stories. Each type requires a particular approach.
Articles about narrative elements are also called "in-universe articles". The bulk of these are written as if the topic were a real, but one that no longer exists. For this reason, they are written in the past tense.
Articles about out-of-universe things are also called "real world articles". Generally, these, too, should be written in the past tense, in order to minimise the amount of editing that has to be done on the article in the future. However, there are some instances in which the present tense may be warranted.
More information can be had by following the navigation at the top of this page.
