Forum:Also Known As getting a bit silly

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What is it with the "Also Known As" sections and collecting reams of silly, nearly nonsensical nicknames? Especially the Eleventh Doctor's section is bad, though all New Series Doctors and companions suffer from this. I mean, "Him In The Bow-Tie"? "Mr. Grumpy Face"? "Veggie"??

I'm relatively new here, so I might not be completely up to date on the rules and requirements for this section, but really. Going purely from common sense, it seems to me that this was meant for aliases that the characters themselves use ("John Smith"), legendary titles ("The Oncoming Storm"), or persistent, wide-spread nicknames ("The Raggedy Doctor"). Not the ridiculous, small nicknames that were only ever used once, by one character.

What I mean is, that while Amy may have called Eleven "Mr. Grumpy Face" (once), he wasn't "known as" that. Whereas many people in Leadworth knew him as "The Raggedy Doctor".

As it is, this list of exceedingly ridiculous one-time-only nicknames is more confusing than enlightening.

...And who the hell ever called him "veggie", anyway?! SpiritMuse 21:13, August 8, 2010 (UTC)

The Dream Lord called him veggie. When I first came here it was just aliases, the display actually said aliases. However, since the, it has been changed to "Also known as". Sadly also known as includes nicknames and those you have listed above. The tenth Doctor's is also too long. If it were up to me, I'd scrap the also known as completely from Doctor pages, after all the nicknames and such already have their own page dedicated to them. Until the community decides to change it, we can't remove any as they still fall under the correct heading. The Thirteenth Doctor 21:23, August 8, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I understand. Still, it just doesn't make sense to me that a one-time silly nickname or even a jeer would fall under "also known as". Because that would mean that anything he's called would fall under "also known as"; even if someone called him "hey you" it would have to be added. Like I said before, there's a difference between being called something and being known as it. If it were up to me I'd easily delete 80-90% of the list, for both the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctor, and possibly others as well. (btw, how do you do that indentation thing? I can't figure it out) SpiritMuse 23:36, August 8, 2010 (UTC)

"You" is generally used when they don't know his name, or to point out who they're talking to. "Veggie" and such would be a personal thing about him, therefore not the same.

For indenting, I always click source on the controls section, then use the colons for each indent you want. --The Thirteenth Doctor 23:46, August 8, 2010 (UTC)

Most of those types of nicknames could refer to anyone though, not specifically the Doctor. Anyone who's vegetarian could be called "veggie", anyone with a funny bow-tie could be called as "him in the bow-tie", anyone who looks grumpy could be "mr. grumpy face". But when you talk about "The Oncoming Storm", or "The Raggedy Doctor", there's really only one person that could refer to. That's what I think should be there, nicknames that specifically mean the Doctor, and wouldn't easily be used for anyone else.

I don't suppose I'll be able to change that on my own though. And I have a feeling that if I made an edit, you'd revert it right back. :) SpiritMuse 12:57, August 9, 2010 (UTC)

It could be renamed to "Notable aliases", which would be taken to mean "used more than once". I'd rather not remove it from the infobox as it is sometimes useful on other articles. --Tangerineduel 13:01, August 9, 2010 (UTC)

Not remove that section from the infobox itself, just not use the section for those pages. Add a <!-- Do not add nicknames or aliases here. These should go on [[Aliases of the Doctor]]--> or just have a See list of aliases link in the section. --The Thirteenth Doctor 17:19, August 9, 2010 (UTC)

To revisit this, a recent edit to the Eleventh Doctor article makes a fairly valid point made by Tynus in the edit summary "I think it's already been said but, The Doctor's doesn't have all of those aliases. An alias is a name used at least more than once to discribe a person not using their real name.".

The description of an alias used by the user in the edit summary is a valid one.

I think altering the wording to "aliases" or "Notable aliases" is a way forward as "also known as" leaves it too open to a really long list. The infobox is for a quick summary of information. --Tangerineduel 13:41, August 20, 2010 (UTC)

• Well, an alias is technically a name which they use instead of their own name, such as if you were in a witness protection program, like "John Smith". A name used to describe a person would be a nickname, like "veggie".

The one thing that may cause problems is, what counts as a notable alias? John Smith does, yes, but he uses that in almost every incarnation, so it is not particularly notable for that incarnation's page, is it?

What I suggest is:

• We rename the section "Notable aliases" as Tangerineduel said above, and aliases that only that incarnation uses should go in it, like the tenth using "Doctor James McCrimmon", as that is a notable alias of that incarnation.
• Aliases like "The Oncoming Storm" which was used by 3(?) incarnations, and "John Smith", is not an individual alias, so should go on the Doctor page, as it is used by the main character and not his individual incarnations, if you get what I mean.
• Nicknames etc. which describe the Doctor's habits, looks or are based on facts about him should not be listed there.
• Also, at the bottom should be a link to the aliases page with a hash-tag to that individual incarnation's section. --The Thirteenth Doctor 18:58, August 20, 2010 (UTC)

Rekindle

Could we please rekindle this discussion. --The Thirteenth Doctor 13:40, August 28, 2010 (UTC)

I agree with everything The Thirteenth Doctor has suggested, names like 'The Oncoming Storm' can be noted in the text body of the Eleventh Doctor (and others) article as well as on the main the Doctor article (though not in the infobox of the Doctor article).

I'll go ahead and modify the infobox unless there's any issues? --Tangerineduel 13:48, August 28, 2010 (UTC)

Putting my non-registered opinion in with SpiritMuse's original post. 207.171.243.59 19:46, August 28, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah i'm still seeing certain names pop up that in my opinion aren't aliases but nicknames. Amy Pond still has "The Legs" which as far as i remember was used once, and River Song has "Honey" which is just a name of affection and not a nickname at all. As for Rory he's got "The Man Who Dies and Dies Again" but that just seemed like the silence were describing his life rather than using an alias. Glad to see that "idiot" and "stupid-face" aren't there anymore though. Rawrgoaway ^{talk to me} 07:08, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

This was discussed at forum:Notable Aliases, where it was basically decided to remove most of the sillier names that have cropped up. Nicknames can still stay if they are significant, Ace being a good example, but you can feel free to remove silly one-off names like "the Legs," or phrases that are descriptions rather than names like "the man who dies and dies again."Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 16:54, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

Icecreamdif swums it up nicely. If you have anything new to add, please do. If not, feel free to wreak havoc on the unwitting. Boblipton ^{talk to me} 19:38, October 11, 2011 (UTC)