(Important: This is currently only a draft policy. Please feel free to expand upon this article, and also to discuss the issue on Tardis talk:Canon policy.)
The goal of the TARDIS Index File is to be a reliable, concise guide to all readers. Towards this end, it is necessary for us to restrict to some extent the type of information we accept.
Types of article
There are four types of articles:
- Doctor Who Universe articles
- Any subject mentioned in or derived from a television story, prose story, radio or audio drama This type is further divided into two sub-types:
- Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K-9 & Company - Subjects seen or mentioned in these series.
- Spin-offs - Any subject seen or mentioned in prose (novels, novellas and short stories), audio and comic books, officially sanctioned by the BBC and/or license holders.
- Other Universes - Stories which are not necessarily part of 'canon' but derived from the Doctor Who Universe, i.e. Dr. Who and the Daleks and parodies such as The Curse of Fatal Death, authorized, but not very well-integrated into canon.
- Real World
- Information on stories set in the Doctor Who Universe.
- Information on the creators and actors who have taken part in the making of the stories.
- Related topics.
The policy of the TARDIS Index File with regards to acceptable resources for use in articles is as follows:
What is considered a Valid Resource?
This section is still in flux, as the policy is still under debate.
- All Doctor Who television stories.
- Spin-offs such as Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K-9 & Company.
- All other Doctor Who spin-offs such as those produced by BBV Productions and Reeltime Pictures (i.e P.R.O.B.E., Auton Trilogy and Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans, Downtime)
- All Target Books novels not based on a broadcast television story (i.e., The Nightmare Fair, Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma)
- All Virgin Missing Adventures, Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures stories (i.e., Timewyrm: Genesys, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Beige Planet Mars)
- All BBC Books Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor and Past Doctor novels (i.e., The Eight Doctors, The Clockwise Man, The Stone Rose, The Witch Hunters).
- All Telos Publishing novellas (i.e, Frayed, Rip Tide, Fallen Gods)
- All BBC Radio Dramas and webcasts (i.e., The Paradise of Death, Death Comes to Time, Real Time)
- All audio dramas released by BBV, Big Finish and Magic Bullet Productions (including Dalek Empire, Cyberman (audio series), Gallifrey (audio series) etc) (i.e., Republica, Storm Warning, Invasion of the Daleks, Coming to Dust)
- All comic strips appearing in Doctor Who Magazine, Doctor Who Adventures, Doctor Who: Battles in Time, TV Countdown, TV Comic, TV Action, Radio Times and Torchwood Magazine.
- All Abslom Daak, Bernice Summerfield, Kaldor City, Faction Paradox, Time Hunter, and Miranda stories.
- All short fiction and comic strips published in Doctor Who Annuals (including Doctor Who Yearbooks), Doctor Who Storybooks, Dalek Annuals, Torchwood Yearbooks and the K-9 Annual.
Secondary Resources
These sources are as also valid resources, however should not be the only resource of an article.
- Novelisations of broadcast television stories by Target Books and other publishers may be used, however any information that contradicts that novelisation's TV story's information is considered apocryphal and should not be included within the main body of the article.
- All television specials, video releases, documentaries, pastiches, and parodies of Doctor Who, provided they are identified and treated as such in their relevant articles (i.e., Dimensions in Time, The Curse of Fatal Death, Lust in Space, Doctor Who Confidential, Osirian Gothic).
AHistory, I, Who, About Time, and The Doctor Who Reference Guide are primary sources, and as such should not be repeated verbatim in articles. They may be referenced in part, although contributors should be aware that some speculation exists within them which may not be considered valid.
- Both Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing (i.e., "Dr. Who and the Daleks," "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD") These are valid provided they are dealt with in article specific articles relating to movies and characters developed in the universe established in the movies.
What is not considered a Valid Resource, and why?
This section is still in flux, as the policy is still under debate.
- Material from FASA's Doctor Who Roleplaying Game, as these sometimes contain histories and other information which conflicts with the television and prose stories. (Some material from the FASA game was, however, incorporated into Virgin Publishing's Missing and New Adventures series.)
- Merchandise - Several items of merchandise are often given names that never appear in dialogue or are never seen on screen and have often been produced for marketing purposes.
- Fan-made blueprints and specifications
- Fan fiction of any kind (this includes fanon).
- Websites, unless information is clearly stated as sourced from a valid reference.
Items on which policy is unclear
- The relevance of The Doctor Who Technical Manual, the in-universe history presented in part of The Terrestrial Index, The Doctor Who Monster Book and similar items and their suitability for use in creating and contributing to articles in the TARDIS Index File is unclear at this time, and up for discussion.
- Background information from the production staff (Sydney Newman, Verity Lambert, John Nathan-Turner, Russell T Davies, etc) should either be included under the relevant background section (where available), or added to the article's Talk page where its validity can be assessed for inclusion.
Deleting Invalid Articles
If you believe an article contains nothing but non-canon information, or is sourced solely from non-valid resources, then the article should be noted with a {{proposed deletion}} template/banner, which will alert others to the article's invalidity and allow others to defend it.
If an article is concerning a canon subject but contains information from a non-valid resource, the issue should be debated on the article's individual talk page, and the article should be edited as appropriate. (See also Templates - Cleanup Tags for more information)
Except in cases of vandalism, obscenity, and other nonsense, you should not edit the article and simply delete the text.