Tardis:Prefixes

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Prefixes are used to preface a story name, given as the source for a statement of fact in an article. In the example, "The Tenth Doctor once ate a part of a chocolate Easter egg. (DW: Planet of the Dead)", the prefix is DW.

Origin and consensus for this system

This method of inline source citation was decided by community consensus in the first year of the wiki's operation and has survived several challenges to uproot it. The longest and most sustained challenge to the system can be found at Forum:Can we change how stories are cited? Given early administrators' admiration for Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki, this prefixing system is likely to have derived from MA.

The following article explains how prefixes are used on this wiki, then gives a list ordered by medium.

Usage

Prefixes may be a foreign concept to users coming from academia, Wikipedia, or other reference projects. They are a kind of shorthand which obviates the need for laborious in-line citation or footnotes. They allow a few letters and a linked story name to subsitute for anything more formal.

For instance, an obvious use of a prefix would be

Sarah Jane Smith met the Third Doctor whilst pretending to be her aunt, Lavinia Smith. (DW: The Time Warrior)

The DW saves the editor the bother of having to type,

Sarah Jane Smith met the Third Doctor whilst pretending to be her aunt, Lavinia Smith, in the Doctor Who television serial, The Time Warrior.

New editors may wish to bookmark this page for easy reference, at least until they become more familiar with the more arcane prefixes used on this site.

Television/Film/Video/Web

BBC

In-universe

Real world

Generally, the following sources should be used on real world pages. However, information from these sources could conceivably be used in "behind the scenes" sections of in-universe articles.

Mixed use

  • WC - Webcast, by which is usually meant, "comic, prose or animated fiction, published to websites of entities who produce licensed Doctor Who material", such as the BBC's official website. A good example of proper usage is WC: Real Time. However, official sites have, in exceptional circumstances, published behind-the-scenes material, such as WC: Doctor Who Video Explorer, or any one of a number of videos on the BBC America website. Thus the prefix can actually mean that the cited resource is either in- or out-of-universe. It can also be used beyond BBC websites, so long as that website is officially licensed, as with Big Finish Productions' website.

Non-BBC

Audio

Big Finish Productions

In-universe

Real world

  • BFX - CD extras from any range of Big Finish releases

BBC

AudioGO

  • AG - Long-time editors will know that this prefix used to be BBCA. However, owing to the purchase of BBC Audiobooks by AudioGo, the entity known as "BBC Audio" was downgraded to a mere imprint, and the entire back catalogue of Doctor Who material became AudioGo's to play with. This abbreviation is therefore used for anything released under the BBC Audio or AudioGo logos which does not fall into other categories. For example the Hornets' Nest range, the various soundtracks to missing episodes, and the new audio novelisation of The Stones of Blood would be prefixed by AG, but not any of the audiobooks that appear on the New Series Adventures page, nor those audios which would be better tagged with SJAA or TWA. Target Books novelisations would generally be prefaced with DWN, unless one were discussing something specific to the audio, in which case it would be prefaced with AG. [Please note that BBCA is now a redirect for BBC America.]

Others

Prose

Novels

Sparrow Books

Target Books

Virgin Publishing

BBC Books

Big Finish Productions

Penguin Character Books

Telos Novellas

Short prose fiction

Annual publications

There are a wide variety of prefixes used for publications which appeared annually. Note that these prefixes apply to both comic and prose stories.

Other

Comics

The important thing to remember about citing comic stories is that comic strips are frequently reprinted. It is important, therefore, that we cite the publication of first publication. For instance, DWM: The Stockbridge Horror' is correct, while DW84: The Stockbridge Horror should only be used when referring to differences between the original printing and the American reprint. The following list of prefixes is alphabetised.

Regular publications

Annual publications

There are a wide variety of prefixes used for publications which appeared annually. Note that these prefixes apply to both comic and prose stories.

Other

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