User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-7302713-20130510215247/@comment-26975268-20130512183849

User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-7302713-20130510215247/@comment-26975268-20130512183849 Here's what I propose:

• Out-of-universe articles about real-world people (cast, crew, etc...) will be written in last name format, as per regular biographies.
• In-universe articles about people (regardless of whether they exist in the real world as well or not) will be written in whatever format is most used in their stories, and used contextually (ie. Melody Pond will not be called River Song until she employs the name; Shakespeare will be called Will as a child if that is what he is referred to as in that context).
  • If it's entirely ambiguous (such as Ian/Chesterton), only then can we look at what most people call them out-of-universe. In the case of Ian Chesterton, most fans (as well as cast & crew) refer to him as Ian, so we'll go with that. Once again note, however, that this is only to be used when we have no other options, when first and last names are used exactly equally.
• When first referred to on an article other than their own, people (in-universe and real world) must be referred to by their full names — don't expect every reader to know that "Barbara" means Barbara Wright. This is, in a sense, in accordance with T:DOCTORS:

"Many of our readers will not necessarily know as much about Doctor Who as you. Therefore the phrase, "the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan" — which might clearly identify the incarnation of the Doctor to you — is not as helpful as, "the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan". The latter construction instantly identifies the incarnation without forcing the user to mouseover."
--T:DOCTORS