Talk:P.R.O.B.E.

Acronym

What did the O mean in PROBE? --Tangerineduel 15:04, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

I haven't the faintest idea. Perhaps the full name is Preternatural Research Official Bureau for England, or something like that, but that's pure speculation. As far as we know from valid sources, it's just a really dodgy acronym — which, in fairness, is a real thing that happens. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 23:15, May 5, 2020 (UTC)

Title

How come this is at P.R.O.B.E. now rather than Preternatural Research Bureau? Jack ☎ 20:34, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Probably in the same way UNIT isn't at United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, BBC isn't at British Broadcasting Corporation, and so on? Aquanafrahudy 📢 🖊️ 21:11, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

UNIT was at Unified Intelligence Taskforce until I pointed out that that was giving undue weight to the new series, after which it was moved to its current name. Jack ☎ 21:25, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

P.R.O.B.E. is the more commonly-used name — it just became apparent that in 90% of cases, the stories themselves don't use "Preternatural Research Bureau" and we were just pipe-switching or using the redirect. UNIT and the BBC are good examples, but the philosophy is broader; see also Amy Pond rather than Amelia Pond. I dunno; it seemed sensible to me. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 21:30, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

I see what you mean, but isn't this "choosing sides" in the P.R.o.B.e. vs P.R.O.B.E. vs PROBE debate? Jack ☎ 21:33, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

We could always compile a list of how many times each spelling is used. Aquanafrahudy 📢 🖊️ 22:08, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Could do. I don't know how that tallies with our goal of giving equal weight to everything, though, and Preternatural Research Bureau avoids picking one. Jack ☎ 22:16, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

AFAIK none of the revival era used "P.R.o.B.E.". I've read the majority of the short stories and some of the webcasts, and it's all in full caps.

EPSILON^🔎 |📯|📂|📦|📝

00:32, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Epsilon your signature always confuses me when I open the editor to respond. :P @ Jack, see Forum:Artifacts or Artefacts of Rassilon?. For page names doing a tally is normal because every page must be named something. It may be the case that we might want to do "Preternatural Research Bureau" because it sidesteps the issue altogether, but "picking a side" like this isn't inherently a problem. There's substantial precedent. Najawin ☎ 00:52, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Oh my that shouldn't be happening, it's supposed to use {{User:Epsilon/signature}}.

EPSILON^🔎 |📯|📂|📦|📝

00:59, 26 March (UTC)

Come to that, UNIT is also already taking a side on "UNIT" vs. "U.N.I.T.". But there's nothing wrong with that — most UNIT sources do use "UNIT" (while in turn "P.R.O.B.E." is clearly prevalent in P.R.O.B.E. sources; just look at the logo!). --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 14:26, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Okay, sure. Jack ☎ 14:27, 26 March 2024 (UTC)