Tardis:Disambiguation term

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You know those words in parentheses after some titles? It's important that we're all using the same words to describe the same thing. A (TV story) must be a (TV story) and not a (television story).
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A disambiguation term or dab term is the bit of a page title which is in parentheses. In the page title Castrovalva (TV story), the dab term is (TV story). For the benefit of your fellow editors and readers, it's important that these terms be consistently applied. It also greatly helps in the writing of templates that have to handle story titles, as well as robotic maintenance of the wiki, if the same dab terms are used to describe the same types of things.

The chart below summarises the dab terms which we use across the site.

Do use When you want to title Don't use
(TV story) Televised sources of any length[1] (episode), (television story), (television)[2]
(audio story) Any sort of audio fiction, regardless of length (audio), (audio release), (radio play)
(novel) Because there are no hard-and-fast definitions distinguishing between a children's book, novella and a novel, the dab term (novel) is to be used for any narrative work of prose fiction presented as a single, cover-to-cover story. The length of this fiction is not a factor in disambiguating it with (novel). Examples: K9 and the Time Trap (novel), Blood and Hope (novel), History 101 (novel).[3] Any term which uses the book series along with the word novel, like (EDA novel), (NSA novel) or the like — except when there is more than one novel series to use the title.[4]
(book)
(film)[5] 		In-universe discussion about books and films within the DWU; this matches the in-universe category, books and films (novel) or other terms used to dab real-world stories
(comic story) Any story that uses sequential art, of any length up to, and including an original graphic novel[6] (comic strip), (comic), (comic book)
(theatrical film) Any story, of any length, which was first released in theatres rather than online, on home video, or on television (film), (movie), (TV story)
(poem) Written fiction written in verse or other such poetic form (poetry), (verse story), (ballad), (epic)
(graphic novel) Any sort of collected edition of sequential art, or sequential art which was originally published without the use of staples, or, if bound with staples, at a length over 47 pages. For the sake of consistency, we shall adopt the British definition of graphic novel for the main titles of pages.[7] (book), (comic book), (hardback)
(omnibus) When you want to title a page discussing an omnibus. The most likely use of this is with IDW products. IDW omnibuses are collections of IDW trade paperbacks/graphic novels, which themselves collect IDW comic stories. (omnibus edition), (IDW omnibus), (Pinnacle omnibus)
(short story) Out-of-universe articles about DWU short stories (prose story), (novella)
(documentary)[5] Any sort of video documentary (BTS feature), (featurette)
(home video) Any VHS or DVD releases of fictional narratives, regardless of production company (video), (TV story), (DVD story), (VHS story), (BBV video), (RP video), etc.
(CON episode) Doctor Who Confidential episodes (Doctor Who Confidential episode)
(DWE episode) Doctor Who Extra episodes (Doctor Who Extra episode)
(webcast) Any video work released through the Internet, unless it is better described as a "(documentary)".[8] (video), (TV story), (web video)
(video game) Any video games covered by the Wiki, whether they are online games or console releases. (game), (online game)
(game) Any games other than video that are covered by this Wiki, including board games, tabletop role-playing games, and games within annuals. (board game), (RPG game), (annual game)
(reference book)[9] Non-narrative prose fiction released as a standalone book. (encyclopedia), (novel), (book)
(feature) Non-narrative prose or comic-style fiction released as part of a wider publication (such as a DWM issue or annual). (short story), (reference piece), (profile)
(illustration) Non-narrative fiction released in the form of a graphic or illustration (graphic), (image), (diagram), (map)
(species)[5] In-universe species (race) should be avoided, as it has dual meanings
(mythology)[5] Mythological figures and concepts (god), (goddess), (deity) and so on should be avoided; the former two are gendered, and the latter would only controversially apply to some figures like the Archangel Michael, so something broader is preferable.[10]
(in-universe) In-universe counterparts and namesakes of out-of-universe things (fictional), (in universe)
  1. ↑ The exception here are episodes of Doctor Who featuring William Hartnell that share the same names as serials. So, An Unearthly Child (episode) is acceptable as a way to distinguish the first episode of DW from the first serial'.
  2. ↑ If two different television series have stories of the same name, then disambiguate by using the prefix from Tardis:List of prefixes. For instance, if there were an SJA story named Inferno, then it would be Inferno (SJA TV story) and the DW story would have to move to Inferno (DW TV story). If two episodes of the same television series have the same name, then disambiguate by the year of initial broadcast. As of 2012, neither has really happened, though there have been some close calls with respect to William Hartnell episodes. Still, if The Daleks were now known by its original production title of The Mutants, then it would be The Mutants (1963 TV story) and the Jon Pertwee story would be The Mutants (1972 TV story)
  3. ↑ If a thing is marketed as a 2-in-1 novel, flipbook, or the like, the constituent stories are themselves dabbed (novel)
  4. ↑ The obvious exception to the rule is something like Twilight of the Gods which should use the disambig (MA novel) to distinguish it from the Bernice Summerfield novel of the same name, which should use (BNA novel). The "novel" might seem superfluous, but it helps readers unfamiliar with these rather obscure corners of the DWU to immediately recognize they're novels. Any use of one of our wiki's prefixes should be followed by a word that will help any user to know instantly which medium the work is in.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Only use dab term if necessary to prevent ambiguity; unlike the dab terms of valid stories, these are only to be applied when it is actually necessary.
  6. ↑ What's meant by the original graphic novel? A comic story that was originally printed on its own and bears no reprints. So it's The Only Good Dalek (comic story), but The Iron Legion (graphic novel).
  7. ↑ The term "graphic novel" has tremendous variability, especially as between American and British use. As a purely arbitrary matter, all things which might be considered trade paperbacks or collected editions shall be disambiguated "(graphic novel)". Yes, technically, we should be using the American "trade paperback" to disambig IDW output, but simplicity wins over accuracy in this case. We need everything disambiguated the same way.
  8. ↑ This only applies to actual Internet releases, such as things originally released on YouTube or on the BBC website. "Streaming television" like things unique to the BBC iPlayer or Red Button are still considered to fall within the umbrella "(TV story)".
  9. ↑ Also used for real-world focused reference books for the time being.
  10. ↑ For clarity and uniformity's sake, mythological beings from the real world should be dabbed as "(mythology)", rather than by story, even if they have appeared "on-screen" in a given DWU story.
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