Forum:DWU: Doctor Who universe or Doctor Who Unbound?
I see in Forum:The BBC dilemma that an objection has been raised to using the initials DWU to refer to anything but Doctor Who Unbound. But does that make a lot of sense? Should one tiny bit of Big Finish output, which by definition is not canonical and therefore not cite-able, hold the most sensible abbreviation for the whole, canonical universe hostage? I mean, really, when you see the initials "DWU", do you honestly think "Unbound" or do you think Doctor Who universe? I know, for me, DWU means the latter. And I'm pretty sure the average reader will tend to quickly get DWUniverse out of DWU, as the Unbound range is pretty obscure. You have to be pretty hard-core into Big Finish to even know the range exists. Can we change the Unbound prefix to UNB? I mean, really, we don't need a prefix at all for that, I don't think — each story exists within its own universe, so you can't even cite one Unbound adventure in another Unbound adventure's article. But if we really have to have an abbreviation, it shouldn't be one that seems to mean something else entirely. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 00:25, May 13, 2010 (UTC)
- BFDWU for Big Finish's Doctor Who Unbound series would be fine and would fit in with our other Big Finish things.
- I think discussing how 'hardcore' you are is somewhat moot considering this is a Doctor Who Wiki, you could use that argument for about 3/4 of the things in our canon policy, that's not an argument to get rid of it.
- Why do we need a DWU (U for universe) prefix? Whenever something is cited it's cited with the prefix to which the story belongs rather than an all encompassing 'universe' sort of thing.
- Or is this for just the BBC argument? --Tangerineduel 03:06, May 13, 2010 (UTC)
- We don't need a DWU prefix, but we do, largely within the confines of OOU articles and sections, need the ability to have a link to Doctor Who universe as an acronym. I'm not proposing the deletion of NOTVALID, but its redirection towards Doctor Who universe. Several articles use the term several times, so there's a stylistic need to be able to switch to an abbreviation, and for it to be understood without confusion. Leaving to one side the applicability of the "hardcore" argument, I still don't really understand why we need a prefix for Unbound at all, since our canon policy clearly states we can't cite non-canon material in in-universe articles, anyway. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 13:05, May 13, 2010 (UTC)
- On the articles they are cited they're treated as a look into a parallel universe / an alternate universe, whether this is correct or not is another issue (I would tend so say no that information should go on a dedicated page for example the Brigadier from Sympathy for the Devil and Masters of War should have his own article rather than on the Brig's main article, the same should probably go for the other 'alternate Brigadiers' on that article page, though to counter my own argument there is something to be said for keeping all this info on one page).
- The prefix is though still somewhat useful when linking within continuity sections and see also sections.
- My mistake, acronym. I don't have any issues with changing DWU to redirect to Doctor Who universe and changing the all current links to BFDWU. --Tangerineduel 15:36, May 14, 2010 (UTC)
