Talk:What If? (feature)

Validity

Someone added an invalid tag, which is a shame I’ve put a lot of effort incorporating this into other articles, but I think it should be discussed.

I personally believe it should be valid. For a start the illustration is completely in universe as are many of the piece in it. I’d argue it could also pass rule 4 by proxy as the following year an illustration of the Griffiths Doctor in the same outfit as What If?. I think this was meant to be part of a meta-fictional DWU.

In fact a change to rule 4 along the lines of “is it meant to take place in the DWU or a meta-fictional world about Doctor Who” could be helpful. Either way. I strongly support the validity of this. It’s a what if other world scenario. Like Deadline being Unbound. It’s the same situation. 81.108.82.15^{talk to me} 00:22, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

…yeah, I've thought about this but I really don't see how this can be valid. What sets this apart from The Thief of Sherwood is that we don't have any particular reason to think that the Griffiths Doctor stuff itself passes Rule 4, let alone the meta framing device. It could be read as a parallel universe, but we have no evidence that this was Dave Owen's intent, and some could well argue that presenting it all as BTS info from an imaginary what-if version of our world, instead of a framing device tying Griffiths to the mainline DWU, sort of hints in the opposite direction, in the absence of other evidence.

(The purported "Rule 4 by Proxy" thing is a complete non-starter. That illustration doesn't pass the New Rule 1 standards for automatically getting its own page in any case, lacking a title and all that, but even if it didn't, it doesn't have any particular evidence of passing Rule 4 in itself. Also, Rule 4 By Proxy cases need specific threads to rule in, we can't just start covering things as valid from the start for R4BP reasons. Honestly.)

Deadline would likely be invalid if it had been a standalone release with no particular authorial quote to tie it to the DWU; it's only because it's part of a range whose other entries are all explicitly parallel universes within the DWU that we took it on faith that the same could be understood to be the default for Deadline (which the existence of a Short Trip tying in with it later confirmed). No such situation exists with What If?, making it more of a "Set Visit" situation.

Bottom line, this is definitely worth a page, but unless some Rule 4 quote or genuine R4BP scenario is located, it'll just have to be as {{invalid}}. And that's okay. Scrooge MacDuck ⊕ 22:17, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

That's a fair ruling and I accept it, but it has probably killed my enthusiasm in the page for now.

One thing I would like to suggest is I think "not intended to be set in the DWU" may need updating as it's too close to canon. I mean it's fine when it's talking about spin-offs or semi licensed stories. It helps us determine when a writer, say Paul Magrs, uses a character from a Dr Who story in another story of his. it helps us determine if that's relevant to Doctor Who

but I do think a rule should be implemented that if it's a BBC licensed piece of fiction released under the Doctor Who brand then it should be a valid source. 81.108.82.15^{talk to me} 23:08, 19 March 2023 (UTC)