User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-121.45.54.78-20130925110520/@comment-31010985-20191120131623

The issue of implied appearances is a really important issue to nail down, I think. It's all about the distinction between prohibited speculation and common sense interpretations that if ignored would be extremely unhelpful to readers. Finding the balance between the two is vital in determining what are appearances and what aren't.

Since we're already on topic of Thatcher, let's bring up an example from that article. The Ultimate Adventure features a female British Prime Minister called Mrs T. If we were to take policy strictly to the letter we would have an article called something like Mrs T or T (The Ultimate Adventure) separate from the Thatcher article. This would be extremely unhelpful to readers wishing to find references to her and I would go as far to say a disservice to the wiki. Is it speculation to assume a female British PM from the 1980s with a last name beginning T is Margaret Thatcher, is it common sense, or can it be established as fact based on other sources?

That is an example on the more extreme side but if we decide an appearance has to be completely explicit in the story of the appearance tens or hundreds of pages will need to be overhauled and split off from each other.