User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-24894325-20151229103324/@comment-24894325-20160830223518
I adapt my original position and agree with Bwburke94 that it should not be applied in all cases. To provide an actionable rule, here is a proposal:
If
- a character is first introduced in a story released by one production company,
- within 3 months from its release, the same character appears in a story released by another production company and
- the character's name requires a dab term,
then a redirect from "Character (Story 2)" to "Character (Story 1)" is created.
Justification for the time period. After some time, it is reasonable to consider the character established in the DWU. 3 months seems a reasonable time period. Note that the releases of some stories are dated only by a month. In such cases, a 3-month window still guarantees at least 1 month between the actual releases.
Additional justification for the redirect. The case of Gully highlighted another possible problem. The events of the book In the Blood, published by BBC Books on May 12, happen after the events of the audio story Time Reaver, published by Big Finish Productions on May 16. The two stories are written by the same author, but I can't imagine it was the author's intent for the book to be read first. At least one professional reviewer complained that reading the book ruins the suspense for the audio by revealing the fate of Gully. While it can be argued that the same production company should take care of such things, release processes can be hard to control in different production companies. Thus, a proposed redirect may serve to partially fulfil the authorial intent destroyed by production cycles.
