The Panopticon/Policy Creation: Naming convention for Big Finish audio stories

I propose to codify a policy for naming BF audio stories, analogous to the existing policy T:SERIALS for BBC TV stories.

Why is such a policy needed? There are several ongoing debates about names for stories and boxset releases; some of the boxset pages have already been moved. BF has been changing both the format of its releases and the way they are marketed. A policy would eliminate the debates about future releases and would make changes in marketing irrelevant.

Separating stories from anthologies. The anthologies are treated differently by current policies (dab term is not mandatory; not all anthologies have a dedicated page). Hence, the naming policies for stories and anthologies should be separate. This one concerns only stories, which is the simpler of the two.

Proposed policy in general. As for BBC TV serials, the name should be derived from the official listing by BF, more precisely, from the name of the story on the Big Finish website.

• For stories released as part of an anthology, the name can always be found on the BF page for the anthology. Little debate to be had here.
• For stories with stand-alone releases, the name should be taken from the all-capital boldface title of the BF page for the earliest such release. However, it has been a long-standing practice of this Wiki to eliminate repetitive prefixes from such titles (these prefixes have also been known to change over time). This policy codifies which prefixes form part of the name and which do not. The latter should not be used in the page name on this Wiki because their presentation by BF is unstable and because having many pages with identical prefixes impedes the usability of search-box suggestions, which are limited to only six page suggestions.

Prefixes to always be ignored. The name of a story should be unique to the story. Prefixes indicating the place of the story within the production line of BF are not part of its name. They are always separated from he name proper by a period, colon or dash. These prefixes are divided into the following categories:

1. Name of the relevant range. Currently, we code
   • "Cyberman: Scorpius" as Scorpius (same for all stories from Season 1 of Cyberman range)
   • "Dalek Empire: Invasion of the Daleks" as Invasion of the Daleks (same for all stories from Season 1 of Dalek Empire range)
   • "Gallifrey: Weapon of Choice" as Weapon of Choice (same for all stories of Seasons 1-3 and 7 of Gallifrey range)
   • "Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback" as Comeback (same for all stories of Sarah Jane Smith range)
   • "UNIT: The Coup" as The Coup (same for all stories from Season 1 of UNIT range)
2. Words "Doctor Who" emphasizing that one of the Doctors is featured. Currently, we code Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns as Excelis Dawns (same for two other stories from Excelis range)
3. Modified range name. Modifications currently include
   1. the addition of the season number to the range name: we code Dalek Empire 3: The Exterminators as The Exterminators;
   2. the addition of the words "Doctor Who" before the range name as in Doctor Who - Dominion (double prefixing);
   3. creative modification of the range name: Jago & Litefoot & Strax in Jago & Litefoot range in the story Jago & Litefoot & Strax - The Haunting.

Fake prefixes that are always to be included in the name.

1. If the initial part of a title is separated by a punctuation mark but is unique to the story. For instance, in Destination: Nerva the word "Destination" is a part of the name because no other story begins with "Destination:".
2. If the initial part of a title is a character's name separated by the word "and" instead of a punctuation title. For instance, in Peri and the Piscon Paradox "Peri and" is a part of the name.

Boundary cases. If a prefix is separated by a punctuation mark, used in several stories but is neither "Doctor Who" nor a (modified) range name, special consideration is required. There are only three such prefixes, so I'll discuss each of them.

1. The Key 2 Time - is used by BF for three consecutive stories forming an arc in the main range. It is currently not used in their names as, for instance, in The Judgement of Isskar;
2. 1963: is used by BF for three consecutive stories forming a trilogy in the main range celebrating the 50th anniversary. This prefix is currently used in their names as in 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men;
3. Project: is used by BF in the names of three non-consecutive stories forming a loose arc in the main range and one companion chronicle story featuring the same common element. This prefix is currently used in the story names as in Project: Twilight.

To explain why "1963" and "Project" are parts of the name whereas "The Key 2 Time" is not, one needs to look at the cover art. All of these stories are from big ranges with established place for the story title on the cover art. Thus, it is clear that "1963 and "Project" were intended by BF to be part of the story name, whereas "The Key 2 Time" was an additional arc name.

Required modifications to existing names. The above policy explains all current names of BF stories, except for two:

1. UNIT: Dominion should be Dominion, in line with the 1st season stories of the same range.
2. Jago & Litefoot & Strax should be The Haunting. This renaming was first proposed by RogerAckroydLives, and it was the fruitful discussion with him that led me to formulate this policy.

In thinking about this policy I also relied on ideas and comments mentioned at various times by CzechOut, Shambala108 and SOTO (which does not mean, of course, that they would agree with my interpretation, but the credit is due).