User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-4028641-20150917235441/@comment-1789834-20151005115343

I think what you're saying is just common sense. But I don't agree that things like TARDISODE 5 are difficult to classify. There's a reason it was accepted it as a valid source and that's because it's a prequel to a valid source. The Doctor, Rose and Mickey soon pop into that parallel world and make everything better. Prequels are no problem here. In which case, my "retort", as you so kindly put it, would still ring a true analysis of a true source.

What I'm saying is this: use common sense. Rise of the Cybermen is a valid source because a Doctor and companions from the DWU have specifically entered/fallen into a parallel universe. It's one of the first things that happens (and is explained) in the episode. Furthermore, since TARDISODE 5 is a prequel to one of these Pete's World stories, it's therefore attached to the episode and counts as a valid source. It's common sense. Never has the saying "mountain out of a molehill" been more valid haha.

We need the NOTDWU prefix for stories like the Unbound series that feature Doctors not related in any way to the real Doctor's timeline. They do not originate from our universe, nor do they habitate within it. If there were a story set entirely in an alternate reality and without any DWU characters, then it comes under the NOTDWU category. This is because it's not in the DWU. If RTD's planned spin-off Rose Tyler: Earth Defence went ahead and we saw Rose and team battling alien threats on Pete's World, that would be allowed as a DWU story, simply because Rose, Jackie and TenTwo originate from the DWU.

It's not that difficult, it really isn't. Getting rid of or altering this little prefix is just going to cause more confusion haha. It does a pretty good job as it is without us meddling and changing everything.