Forum:Clarifying in-universe deadnaming policy in response to Rose Noble

So I am creating this forum in response to the latest episode of Doctor Who, TV: The Star Beast. In short, I think that we need to have a greater discussion about our in-universe deadnaming policy.

As far as I know, our wiki policy is that out-of-universe, we do not allow deadnames to be used on the pages of actors, crew members, etc. BUT we do allow redirects in cases where the person transitioned after they were credited for working on a DWU story, so people looking up names in the back of a book can find what they're looking for.

But our policy on in-universe pages is that, in our mission to archive and collect all in-universe information, we allow deadnames to be listed in the opening paragraph of a character's page, alongside redirects. This has been done specifically because we've seen many characters transition mid-narrative, such as Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz).

However, I think we need to reconsider at least some cases, specifically the new situation of Rose Noble. As Rose is both canonically transgender and has her deadname stated in-narrative, there is naturally going to be a culture of some more... well, evil fans refusing to call her by anything but her dead name. Writing an article on a significant trans character and then having the second stated detail being her dead name could have very bad optics in my opinion. (Obviously, as Yasmin Finney was not credited for any DWU roles before transitioning, I think linking to or using *her* deadname should be considered vandalism.)

So this is my thought: I think in cases like these, there is no need for the opening paragraphs to mention Rose's deadname. If people insist on having that information archived somewhere, you can place it in the start to the biography section. But others might think that we should simply not have deadnames on her article - it is worth debating. I also think there should be a redirect, because sadly people will see the phrase "J***n Noble" out there in the wild and will need to be able to search for the name out of context.

I do understand how some would like to approach this in a case-by-case basis, but I certainly think that we need an official policy on this, and that said policy should discourage opening an article on a deadname or implying that a deadname defines a character more than anything else. OS25🤙☎️ 23:36, 25 November 2023 (UTC)

Discussion
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