User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Inclusion debates/@comment-25421326-20200308132630/@comment-6032121-20200313142805

I agree that continuity references from invalid stories to valid stories, and vice versa, absolutely should be present on pages. The large amount of such references that exist in Death Comes to Time, combined with the extreme lack of clarity of the supposed Rule 4 quotes, can fairly be used as evidence that the story really should be valid to begin with, in this particular case.

But to be honest, the matter of whether continuity sections should exist on  pages is also a matter for its own thread. The decision that invalid story pages couldn't have a "Continuity" section was, as best I can tell, taken unilaterally by an admin on this talk page in 2010; what's more, it was chiefly about Discontinuity, which, of course, we don't have on any pages anymore.

There was a fair argument to be made that invalid stories, especially parodical ones, can't have discontinuity with valid stories — but with that out of the way, I see no good reason why they shouldn't be able to have continuity. Even wholly parodical stories make what are obvious references to stories that came before them — or to each other! There is, of course, a serious proposal to revalidate the Cushing stories as a whole going on; but let us imagine for a moment that the status quo of all Cushing Doctor stories remaining invalid stands. What reason is there to forbid Daleks Versus the Martians from having a Continuity section that mentions its narrative connections to Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. at least?

But that, again, is another and wider matter. Continuity concerns certainly played a part in the original 2012 debate that led to Death Comes to Time's invalidity, but they don't, as such, belong in a debate today. A story could assert that the Doctor is a 3-year-old Venusian, and as long as we have reason to believe the authors did intend for that story to be set in the DWU as they understand it, then that story would still be valid. Whether or not anybody listened. (I mean, Dreamstone Moon cheekily raises the possibility that the Doctor is actually a Partriscisnad.)