Forum:DWU, Canon, Continuity and References - rename them

Doctor Who universe (DWU), Canon and Continuity are three terms that are used fairly broadly throughout the wiki, and they all mean vaguely the similar things.

Canon being all the stories we use to make the universe and DWU being the end result once we've got all the in-universe info out of them. With continuity being the direct connections to the stories through the narrative.

Discussions of this nature have been brought up before (see Forum:References and continuity: what exactly is the difference?).

I think part of the issue is that the three concepts are fairly similar and we assume that other readers know what we're talking about when we use these concepts which are used fairly uniquely on this wiki.

So I propose we rename both the sections on the stories pages.


 * "Continuity" becomes >> "Canon and continuity"
 * "References" becomes >> "DWU references"

This way we actually tie the sections into terms we already have defined on the wiki and separate these terms from generic terms of "Continuity" and "References". --Tangerineduel / talk 15:21, June 25, 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree with this, there is to much confusion between the two on them. DWU references should contain every single scrap of information presented in a story. C&C should be used if a certain story/event if mentioned.


 * An example:


 * Barbara mentions the Daleks.
 * Oswald Danes eat an hot dog with mustard.


 * They would fall under "DWU references", whereas:


 * Barbara talks about her first encounter with the Daleks on Skaro (DW: The Daleks)
 * Jack talks about be poisoned on a plane. (TW Rendition)


 * would fall under C&C


 * C&C should also only mention/reference/contain stories that have already occurred. For example, a Fourth Doctor story couldn't link to a Tenth Doctor story, but it could link to a Third Doctor story. Likewise, a Tenth Doctor story couldn't link to an Eleventh Doctor story, but could link to a Fourth. MM/ Want to talk? 23:16, June 25, 2012 (UTC)

What about a Third Doctor story produced after a Tenth Doctor Story. Could not, say, a Third Doctor trip Trips story published in 2011 echo an event from a Tenth Doctor television story? In a timey-wimey universe published in no particular order....Boblipton talk to me 00:00, June 26, 2012 (UTC)
 * I absolutely disagree with the reintroduction of the term "canon" after having worked relatively hard to rid the wiki of it.  Continuity, fine.  Canon?  No.  Canon is in no way the same thing as continuity.  We need to continue the work of ridding the wiki of the term "canon", rather than doing the precise opposite.


 * And I really don't get the difference between "continuity" and "DWU references". It's the same thing.  I would support a collapsing of these two sections into one, but I really don't support Tangerineduel's original post in any way, nor do I understand the distinction that MM is trying to make.    00:27: Tue 26 Jun 2012


 * I agree that introducing the word "canon" into every story page is a terrible idea. I think that collapsing "continuity" and "references" into a single section is probably the simplest solution. —Josiah Rowe talk to me 01:52, June 26, 2012 (UTC)