User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-1451563-20180913002703/@comment-28349479-20190110175006

Don't really have much to say here beyond what's already been said. Obviously, even setting aside the pronoun concerns so aptly identified by Imamadmad, there are plenty of places around the wiki where language is ambiguous and has lead to misunderstandings. While no one would say that these shouldn't be minimized, that's an obligation of the editors, not the policy. Evidence propounds that "they" has been used as a singular gender-neutral pronoun for centuries, and it's obvious that language is only moving further in that direction. Hence, I think this is the best solution to the problem, and I fail to see any other viable solution at all.

Anyone who doesn't see the inadequacies in referring to the Doctor in general as "he" should keep in mind that our considerations need not be limited to the Doctor's past. Various valid sources outside the TV show have hinted at incarnations in the Doctor's future, and by no means are they all male. Eg the novelisation of Rose, which mentions not just Capaldi and Whitaker but also a "tall, bald black woman" and "a young girl or boy in a hi-tech wheelchair" among the Doctor's future forms and faces!

(And these problems are just more pronounced when we realize that the Doctor might have had early incarnations before the First Doctor. Cold Fusion hints that there were further faces beyond the Brain of Morbius ones, and we have no clue about what their genders were. Of course, that's kind of speculatory, so I won't belabour the point.)

Now, briefly addressing the recent upflairs. Searching through this thread and acrostic the site as a whole, I'm still not really seeing any significant reason to question our current policy, which has worked just fine on pages like The Master for the last several years. Experiences while moderating Reddit's Doctor Who communities have left me painfully aware of public outcry over the Thirteenth Doctor's casting, particularly in regards to gender. No doubt, the pervasiveness of that conversation is why this is thread has become such a hot topic of debate. Scenarios like these are when it's most important for cool-headedness and even enforcement of the rules, and I applaud Amorkuz for maintaining this. Ultimately, regardless of what is decided – or even if this thread is left to just rack up posts for the rest of eternity – I hope we can all agree to maintain civility. Successful resolution depends on it.