User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-1451563-20180913002703/@comment-24894325-20181209225112

I really did not want to go all admin mode. I prefer it when the discussion develops naturally and I can sit back and provide relevant info. So I did not interfere when, after another admin reopened the thread based on my request to hold on for potential new information from the new season and after the admin who closed it affirmed that new information would, of course, be of interest but warned that we shouldn't rehash conversations that led to the current policy in the first place, when soon after that a post continued along the same line of rehashing old arguments, discussing, of all things, English language, which is not likely to have been affected by Series 11 all that much, and made quite a lot of accusatory remarks, which did not sit well with me, personally.

So let me start from the end. Game-fanatic wrote: if we eventually do end up determining “they” is the best English descriptor You have it exactly backwards. We have already determined in Thread:152896 that they has to be used whenever source(s) do not provide a unique personal pronoun. This is a wiki-wide policy, and everyone has to follow it whether they like it or not, whether they agree with it or not, whether they participated in that discussion or not (see Tardis:You are bound by current policy if you have questions). In particular, since the Doctor is addressed as she in some stories (as the Thirteenth Doctor) and as he (as the First Doctor), then they have to be addressed by "they" by default and any deviation requires a justification. Same goes for the Master, for Kenossium, for the Corsair and for any other individual who has been addressed as both he and she.

Anyone who thinks that in individual cases some sources can be ignored in favour of other sources has to give a rationale that does not conflict with our policy of giving "all media equal weight" (Tardis:Neutral point of view) and that is based on new, not yet discussed evidence. By now, three admin explicitly asked to search for such evidence. And some evidence has been provided. What I do not understand is why some participants of this discussion, instead of providing evidence in favour of he/she, argue against the evidence provided for they.

The burden of proof is actually on the other side. You want to use he/she? Please provide new in-universe evidence why sources using she/he must be ignored. If you have not seen Series 11, which was the main rationale for reopening the thread, if you do not provide new evidence in favour of choosing he over she or she over he, then your posts do not bring anything new to the table. Once again, they is currently the law of the land. It need not be further justified. And, as someone with experience closing threads, I can tell you that you are only making the job of the closing admin harder without adding new information. And therefore, I would respectfully ask you to go and search for evidence in favour of he/she instead of trying to knock down new quotes reaffirming the old policy of using they.

Admin-hat off.