Tardis:Magazine issues

Outside of this wiki, the usual way of referring to the 273rd issue of a magazine is to write it thus: [Magazine name] #273. This nomenclature is denied us in the MediaWiki software that underpins this wiki, however. The # character in a link tells the software to link to a section of an article. For instance, Tardis:Manual of Style creates a specific link to this section of this article. So while DWM creates a blue link and appears to work, it is actually linking to DWM and looking for the section called "273". Thus, it produces a false blue link. This phenomenon is perhaps easier to see with a red link. DWM Issue creates a red link — DWM Issue  — because it's actually linking to the article DWM Issue (which doesn't exist) and looking for the section named "273". Because of this technical condition, there is a need for magazine issues to be named in a certain way. The rule is this:


 * Take the indicia title of the majority of issues in the run, make an exact acronym of it, then add the issue number.

Hence, the 273rd issue of Doctor Who Magazine becomes DWM 273. And because the name is based on the name in the majority of issues, we have DWM 12, not DWW 12. Easy.

What's perhaps less clear is that acronyms don't necessarily match our prefix system. For instance, Torchwood, the series, is prefixed here as TV. However, the 12th issue of Torchwood Magazine is TM 12, since TV isn't actually an acronym of Torchwood.

Also, if there are instances where the acronym of the publication's title wouldn't be clear, the two digits of the year of first publication are appended. For example, the American Doctor Who comic book was a publication that began in 1984. To abbreviate to DW would be ambiguous as there are several American comic books with the title Doctor Who. Calling it "DWUS" would likewise be ambiguous, because. . . there are several American comic books with the title Doctor Who. Thus, we have to go to the only thing that truly distinguishes the publications: the year. The 15th issue of the Marvel US Doctor Who comic is therefore DW84 15.