Out-of-universe
This article currently illustrates why it's a bad idea to copy from Wikipedia when writing about an individual. Hard to tell exactly what's established in the Doctor Who universe and what's not. This article should probably be pared down to just the last paragraph, because that's the only bit that seems to come from the DWU. People who've read the book should update the article so it only includes information from the book. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 09:14, March 14, 2010 (UTC)
Writing " . . . from the real world" articles
Grigori Rasputin is a member of a category that organizes things within Doctor Who universe. As such it (or, if a subcategory, articles within it) must be written from that point of view. Care must be taken with articles or subcategories like this to ensure that we stress only what is known within the DWU.
Main body of article
Please remember that the main parts of articles within a DWU category should only give information that is actually provided in the story or stories concerned. For instance, an article about a song from the real world shouldn't state the writers of that song, its highest UK chart position or, generally, the year in which it debuted. Almost never is such information provided in a DWU source. Likewise, people from the real world usually are not given full birth and death dates or detailed career information in a DWU story. We don't know from a DWU source, for instance, even what the dates of Margaret Thatcher's prime ministership were. They could be different from that which obtained in the real world, especially given the presence of strictly fictional prime ministers, like Harriet Jones. While copying Wikipedia articles is not forbidden by our Manual of Style, it should be strictly avoided for subjects within the " . . . from the real world" categories. Limit yourself to only that information which can be seen or heard from the story concerned. Remember, all these articles will have a wikipediainfo link, anyway, allowing readers to easily access Wikipedia, if they so choose.
Behind-the-scenes sections
"Common knowledge" about subjects like these should only be given in the behind the scenes section, or, if brief, in an italicized section beneath the article proper. Information given in the behind-the-scenes section should be limited to only what is relevant to amplify the meaning of the main part of the article. For instance, the real world hosts of the television programme, What Not to Wear are relevant to the DWU article, because those presenters provided the voices of the hosts in the DWU version of What Not to Wear seen in Bad Wolf. However, their names should not be given in the main body of the article, because that fact is not established by the episode. Instead, the information is best included in the behind-the-scenes section. By contrast, Orlando Bloom's involvement in The Lord of the Rings and The Pirates of the Caribbean is completely irrelevant to the DWU — until and unless either of those facts are established by the DWU or he participates in a DWU production — and shouldn't be included in the behind-the-scenes section.
"The Power of the Doctor"
The text:
- During World War I, Rasputin worked as a trusted adviser to the Tsar Nicholas II. By 1916, however, the Spy Master had taken his place and took up residence in the Winter Palace as part of the Master's Dalek Plan. The Master was ultimately killed during the plan. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
has been replaced with:
- According to another account in which Rasputin was The Master in disguise, in 1916 he took up residence in the Winter Palace as part of The Master's Dalek Plan. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
The reason given for this is that it makes it more neutral, I feel like this might lean towards the Spy Master being the same person as Rasputin, which is somewhat ambiguous in the story. Surely it would be easier for a viewer to assume that the Master took his place for some time than for them to assume that Rasputin either never existed or was erased from time by the Master? Cookieboy 2005 ☎ 23:23, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
- But this isn't stated in the text, so it's explicitly against policy for us to say that. No matter what the reader assumes, the wiki can't make that determination. (I note that I didn't add categories to the page like "individual time lords" due to this ambiguity. I'm trying to keep the coverage neutral.) Najawin ☎ 23:33, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
So the script is out and it seems that the intent was very much that Rasputin was the Master all along. Should we just note this in a BTS section? Najawin ☎ 00:05, 5 November 2022 (UTC)
- It's worse. The Giggle (novelisation) now explicitly says this. So is Rasputin the Master or not in PotD? Najawin ☎ 04:09, 15 December 2023 (UTC)