Forum:CT Archive/Proposed amendment to the naming policy

Hi everyone. This CT is about amending the naming policy. Toprawa and Ralltiir and I worked together on this together, so some of his footprints are in this. First, allow me to explain the backstory of this change.

The naming policy currently states the following regarding characters with more than one name:
 * Whenever two or more names were used by the character simultaneously (adopted names included), use the most commonly known of those names (example: both Palpatine and Dooku were commonly known under their official names, which they continued to use alongside their Sith titles, so those names are preferred for the respective articles).

This policy generally works, but there are cases where using the most commonly used name is actually inaccurate. A good example of this is this page: Sheev Palpatine. In canon, it is firmly established that by the execution of Order 66 in Episode III, Palpatine is Darth Sidious in thought and action. Supporting evidence, so you can see where i'm coming from:


 * The Databank has two biography galleries for the character: one for Palpatine and one for Sidious. The one for Palpatine ends at the declaration of the New Order, while the one for Sidious continues onward until his death in Episode VI.
 * The final image in the Palpatine bio gallery states: "Despite his public title of Emperor Palpatine, he was Darth Sidious in thought and action from this point forward."
 * In Tarkin, in which the Emperor is a major supporting character, there are scenes that are from his point of view, as well as scenes from the point of view of other people. In the scenes from other peoples' POV, he is referred to as Palpatine or the Emperor. In the ones from his POV, he is referred to as Sidious. The subtext is that he's publicly known as Emperor Palpatine, but he considers himself Darth Sidious.

It is therefore more accurate to have the Sheev Palpatine page be called Darth Sidious. However, that name can't be changed without a slight policy shift. We therefore propose that the above text be replaced with this:


 * Whenever two or more names are used by a character simultaneously (adopted names included), use the most commonly known of those names (example: both Star Wars Legends Palpatine and Dooku were commonly known under their given names, which they continued to use alongside their Sith titles, so those names are preferred for the respective articles). Exceptions may apply to characters who prominently identify as a certain name despite their public persona. A prime example is Canon Darth Sidious, who was publicly known as Palpatine but self-identified as Darth Sidious at the end of his life.

Although this CT was constructed with the canonical Darth Sidious in mind, it will allow for future exceptions to be made on a case by case basis. For those who are concerned about characters like Dooku and Darth Caedus, Dooku is never prominently identified as Darth Tyranus and&mdash;according to others, as I have not read the books&mdash;Jacen Solo self-identified as Darth Caedus at the time of his (SPOILER ALERT) death. It also would not mean that the Legends Palpatine page would be called Darth Sidious, as canon makes the name Darth Sidious prominent and self-identified in a way that Legends does not.

Adopt the proposed change

 * 1) As the proposer. - Brandon Rhea (talk) 04:22, January 15, 2015 (UTC)