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The result of the debate was Do not change capitalization in quotes. —Xwing328(Talk) 23:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
I wanted to bring this up yesterday, but forgot it. So, here is what I want to discuss and reach a consensus on:
We have set two policies before:
- We should capitalize human in in-universe articles because all specie-names (Twi'lek, Rodian, Zabrak etc.) are capitalized and thus, human shouldn't be an exception.
- We also decided to capitalize galaxy because it's always one particular galaxy we're referring to. Out-of-universe names like the Milky Way Galaxy are always capitalized and thus the Star Wars Galaxy (even if it's unnamed) should also be capitalized. (I don't agree with this, but it's independent from the reason I'm writing this).
I noticed that we also change the capitalization of these words in direct quotations. That's what we shouldn't be doing. No Star Wars source has ever capitalized human or galaxy, at least I haven't seen any so far. And no one is supposed to change quotes in any way: I guess it's a violation of copyright or considered plagiarism (sort of) in any way, even if those are completely unimportant changes in capitalization. I'm learning essay writing at university and one of the most important things is—apart from having introduction, discussion, and conclusion—is to never ever change any quotes in any way. Either the direct, unchanged quote should be used or it should be paraphrased completely. The policies we set up here at Wookieepedia does not apply to any other Star Wars sources. By applying Wookieepedia policies in quotes, I think, implies that our capitalizations are "canon" in any other Star Wars sources as well. (Note that I put canon in quotation marks, because canon has a slightly different meaning for Star Wars).
Who thinks we shouldn't be changing capitalization in quotations?
Votes
Change capitalization
Don't change capitalization
- See my points above - TopAce 11:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
- For quotes from written media, sure. Fnlayson 20:05, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
- Wookieepedia's insistence on capitalizing "human" is straight-up fanon itself and should never have been approved. To force it on the sources is even worse. Havac 04:06, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
- It's not a direct quote if you're changing it. —Xwing328(Talk) 23:15, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
- Green Tentacle (Talk) 13:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
- Plenty of sources do capitalize Human, but those that don't shouldn't be changed. jSarek 06:35, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
- Muuuuuurgh 23:11, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
- I need a name (Complain here) 19:16, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- Changing capitalization in quotes from written sources is wrong. KEJ 21:32, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
Comments
- We might want to consider slapping a [sic] where capitalization differs from the Wookieepedia standard, though. jSarek 23:49, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
- What about putting 'H' in brackets, as in ".. the [H]uman .."? Or are brackets only for replacing whole words? -Fnlayson 23:59, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
- That works Finlayson. —Xwing328(Talk) 07:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- That would just look sloppy. -- Riffsyphon1024 07:31, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- I agree, "[H]uman" wouldn't look so good. Not my opinion about this changed a thing, the consensus seems to have been reached already, there are no votes for changing capitalization. How long until we consider this consensus closed? - TopAce 18:38, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- Yea, it probably would. But [sic] doesn't looks that clean either, imo. -Fnlayson 20:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- That would just look sloppy. -- Riffsyphon1024 07:31, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- That works Finlayson. —Xwing328(Talk) 07:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
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