Talk:D.C. Fontana (author)

Disambiguation
Is (author) the best term to use to disambiguate the in-universe character from the real writer? Disambiguation is supposed to remove confusion, but (author) applies to both the real person and her fictional namesake. Would "D.C. Fontana (Incredible Tales author)" be better? —Josiah Rowe 17:58, July 9, 2010 (UTC)

It's also worth noting that Theodore Sturgeon (author) is about the fictional character, and Theodore Sturgeon is about the real-world writer. Isaac Asimov (author) and Isaac Asimov follow the same pattern, but Jerry Sohl and Jerry Sohl (author) follow the pattern of D.C. Fontana and D.C. Fontana (author). We should probably look at the pages for all the Incredible Tales writers with real-world namesakes, and figure out a consistent naming scheme for them. —Josiah Rowe 23:22, July 9, 2010 (UTC)


 * We did have a consistent naming scheme at one point, but several were put in the wrong way around. Other such characters include Stephen Hawking and a few others. Oh... and the simpler the disambig, the better. -- sulfur 00:34, July 10, 2010 (UTC)

Simple is fine, if it works. I don't think that "author" works to distinguish the real D.C. Fontana from the fictional one. The fact that several of the entries were put in the wrong way round only goes to show that the naming scheme is flawed. Which way was it supposed to go, anyway? —Josiah Rowe 01:41, July 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * If you go by people with Starfleet members named after them, then the "real" person gets the plain name, and the in-universe gets the disambig. If you go by some other stuff, then the in-universe gets the plain.  I prefer the "real" person getting the plain name myself. -- sulfur 02:01, July 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * Probably the real people would, too. :) If I was Fontana I would prefer my name alone to lead to my own article and not some obscure character only seen on a dedication plaque or whatever.--31dot 02:06, July 10, 2010 (UTC)

I agree that it makes sense for the real-world person to get the "plain" name. Should there be discussion somewhere else, or can we go ahead and move the Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Asimov pages so that they do that? (It would probably be easier for an admin to do it than for me to start the process, list the appropriate page on MA:PFID, and so forth.)

Also, what do y'all think about the "(author)" disambiguator in cases like this where both the real-world person and the in-universe character are authors/writers? —Josiah Rowe 23:15, July 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * I would suggest bringing it up in a Forum discussion to confirm the group's desires. And yes, "author" isn't the best to separate the two, but sadly it's also the only accurate one.  The only other option is to make all of the in-universe ones the non-disambigs, and put the real person at "(real person)".  Heheh. -- sulfur 23:20, July 10, 2010 (UTC)

OK, I've started a discussion at Forum:Disambiguation for fictional namesakes of real people. —Josiah Rowe 01:22, July 11, 2010 (UTC)


 * Note, the Sturgeon and Asimov links have been switched, and the links above were changed to suit... -- sulfur 14:11, October 24, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for moving the pages. I will say that the practice of "correcting" links in old discussions does risk making said discussions rather difficult for someone who wasn't part of the original discussion to follow. If anyone is interested in seeing the discussion as it was prior to the changes, it's in the history here. —Josiah Rowe 18:19, October 24, 2010 (UTC)