Battlestar Wiki talk:Citation Jihad

Citation Consistency

"Zoic" is a name that sounds like what Shaggy from "Scooby Doo" would make when surprised, I think.

Despite being the special effects company for the series, I wonder how much of their information still holds weight. I noticed that Peter gave neither negative or positive weight to this source. As we go through pages, two issues are going to crop up, of which one may need to move to the Standards page.

• Consistent and useful visual separation and identification of TOS and RDM information and characters. I find the mingling of TOS and RDM data in the same article confusing and lengthens an article unnecessarily. More germane to this project, it will also keep RDM and TOS stats from cohabitating and confusing the citation process.
• We need to cite official sources for TOS information on the project page, keeping in mind this wiki is for both series. There are surely more TOS fan sites than RDM, and things like games, fan fiction and the like over the years have surely diluted what is official and not.
• The level of detail or a standard of detail on technical pages needs some kind of governor. At which point is something being reasonable in description (such as Galactica's rail guns) or is embellishment or technobabble that just gives fan service (like "Galactica uses a BFG-3244 Rail Gun with Strapless Attachment")? I'd be more strict on this info than any other since tech is tech and such "facts" should not be different from what is seen on screen.

I think color coding article titles to identify TOS and RDM pages (rather than using "TOS" and "RDM") may be better on the eye. Spencerian 11:05, 29 September 2005 (EDT)

I intended Zoic to fall under point 3, for "crew" - ie, of roughly the same reliability as that interview where Lorena Gale talked about how Elosha used to do "a lot of drugs". --Peter Farago 11:21, 29 September 2005 (EDT)

I believe the actual word is spelled thus: ZOIKS! Caps are not optional. ;) --Day 01:21, 10 October 2005 (EDT)

Request for name change

I am uncomfortable with the use of the term "Jihad". I would rather we use the term "Crusade", or perhaps "Inquisition"; I think "Inquisition" is best (i.e. Spanish Inquisition [no one suspects the Inquisition!] b/c it's rooting out unsourced information). --Ricimer 13 October, 2005

Striving for accuracy certainly has better overtones than any use of "crusade", and "inquisition" has draconian connotations. --Peter Farago 01:11, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

I, uh, don't get Peter's post. Does that means he agrees or doesn't? Anyway, I'm fine with Jihad because it implies a religeous devotion and a fanaticism that I think could be, sarcastically, applied to the purpose of this project. However, I'm also fine with Inquisition because it implies a religeous devotion and a fanaticism that I think... You can see where I'm going with this, no? Also, the Spanish Inquisition sketch is my favorite Monty Python sketch in the history of Monty Python's being viewed by me. And I'd love for my comments on changing citation errors (if I ever see any, because I'm bad at seeing them) to be "Our chief weapon is Fear. Fear and surprise. Our TWO chief weapons are fear, surprise and a fanatical devotion to citation. Ah. Our THREE chief weapons are: Fear, surprise, a--" You get the idea.

I find it interesting that the name and the two proposed substitutes are all tied to religeon? We could have a Citation Rampage. Or a Citation Mosh Pit. Heh. Maybe we should be the Ministry of Citation. I always liked ministries. We would then address each other as "Minister Day" and "Minister Farago", etc. Or maybe one of you can come up with a more Orwellian name. That would be cool. --Day 01:52, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

To clarify: I like Citation Jihad. I came up with it, after all... --Peter Farago 02:08, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

"Jihad", in this context, does indeed present - shall we say - disconcerting ramifications for those of us who are not Christian. While humurous to most of us (I hate to splash cold water) the casual use of such a revered term amongst a potential audience of Islamic adherrants is a wee bit less than delicate... especially in light of the suspicion many perfectly native or naturalized citizens of Mid-Eastern descent faced immediately subsequent to 9/11... and the suspicion they currently face every time they reenter the U.S.

While rather fascinating that we should find ourselves encountering a problem delt with in more artfull ways in our favorite television program, it is nevertheless significant (dare I say important) that we handle this question of naming with a sense of diplomacy. --Watcher 04:12, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

I was unsettled--albeit briefly--with the name initially, but I'm not into political correctness. "Jihad" is correct in definition. Currently, however, some take the word with the same emotional charge as Muslims would hear "Crusade," since, essentially in the context of past conflicts between Christians and Muslins at war, both signify a religious purge. In any case, the term sites a religious note that might sour some.

But before you knock Peter for his choice, consider our subject matter: "Battlestar Galactica" is a morality play in the tradition of the original Star Trek series, which addresses in allegory the Muslim/Judeo-Christian issue present through current terrorism against the West as well as the Israel/Palestine conflict by using the Humano-Cylon/Human and God/Lords of Kobol issue. If nothing else, the use of the term "Jihad" in its purest form is actually appropriate and striking so for this Wiki. Don't let the Al Qaeda terrorists or other extremists make you afraid of a word when in fact, it is THEY that slur it from its true meaning. Peter has always shown a concise use of words that has little to no ambiguity--I should know since he frequently slices my edits to their essence when I use too many words. I'll back up Peter on this one. Spencerian 12:43, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Taking these points into account, I would greatly prefer "Inquisition" over "Jihad" or "Crusade". -- Ricimer, October 14, 2005

Good point. And very nicely said I might add. --Watcher 13:10, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

I hope you don't mind, Watcher, I indented your previous post one more. Anyway, I like Johad fine. I actually find it kind of refreshing to use it for something that's not violent. I'm not Muslim, so I can't speak to that. However, as an American I don't feel, I dunno, threatened by the name, or anything. When I first saw it, it gave me pause, but that pause was me thinking, "Whew. Someone's probably gonna throw a fit about that one." --Day 14:13, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Well I'm sorry but I do and I have. What's the consensus on this? --Ricimer, October 13, 2005

Not a problem Day. I think there might have been an unintentional slip during one of the edits (notice the time/date stamps) but I seem to constantly screw this detail up anyway. Feel free. I may read as insufferably serious but I assure you that's not the case. --Watcher 16:50, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Good deal, Watcher. Anyway... I was about to make a post about not wanting anyone to feel threatened by this project, but I find I have to revise that. I don't want members of the project to feel threatened by the name. I hope people who don't cite sources are scared witless of us. ;) Anyway, as much as I like using Jihad, I tend to like to not offend reasonable people, so I'd be okay with a change, I guess. --Day 17:21, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

A note on nesting - if Watcher was replying to Spencerian, not Ricimer, it should be indented to the level of Spencerian's comment + 1, not Ricimer's + 1. --Peter Farago 18:42, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Ah. Good to know. I shall endeavour to remember this. --Day 22:47, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Votes

We need to come to some kind of consensus, I think. So, first, is to change or not change. If we decide to change, then we can quibble over what to change to. Place your name under the appropriate heading.

No Change

1. --Day 06:14, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
2. --Not afraid of words when used properly. Spencerian 13:56, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
3. --Name doesn't bother me. Talos 19:46, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
4. --Peter Farago 00:51, 24 October 2005 (EDT)
5. --Ditto Spencerian. Let's not fear words when used properly. -- Joe Beaudoin 21:28, 27 October 2005 (EDT)

Change

1. Reluctantly --Watcher 06:30, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
2. Wholeheartedly --Ricimer 09:46, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
3. Normally I don't care about words, but I have to admit, that in today's world, some words have become too negatively charged. --cp.hayes 14:30, 23 October 2005 (EDT)
4. Wholeheartedly --Lone Odessan 19:36, 23 October 2005 (EDT)

BSG: The Magazine

I saw this on the news stand at Fry's and thought it was worth picking up an issue to see what was in it. I've so far read a whole of two pages, so I don't know much about it, except that it has an article on Pyramid that was interesting. Does anyone else know anything about this magazine? How reliable is it? I'm going to edit the Pyramid article with some things that are revealed about the rules. How should I cite this, exactly? I'm gonna go with page numbers and title for now. --Day 17:24, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Given that we haven't had much about the RDM show in print, I'd carefully use it to compare to the canonical stuff we have. If things are consistent, I'd say it's a reliable source since I strongly suspect that USA/Universal may have to sign off on its content. Spencerian 17:58, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

I say we put it on level 4, (sci-fi and skyone websites), provisionally. --Peter Farago 18:41, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Correction. The title is Battlestar Galactica, the Official Magazine even thought the words are not in that order on the cover. And, I must say, the thing was really clumsily edited. There are missing periods, 'and' for 'a', 'their' for 'they're', tense mixing, Obvious typos. Yech. --Day 01:04, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

Citation Format

Also, we should choose a citation format and stick with it. Opinions? MLA, APA, Chicago? --Peter Farago 18:41, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Damn it, Peter. I knew you were a student. You're going to force me to dig up a book or stand with the kids at the college bookstore, aren't you? :) Spencerian 22:50, 13 October 2005 (EDT)

Are you kidding? I just graduated and never once bought a book on citation. All that can be found on the net. I've only ever used MLA style before, however, I'd be willing, given the nature of web pages, to use something that just had footnotes with numbering. There was some tool Wikipedia has for this that I read about, but I don't remember much about it except that it seemed cool. --Day 00:06, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

I would find MLA with numbered footnotes ideal. For "personal communication", we would do well to follow MASON's example of including them in subpages, such as Mercury class battlestar/Sources (That should be linked to from the main article text, however.) --Peter Farago 00:16, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

Joe also mentioned possibly that we should scan things. What kinds of things? And, I assume those should go on a Sources page, too, neh? I think for whatever's on the sources page, we could do the foot note like this: (3) Personal communication (or whatever relevant info). See link to Sources page. I also think Sources pages should have a link back. WHat do y'all think? --Day 00:25, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

I Agree. --Peter Farago 01:14, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

By scans, I mean scans of publication articles and so forth. Scans should not be of the whole article but a snippet of the applicable text that was cited (enough to qualify as fair use). Also, as for linking the sources subpage, I created a template, {{source}} that can be placed next to the applicable information. The template automatically links to the Source subpage. (Format: Article title/Sources.) Thoughts? -- Joe Beaudoin 14:16, 14 October 2005 (EDT)

How does that work, then, Joe? The syntax, I mean? --Day 03:29, 18 October 2005 (EDT)

Character Ages

Character ages across the site appear to be based on the age of the actors who play them. This would normally be reasonable, but the Timeline of BSG does not match the progress of time in the real world - the characters have aged at most three and a half months in the same time that their actors have aged two years. Since we can't infer ages more accurately than a casual visitor could be glancing at a character photograph, I would rather this information simply not be included. Opinions? --Peter Farago 20:45, 15 October 2005 (EDT)

I concur. --Day 12:57, 17 October 2005 (EDT)

Another thought: Ages are hard to pin down... I mean, we might learn that it is someones XXth birthday in some future episode. Wonderful. However, it's somewhat meaningless. An "Age" attribute in the template needs to be "as of" some date. Right now we use the Holocost as that date, but we're no longer exactly certain how far ago that was. So, if it's Cally's, say, 25th or whatever birthday in the episode after next... how old was she at the Holocost? 24, or so, I guess, but you see my point? I think the best solution, and perhaps this should be brought up on the characters project page, too, is to make the "Age" attribute on the template hide-able and then blank everyone's age out unless we know explicitly a number. I also think we should say it thusly: Age: 23 (as of Scattered) --Day 02:50, 27 October 2005 (EDT)

Railguns

From the Official Magazine issue #1, p. 60: "Every Battlestar class warship has 24 primary railgun turrets as well as over 500 point defense turrets at its disposal." I don't have access to a scanner to prove that it says that, so you'll have to take my word on it. I'm not saying this is indisputable proof, but that it's maybe more than fanon, anyway. --Day 02:46, 18 October 2005 (EDT)

The magazine is wrong. Based on on-screen evidence, the large turrets on Galactica cannot be railguns unless we drastically redefine the very idea. This certainly trumps throwaway technobabble in a fan magazine. IMO, the only thing that should give us pause is if a character on the show specifically refers to them as railguns, which hasn't happened yet. --Peter Farago 02:51, 18 October 2005 (EDT)

Okay. I'll buy that. I bet that what's actually going on here is that someone somewhere who makes these desicions doesn't, actually, know what the heck they're talking about. I mean... What're we to do if someone busts out a ray gun and says, "This shoots a red lazer!" and then, *zap*, it's green? --Day 03:27, 18 October 2005 (EDT)

Oops. Ya did it now. Let's just hope TNS' writers don't become overwhelmed by the details and go the way of Space 1999. --Watcher 04:24, 18 October 2005 (EDT)

Twelve Lords of Kobol

Ricimer stated in his edit summary: "It has been stated numerous times that there are 12 Lords of Kobol".

This statement is true if by "numerous times" you mean "never". I've been over all the episode transcripts and found nothing. On this page, of all places, you should provide a source before deleting a comment. --Peter Farago 19:54, 11 November 2005 (EST)

Magazine Content

Ltcrashdown, thank you for your informative additions to Saul Tigh and other articles. However, for them to stand, we need to do two things:

1. Make certain that we are not quoting the magazine word-for-word, or that where we feel compelled to do so, we set the text off and cite it directly.
2. In general, any information from the magazine needs to be cited as well. To do this, we need to know some of the publication information, including:
   • The publication's name
   • The article's author
   • The article's title
   • Date and issue number
   • Pages referenced

Thanks for helping to keep Battlestar Wiki accurate. --Peter Farago 22:50, 1 February 2006 (EST)

Where do I place this information in the area where I quote it in Tigh's article? --Ltcrashdown 23:05, 1 February 2006 (EST)

I will be happy to show you the proper format if you can provide the above information. --Peter Farago 23:15, 1 February 2006 (EST)

Here is everything I referenced from the Magazine in the articles I altered. --Ltcrashdown 23:25, 1 February 2006 (EST)

Publication: Battlestar Gallactica the Official Magazine #3

Feb/Mar 2006

The Tigh info, Rising Star refence to Picon, and Battlestar Athena came from the article named 'Cylon Intelligence Report: Personnel File: Saul Tigh, Page 62'

The Alert Fighters and Colonial Day information came from the article named 'Cylon Intelligence Report: Galactica Glossary page 60'

The Colors for the Colonies comes from 'Encyclopedia Galactica pages 50-55'. I also compared it to information in Battlestar Galactica The Official Companion.

There were no authors listed for any of the articles.

Can you post quotes here containing the relevant details? --Peter Farago 23:29, 1 February 2006 (EST)

I am familiar with the magazine, and feel that we should *provisionally* allow information from the "encyclopedia" stuff at the end, but I also *suspect* that they make that stuff up without input from RDM. I don't know. It is the "Official" magazine. Should be on the same level as info from Scifi.com (which has been known to be wrong, etc.) HOWEVER, things that are straightfoward "interviews" which are a simple transcript of an interview; hard to argue that (like when actors reveal insights about their character based on stuff from the series bible we didn't know before). --Ricimer 23:35, 1 February 2006 (EST)

Actually, I just saw that the magazine claims that Colonial Day is a biannual holiday; First, where would they get that idea? Second, Ron D. Moore stated in his blog that it is "not a biannual holiday; it's an annual holiday held every year". I wonder why someone got the idea to ask that. Etc. So it's now known to be not entirely accurate. --Ricimer 23:40, 1 February 2006 (EST)

Okay, I'll try to post everything I found word-for-word. --Ltcrashdown 23:43, 1 February 2006 (EST)

'Colony: Aerelon' is a listing under the personnel file indicating his planet of origin.

Tigh's history specificaly says, 'Saul Tigh entered the fleet as a deckhand but rose through the ranks and was a CPO (Chief Petty Officer) by the time the First Cylon War broke out.' Ltaer it reads, 'Tigh joined the Colonial Officer Candidate School and was reassigned as a Viper pilot, something he excelled in, earning a string of medals in his post aboard the Battlestar Athena.' This is the only refence to the Battlestar Athena.

Tigh's post-War history is given with 'Adama reenlisted with the service and Tigh spent two years drinking before Adama pulled strings to get him back into service. Saul Tigh was straightening his life out when he met his wife Ellen, who he courted and married within two months. Ellen did not take well to military life, and her repeated infidelities drove him back to drink. Ellen and Saul separated shortly before the Cylon attack.'

The Rising Star info was taken from later in teh article with the sentence, 'Three weeks after the Cylon attack Tigh's wife was discovered on the Rising Star, a carrier from Picon.'

The definitions are: 'Colonial Day - An biannual holiday which celebrates the signing of the Articles of Colonization.' 'Alert Fighters - A rotating group of Colonial Vipers which are constantly ready for immediate launch. Their function is to act as support for the Combat Air Patrol.

The colonial colors are just images, so there's nothing to type, but it corresponds with the same colors in the Official Battlestar Companion.

Excellent, thank you.

The MLA citation format for a magazine article with no author is as follows:

"Title of Article." Title of Magazine. Date: Pages.

So, to use the Saul Tigh article as an example:

"Cylon Intelligence Report: Personnel File: Saul Tigh." Battlestar Galactica: The Official Magazine. Feb./Mar. 2006: 62.

Introduce a footnote in the main body text using the {{note}} and {{note_label}} tags, and place the corresponding citation in a ==Sources== header after #{{ref}} and/or {{ref_label}} as appropriate. I will restore your edits to the Saul Tigh article and cite them, to give you an idea. --Peter Farago 00:00, 2 February 2006 (EST)

You should also restore the 'Twelve Colonies' changes since all i did there was add Saul to the Aerelon natives and correctly match the Colors with their colonies. --Ltcrashdown 00:02, 2 February 2006 (EST)

Maybe he was busted down from CPO during the second year of the war. Or maybe as a Chief Petty Officer, he once served as a Gunner's Mate (though this is a bit of a stretch, I admit). --Ltcrashdown 00:22, 2 February 2006 (EST)

This information, however, is contradicted by the deleted scenes from "Valley of Darkness" where Tigh says that in the second year of the War, he was a "Petty Officer...gunner's mate" and not already a Chief Petty Officer when the war broke out.--Ricimer 00:14, 2 February 2006 (EST)

"Let's cut through it, shall we?" The magazine is obviously compiled by people who are worse fanboys than we are, and lack our zeal for accuracy. I mean, if they can't even spell "Gemenon" properly, I'm not really inclined to give them much credence. Their information should be taken with a very large grain of salt, when we take it at all. Frankly, I'm a little worried they're going to start using us as a source.

(Dear lord, I'm using sci-fi quotes out of context and Ricimer's talking in a civil tone of voice. It's like we've merged.) --Peter Farago 00:30, 2 February 2006 (EST)

Realize that it my business to know (of course you know, etc etc). Enough Batman-villian-esque theatrics. ***I only have the first issue, and need to read the other issues. Frankly, it's a combination of *REEALLY* good and really *BAD* material. Basically, they've got 5 or so articles that are worthwhile; but they're exclusive, plus they also give out concept art unavailble elsewhere. Long story short, *I would pay money for the few good articles in it*, but the problem is they want to "pad out" the magazine to get a certain length (and I'm going, "I would pay the same amount of money if you didn't pad it, because the other stuff doesn't add much") I mean, the first one has this *really annoying* LITERALLY Fanfic letter "from Starbuck" describing an air-combat manuever she pulled off in a Viper (in an article about Vipers). Now, let me remind everyone: ***It's a good magazine and has many good articles. It's just that some of the articles are obviously "filler". Thus, as I said, apart from the flat-out Interviews with cast members or articles written by like David Eick, Garry Hurtzel, production team members, etc. should be held under great critical skepticism. --Ricimer 00:45, 2 February 2006 (EST)

This whole thread has been a great read. Very interesting. I have the first issue of this magazine. I sourced it for the Pyramid (RDM) article some. I remember thinking mostly as you do, Ricimer: Some great stuff, the rest horrid. They're good for interviews, artwork and not much else. The first issue had an interesting thing at the end that seems to be a synopsis of an interview (if I remmeber right) with the head costume person, which I keep meaning to reread and use to add some real-life info to Uniform. I've also been looking for the other issues in the place where I got the first one, but I can't find it. I a little wary of subscribing to the thing... It just seems like there's a line being crossed there. *wink* --Day 06:06, 2 February 2006 (EST)

To Do

• Deprecate citation templates in favor of <ref> tags. --Peter Farago 00:44, 2 February 2006 (EST)

BSG Books

There was recently a novelization for the battlestar galactica mini-series. I was going to get a copy and add information from it to the wikipedia. Does anyone else think this should be done, assuming the novelization yields any new details (i.e. ships, pilots, etc.) --Ltcrashdown 00:14, 4 February 2006 (EST)

Its come up before. That's where, I think, we got the name Natasi for one of Number Six's copies. We're kind of wary of it, but I think there's further discussion on Six's Talk page. --Day 02:51, 4 February 2006 (EST)

I'm going to post my point by point analysis of it in a matter of hours. It is, on the whole, quite poorly written, and I don't think he had any official stuff to go on, just making it up. Regardless, per "Memory Alpha" template, it deserves it's own page which I will comment more on, but we should not base beliefs on it. --Ricimer 02:57, 4 February 2006 (EST)

Sources namespace

Just to let everyone know, Sources have their own namespace (i.e. Sources:Pegasus (RDM)). This avoids having to use the subpage suggestion I had earlier proposed. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 13:11, 9 April 2006 (CDT)

Koenigrules / Hollywood North Report

"Koenigrules" (KR) is the alias of a popular reporter of BSG spoilers, whose reports are often cited and reposted by other sources. Recent comments made on the "Subject 2 Discussion" segment of the "LV Rocks" radio program (transcribed at Sources:Precipice) raised the possibility that KR is merely re-reporting publically available information, and does not appear to be a credible primary source.

The Merovingian investigated this possibility, and posted his findings to Talk:Precipice#Question about Koenigrules. I raised the possibility of instating a policy against citing KR's reports as credible sources on Battlestar Wiki, which was seconded by CalculatinAvatar.

Consequently, I am opening a formal vote here on the matter. Please review Sources:Precipice, its putative source material, and The Merovingian's comments on Talk:Precipice#Question about Koenigrules prior to casting your vote, and feel free to raise any questions below. --Peter Farago 01:18, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Vote ends 20:34, 26 April 2006, server time.

In favor of a policy against citing KR as a primary source

1. Peter Farago 23:34, 19 April 2006 (CDT)
2. The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 23:36, 19 April 2006 (CDT) - I feel like this guy betrayed us. And it's getting worse; 4-5 news sites report things he says as fact; he is not helping at all.
3. Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 01:09, 20 April 2006 (CDT) I think he just read the infromation we had posted. That interview was almost excatly what we have on the site. lol. Vote to against citing KR.
4. CalculatinAvatar 01:11, 20 April 2006 (CDT) If he originates nothing, we lose nothing by not citing him.
5. Steelviper 07:34, 20 April 2006 (CDT) - We do NOT claim to be a primary source here, and everything that is stated as fact should be citable elsewhere. Our sources are therefore our foundation, so they should be held to a high standard.
6. Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 08:53, 20 April 2006 (CDT) Per above.
7. Talos 10:30, 20 April 2006 (CDT)
8. Spencerian 11:21, 20 April 2006 (CDT)
9. Grafix 03:16, 21 April 2006 (CDT) I'm against the publication of anything except the facts.
10. Mercifull 07:35, 21 April 2006 (CDT) Ditto to all above
11. Mazzy 17:12, 21 April 2006 (CDT) This is site is a reference, it would be misleading to publish anything other than citable information.
12. AerynSun44 17:15, 21 April 2006 (CDT) I must concur. Too much flotsam.