Right title for the wrong trope?: Prime Directive

I currently have Alien Non-Interference Clause in YKTTW, which Star Trek fans know better by the name of its Trope Codifier, the Prime Directive. A lot of people are saying that the trope in YKTTW should get the Prime Directive title. I don't necessarily agree but enough people are saying so that I figure it should come here for a fair hearing.

The current Prime Directive trope is about "any prime directive-style rule that serves as Plot Device to service the Rule of Drama", of which the various Alien Non-Interference Clauses are a subset of. IMO the name would be perfect if it weren't for the fact that Star Trek causes it to be associated so strongly with the subtrope instead of the supertripe. I think Prime Directive needs at least redirects and possibly a main title with more context (Prime Directive Plot Device?), but I don't know if I can make a convincing arguement for it being broken.

I always assumed that the alien noninterference thing was what the Prime Directive trope was.

Prime Directive is an actual term that saw use light use before Star Trek made it so famous. Although I'm not generally in favor of pushing a term out of use as anything but a reference, The Other Wiki actually uses it as the default for Prime Directive. Guiding Principle is an accurate synonym for Prime Directive. I guess the best idea would be to look at the examples.

We could do that switch. Also, Prime Directive has achieved some popcultural osmosis that, at the very least, it should be a redirect to that YKTTW.

I don't really see the difference, and have always used Prime Directive to refer to the Star Trek concept, which, I might add, codified it but did not create it.

As a trope, which is to say a plot element, the only reason for having a Prime Directive is to force the characters to find a way to work around it.

edited 19th Nov '10 1:22:15 PM by Fighteer

I scrolled down the page and I find bad examples that stem from the page being named after the Star Trek term. The animorphs example for instance just says basically "Andalites use the same rule as in Star Trek" but it has none of the plot role of the namer. So many of the examples are just uses of the concept not being written as (though they may be) Obstructive Code of Conduct (I'd like to make that a redirect btw). There are likely to be other sorts of codes that produce this effect but I fear the page content is being affected by the name.

going through the Related to, also finding ALOT of misuse (refering to the Trek term or what the directive is and not the "rule for the sake of the plot")

Heck, Awakening the Sleeping Giant even Potholes it wrong in it's own description.

Picking 10 pages at random, 6 wrong, 4 right. And even the 4 that are right, one of them puts too much focus on the parallels with Trek's Prime Directive rather than on "the rules as an obstacle to the plot" angle. Not a representative sample, I know, but this is looking bad.

edited 19th Nov '10 2:50:20 PM by Ghilz

I'm going to bed but someone remember for me that the pirates code from Pirates Of The Carribean is a Prime Directive example.

So transferring it to the trope for the Trek plot would be a good move then. At least people would be using it right. Don't remove those bad links then yet. They might become good again if we swap the titles.

Still would need to remove the good links and put them to the new name.

Im not that sure the new YKTTW should have Prime Directive as a name, in that its not very illustrative, but it should be a redirect for sure.

edited 19th Nov '10 2:54:29 PM by Ghilz

Prime Directive is what most people think of the trope as though. It's one of those things that is just that well known that even people who aren't nerds have heard of it. It's what people are more likely to link to. The only issue it's having now is that people think they already know what the trope is from the title. And it's what we're trying to change it to. The other title makes a good searchable redirect.

edited 19th Nov '10 2:57:52 PM by shimaspawn

As the person running the YKTTW for what that's worth, I'd rather not have Prime Directive be the main title but would be fine with it as a redirect (a bit like There Are Four Lights). Mostly it's because although Star Trek was the Trope Codifier, I don't want to give it undue weight - if it was the Trope Maker than maybe. (Wikipedia currently says that Heinlein did it first, or at least 20 years earlier).

Bump. I got busy/distracted (and totally didn't waste a weekend playing Plants Vs Zombies) so this project slid.

Bump again. If this thread doesn't progress further, I'm going to launch Alien Non-Interference Clause and let Prime Directive go where it will.

edited 22nd Dec '10 8:44:51 AM by Elle

Pretty clear Prime Directive is misused.

ok but so what about it? Anyone going to suggest a plan? I could put up a rename crowner but I'm posting this from a kindle while waiting for family post Christmas dinner. So...

I'd say we launch the YKTTW whenever, move any misused examples that would be covered by the new trope over to the new trope, and start suggesting new, clearer names for Prime Directive.

Once Prime Directive has a new name, make Prime Directive a redirect for the more appropriate trope.

edited 26th Dec '10 3:23:56 PM by SeanMurrayI

Works for me. I can work on getting the launch done in a day or two when I am back home.

I like the idea of renaming Prime Directive to the proposed Obstructive Code of Conduct, since the main point of such a rule is not that it is "primary" but that it prevents the characters from taking advantage of an easy resolution that would contravene the rule. And yes, Prime Directive is best used in its more specific sense in referring to non-interference rules (which, in other universes, may not even be an Obstructive Code of Conduct, if they're never particularly an issue for the characters).

I'd back Obstructive Code of Conduct. Can't really get much more specific and clear than that.

Seconded.

Alien Non-Interference Clause is launched, for those who want to help correct Prime Directive examples.

So if it's launched should we work on renaming Prime Directive so the name redirects to the new trope?

Would it be better to start a new thread for that, stating that now there is a new trope launched that better fits Prime Directive, so Prime Directive should become a redirect to that trope and this trope needs a new name? I feel like otherwise people will come into this discussion wondering why it needs a new name, and just voting against renaming...

We don't need a new thread for what you just said has been the entire point of discussion in this thread since the OP.