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crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
13th Apr, 2019 04:29:19 PM

I don't believe we have a wiki policy. Samuel Longhorn Clemens is famously the legal name for Mark Twain. I think we should make Creator pages at the legal name and make their Pen Name a redirect to their main Creator page.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
13th Apr, 2019 04:59:17 PM

A large portion of Wrestlers are under their well known Ring Name. Usually the beginning sentence would go "whatever the person well known name is" then "real name or birth name".

crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
13th Apr, 2019 05:53:19 PM

That's different; Wrestling personas are characters that the creators play. Let's Play characters and certain reviewers are the same way.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
bwburke94 Since: May, 2014
13th Apr, 2019 05:53:55 PM

A "legal name" policy makes absolutely no sense, and I'm sure everyone here understands that. Mark Twain's works were published under the name Mark Twain, not any of his other names.

Edited by bwburke94 I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
13th Apr, 2019 06:13:50 PM

A "Pen Name" policy makes absolutely no sense, and I'm sure everyone here understands that. After all, "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass" was another name used by the same author, and never published by him as "Mark Twain".

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
bwburke94 Since: May, 2014
13th Apr, 2019 07:21:33 PM

Why would we call his page "Samuel Longhorn Clemens" if it isn't the name he's known for using? (Twain might not be the best example for this anyway.)

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
CryptidProductions Since: Mar, 2019
13th Apr, 2019 07:57:07 PM

I think it depends entirely on what name they're better known under because listing someone who literally does everything under their stage/pen name to the point their real name is a trivia footnote would be confusing to wiki readers.

Mark Twain is known mainly under his pen name, all his works are published under it, and everything ever written about the man credits him as Mark Twain with his real name being a footnote.

Garth Brooks is Garth Brooks on all published materials (aside from the one album he did in-character as Chris Gaines) and not Troyal Garth Brooks.

Marilyn Manson is Marilyn Manson and absolutely no one outside of his hardcore fans would recognize the name Brian Hugh Warner.

On the other hand very few people outside of hardcore fans would know Stephen King used the pen name Richard Bachman so it makes more sense to refer to Stephen King even when talking about works he wrote under the pen name.

Edited by CryptidProductions
crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
13th Apr, 2019 08:11:45 PM

And this inconsistency is probably why we don't have a wiki policy. So far, case-by-case decisions have worked without problems and we can continue in that pattern. I merely stated a preference for one approach.

all his works are published under it,
That's revisionist! He used multiple pseudonyms and I provided evidence for that earlier in the thread.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
bwburke94 Since: May, 2014
13th Apr, 2019 08:52:38 PM

^ Alright, most of his works were published under it. What's the difference?

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
CryptidProductions Since: Mar, 2019
13th Apr, 2019 11:02:04 PM

All his NOTABLE works were published under it and it's the name he marketed himself with

Snodgrass was only used to sign three letters he wrote to the Keokuk Post in Iowa and he used the name Josh sign some sketches. Literally everything notable he did was under Mark Twain.

He has a couple others he used for a some obscure things very early on but his early work is so obscure I can't find documentation of it or those pen names past an answer to a Quora Question claiming they existed.

As far as know like 95% of his published work (including his most notable novels and short stories) were written under Mark Twain. There's stuff dating back to his first stories in the 1860s published under Mark Twain.

Edited by CryptidProductions
crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
14th Apr, 2019 07:18:31 AM

I'm not aware of any policy that is determined by "most" or "notable" cases. Can I get a link for why "most notable" should win on existing policy? note 

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
RallyBot2 Since: Nov, 2013
14th Apr, 2019 10:31:11 AM

Here's my proposal for the policy, if we need to have one:

1. Don't be an idiot.

2. See 1.

Edited by RallyBot2
Malady (Not-So-Newbie)
14th Apr, 2019 10:48:55 AM

So... "Kasey Ozymy"? Or "Housekeeping"? Or both, and if both, which is the main one, and which is the redirect?

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
crazysamaritan MOD Since: Apr, 2010
14th Apr, 2019 10:51:07 AM

I think that's an accurate summary of current policy (and it's fine). Does anyone other than me have advice for ~MaLady on which name should be used? I gave my advice of "the legal name" and discussion got off-track about justifying the use of other creator pages under their Pen Namenote .

(Edit: and Malady comes back to say the same thing while I'm posting. You're a ninja, Mal.)

Edited by crazysamaritan Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
RoundRobin Since: Jun, 2018
14th Apr, 2019 12:10:19 PM

^^ Use the most well-known of the two as main, and the other as redirect.

Edited by RoundRobin - Fly, robin, fly! - ...I'm trying!
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