Visitors Wiki:Canon policy

The goal of the Visitors Wiki is to be a reliable concise guide for all readers in its description of the V universe and associated material. Towards this end, it is necessary for us to restrict to some extent the type of information we accept. Ultimately, this will ensure that Memory Alpha remains useful and authoritative for the widest possible range of fans.

This policy is not intended to mandate a single way of viewing the V universe, and does not exist to promote any particular critical judgment on the various series and movies; it exists to permit an orderly cataloging of data into manageable categories with a minimum of conflict and a maximum amount of fidelity to the episodes as shown. With that in mind, everyone should at all times be tolerant and respectful of other viewpoints, opinions, and conclusions.

Summary of Policy
Articles need to cite each resource used as the basis for their information. Generally, everything seen or heard in any V episode or movie can be used as a resource for an article.

Information from production materials (such as dialogue in scripts that was cut for the finished product) should be noted in the relevant article's background section, while information from official novels and similar publications like the The Visitors: A Technical Reference Manual should be included under an "apocrypha" section of the relevant article(s). More specific details and exceptions are below.

Article types
We differentiate between two types of articles:


 * V universe articles or In-universe articles. These articles are written about subjects inside the V universe, using an "in-universe" point of view. Subjects can include events, objects, or anything mentioned in an episode or movie.  They must adhere strictly to the canon policy.
 * V franchise articles. These articles are written from a "meta" or real life point of view, and are written about the V franchise. Subjects can include articles about the production of the episodes and movies themselves, as well as articles about novels, games, and other official materials, as well as pages about the actors and actresses.  These pages are not covered by the canon policy.

Continuities
There are two Continuities (NBC/Warner Brothers Continuity and Kenneth Johnson) that are concidered canon but are really seperate versions of the V universe and articles pertaining to each should be labled as such.

Kenneth Johnson Continuity
The Kenneth Johnson (KJ) Continuity contains V and possibly the up coming V The Second Generation Miniseries) and the novel V: The Second Generation. These are part of the KJ Continuity because they are part of what the creator of V, Kenneth Johnson holds up as canon.  In the KJ Continuity the events depicted in V: The Final Battle or the V TV Series never happened.

NBC/Warner Brothers Continuity
The NBC/Warner Brothers (NW) Continuity contains all the aired versions of V: [V (The Original Series)|V], [V (The Final Battle)|V: The Final Battle], and the [V (The Series)|V TV series].

Episodes and Films
This includes the following:


 * V
 * V The Second Generation Miniseries
 * V: The Second Generation Novel
 * [V (The Final Battle)|V: The Final Battle]
 * [V (The Series)|V TV series] episodes

Articles should not be created for subjects that are not seen or heard of in an episode or film.

Valid resources
The following are valid resources from the episodes and movies and may be referenced in V universe articles as citations, in descending order of precedence:
 * 1) Spoken dialogue (what is said)
 * 2) Visual material (what is seen)
 * 3) Aural material (what is heard that is not dialogue)

Visual material can be supplemented by clearer visual images of the identical material seen (e.g., production art identifiable as being the same as shown on screen in an episode but more legible than what is shown on screen) if the clearer image is a freeze frame from the episode, contained in an authorized publication, or otherwise generally and publicly available from a verifiable production source.

Production and reference materials
The following resources may be referenced in V universe articles, but should be formatted as background information.


 * 1) Reference works created by production staff
 * 2) Material used day-to-day by production staff
 * 3) *Any writer/director’s guide for a V series (aka "Writer’s Bible")
 * 4) *Any writer/director’s technical manual for a V series (aka "What level do I pull to speed up the fighter?")
 * 5) *Any scripts; provided that spelling can be used as valid resources, but will not take precedence over spelling seen on-screen.
 * 6) Other information derived from production staff
 * 7) *Supplementary DVD materials (e.g., interviews, commentary, documentaries; anything that is not the episode itself)
 * 8) *Background information from the production staff (from interviews with Kenneth Johnson, Daniel Blatt, etc.)
 * 9) *Closed-captioned dialogue; provided that spelling can be used as valid resources, but will not take precedence over spelling seen in a script or on-screen.
 * 10) Reference works created by non-production staff
 * 11) *The The Visitors: A Technical Reference Manual
 * 12) *Any "making of" publication
 * 13) *Any authorized non-fiction(e.g., blueprints)
 * 14) Material intentionally not in episodes
 * 15) *Cut or alternative scenes from episodes as compared to those originally broadcast (for television) or released (for movies); provided that the feature film on "Director’s Cut" DVDs can be used as valid resources and will take precedence over original film releases where different and conflicting.
 * 16) *Portions of sets, props, makeup, and costumes to the extent not seen on-screen in an episode, even if they existed in real life.
 * 17) *Scripts, series, and other material contemplated but not produced and released
 * 18) *Any other behind-the-scenes or production material

The only exception to the exclusion of production or reference material not seen on-screen from the main body of an article is for naming items or people that were seen on-screen but not referred to by name. The primary reason for this is to avoid creating a large number of unnamed subject pages when an official name already exists. In the event that any of this information contradicts on-screen information, however, then the information stated on-screen will take precedence.

Please note that text from these works should not be repeated verbatim in articles. The relevant information should not be referenced in every possible article, but only in the most relevant one. For example, include information about a ship's otherwise unknown class in the article about that ship, but not in every article that mentions the ship.

Non-canon resources
The following resources may be referenced in V universe articles, but should only appear in an "Apocrypha" section of a given article, not in the main text of the article:


 * Authorized fiction books
 * Authorized comic books
 * Authorized games


 * Care should be taken regarding the quantity of such information included as a this Wiki's purpose does not extend to detailed coverage of non-canon V. Archivists should use the section more as guidance for further independent study by a reader outside of The Visitor Wiki than a comprehensive review or extensive description.


 * Non-canon resources are not to be the basis of an independent V universe article if not mentioned in or part of an episode or movie (e.g., characters, ships, and events not part of the episodes are not to have primary articles created for them).


 * As with production and reference materials above, relevant information should not be referenced in every possible article, but only in the most relevant one.

Invalid resources
The following resources are considered invalid and should not be referenced in any form in a V universe article:


 * Fan-made blueprints and specifications (including such items as fan-produced document The Visitors: A Technical Reference Manual)
 * Fan fiction of any kind
 * Fan reference works of any kind
 * Websites, unless information is also contained in a valid reference; provided that links to non-commercial external websites of interest can be included in an "External Link" or similar section.

Conflicts in valid resources
In the event of a conflict between otherwise valid resources, the preferred approach is that the conflict should be noted and both resources remain valid. But to the greatest extent possible valid resources should be construed so as not to be in conflict. The presumption should be that a conflict does not exist unless no other explanation is reasonable under the circumstances.

In the event that two valid resources (e.g., two spoken lines of dialogue; a spoken line and a graphic) conflict, either can be referenced as a valid resource, provided the other is also included in some manner in the article and the conflict noted. Explanations of the conflict (e.g., suggestions for reconciliation) and the reason for the selection of one resource over another can appear in a manner that is set off from the main text of the article (e.g., indented italics, or on a discussion page). In writing articles archivists should be guided by the principle that a valid resource with a higher precedence can (but does not have to) be given slightly greater evidentiary weight for purposes of writing the article from a V universe standpoint than the valid resource with a lower precedence. The conflict still needs to be noted in the article, though.

Tolerance in valid resources
The following matters will not affect the validity of a resource:
 * Different actors portraying the same character
 * Differences in actors' appearance over the years
 * Sophistication of optical effects
 * Use of interior sets for exterior locations, or other such matters due to film production capabilities
 * Production mistakes (e.g., microphones in shot; differences due to different "takes" being used in editing; post-production errors or artifacts; etc.)


 * Reuse of stock footage (e.g. most of shots of the Visitor Fighters in the TV Series)
 * The archivist's assessment of the trustworthiness of the character who is the source of the resource (e.g., Diana), or the archivist's assessment of the overall accuracy of the information contained in the resource. (Note that archivists are free to describe the resource's data in the article as "Character X stated that..." if there is a desire to imply that the resource may not be entirely accurate; however, any further commentary on the perceived accuracy of a resource should be confined to the "Background" section rather than in the body of the article)

Deleting invalid articles in whole or in part
If a V universe article contains nothing but information cited to other than valid resources, it may be listed on pages for deletion and thereafter deleted in accordance with the then-current deletion policy.

If a V universe article contains information cited to other than valid resources, cites a valid resource that conflicts with another valid resource without clearly addressing the conflict, or contains excessive amounts of background or non-canon data, the issue should be noted on the article's individual talk page. After a reasonable period of time for discussion, the article may be revised to include only appropriate citation to valid resources, appropriate notations as to conflicts among valid resources, and/or reduced levels of background or non-canon data. Prior to such reasonable time, and except in cases of vandalism, obscenity, and similar reasons, an article should not be edited to simply delete and/or modify the text.

Please note this policy is based on [| Memory Alpha]'s well thought out policies.