Forum:Rank capitalization

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I have spent a couple of evenings replacing the articles for Starfleet ranks (captain, lieutenant, etc.), partly as part of resolving the MA copy issue, and partly to add handy tables of insignia images and other notes that might be of use to people creating character entries for STEU. In the process I have discovered more meanings of the word "lieutenant" than the human mind can comfortably contain.

I have discovered in the process that the article titles use initial capital letters for the article titles: the article for lieutenant junior grade is titled Lieutenant Junior Grade, and so on. In this case the latter is redirected to from the former. I would have expected—given the captitalization policy—the reverse would be the case, but when I glance at the history of the pages it seems that using the Initial Capitals Version is the Define Policy of at least some Editors of this Wiki, so I have let it stand. On the other Hand, there is no Redirect from the Lowercase first lieutenant to the Initial Capitals First Lieutenant Article, which leaves me the Uncomfortable Choice between on the One Hand creating a Redirect from the Former to the Latter—which violates the Capitalization Policy—or from the Latter to the Former, which contradicts the Precedent of a Positive Decision made by an Editor in the Past. Perhaps my Illustrious Colleagues can Enlighten this Humble Novice in the Correct Path to take?

Hmm. It seems the more capital letters I add, the more old-fashioned the style appears. My position, for what it's worth, is that terms used for ranks—like duke, lieutenant, queen, or captain—should go in lower case when used as nouns referring to the rank or people of that rank, and capitalized only when used in (or as) proper nouns, as in 'Kirk is a captain' versus 'Captain Kirk'. Following that logic, the article names should be lowercase, and there should be redirects for the sake of people writing links like Lieutenant Commander Kirk. But it would appear other people feel the opposite. Which style should I stick to? --Leckford 12:32, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

You are correct in the usage. I would say make lieutenant commander the article title because it doesn't relate to a specific lieutenant commander, and then make the redirects Lieutenant Commander and Lieutenant commander go to the lieutenant commander article. That's my vote. --usscantabrian 20:32, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the discussion. Something for me to keep in mind as I create new entries or edit old ones. RahadyanS 22:39, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Just a note, guys: The wiki software automatically capitalizes the first letter of an article title, so lieutenant commander is the same as Lieutenant commander (hold your mouse over and look at the link to see). I agree that it should be lower case, when not used with a proper name. --TimPendragon 09:20, 24 December 2007 (UTC)