Talk: Wild Bill's Sidearm (Fallout Shelter)

This talk page is only for discussing improvements to the page "Wild Bill's Sidearm (Fallout Shelter)." For general discussion or to share stories about the topic of this article, please visit our discussion boards. Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~) after each of your entries. Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. Do not edit other people's entries. For general conversation on this topic, please visit our discussion boards.

Page name[]

I disagree with the sidearm part of the name being capitalized. It's only stating that it's a sidearm that belonged to Wild Bill. As with the FO3 page, Wild Bill's sidearm (Fallout 3), the sidearm part shouldn't be capped. Great Mara (talk) 20:41, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

Well, one of the examples is Broad machete or Tesla-Beaton prototype. ☢ Energy X ☣ 20:47, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

I guess we're gonna have to get semantic on what exactly a proper noun is. We all know that proper nouns are capped. Simple as that. The question is, are in-game names of unique weapons proper nouns in and of themselves? If the name in-game is a proper name, a type of proper noun, why is the entire name not capitalized? I give you an example:

• Bob lives on Beach Road.

Road is a common noun, but as part of a proper noun phrase, it gets capitalized. In the specific case applied to this article, the in-game name is "Wild Bill's Sidearm". The entire noun phrase is proper. It is not "Wild Bill's" sidearm, where "Wild Bill's" would denote a proper name, like a bar or something, and the common noun "sidearm" is an appellation to that, a sidearm belonging to "Wild Bill's". This is not a case where "Wild Bill's" is a possessive adjective to the common noun "sidearm" as the page is now. It is a case where the in-game name in it's entirety is a proper name/noun phrase: "Wild Bill's Sidearm". Think of how a conversation would play out:

• Raider: I just picked up Wild Bill's sidearm.
  • This denotes a generic sidearm carried by a person named Wild Bill, that name being a proper name.
• Raider: I just picked up Wild Bill's Sidearm.
  • This denotes a uniquely named item, using the entire noun phrase and not some generic item.

So the question really boils down to: Is this item uniquely named in the game world? Because if it is, then it is most certainly a proper name, the entire noun phrase, not just the beginning. And before you tell me that we have tons of pages named this way, I don't care. Using prior incorrect actions as a rationale for continuing to make the same mistake is crappy and lazy editing. The Gunny   21:12, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

Wild Bill is a proper name, sidearm is not. So, following the 4th example "Wild Bill's sidearm" is correct. Agent c (talk) 21:16, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

I'd also choose for sidearm here, lowercase s. Jspoel 21:19, June 26, 2015 (UTC).

It appears we have a bureaucrat tie in opinion. Don't know, Sidearm with a capital S reads akward to me. Jspoel 21:21, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

Alright then. Who's gonna change the Pennsylvania Avenue article name? Avenue is a common noun. The Gunny   21:26, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

My statement is only to be taken as a statement showing what policy is. What I think it should be is another question. As a matter of Grammar, I believe it leads to incorrect grammar being used. If we were starting at 0, I would agree that policy needs to change (I would probably go with capitalising every specifically named item as proper noun, including Stimpak, etc but not things that are only general descriptions and not names used in game - furniture, etc) Agent c (talk) 21:32, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

Similarly That Gun and This Machine are both proper nouns (and treated as so by us), despite the words "Gun" and "Machine" not being a proper noun. As Gunny says the difference is if "Wild Bill's sidearm" is just a sidearm that belongs to Wild Bill or if it is actually the name it was given (likely by Bill himself). The latter seems unlikely, as if I had a gun I wouldn't call it "Jasper McGreavy's Gun". Chances are it is just a sidearm belonging to Wild Bill which means lowercase on the sidearm. JASPER//"Do you like hurting other people?" 21:50, June 26, 2015 (UTC)

{{Speculation}}JK, as this may also be the case. But to decide to name it so even though one considers it a proper name just because that's the way we've always done it (wrong, we're inconsistent) or because the policiy example is a poor choice would be wrong. That's why I ask the question above: Should we consider these unique names in-game proper names or not? All of them? On a case by case basis so we can argue over them continually? Never? I just find it galling that we apply some policies inconsistently. The Gunny   22:21, June 26, 2015 (UTC)