Talk:New Forest commoner

"The word "Commoner" is capitalised in the New Forest context"
I have removed this statement from the text as it seems to be used as an argument for capitalising the word "commoner" in this article and elsewhere. No doubt the commoners themselves often use a capital to identify themselves as a group, as do locally involved writers: it's quite usual for group to use capitals when self-describing. But according to MOS:CAPS, Wikipedia normally uses capitals only for proper names, and "commoner" is a description of a person having access to certain land rights; it is not a proper name in the same way that "New Forest" is. A cursory search online shows that the Guardian, the National Trust, The New Forest National Park Authority, and popular tourist sites such as thenewforest all use a lower case c. MichaelMaggs (talk) 14:58, 2 September 2022 (UTC)


 * "New Forest Commoner" is a proper name, as defined and laid out in the 2007 paper "New Forest Commoners as a Cultural Minority" on record at the Christopher Tower Reference Library. It establishes that "New Forest Commoners" is the proper name of the cultural minority, which transcends simple agricultural vocation, and that "New Forest commoner" simply describes someone who has common rights which happen to be within the New Forest, exclusory of the cultural identity and heritage. Though many professional copy editors remain ignorant of it, this distinction has been ratified and recognised by the New Forest National Park Authority and the New Forest District Council (as specified in the minutes of the respective 2007 AGMs, and accessible through those bodies.). With this in mind the capitalised "C" is correct. Jonto95 (talk) 15:24, 2 September 2022 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is based on usage in WP:RS, and not on what some specific writer has "defined and laid out" in a report, nor on some distinction made only by that writer. What reliable published sources can you cite for your contention, that you have now spead over multiple articles, that "New Forest Commoner" with a capital C is generally used as a proper name for a cultural minority? (you need several examples, not just what that one person says). The usage of professional copywriters is what we will follow if they are in the majority. Whether some particular body has "ratified and recognised" a particular usage in their AGM reports is neither here nor there. I fear that even on your own terms you are not correct - check how the term is used by the New Forest National Park Authority: https://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/app/uploads/2018/03/Who_are_the_commoners.pdf. MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:38, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

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 * New Forest Pony England.jpg