Talk:Reapers (Mass Effect)

Title goes against WP:PLURAL?
I'm fairly sure the correct title is Reaper (Mass Effect). As precedent, see Vulcan (Star Trek) and Human. If a species name ends with an "s", it's usually omitted. Also, despite the Reapers being networked robotic beings, they still have individual selves. I just want to see if you agree.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 13:54, 25 October 2020 (UTC)

Actually, this is a redirect that already exists, I simply undid the redirect and brought it back into mainspace. I did consider the WP:Plural issue, and I am aware of the precedents you've pointed out. What confuses me though, are also examples like Minions (Despicable Me), Tusken Raiders and Amazons (DC Comics). I don't know whether this is due to a lapse in maintenance by other users, or whether they predated the guideline on plural forms being codified. The vast majority of secondary sources usually refer to them by their plural form as well. That said it doesn't bother me if it is decided that the primary topic does not end with a "s".

What does bother me though, is the fact that in the vast majority of English language articles related to the Mass Effect series on Wikipedia, the alien species are always referred to without any capitalization as is the case of real world species. When I started writing articles for the asari and krogan, I stuck with the convention which seems to have been established in the Mass Effect-related articles, even the GA main article ones, all of which predated my recent active participation, but now I am beginning to think that maybe I've made a mistake. I've consulted the previous discussion and RfC here, but it didn't seem to go anywhere and no clear consensus was ever formed. The Protheans and Reapers are not a problem since they are always referred to in capitalized form in or out of universe, though I did come across one research paper which actually touched on the subject on why some species are capitalized and others are not (it's to do with perceived prestige in a nutshell). What are your thoughts, or is any other editor interested in providing input? Haleth (talk) 06:14, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I think those articles are simply named incorrectly. It would be Minion (Despicable Me), Tusken Raider, and Amazon (DC Comics). Of course, most sources probably call them "Minions", but Wikipedia policy is to name it in the singular, or what an individual member of the species would be called. As for whether fictional species should be uppercase, I actually have no idea, so I can't really help you there.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 07:12, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Hmm... actually, I think this may actually be the correct title. It falls under the exception to WP:PLURAL, or "Articles on groups of distinct entities that are nevertheless often considered together". The Reapers are usually referred to as a group.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 07:17, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That was my impression after consulting the guideline and checking out the Minions and Tusken Raider articles.


 * Anyway, from what I can see based on established precedent on wikipedia, the vast majority of fictional species articles referred to their subject matter with uppercase for the first letter. I am unable to find a definite guideline that provides a satisfactory answer, which I guess is why the RfC was created in the first place. Haleth (talk) 07:31, 26 October 2020 (UTC)