User:RM395/Course/Edit wars/The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. They became the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed act in the rock music era. However the conflict exist on where the "The" in The Beatles should be capitalized. However the true debate is whether or not "The" in "The Beatles" is apart of a actual name or is it just the word "the" that precedes proper nouns in a number of cases, although most proper nouns use no article. However just like this edit war example there are always exceptions. --Isaiahgee (talk) 16:04, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

According to the Wall Street Journal, the "The Beatles/the Beatles" edit war was already under way in 2004. Advocates for the lower case "t" reference a 1970 handwritten letter from John Lennon in which he used a lower case "t". Wikipedia editor Gabriel McFadden told WSJ he was "the leader of the lowercase faction" and that if Lennon were alive today "he would have a good laugh at all the 'fans' who think that a lowercase 't' is somehow a disgrace to the band". McFadden says he has been cyber-stalked over his role in the conflict.--Brodmont (talk) 12:41, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

I was under the impression that within a sentence, the the in front of a group name does not need to be capitalized. You wouldn't write "I really like The Beatles" just as you wouldn't write "I really like The Baltimore Ravens." This needs to be fixed in the article. --Isaiahgee (talk) 16:00, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

However I am truly neutral on this position. I can see how the "The" in " The Beatles" can be capitalized because it is apart of the name. You don't refer to the group as "Beatles" or they are not "the" Beatles but the "The" is apart of the group name instead of a title so it is safe to say that " The Beatles" should contained the capitalized "the". --Isaiahgee (talk) 16:08, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

As with a lot of edit wars, this one seems to me like somewhat of a "tempest in a teapot" -- kind of petty. I'm pretty sure John Lennon would have a good laugh over the whole thing. Somewhere there is a legal entity that owns the Beatles brand name. I would tend to punctuate the group's name according to the preference of that legal entity, absent any rules established by the style guide I was working under. (As I writer, I am often obligated to write according to an official style book, such as Associated Press). --Brodmont (talk) 12:48, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

The Associated Press Stylebook sides with the capitalized "The" as does "The Chicago Manual of Style. However this is still a debatable issue and nothing is set in stone. It is based on individual preference or point of view. --Isaiahgee (talk) 15:28, 18 March 2013 (UTC)