Talk:Malcolm (Malcolm in the Middle)

Move to Malcolm "(Malcolm in the Middle character)" or something like that

The name Wilkerson is not prominently featured in the series. It was discarded very early on, and viewers know the characters only by their given names. In my opinion, the article should be moved to Malcolm (TV character) or Malcolm (Malcolm in the Middle Character). —AldeBaer 13:40, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

I disagree. I don't really see a reason that the move does any good. I can't imagine that someone is going to put either of those into a the search engine, for instance. I think that we should only use parenthetical disambiguation when it's necessary. Croctotheface 14:05, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

The point is that using the name "Wilkerson" beyond mentioning that it was an idea by the makers of the show and that it was quickly discarded is simply inaccurate and misleading. The character's name is not "Malcolm Wilkerson" but simply Malcolm. —AldeBaer 14:13, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

I appreciate the message on my talk page, but I have this article on my watch list, so it's not necessary. I don't know that we can say for sure that his name isn't Wilkerson. I do know that "TV character" is not a good way to disambig, so it would need to be the long and clunky "Malcolm in the Middle character" business, which I don't like. Besides, whether Wilkerson was intended to be part of the show or not, it shows up in the pilot, so it is. It shows that the family members are related, which neither of the other disambig strategies would do. Croctotheface 14:21, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

The titles need not show that the characters are related, all about this is in the articles. You see, the nature of fiction is that it's not necessarily coherent. Since this article is not about Malcolm Wilkerson in the first episode of the show "Malcolm in the Middle" but about the character throughout the show, it is indeed inaccurate to use a name for the character that was only used for the pilot episode. For the entire rest of the seven season run, the character's name was only "Malcolm". This is not a question of beauty or taste, but of plain accuracy. A title like "Malcolm (XXX)" my appear clumsy, but Wilkerson is not an alternative. In my opinion. If can't build consensus on this between the two of us, I suggest asking for additional input at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions, since I didn't find anything in the guidelines for a specific case like this (although I'm fairly sure the fact that the character's name was "Wilkerson" only during the first of 151 episodes of the show means that calling the character "Wilkerson", esp. in the title, is inaccurate). —AldeBaer 14:43, 3 September 2007 (UTC)