Talk:Constitution class (alternate reality)/archive

I don't disagree with the page itself, but as everything it would potentially contain would be non-canon until proven otherwise, how should it be formatted? Dangerdan97 15:38, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

This should have been discussed again before it was moved again... Production sources say it is a constitution class, so MA follows suit. Besides these made-up fan-wank names are worse than nothing at all. --Alan 19:43, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

I have to agree with Alan on that. --From Andoria with Love 19:48, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Does production say that, or just some website used for advertising, where info may be inaccurate (as in: not really decided by anyone in charge)? -- Cid Highwind 10:30, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

More militaristic?

It's more militaristic because it fired weapons at an enemy? How is the old Enterprise less militaristic then? -- Captain MKB 17:34, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Do we need this article?

The duplicate information in the background section indicates otherwise. The film hasn't established anything definite about the ship class in general, only about the Enterprise itself. If we should start seeing other ships of the class and potential differences between them, then this page might slowly begin to expand, in terms of collecting information that certainly applies to the class in general, but the Enterprise page would probably end up having most of the information, since other ships of the class and the class in general are unlikely to be covered that well.

Certainly, one could say the same for many other class articles on Memory Alpha. It is inconsistent with the wiki-approach to assume by some convention that everything that holds true for a specific hero ship also applies to its class in general. This is not the TNG tech manual, where the writers had the license to be creative and decide how much of the Enterprise-D applies to the Galaxy-class. On Memory Alpha, one might mention all the other ships of the class, Leah Brahms and the Galaxy class project, but nothing observed only on the Enterprise and thus impossible to reference for the Yamato, Odyssey, Galaxy, etc. – NotOfTheBody 21:52, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

The Memory Alpha precedent is that technical information about a ship's class is encompassed on the class page, and the specific missions, individuality, and other variables, of a specific vessel goes in said vessel's article. Besides that, I'm really not seeing what you are otherwise suggesting. --Alan 22:03, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

Precedent cannot override the ability to reference information, which is at the core of every wiki. Examples:

with phaser banks firing both multiple short burst rounds or steady beams along with torpedoes simultaneously in a barrage.

firing red pulses (like proximity blasts), capable of continuous fire. (Star Trek)

Can we add canon references proving that this applies to all Constitution-class ships, not just to the Enterprise? – NotOfTheBody 22:26, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

Do we need to? Is there reason to believe that this ship doesn't represent the norm, and is massively different from the rest? The burden of proof would seem to me to be on proving that it is different from its class, not the same. Throughout Trek, the example has been that all ships of a same class are generally the same in capabilities and design, with the possible exception of what the bridge looks like. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 22:36, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

In a wiki, every sentence has to be referenced. Would you make a factual wiki statement about all real world aircraft carriers of the same class, based on a feature observed on one of them? Yes, the rational hypothesis will usually involve the feature being present on other ships of the class, but in a wiki you need evidence. And it's not like we're losing any useful info - it is a simple matter to put it on the page where it can be referenced: the Enterprise page. – NotOfTheBody 22:55, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

In regards to the aircraft carrier, yes, I would go on one example, when that is all we have. In fact, they do that on Wikipedia. See pages such as the one for the Littoral Combat Ship. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 23:06, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

I don't see how that can be the correct approach. If so, the Constitution article ought to be filled with a lot of words such as "probably", "presumably", "almost certainly" etc, but we can avoid all that simply by moving the info to the Enterprise page. Why pretend to have more facts about the class than we really do, just because of a convention? I don't see any problems with the Enterprise page being lengthy and the Constitution page being short. – NotOfTheBody 23:15, January 29, 2010 (UTC)