[WikiEN-l] "The"

[Jeff Cook]

There's been a little bit of debate on [[Wikipedia:Requested moves]]
recently with the proposals to move [[Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints]] to [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints]] (which isn't on the page anymore; discussion archived at
[[Talk:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]) and [[The George
Washington University]] to [[George Washington University]], which you
can still vote for. I just wanted to point this out to people not
aware.

I would also like to peddle my point of view now. I nominated the
changed for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and GWU was
listed after it was cited as precedent in that case. I believe we
should call things by their name whenever that's feasible; if that's
an organization, by the legal name; if it's something else, by it's
most common name. In both instances, "The" is included in the common
and legal name. The Church released a style guide a few years back
which specifically advised media that the "The" was to be included, at
least in the first reference. The George Washington University has
been similarly vigilant about its moniker. Largely an outgrowth of
these efforts, both seem to include the "The" in the majority of uses
by reputable publications. [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions]] also
agrees with all of this, as it states that the definite article should
be used "in titles of works [and] official names".

kthx
-- 
Jeff "cookiecaper" Cook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cookiecaper
:)