Talk:Alpha Centauri in fiction

No sources?

This has been listed as 'without sources'. But each reference points to a particular book or broadcast. I think the tag should be removed.--GwydionM 07:13, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Let's see if anyone weighs in here with a persuasive counter-opinion in the next few days, and (if not) then I'll be happy to remove it (or you can do the honors)PaulLev 21:35, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Removed the tag --GwydionM 19:08, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Encounter with Tiber

The article needs Buzz Aldrin's book, 'Encounter with Tiber', added. It alternates amongst the Alpha system's past, Earth's past and present and ends with humans travelling to Alpha in the present. In one of those strange near-coincidences, the book had the destruction of a Space Shuttle set within a year of the 2003 loss of 'Columbia'.

Encounter With Tiber already has an entry. I suggest you add the book here. --GwydionM 17:38, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

First Ark to Alpha Centauri by A. Ahad

Article needs to include the first human colony ark to New Earth, an as yet undiscovered planet of Alpha Centauri B depicted in A. Ahad's famous novel series First Ark to Alpha Centauri (2005):

File:Centauri princess schematic.jpg

Sitara12 22:22, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

The series is not so famous that it doesn't need some evidence of notability. RandomCritic 23:06, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

In his epic sci-fi novel and would-be feature film "First Ark to Alpha Centauri" (published online in 2004), he envisioned the world's first life-like human colony starship and spaceflight concept for sending a community of people from our planet to the nearest stars in the year 2275 AD. In his own words: "An epic fantasy voyage carrying the hopes and dreams of everyone who ever was, everyone who ever is and everyone who ever will be... on a journey spanning 2,000 generations and lasting for no less than 50,000 years into the future!" He designed that entire ship architecture, simulating its gravity, weather and life support and thought through the countless multi-generation mission obstacles, devising the best solutions through his own imaginative thought and research efforts. As a result, the article proved immensely popular across the world's online science and science fiction communities, and was viewed in over 50 countries. From his bio page:[1]

Sitara12 14:45, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Let me guess -- you are Abdul Ahad, aren't you? RandomCritic 16:16, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Ha ha ha, caught me out! No I'm Sitara12 and you're RandomCritic. A Ahad has got far more useful things to do with his life than wander these pages, imho ;) Sitara12 17:09, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, then, you are in serious trouble, because if you're not Abdul Ahad, you're not entitled to release an image which is labelled as copyright to him into the public domain. I suggest you remove it before it gets deleted. RandomCritic 19:45, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I am A. Ahad's image creationist. I have been duly authorised by him to upload these images into the public domain to broaden his promotional and notability campaigns. You may verify this by e-mailing : info@astroscience.org, the web domain where these images come from. Sitara12 06:36, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Whether you admit to being "A Ahad" (a nom de plume?) or not, you have just agreed that you have a personal interest in promoting his work. You need to read WP:COI and WP:Notability; Wikipedia is not the proper venue for a "promotional and notability campaign", that is, Wikipedia can be used for articles about things that are already notable, but cannot be used to make things notable that were not already. As for the image, I believe you are either going to have to prove that you are "A Ahad", or he is going to have to release his images under his own name; I don't think that such releases can be done at second hand. Furthermore, if there really are two of you then things become more complicated, as the precise nature of the collaboration needs to be spelt out and both persons could conceivably have a copyright in the image. In short, by claiming to be two people, you are complicating your life unnecessarily. :) RandomCritic 13:59, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Removal of Battlestar Galactica Reference

There was a line in the TV references section that said the triple star system mentioned in BSG's fourth season was the Alpha Centauri system. However this is not the case, as Starbuck never said the triple star system was near Earth and because we clearly see the triple star system was the system with the "comet" later in the season. Matt72986 (talk) 04:03, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Minor references?

If the reference is minor, what's it doing here? The object of Wikipedia is not to collect all possible trivial information - although sometimes it seems that way. The entire section should go.

MarkinBoston (talk) 03:36, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

I concur; Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. This was part of the reason this (and a whole slew of other [Star] in fiction articles) were AFDed. That's been defeated, but it's not sufficient to just let the article persist in its current state. I think that this article needs:

• All trivial references removed. Anything that is just a mention of the star (like the "Little green men from Alpha Centauri" quip from ST:TOS) need to go.
• Remaining entries need a citation tag and sources found for them.

I plan to start working this as time permits. Any assistance in this endeavor is welcomed - Sangrolu (talk) 12:45, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

On further review, it appears to me that you may be referring to the minor references section. That section appears as it could go in its entirety save maybe 2 or 3 entries that might be sourceable (The Dune reference, the Aftermath/Starfire reference, and maybe the trip to Alpha Centauri reference.) If those entries can be sourced, it's credible to move them to another section, otherwise, I think the rest can go. - Sangrolu (talk) 13:24, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

I've made a start at removing the most obvious trivia. I didn't see anything in the "minor references" section that was sustainable. It seems to me that in order to qualify, the work referenced must not only use the name "Alpha Centauri", but must also say something about it in its fictional context -- provide some imaginative detail which goes beyond the mere facts.

I should also make a note about games. Although many sorts of games include fictional content, in descriptions and sourcebooks that flesh out the world in which the game takes place, the game itself -- as a set of rules and procedures -- is not a work of fiction. And if "Alpha Centauri" is merely used as the name of a category or item within the game rules, but where no fictional content is introduced that describes the star or its planets, it doesn't belong in this article. From a fictional point of view, it's of no interest if Alpha Centauri is the name of a 'level', or is worth so many points, or anything else that only makes sense within the game context.RandomCritic (talk) 13:40, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

As I was implying, I thought that the Dune reference might have, as you say, additional information in the fictional context, as might the Aftermath/Starfire (Scheffield) reference. I'll do a quick check and see if any third party sources I can dig up talk about them. As stated, I concur with the removal of the rest of the section. -Sangrolu (talk) 14:33, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

In the original Dune series, Ecaz (a planet of Alpha Centauri) was just a single entry in the appendix to the first book -- it is never visited and plays no role in any of the stories. I don't know if it was revisited in the more recent books.RandomCritic (talk) 14:50, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Good enough for me; thanks for the info. I'll check the Sheffield references later. - Sangrolu (talk) 15:27, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

centauri

The Centauri race is notable enough that the clarification in this article is useful, and the fact that the specific episode in which the datum is provided has not been given does not make it OR, just in need of a reference. μηδείς (talk) 15:57, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

The problem is that unless it is significant enough that it is referenced in third-party sources (not in the original episode), it probably fails notability; see WP:FICT. This is an issue we have been fighting with all these "stars in fiction" articles and we really need to trim out any non-notable entries. If you think that the reference is really noteworthy, I would ask you to find an appropriate third-party reference for it. - Sangrolu (talk) 17:45, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

hey I have something There is a book It is called; Beyond the great barrier, by Stefania Caterina-she describes alpha centaury, she had visions of that planet, she even mentions, that she spoke to the inhabitants — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.142.161.182 (talk) 18:23, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

File:ZelAlpha.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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Discussion of em-dashes

FiverFan65 replaced all the em-dashes in this article with the HTML character entity reference codes for them:

ampersand + mdash + semicolon

I have reverted these changes. While some HTML codes (for example, the non-breaking space, nbsp) are occasionally very useful, there is no reason to use the code for an em-dash. Here's Wikipedia's insertable em-dash character (between x's): xxx—xxx. Here's the same thing using the HTML code: xxx—xxx. The appearance is identical. Since nothing is gained by using the codes, and something tangible is lost—the readability of the WikiMarkup—it is preferable to use the characters.

OperaJoeGreen (talk) 05:23, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Discussion of Wikilinks

FiverFan65 added a number of Wikilinks to this article. I removed some or all of them. Wikilinks should be used where they are germane to the content of an article, and enlarge on its terms or concepts in a way that is likely to be interesting or useful to readers. An example of this kind of Wikilink is provided by the first sentence in the article: Alpha Centauri, a double star system with the binary designation Alpha Centauri AB, is the brightest visible object in the southern constellation Centaurus. These links have obvious relevance and utility.

One of the new links I removed was: ... Space Patrol cadet Larry Stark visits the dinosaur planet Alpha C IV ...

which I reverted to: ... Space Patrol cadet Larry Stark visits the dinosaur planet Alpha C IV ...

It seems quite unlikely that any reader of this article would either need or benefit from the 27-page article on dinosaurs that the Wikilink points to; the relevance of dinosaurs to the subject of this article is nonexistent. Hyperlinks are powerful tools and it is tempting to use and over-use them. "If you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing." Always keep in mind the criteria of relevance and utility.

OperaJoeGreen (talk) 05:41, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Non-free file problems with File:MovieCybertron.jpg

File:MovieCybertron.jpg is non-free and has been identified as possibly not being in compliance with the non-free content policy. For specific information on the problems with the file and how they can be fixed, please check the message at File:MovieCybertron.jpg. For further questions and comments, please use the non-free content review page. -- Toshio Yamaguchi 11:45, 16 January 2014 (UTC)