Talk:MF Doom

Capitalization of MF DOOM's name by various sources

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MOS:BIOEXCEPT tells us that unusual titling requires an overwhelming majority of reliable sources use that exceptional style. In order to keep a reliable record of sources which title DOOM's name as "MF Doom" and "MF DOOM", I (User:Howardcorn33) have created this table which reviews reliable sources with links attached. In order to only rely on recent reliable sources, I have chosen sources published after 2020. It is possible that in the future, the style of reliable sources will become overwhelmingly "MF DOOM." This table may therefore be updated as necessary by any user with new reliable publications so that we may be certain of the correct style.

Preferred style	Medium	Year	Link
MF DOOM	Academic journal	2022	[1]
MF DOOM	Academic journal	2023	[2]
MF DOOM	Literary magazine	2021	[3]
MF Doom	Academic journal	2023	[4]
MF Doom	Book	2024	[5]
MF DOOM	Academic journal	2021	[6]
MF Doom	Book	2024	[7]
MF Doom	Academic journal	2022	[8]
MF Doom	Academic journal	2020	[9]
MF Doom	Academic journal	2022	[10]
MF Doom	Book	2023	[11]
MF DOOM	Book	2023	[12]
MF Doom	Book	2023	[13]
MF Doom	Book	2021	[14]
MF Doom	Book	2024	[15]
MF Doom	Book	2020	[16]
MF Doom	Book	2023	[17]
MF Doom	Book	2022	[18]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2021	[19]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2024	[20]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2024	[21]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2024	[22]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2024	[23]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2023	[24]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2024	[25]
MF Doom	Entertainment news	2023	[26]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2023	(same website) [27]
MF Doom	General news	2023	[28]
MF DOOM	General news	2023	[29]
MF Doom	General news	2023	[30]
MF Doom	General news	2021	[31]
MF DOOM	Lifestyle news	2023	[32]
MF Doom	General news	2023	[33]
MF DOOM	General news	2021	[34]
MF Doom	General news	2021	[35]
MF DOOM	Entertainment news	2021	[36]
MF DOOM	General news	2023	[37]
MF Doom	General news	2023	(same website) [38]

―Howard • 🌽³³ 13:48, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

These are cherry-picked sources, avoiding the sources which do not capitalize the name, for instance The New York Times from January 2021, and The Guardian from December 2020. And why start at 2020 when there are good sources going back to 2010, showing the name in lower case?[39] If you want to have any leverage here, you must list all the sources and indicate whether they show all caps, lower case, or a combination of the two styles. That way people can plainly see the balance. Binksternet (talk) 14:26, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

like i said, you are free to add more as any user can. I did not intend to cherry-pick sources, but only choose recent sources so that Wikipedia may be up-to-date with contemporary sources. it is impossible to list every source, I don't think any individual can do that. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 14:54, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

also I don't see why I should include The Guardian and NYT in my list since they are already in the list. it makes no sense to include the same website twice if its from the same source, unless if that website contains two styles of the name. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 18:14, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

See my comment: Talk:MF Doom#Capitalisation. Is that enough sources or still cherry-picked? Smirkjuice (talk) 09:15, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

I think having a list like this is a good idea, and it will help in future (inevitable) debates about the capitalization. If we get consensus that this list is useful then it would be good to add it to the FAQ.

I agree that there's no need to list the same sources twice, except in cases sources use both styles (I added a Rolling Stone example there), unless we use Binksternet's idea of just saying whether they use one style or both. It would also be useful to include the names of the sources in the table.

I agree with Binksternet that starting at 2020 seems arbitrary to me — we don't generally prefer newer or older sources unless we have a good reason to think an older source is out of date or whatever. Popcornfud (talk) 20:11, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

The reason I have restricted the list to recent sources is because I believe we should be up-to-date with the style of the newer sources. This isn't a question of factual reliability but stylistic modernity, Wikipedia should merely update to what the current academic/media consensus at the moment, so that we don't appear outdated. the year 2020 is arbitrary, true, but that's only because I had to pick a year to determine which sources are recent. We can pick a different year, either a few years before or ahead. But to count all years in determining our style would bias our style to older sources even if more recent sources decide to overwhelmingly use a different style. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 20:32, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

adding this to the FAQ could also be useful as currently people are confused by "the majority use lowercase" and come to the talkpage because they dont understand that the majority of sources don't do all caps without being presented with evidence. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 20:34, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

But to count all years in determining our style would bias our style to older sources

I think that's a feature of Wikipedia sourcing, not a bug. Popcornfud (talk) 20:35, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Hm. I've been reading and according to WP:NAMECHANGE, "recent sources" indicate when the name was actually changed. I'm pretty sure MF DOOM began specifying his name to be spelled in All Caps in 2004, so it appears we should account for all sources written from Feb. 2004 onwards instead of 2020. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 20:47, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Capitalisation

His name is MF DOOM, not MF Doom, not Doom, it is all capitals. The majority of sources use all caps, despite the claim in the FAQ. There are also countless inconsistencies with the capitalisation of his name in Wikipedia. His actual name is MF DOOM, it's not just capitalised letters for the sake of it.

Several of his songs tell you it's all caps. The ones I can remember are:

All Caps ~ "Just remember all caps when you spell the man' name."

Monkey Suite ~ "DOOM, ALL CAPITALS, no trick spellin', got what it take to get through your thick melon"

Ballskin ~ "All big letters but it isn't no acronym" GMO ~ "Yours truly, all caps DOOM"

STILL KAPS ~ "WILLIE ISZ in all caps like MF DOOM" DOOM doesn't feature on this track, but it's in Key to the Kuffs, the same album that GMO is in.

Bells of DOOM also references that his name is in all caps in the title.

In the official music video for "? (Question Mark)", from his album Operation: Doomsday, the video credits MF DOOM, and this video was filmed in December 2000. DOOM released albums with his name under all caps. Lex Records uses all caps, Stones Throw too. His official website, gasdrawls.com, lists his name as MF DOOM.

The vast majority of sources, and the really internet as a whole, use capital letters. The only reason you see "MF Doom" a lot is because of news organizations, like The New York Times, trying to make a quick buck from his death, not really caring about the name as long as they can get advertisers on their page, and paying to get the top results on Google. Here's some of the sources that spell his name correctly:

• RevoltTV: MF DOOM dies at age 49

• RevoltTV: Yasiin Bey announces Paris show where he'll only perform MF DOOM songs

• RevoltTV: Hospital apologizes to family of MF DOOM following accusations of neglect

• Consequence: MF DOOM and Czarface’s New Album Super What? Receives Posthumous Release: Stream

• Pitchfork: Born Like this

• RapReviews: MF DOOM :: Operation Doomsday

• Albumism: MF DOOM’s Debut Album ‘Operation: Doomsday’ Turns 25 | Album Anniversary

• Stones Throw: MF DOOM DISCOGRAPHY

• Stones Throw: A peek at MF DOOM’s Operation Doomsday reissue in 2010

• FactMag: The 100 Best Albums of the 1990s (37. MF DOOM, Operation Doomsday)

• Genius: MF DOOM Recorded ‘Operation: Doomsday’ On A Borrowed MPC In Three Weeks

• Stereogum: MF Doom Albums From Worst To Best

• No Riprecord: Viktor Vaughn “VV:2 Venomous Villain” (Insomniac)

• The Vouge: MF DOOM

• Complex: MF DOOM Dead at 49

• Euro News: MF DOOM’s cause of death revealed: Widow accuses UK hospital of negligence

• Tidal: MF DOOM: 1971 – 2020

• Paste Magazine: The 25 Best MF DOOM Songs

• AHUS: Why I Haven’t Stopped Thinking About MF DOOM, And You Shouldn’t Either

• Pitchfork: 10 Songs That Show Why MF DOOM Was the Ultimate Rapper’s Rapper

• Medium: Explaining The Mystique of MF DOOM

• Hard Noise: Death of a Super Villain: MF DOOM’s Origin Story and Legacy

• Vulture: Hip-Hop Needs No Other Supervillain After MF DOOM

• Vulture: The 100 Songs That Define New York Rap, Ranked.

• The Ringer: Remembering MF DOOM—Masked Visionary, Rhyme-Bending Supervillain, and Hip-Hop Legend

• Medium: MF DOOM: Hip-Hop’s Worst Kept Secret

• Slate: MF DOOM Will Never Really Die

(Will add titles for these ones later)

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There are a lot of inconsistencies with the capitalisation of DOOM across Wikipedia, several pages use all caps, others don't, and some even switch between the 2 throughout the article. It should be standardized to use all caps, since that is his actual stage name.

MF Doom discography is one of, if not, the biggest case of switching between capitalisation. Take the top of the article, it says: "For his production work, see MF DOOM production discography.", and the first photo in the article (which isn't even of DOOM by the way), has the title "MF DOOM discography", while the caption says "MF Doom in 2008". Also, the page for DOOM's production discography exclusively uses all caps in the article, apart from the title and the "Further information" notice.

The pages for his albums Operation: Doomsday, Take Me to Your Leader, VV:2, Born Like This, Unexpected Guests, Key to the Kuffs, The Missing Notebook Rhymes, and Czarface Meets Metal Face all mainly use all caps for his name too, with a lot of other pages using all caps at least once.

Wikipedia in other languages also use all caps in just his article, not including any articles that even mention him. The ones I found being Danish Wikipedia, Catalan Wikipedia, Chinese Wikipedia, French Wikipedia, German Wikipedia, Dutch Wikipedia, Russian Wikipedia, Spanish Wikipedia, Italian Wikipedia, Polish Wikipedia, Japanese Wikipedia, and Ukrainian Wikipedia. Smirkjuice (talk) 07:29, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

I've fixed the capitalization on Wikipedia's other Doom pages. Thanks for flagging that inconsistency. Popcornfud (talk) 11:10, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

There's also an entire movie that DOOM features in, with him being credited under "MF DOOM". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-blmk5GsYRQ Smirkjuice (talk) 13:20, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

That's fine but it doesn't make any difference to Wikipedia, see the FAQ at the top of this page. Popcornfud (talk) 16:33, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

I was just listing another source. Also, the FAQ says "In other words, how Doom chose to write his own name isn't important to Wikipedia.", but per MOS:BIOEXCEPT, he has clearly declared and consistently used a preferred exceptional style for his own name, so that's wrong. Plus, it's not stylised, that is literally his stage name, it's trademarked under MF DOOM, and the trademark is owned by Dogfoot Management, LLC, ran by DOOM's wife, Jasmine Dumile.

Also, did you not see all the other sources I listed? Or do I need to give you some more? Smirkjuice (talk) 02:59, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

Just saw that Gas Drawls is selling official merch with "Just remember all caps when you spell the man name" printed on it. I feel like I've listed enough sources for all caps to be used on this article, even if this is just the only exception on wikipedia Smirkjuice (talk) 00:06, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

@Smirkjuice YES! HOW DO WE GET WIKIPEDIA TO RESPECT THE ALL CAPS? I CAN'T SEEM TO EDIT HIS PAGE. THE MAN DIED IN HIS PRIME, AND HE IS SORELY MISSED. I FEEL LIKE IT'S A SPIT ON HIS GRAVE TO LACK THE CAPITAL LETTERS. ALL CAPS WHEN YOU SPELL THE MAN NAME. HOW MUCH CLEARER CAN HE HAVE SPELLED IT OUT?! 136.61.107.230 (talk) 04:04, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 October 2024

Please change Doom to DOOM, Cause all caps when you spell the man’s name. 143.177.186.186 (talk) 18:41, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: no valid reason was given for the proposed change. M.Bitton (talk) 22:27, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

There was Doge von Wanko (talk) 17:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Please change the capitalization of his name to be all caps.

The reasoning in the FAQ is really dumb. "how DOOM chose to write his own name isn't as important to Wikipedia as how other sources write it". He himself is the most reliable source there is. You're going to value some other source's opinions more than his own words?

He made an entire song about how his name is spelled in all caps, called "All Caps". Even if it doesn't follow Wikipedia's style and guidelines, this change would be entirely harmless and it would make fans satisfied. Please just respect his legacy. Tylertcfan758 (talk) 12:36, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia has rules. This article is on Wikipedia. This article follows the rules of Wikipedia. Popcornfud (talk) 13:28, 24 December 2024 (UTC)