Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-995426-20141222043929

If you look at Template:Fanon:

Its wording makes a series of inappropriate assumptions:
 * 1) That there is only one canon.  Even among licensed published works, there are multiple canons that are often mutually exclusive.
 * 2) That if it is a fan work, obviously only its author is the editor.  But some works, like Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 24 (Image) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 25 (Image), have a wide enough audience that it cannot be assumed that the article is not one of many related articles or that the author is the only editor.
 * 3) That fanon is an absolute concept and only describes works taking place within the continuity of a canon work.  MNT Gaiden, for example, takes place in an alternate universe that branches off from the Mirage continuity, but creates a self-contained continuity with its own timeline and internal canon independent of any other work.  This makes it its own canon, albeit an unlicensed one that began with a fan's ideas.  Also, if popular enough, such a work inspires fanart and fanfiction of its own, as MNT Gaiden has done, raising the paradox of distinguishing a fan work's canon from the fan work's unofficial fanon.

Also, not all fan-made works are being treated with this template or its associated category. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 24 (Image) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 25 (Image) are unlicensed fan-made works published online, but are instead under Category:Image comics despite having no official involvement or license from Image Comics or indeed anyone else. The fact that sometimes artists once associated with Mirage Studios or Image Comics became involved (Kevin Eastman himself even illustrated issue 25's cover), still doesn't mean they aren't unlicensed fan works. Indeed, the fact that past official creators can and have collaborated on fan works on a freelance basis makes this issue that much more complicated.

I propose that either:
 * Template:Fanon should be rewritten to make fewer assumptions and also be applied to major unlicensed works like those mentioned above, or:
 * Template:Fanon should be rewritten to address broader fanon topics (shipping topics, fan jargon, etc.) and user-generated fan content of a smaller scale (such as a user's own fanfiction posted to the wiki). But larger, more prominent unlicensed works should be treated differently, perhaps with a new template like Template:Unlicensed, explaining that a published work has its own cohesive canon but is not licensed by Mirage Studios or Viacom nor officially integrated with any licensed works.

Experience on these forums tells me that most ordinary wiki users will either not read this or not comment (either way not getting involved). This is understandable and I respect that. :) But I thought it would be respectful of me to at least address the issue and ask the admins and other users to chime in, rather than just acting on my own without telling anyone. For now, I will continue using Template:Fanon for my edits to Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden articles, unless a better option becomes available. 