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In-universe, the correct spelling appears to be stormtroopers (with no capitals, no space), however there are a very considerable number of posts; both questions and answers, that refer to them as;

  • Stormtroopers (Capital S)
  • Storm troopers (with a space)
  • Storm Troopers (Capital S, Capital T and a space)

As we're doing with lightsabers, should we systematically change all of these posts to the correct spelling?

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  • Killing is a punishable offense ;)
    – Ankit Sharma
    Jul 20, 2017 at 6:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Execute Order 66: kill the spaces within the storm troopers.

In the context of the Star Wars universe, "storm troopers" is an incorrect spelling, like Wookie and Kashyk and Princess Leah. Feel free to correct this common error by removing spaces.

A few caveats:

  • This only applies to the Star Wars universe. The word "stormtrooper" can also be used in other contexts, and in some of those "storm trooper" may also be correct.
  • I don't think "stormtroopers" vs "Stormtroopers" is important enough to fix. People might well use "Stormtrooper" as if it's a title. Capitalisation is misused all the time on this site, and we don't usually bother editing it unless there's also something else to fix in the post. I would reject a "Stormtrooper" -> "stormtrooper" suggested edit as being too trivial.
  • So as not to flood the front page of the site, the usual rule of thumb has been that at most 5 of the top 15 most recently active posts should be last edited by the same person. This is supported by this four-year-old consensus, and although a more recent and hotly debated meta discussion has brought it into question, this guideline has continued to be enforced in practice by the community.
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  • 3
    I'm sorry, what was the rule about the limiting of edits?
    – phantom42
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:06
  • @phantom42 It's been debated a lot, but there's still a standing consensus (answer from a mod with +17/-0) as well as the fact that 5-per-15 has been the rule used in practice for as long as I've been on the site. When a new user does loads of edits at once, we ping them in a comment or in chat and ask them to slow down a bit; Valorum isn't exempt just because he has 280k rep.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:11
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    That is an older standing consensus that voted differently when the subject came back up. I wholly agree that there should be a limit, but the community more recently voted the other way. Don't go around enforcing rules that the community said don't exist.
    – phantom42
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:16
  • Is order 66 apply here too??
    – Ankit Sharma
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:31
  • @JonSnow I don't know that franchise, but it seems to be an issue of different acronym conventions neither of which is more "correct" than the other. Like J.K. Rowling vs JK Rowling, or CS Lewis vs C.S. Lewis - both are valid, and the important thing is to keep tagging consistent.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:36
  • @phantom42 The funny thing is that the 5-per-15 rule has continued to be enforced by the community long after the meta post you linked. Everyone seems to have just ignored that post with its very divided opinions, and gone on as before.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:37
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    Because people ignore a rule does not mean that a rule does not exist. If you want the rule changed, bring the subject back up again and push for its reversal.
    – phantom42
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:43
  • @phantom42 OK, edited. I'm not sure why this is suddenly an issue when people have continued citing the 5-per-15 guideline without problems in the year since that meta post.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 12:52
  • then why is lightsabre not an incorrect spelling? :P
    – Skooba
    Jul 19, 2017 at 13:24
  • @Skooba I already addressed that in a different post.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 13:54
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    @Randal'Thor Oh, I know, am just saying your opinions seems to be inconsistent... Why is the in-universe spelling good enough for stromtrooper, but not lightsaber?
    – Skooba
    Jul 19, 2017 at 13:55
  • @Skooba ... because storm trooper vs stormtrooper isn't an issue of different equally correct variants of English, like SHIELD vs S.H.I.E.L.D. or saber vs sabre. I'm not sure why you keep harping on this.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 19, 2017 at 14:00
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    I suggest simply making all these edits in one go, as fast as you can, whilst also improving the posts in other ways. If there's no limit on tag edits, which are one of the most minimal edits you can make, then when it comes to helpful edits in the body you should just have at it. Having to coordinate and/or stagger improvements just delays improvements to the site, which I find silly.
    – user31178
    Jul 19, 2017 at 15:34
  • What about Spiderman vs Spider-Man ?
    – Ankit Sharma
    Jul 20, 2017 at 7:28
  • @JonSnow - Phil Spiderman?
    – Valorum
    Jul 20, 2017 at 7:41

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