astronomy

Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate

Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate rather than just read about it. In short: From December 1, 2012, until January 31, 2013, a stylistic disagreement unfolded between editors on the English-language Wikipedia as to whether the word "into" in the title of the Wikipedia article for the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness should be capitalized. More than 40,000 words were written on the article's talk page (a page for editors to discuss changes to the article) before a consensus was reached to cap…

Key takeaways

Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

From December 1, 2012, until January 31, 2013, a stylistic disagreement unfolded between editors on the English-language Wikipedia as to whether the word "into" in the title of the Wikipedia article for the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness should be capitalized. More than 40,000 words were written on the article's talk page (a page for editors to discuss changes to the article) before a consensus was reached to capitalize the "I".

Debate Director J. J. Abrams planned to release the film Star Trek Into Darkness in April 2013. Its title did not contain a colon after "Star Trek", such as in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and eight other Star Trek films. The "I" was to be capitalized in Abrams's April release, but Wikipedia's Manual of Style stipulates that prepositions with fewer than five letters are not to be capitalized. The full discussion that would decide if Wikipedia should lowercase or uppercase the "I" in the word "into" in the film's title unfolded at the article's talk page from December 1, 2012 to January 9, 2013, and then was picked up again from January 13 to January 31, 2013. The dispute over whether to adhere to or make an exception to Wikipedia's guideline stretched to over 40,000 words. A major area of the debate concerned whether or not "Into Darkness" was a subtitle of Star Trek Into Darkness, which was not clear without the colon. If the phrase was a subtitle, as with every other Star Trek film with a title longer than two words except for Star Trek Generations, then Wikipedia's manual of style would recommend that "Into" be capitalized as the first word in the subtitle. The opposing side argued that it would violate Wikipedia's policy against original research to assume that "Into Darkness" was a subtitle, that Star Trek Into Darkness may have been intended to be read as a sentence, and that it would support the studio's marketing strategy to allow "Into Darkness" to be interpreted as a subtitle. If "Into Darkness" was not a subtitle, then Wikipedia's manual of style would recommend that "into" be uncapitalized as a four-letter preposition. Furthermore, the uncapitalization camp argued that Abrams said that the film's title would not have "a subtitle with a colon". The side in favor of capitalization further argued that both secondary and primary sources used a capital "I". In an outburst, an unregistered Wikipedia editor wrote "READ THE GODDAMN OFFICIAL WEBSITE, YOU POMPOUS IDIOTS". As a compromise, the lead for the article initially read "Star Trek into Darkness (usually written as Star Trek Into Darkness) ..." before consensus was reached for the capitalization of "I".

Reaction and aftermath

On January 30, 2013, Kevin Morris wrote in The Daily Dot, "When it comes to world class pedantry, few groups can challenge the prowess of Wikipedians and Star Trek fans". During the dispute, cartoonist Randall Munroe wrote and drew a January 30, 2013, xkcd comic strip both honoring and making fun of the edit war, depicting an editor who resolved the edit war by rewriting the title as "~*~StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs~*~". A month after the discussion had ended, the dispute was still interfering with Google searches for Star Trek Into Darkness—searches for the film would return the title with a lowercase i, even though by that point the argument had been decided in favor of the capitalized I. Morris commented that the incident shows the impact small groups of Wikipedia editors can have, especially in situations more severe than a simple capitalized letter. The 2016 Christian Science Monitor article "The Source Code of Political Power", by Simon DeDeo of Indiana University, used the debate as one example of how Wikipedia is an evolving system of ideas and found comparison to the Talmud. Accordingly, DeDeo opined that Wikipedia was moving towards increased complexity, refinement, and bureaucracy. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales discussed the controversy in his 2025 book The Seven Rules of Trust as an example of the encyclopedia's rigor.

Illustrations

Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate: An excerpt of the January 30, 2013, xkcd cartoon by Randall Munroe about the extended talk page discussion — An excerpt of the January 30, 2013, xkcd cartoon by Randall Munroe about the extended talk page discussion

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate

In research: Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 controversies in the United States, 2012 in Internet culture, 2013 controversies in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate in simple terms?

Why does Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wikipedia Star Trek Into Darkness debate.