Board Thread:Wiki discussion/@comment-18014300-20180717074641

I'm opening up this topic because there has been some confusion and disagreement on the use of floruit, a new formatting style that was introduced with the updated Manual of Style. For efficiency, I hadn't consulted everyone on every last detail when drafting that guide, so please pardon me for any confusion that this caused.

This thread will be to establish a consensus on which is the preferred formatting style for noting the birth–death range for individuals whose death date is unknown, but first, let me provide the current style given in the guide:


 * For an individual who is still living: Shaun Hastings (born 1985) not Shaun Hastings (b. 1985) or Shaun Hastings (1985–)
 * For an individual for which only the death year is known: Warren Vidic (died 2012) not Warren Vidic (unknown–2012) or Warren Vidic (d. 2012).


 * For a deceased individual for which only the birth year is known: Shao Jun (fl. 1505–1567)

Why we started avoiding unknown
The main reason why we started avoiding the use of unknown as we once did is because it is associated with out-of-universe language. The argument is that what is unknown to us as players might not necessarily be unknown information inside the Assassin's Creed universe from the perspective of those characters themselves. It is unknown, but to whom? I actually have rebuttals to this and counter-rebuttals, so feel free to name any that pop up in your head!

Why we don't just leave the end date blank
The reason why we were avoiding leaving blank the death date for characters whose death date is unknown—for example, Shao Jun (born 1505)—is because this technically means that Shao Jun is still alive. Maybe you guys might think that we are being too fastidious here :P... and that convention or no, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that.

What is floruit?
, lit. "flourished", is used in academic works when noting the birth–death range for individuals where the birth and/or the death is not known to scholars.

When used in this way, neither the start and end year is necessarily the birth and death date. Instead, floruit only indicates either (A) the years that the individual was known to have existed/been alive or (B) the peak of that individual's career.

In Assassin's Creed, this would mean that floruit is based on the years that the individual has appeared in. However, its usage even in the real-world is inconsistent (being A or B) and context is used to determine what is meant.

The main problem that has been brought to me about using this is just the confusion. Even though technically the end date should never be taken as the death year, in practice, readers unfamiliar with this notation can still confuse it as such.

Options
So here are the options you guys can vote for:
 * 1) Use unknown
 * 2) Use floruit
 * 3) Use floruit only when both birth & death are unknown
 * This is Jasca Ducato's idea, and correct me if I misrepresent any details. To ensure that usage of floruit never leads readers to confuse it for birth or death, it is strictly confined to being used when neither are known. e.g. the end year for Caesarion (fl. 47 BCE–30 BCE) might be more readily confused for his death because the start year is his birth.

Of course, feel free to add any more options if you guys have any more ideas! 