Talk:Copy of a

…with a capital A

I'd like to float the idea of changing the capitalization to Copy of a; this is clearly at odds with Wikipedia style guidelines, but I think this might be a case where an exception is warranted since the current format (Copy of A) reads like Copy of 'A', which is clearly not the intended reading. Admittedly, the fact that I had to use the word 'intended' gives me pause, since Wikipedia is not here to crowd-source the interpretation of creative works. Thoughts? —jameslucas (" " / +) 15:28, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Well the thing is, when the single for "Copy of A" was released, it was released with the lower case "a" (when it asks you to purchase it off of Amazon), therefore that's how it's supposedly to show up as a title possibly. Once Hesitation Marks comes out we'll know about how it looks on the album as well, probably the same though. Let's wait until Hesitation Marks comes out to change it though. Mrmoustache14 (talk) 17:20, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

It's pretty well established that album artwork should be used to inform style decisions on Wikipedia rarely if ever. As much as doing so would please me from an æsthetic standpoint, I concur with the style guidelines. Additionally, specific to this case, the "official" capitalization will almost certainly prove unhelpful and probably even contradictory. All the digital content will have the first letter capitalized (as indicated by the singles already released as well as the official track listing). Text in the physical album art, on the other hand, will mostly likely be entirely lowercase since the art complements The Downward Spiral, which used only lower case. Even if we could accept either as "proof", neither would serve, sadly. If we make an exception, it will have to be on the grounds of clarity alone. —jameslucas (" " / +) 17:37, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Since there have been no further objections raised, I'm being bold and moving the page to Copy of a (lowercase 'a'). This move is made with full acknowledgement that unusual capitalization in article titles should be kept to a minimum. Neither the album artwork nor the artist's website are the basis for this move; the move is being made only to ensure that the article is as clear and informative as possible. Cheers. jameslucas (" " / +) 15:26, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

The capital A is correct and the article should be moved.

The previous older discussion made a justification based on personal feelings. Emotional "bold" decisions are completely against the strive for accuracy, and the Wikipedia style guidelines are clear: The first and last words within a title (and within a subtitle) are capitalized regardless of their grammatical role. It matters not whether you think the title "feels" like Copy of 'A' or even how it is cased by the artist or elsewhere, a capital A is the only correct answer on Wikipedia. I do not have the powers to move an article, so I am making this request to move it. 36.236.170.145 (talk) 10:04, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't really care either way, but what I DO care about is if it does get moved, that we add a note of "(stylized as 'Copy of a')" after the rename since that's how it's always listed outside of Wikipedia. Mrmoustache14 (talk) 14:15, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

@36.236.170.145: "the Wikipedia style guidelines are clear" - which gudelines, exactly? --ZimZalaBim ^talk 22:04, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Oh, I see this at MOS:CT now. That said, Guidelines are just that, guides. Not rules. I can see the argument that if a creative work has a particular capitalization style, then our article's title and opening should adhere to that as an expecption ot the guideline, just like at MOS:BIOEXCEPT. --ZimZalaBim ^talk 22:12, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

The "stylized as" qualifier functions as the solution to this problem already, and I agree with its usage here. The articles for David Bowie albums are not titled 1.Outside, EART HL I NG, and 'hours...' for example, they use "stylized as". That link to unusual exceptions is under the Biography section of the MOS and exclusively refers to names of people, not titles of works, which is a different section. Proper names understandably have these exceptions that titles of works do not need, because it would devolve into madness trying to match an artist's capricious formatting intentions for all works. 36.238.19.154 (talk) 07:44, 29 August 2025 (UTC)