Talk:Predator drone

RFD discussion: September–October 2016

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Predator drone and Reaper drone

Predator drone and Reaper drone are countable noun phrases that are apparently based on components of the proper nouns of two different brands of drone aircraft; see General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and General Atomics MQ-1 Predator at Wikipedia. The entries were both created by User:North Atlanticist Usonian, who is now blocked for "abuse of multiple accounts." Predator drone was the first of the two to be created, in December 2013, when Usonian created it in its lowercase form, and User:Equinox realized it was based on a brand name, so it should've been capitalized, about which he was indeed correct. Reaper drone was the second, created in February 2014, and Usonian did it correctly the second time.

First off, I find it odd that the entries are based on military brand names, but the definitions imply that it has a more broad meaning; i.e. only meaning any kind of "unmanned military aerial vehicle." It seems that Usonian just copied the definitions from their respective Wikipedia articles, which isn't bad since I do that too a lot, but the senses of the two terms just don't clarify enough why they aren't SOP... The only attention that these entries got was 1 edit from another user. No discussion or anything. No usage notes. No etymology explaining that it is from the brand name. So it's pretty questionable content if you ask me just because of that alone. Also, unless the terms "Predator drone" and "Reaper drone" are significantly more common than just "Predator" or "Reaper", I don't see why it's not SOP.

I understand there are no entries for these two brand names yet, but let's just say that Predator and Reaper actually did meet CFI. So it would just be Predator + drone, Reaper + drone. A "Predator" could be used to describe a certain type (brand) of "unmanned military aerial vehicle", but I don't believe it would be any "unmanned military aerial vehicle". Of course, I could be wrong and it could be a general term that came from a brand name, like kleenex, but the entry doesn't clarify whether or not this is true at all. So does this even meet WT:BRAND at all? And if it does, how is it not SOP?

I say delete, per my points above. But I'm interested to see what the community thinks about this. PseudoSkull (talk) 01:11, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be on RFV? -- Pedrianaplant (talk) 19:53, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

@User:Pedrianaplant I don't think so. The term is clearly in widespread use, but the question is, isn't it just Reaper + drone? And are the brand names even attested at all per WT:BRAND? PseudoSkull (talk) 20:09, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

The definition of these entries is not "A drone of the type Predator" or "A drone of the type Reaper". WT:BRAND questions would certainly have to be resolved at RFV and not here. -- Pedrianaplant (talk) 21:35, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

@User:Pedrianaplant No; as I explained above, I don't believe that the definitions given are accurate. I think a Predator drone is literally just a drone that is of the Predator brandname and there is no evidence given that this definition is accurate. So, it would just be Predator + drone. If anyone can find sufficient citations that suggest that the two terms are used as they are defined, which is in a more general sense, then we'd be clear. So I guess this could go in either one. PseudoSkull (talk) 21:54, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

The process is, 1.) Verify that the definition is accurate. 2.) If it is not sufficiently cited, then the definition is RFV failed, and the actual SOP definition of just "any drone under the Predator brandname" should be added. 3.) We RFD the SOP definition. 4.) The entry gets deleted as SOP. Miscellaneous: We should at some point decide whether or not the brandnames actually meet WT:BRAND, and if they do even by the slightest, we should add entries for Predator and Reaper. PseudoSkull (talk) 21:54, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

I do think we could delete the entries outright if the general sense fails RFV. No need to be overly bureaucratic, this is Wiktionary and not the German tax office. -- Pedrianaplant (talk) 22:13, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

Delete. The brand name would be fodder for rfv, but this isn't a brand name, it's a phrase that includes a brand name. One might rfv Ford, but not "Ford automobile". Chuck Entz (talk) 04:37, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

I lean towards Delete; these do seem rather like "Boeing aircraft", "Boeing airliner", or maybe even "Boeing 777", "Focke-Wulf Fw 190". - -sche (discuss) 22:15, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Deleted. bd2412 T 13:28, 7 October 2016 (UTC)