TV shows sometimes credit titles abbreviated sometimes in full, but is there a preference here?
Full title examples:
- General Major Hawkins
- Doctor Gillian Pearce
- Lieutenant Tom Pace
Abbreviated title examples:
- Gen. Maj. Hawkins
- Dr. Gillian Pearce
- Lt. Tom Pace
At first when I joined this site I though have the fullest version might be best, but the more I encounter these, the more I am in favor of keeping titles abbreviated. There are two main reasons: (1) it takes less space and often doesn't force name to wrap to next line, and (2) it is clearly visible at a glance what is title and what is name, plus sometimes it can be a name or nickname the character goes by which isn't a rank or a title (i.e. Major). And (3), it just looks nicer and clearer when abbreviated.
But on this site we have this written equally in both full and abbreviated version so I'm guessing there is no preference. And even in show sometimes they credit person as "Captain Wayne" and then in next episode as "Capt. Wayne" so there is no consistency of any sort anywhere.
I didn't see any guideline on this in data policy, and I don't know if we have any "rule" or guideline about this. But if we don't, perhaps we should come up with at least optional preference that may tend to keep these written in a similar manner.