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I'm pretty sure that we've all seen how disruptive Q was to the travels of the Enterprise-D and Voyager. (It's likely documented within their captain and personal logs.)

Given how Starfleet Command almost dismissed the Spock incident and almost all Vulcan mysticism (TOS: "Search For Spock"), has Starfleet itself (or the Federation of Planets for that matter) ever acknowledged the existence of the Q Continuum?

Paul Williams
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    there is a difference though between mysticism and an actual alien species - Kirk had his share of run-ins with seemingly omnipotent beings (Trelane was even retconned into a Q) – NKCampbell Jun 30 '16 at 19:29
  • Trelane was never retconned into a Q. – Ham Sandwich Jun 30 '16 at 22:32
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    @T-1000'sson, NKCampbell is probably thinking of the novel Q-Squared, which does retcon Trelane into a Q, but is also non-canon. – TheBloodyPoet Jun 30 '16 at 22:54
  • Probably. But I'm not sure why people think novels are canon. – Ham Sandwich Jun 30 '16 at 23:05
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    Anyone who has an encounter with a Q entity has to be interviewed by those same guys who police time travel: "You aren't going to claim this interview is part of an alternate reality created by Q to mess with you, are you? Because we hate that." – Beardless1 Jul 01 '16 at 00:11
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    @T-1000'sSon Because people are free to determine what they consider canon - which is why most people do not recognise more than one Matrix movie, or dismiss certain prequel trilogies, or are happy with expanded universe providing more colour and background. You, of course, are free to determine a different criteria for canon. – HorusKol Jul 01 '16 at 00:27
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    That's just not true. – Ham Sandwich Jul 01 '16 at 00:35
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    @HorusKol Canon is anything by the original author or accepted by the original author, sources here if you're interested – Kevin Jul 01 '16 at 07:33
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    I can't believe that there are people who think that what is canon is totally subjective. Seriously? Come on, that's ridiculous. – Ham Sandwich Jul 01 '16 at 17:45
  • @HorusKol "Canon" has rather non-subjective meaning. You mean, people are free to determine what they wan't to think really happens in a fictional universe, what material they choose think is fictionally true, even if it contradicts canon. – hyde Jul 01 '16 at 19:09
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    @hyde Like he said, "free to determine what they consider canon". You're free to tell them they're officially wrong. See if they care. – DCShannon Jul 01 '16 at 21:30
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    @DCShannon It's not that they are officially wrong, it's that they invent new meanings for existing word "canon". Everyone gets to determine what they consider "a cat" too, but if they call a dog that, they aren't speaking English any more. I could agree it's understandable to say "in my personal canon", even if it is a contradiction in itself. – hyde Jul 02 '16 at 06:23
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    everything is recorded through the ships Logs. The Q was logged down and the logs get sent back to star fleet. Otherwise the Q are so powerfull they could have wiped everyone's memory and the ships logs but they are not allowed to do that – Tasos Jul 08 '16 at 06:28
  • If only they had, Q might have stopped screwing with them. All they had to do was send a fruit basket or something. Basic inter-continuum courtesy. – Paul D. Waite Oct 12 '20 at 14:32

1 Answers1

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Yes. Knowledge of Q is widespread among Starfleet personnel.

JANEWAY: Look, I don't know what you want here, but I know who you are. Every captain in Starfleet has been briefed about your appearances on the Enterprise, and I warn you...

QUINN: My appearances? Oh, you've mistaken me for. Oh, well, no matter,

Voy: Death Wish

Apparently these briefings include specific mention of the Q Continuum

JANEWAY: The hell you will. The vaunted Q Continuum. Self-anointed guardians of the universe. How dare you come aboard this ship and endanger this crew with your personal tug of war.

Those same briefings were also given to Sisko

O'BRIEN: We've got a problem. sir. I just saw Q on the Promenade.

SISKO: Q? Here?

KIRA: What's Q?

SISKO: A powerful and extremely unpredictable entity. I was at a Starfleet briefing on him two years ago.

DS9: Q-Less

And the junior and senior crew of the USS Cerritos are well aware of his existence.

Valorum
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    Yeah, but have they exchanged ambassadors? – David Wohlferd Jun 30 '16 at 21:59
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    @DavidWohlferd - I gather the Q-Continuum really don't like visitors; http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/67265/20774 – Valorum Jun 30 '16 at 22:02
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    Undoubtedly true. Although to be fair, the federation might be unenthusiastic about having a Q there full-time as well. – David Wohlferd Jun 30 '16 at 22:17
  • @DavidWohlferd - The Q don't seem overly interested in any of the lesser races. – Valorum Jun 30 '16 at 22:20
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    I should say Starfleet knows about the Q Continuum. It was a Q that flung the Enterprise into the Delta quadrant and made the Borg aware of them. It's a rather important event. – Machtyn Jul 01 '16 at 14:59
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    It seems more a question about acknowledgement of sovereignty. Such as nations don't really exist, until other countries acknowledge there existence. However saying the Q Continuum is a sovereign nation would probably be a contentious and touchy subject even in the UFP. – Caimen Jul 01 '16 at 19:09
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    @caimen - The Q definitely function as a nation, right down to having a messy civil war at one point. – Valorum Jul 01 '16 at 19:13
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    I love how Sisko just doesn't elaborate whatsoever on the briefing. – Derek Oct 09 '16 at 06:32