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Revision as of 11:22, 21 December 2005 editFrancis Schonken (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users68,468 edits "MAJOR CHANGES" should be discussed on the talk page first. Reverting no-consensus edits; moving them to talk page for discussion← Previous edit Revision as of 11:27, 21 December 2005 edit undoHaukurth (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators26,987 edits You yourself habitually make major changes here and even in this revert of yours you are making changes. I've commented out the parts you've contested and we're discussing this on the talk page.Next edit →
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==Examples== ==Examples==
Examples of common names that Misplaced Pages uses instead of a more elaborate, more formal or more scientifically precise version include:
Some examples of how the "common names" principle is applied:
*] (not ]) *] (not ])
*] (not ]) *] (not ])
*] (not ]) *] (not ])
*] (not ]) *] (not ])
*] (not ]) *] (not ]) <!-- A contested example. I'd like to see it go unless we make a point of including other contested examples. -->
*] (not ]) *] (not ])
<!--*] (not ])-->
*] (not ]) *] (not ])


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==Exceptions== ==Exceptions==
Many wikipedia naming conventions guidelines contain implicit or explicit exceptions to the "common names" principle. Some of these exceptions are due to technical limitations, for example "]" while "C++" is technically not possible as a page name.


While the basic principle of this guideline enjoys wide support there are some cases where its application is disputed or overridden by other concerns. A few such cases are listed here.
⚫ Other guidelines try to give recommendations for enhanced precision, cleaner ] and/or solution of ]s, which might lead to article names that are rather "the most obvious" than strictly spoken "the most used", for example ] and not ] (which is more used on the internet).


*Sometimes a technical limitation prevents the use of the most common name. For example "]" is used while "C++" is technically not possible as a page name.
Some of these exceptions are contained in the ], for example the ] section in that guideline leads to ] being used instead of ] or ], in order not to give precedence to either British or American spelling.

*In the past, conflicts have often arisen between those who prefer British spellings and those who prefer American spellings. A ceasefire is in effect which states that both spellings are acceptable for article titles. ''This is irrespective of which spellings are more common.'' For example, a request to move ] to ] on the grounds that the second yields more Google hits will not succeed.

<!--*When adherents of two different spellings cannot reach an agreement, sometimes a third alternative is chosen to end the conflict. That alternative may be less commonly used than either spelling of the common name. For example there is currently an article at the somewhat technical term ] to avoid a conflict between ] and ].-->
*When the native name of an entity contains characters with diacritics some Wikipedians prefer to use those diacritics in the relevant article title, even in cases where they are more often omitted in English texts. Others prefer to apply the ''most common'' principle throughout. For more details on this dispute see ].

*The naming conventions on royalty and people with titles systematise the relevant article titles. This is sometimes at the expense of the most common name for a person. For example ] is used as an article title instead of the more common ]. For more details see ].

⚫ More generally, several guidelines try to give recommendations for enhanced precision, cleaner ], and solution of ]s, which might lead to article names that are "the most obvious" rather than strictly speaking "the most used". Some of these exceptions are contained in the ].


Several guidelines try to systematise certain ''types of article titles'', for example article titles using abbreviations: Several guidelines try to systematise certain ''types of article titles'', for example article titles using abbreviations:
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*]: ] and not ] or ] *]: ] and not ] or ]


Many guidelines systematise titles of articles grouped ''by topic'', for example ] and not ], according to ]. Many guidelines systematise titles of articles grouped ''by topic'', for example ] and not ], according to ]. For articles on people some minor practical exceptions are contained in ].

For articles on people some minor practical exceptions are contained in ]. The principal exception is in the case of naming royalty and people with titles. For details of the naming conventions in those cases, see the ] page.


==See also== ==See also==

Revision as of 11:27, 21 December 2005

Blue tickThis page documents an English Misplaced Pages naming conventions.
Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.
Main page: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions

Convention: Use the most common name of a person or thing that does not conflict with the names of other people or things.

When choosing a name for a page ask yourself: What word would the average user of the Misplaced Pages put into the search engine?

Misplaced Pages is not a place to advocate a title change in order to reflect recent scholarship. The articles themselves reflect recent scholarship but the titles should represent common usage.

Remember that a link is the title of the page it links to.

Titles should be as simple as possible without being too general.

For example, the page about jazz should simply be called "Jazz", not "Jazz music", because "jazz" refers in almost any context to a genre of music, and the simpler title makes linking easier. Adding the word "music" is redundant.

On the other hand, Country music should be on a page called Country music because the word "country" has other referents besides the musical genre. If we ignore potential ambiguity, the ideal of simplicity can be at odds with the ideal of precision.

Rationale

Names of articles should be the most commonly used name for the following reasons:

  • We want to maximize the likelihood of being listed in external search engines, thereby attracting more people to Misplaced Pages. For example, the pagename is Jimmy Carter and not "James Earl Carter, Jr."; the string "Jimmy Carter" in the page title make it easier to find: search engines will often give greater weight to the contents of the title than to the body of the page. Since "Jimmy Carter" is the most common form of the name, it will be searched on more often, and having that exact string in our page title will often mean our page shows up higher in other search engines.
  • We want to maximize the incidence that people who make a link guessing the article name, guess correctly; people guessing a different name may think there is no article yet, which may cause duplication.
  • Using a full formal name requires people to know that name, and to type more.

Redirects help, but give a slightly ugly "redirected from" announcement at the top of the page. On the other hand, if someone reads or hears "King Billy", and wonders who might be meant by that, the "redirected from King Billy" on top of the page works slightly comforting when this king turns up under his most common name: the "redirect" message indicates the system hasn't been playing tricks, and that this was the intended king.

Examples

Examples of common names that Misplaced Pages uses instead of a more elaborate, more formal or more scientifically precise version include:

Don't overdo it

In cases where the common name of a subject is misleading, then it is sometimes reasonable to fall back on a well-accepted alternative. For example a "common" name for a tsunami is "tidal wave" (this term being less often used for the tides-related tidal bore). For this reason, the Tidal wave page is a disambiguation page, with links to the two other pages, and not a page giving details about either tsunami or tidal bore. See also: wikipedia:naming conventions (precision)

Also, some terms are in common usage but are commonly regarded as offensive to large groups of people (Eskimo and Mormon Church, for example). In those cases use widely known alternatives (Inuit and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). When in doubt, check a mainstream reference work.

This does not mean that we should avoid using widely known pseudonyms like Mark Twain, Marilyn Monroe, Billy the Kid, or widely known common names of animals and other things. But it does mean that we need to temper common usage when the commonly used term is unreasonably misleading or commonly regarded as offensive to one or more groups of people.

Subpages

Policy regarding changed MediaWiki software

An article with a slash (/) in its title is treated like any other page, as there are no longer any special subpage features in the main (encyclopedia) namespace. Accordingly, the use of subpage notation when naming articles is discouraged.

If contributors still want to use the former "slashed" subpage naming, they have the burden of showing that a subpage-like name is necessary, otherwise articles using such names will be moved to a page in line with normal article titles.

Example: use "James T. Kirk" or "James T. Kirk (Star Trek)", not "Star Trek/James T. Kirk", for an article on the fictional character Captain Kirk.

Unnecessary subpages existing prior to this convention are in the process of being moved to their own, conventionally-named page. For discussions leading to the use of this convention see the Talk page.

Slashes may be used freely when present in original titles, or usual terminology. Examples: Face/Off, Input/output.

Subsidiary articles

The present convention for articles providing more detail on a given topic is using the {{Main|<subpage>}} and {{Details|<subpage>}} templates, in accordance with Misplaced Pages:Summary style; such templates are placed under a section header, each instance of these templates providing a link to a subpage.

Occasionally these subsidiary pages — if containing content that is only relevant as an elaboration of a shorter paragraph on the main page — can have more complex page names, that is, if only intended to be accessed by clicking from the main article. Example: Isaac Newton has as one of its pages on sub-topics: Isaac Newton's early life and achievements.

However, if a "common name" for such subsidiary page is possible, that is always preferred.

Exceptions

While the basic principle of this guideline enjoys wide support there are some cases where its application is disputed or overridden by other concerns. A few such cases are listed here.

  • Sometimes a technical limitation prevents the use of the most common name. For example "C Plus Plus" is used while "C++" is technically not possible as a page name.
  • In the past, conflicts have often arisen between those who prefer British spellings and those who prefer American spellings. A ceasefire is in effect which states that both spellings are acceptable for article titles. This is irrespective of which spellings are more common. For example, a request to move aluminium to aluminum on the grounds that the second yields more Google hits will not succeed.
  • When the native name of an entity contains characters with diacritics some Wikipedians prefer to use those diacritics in the relevant article title, even in cases where they are more often omitted in English texts. Others prefer to apply the most common principle throughout. For more details on this dispute see Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (use English).

More generally, several guidelines try to give recommendations for enhanced precision, cleaner disambiguation, and solution of naming conflicts, which might lead to article names that are "the most obvious" rather than strictly speaking "the most used". Some of these exceptions are contained in the Manual of Style.

Several guidelines try to systematise certain types of article titles, for example article titles using abbreviations:

Many guidelines systematise titles of articles grouped by topic, for example M/S Herald of Free Enterprise and not Herald of Free Enterprise, according to Misplaced Pages:naming conventions (ships). For articles on people some minor practical exceptions are contained in Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (people).

See also

Apart from the main Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions page and the Misplaced Pages naming conventions category there are also:

Categories: