Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Carcharoth (talk | contribs) at 23:43, 29 March 2006 (→Creating an article from a disambiguation page). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

History of the page

This page started as a disambiguation page, and has recently outgrown its disambiguation status. A lot of the extraneous material will be moved to another page, but discussion is (or will be) ongoing at the talk page of Misplaced Pages:Disambiguation and other places as I want to clarify and discuss a few things before I (or others) make changes. I will add links to the discussions. I would be grateful if people could wait a few days until the discussions reach some sort of conclusions. Carcharoth 15:00, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Creating an article from a disambiguation page

This editing history summary concerns work I did on Ptolemy (disambiguation). This started when I realised that Ptolemaic redirected to Ptolemaic dynasty, as seen here (27/09/2003). This rang a warning bell in my mind, as I realised that many people would link Ptolemiac in articles referring to Claudius Ptolemaeus, the famous astronomer of the 2nd century AD, not the Egyptian ruling dynasty (of Macedonian origin) of the 3rd to 1st centuries BC. Clicking on "What links here" confirmed my fears. I eventually got round to tidying up those links and redid Ptolemaic as a disambiguation page (24/03/2006). While changing those links, I had got interested in the history of the Ptolemies, and the confusing tangle of Ptolemies in the Ptolemaic dynasty. I then gradually started tidying up the disambiguation page by adding descriptions to help people find the Ptolemy they needed. Previously, a reader had to click back and forth between different Ptolemies, and try and mentally keep track of where and when these Ptolemies existed. I also expanded the list and organised it into mostly historical sections. Over the course of a few days, Ptolemy (disambiguation) went from this (25/03/2006) to this (28/02/2006). During the course of this work I had been delving deeper and deeper into the history of the Ptolemies (see here for 'The House of Ptolemy' by Edwyn Bevan, an enthralling history of the Ptolemies). At some point I also tidied up the disambiguation page at Ptolemais.

The reorganisation of Ptolemy (disambiguation) into historical sections had made me realise that there was a narrative thread here, one that spanned over 2000 years of history. This focused my interest on the etymology of the name Ptolemy, to add to the history of the people bearing the name, and how the name has come to be used in today's world. This accounts for the addition of the etymological section ranging across several languages. By the time of this version (29/03/2006), my earlier fears that the page was no longer a disambiguation page were well and truly confirmed!

At this point, I initiated discussions at various places in Misplaced Pages, to add to the discussions I had already started at places like the Help Desk and the Reference Desk. Here, I provide links to some of these discussions (some discussions may have since been archived, and talk page discussions have not been refactored):

• Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Humanities#Ptolemies... - appeal for more examples of Ptolemies.

• Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Language#Etymology_of_Greek_Ptolemaios_and_Italian_Tolomeo - asking about the etymology.

• Misplaced Pages:Help_desk#Name_etymologies/histories_on_Wikipedia - asking for advice on what to do with Ptolemy (disambiguation), which was getting out of control. No authoritative advice, but suggestions led me to look at similar disambiguation pages.

• Misplaced Pages:Help_desk#Disambiguation_page_styles - another Help Desk request for advice after looking at other name disambiguation pages. Response led me to the disambiguation Manual of Style.

• Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Biography#Disambiguation_page_styles_for_people - repeat of question from the Help Desk, posted at the Wikiproject Biography talk page - no response as of 29/03/2006.

• Category_talk:Lists_of_ambiguous_human_names - repeat of question from the Help Desk, posted at the talk page for the category for ambiguous human names. Advice there confirmed my thought that Ptolemy (disambiguation) should be reduced back to an organised list, after moving material to Ptolemy (name). Example of how to do this split was given for Robert (name), which was split off from Robert.

• User_talk:Carcharoth#Ptolemy - User:Macrakis points out that Ptolemy (disambiguation) includes more information that is needed.

• Talk:Ptolemy (disambiguation) - page history summaries, and discussions, on the talk page for Ptolemy (disambiguation).

I then spent some time browsing through the Manual of Style (disambiguation pages), and the talk pages there and at Misplaced Pages:Disambiguation. I then posted this summary at the Ptolemy (disambiguation) talk page. I intend to continue the current discussions and, if needed, start discussions at the Misplaced Pages Disambiguation talk page. Eventually, after taking advice and discussing the best way to organise the material, the split to Ptolemy (name) will take place.

Links to new discussions will also be added here. Carcharoth 23:40, 29 March 2006 (UTC)