Wikipedia:Disambiguation: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 16:39, 5 April 2002

Disambiguation is the process of clarifying which similar titles point to which article topics. Wikipedia tries to make linking simple and automatic: as you're typing, put brackets around Paris and you'll have a link. But were you intending to link to the French city, or to the mythical Trojan hero?

Solving this ambiguity involves two steps: first, appropriate (and distinct) titles must be chosen for the more specific topics; then, a short article should be written under the general title that points to those specific articles, perhaps explaining the differences among them.

For creating the specific pages, a few options are available. If there's an alternate name or more complete name that is equally clear, that can be used (for example, Java programming language, Titan rocket). Otherwise, a disambiguating word or phrase can be added in parentheses. The word or phrase in parentheses should be one of two things: a generic noun describing what the specific title is an instance of (for example, Mercury (element), Seal (mammal)); or the subject or context to which the term applies (for example, Union (set theory), Inflation (economics)). A special case of the latter is when the context is a book or other creative work, such as with articles about fictional characters (for example Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged)). If there is a choice between disambiguating with a generic term or context, choose whichever is simpler. For example "mythology" rather than "mythological figure". Use the same disambiguating phrase for topics within the same context.

To conform to our normal naming conventions, the phrase in parentheses should be treated just as any other word in a title: normally lowercase, unless it is a proper noun that always appears capitalized even in running text (such as a book title).

The disambiguating page

There is some flexibility in creating the disambiguating page itself, or even whether it is necessary to create one. If the title clearly has one central most important meaning, and one or two lesser-known meanings in narrow contexts, one alternative is to have the full article about the primary meaning under the simple title, after which is a brief link to the special use. For example, the poker article covers the card game; it is unlikely that there will ever be an encyclopedia article on fireplace pokers, but if we did create one, it could be linked to from the existing poker article without having to move that article to "Poker (game)".

If a disambiguating page is merited, it can be as simple as a bullet list of specific articles with links and perhaps a brief one-line description of each (saving details for the specific articles), or it might have some explanatory text of its own if differences need to be explained, or if there is interesting history of the term itself independent of the specific topics.

Which method is appropriate will depend on the nature of the subject. The articles below serve as examples of what can be done (and a few examples of what shouldn't be done, but hopefully not many). Note that a disambiguating page may look a lot like a dictionary entry. We try to maintain a policy that Wikipedia is not a dictionary, so resist the urge to make such pages even more dictionary-like than they already are (for example, there's no need to put etymologies or pronunciations, unless those serve to clarify the topics).

List of diambiguating pages

The new Wikipedia software has a feature that lists "special:LonelyPages orphan" pages; that is, pages that no other page links to. But for many disambiguating pages, that's perfectly correct: we want the disambiguating page to show up in a search, and be there for accidental linking, but if all pages actually link to the more specific pages, that's a good thing.

So, in order to make the orphans list more useful by not cluttering it with intentional orphans, disambiguating pages are linked from here. If you create a disambiguating page, put a link to it here.

20000 Leagues Under the Seas

A: Aa - Abendana - Albert - Albert III - Alexander - Alexander I - Alexander II - Alexius - Allegany County - Alleghany County - Alphonso I - Alphonso II - Alphonso III - Alphonso IV - Alphonso V - Amalric - Amalthea - Amp - Apollo - Atlas