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Internal consistency v consistency across articles
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[I have restored this section just after it was archived; it includes argument that is relevant to the current RFC (see just below), which explicitly makes reference to it.–NoeticaTea?08:10, 16 September 2012 (UTC)[reply] Restored again, for the same reason.–NoeticaTea?08:22, 11 October 2012 (UTC)][reply]
Noetica removed these words [See correction below.–Noetica ☺] – "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" – from this lead sentence:
An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within a Wikipedia article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole.
As the lead already mentions internal consistency, this sentence is arguably repetitive without the juxtaposition. More importantly, we don't require consistency across articles, and it's important to stress that. The lead currently implies that we do, or at least does not make clear that we don't:
"The MoS presents Wikipedia's house style, to help editors produce articles with consistent, clear, and precise language, layout, and formatting."
Consistency in language, style, and formatting promotes clarity and cohesion; this is especially important within an article.
[Note: I have exhausted my reserves of time for dealing with this issue. I see that Slim did not make the factual correction I requested (see immediately above). For the RFC on this page (#RfC: Internal consistency versus consistency across articles), please refer to the detail in all of my submissions in this earlier section. I explain my temporary absence in that RFC. ☺NoeticaTea?03:43, 7 September 2012 (UTC)][reply]
Not needed. As these sentences in the lede show, consistency across articles is indeed important. Including your proposal is contradictory and will be a contention of confusion for editors.Curb Chain (talk) 05:10, 22 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are mistaken there. Articles do not have a single standard style. When there are two or more acceptable styles, an article can use either of them: English/British spelling, BC/BCE, date formatting, citation style, etc. (this has been said by arbcom, for example here or here) There is no requirement to make all those articles consistent with each other.
No Enric, Curb is not mistaken. As things stand, there is nothing in the Manual to support such a spree. If MOS supported campaigns to impose one style choice uniformly across Wikipedia, from among options, it would say so. It would not single out consistency within articles, as it does now. Indeed, it would not present options at all!
Consider three propositions:
P1: There is a hard requirement for consistency within articles, where MOS presents options.
P2: There is no hard requirement for consistency between articles, where MOS presents options.
P3: In groups of articles on similar topics, similar styling is better than an unprincipled or random selection of styles.
Who disagrees with any of those, and why? (Not a rhetorical question.)
We might regard P3 as a motive for our glittering array of subsidiary MOS pages, naming conventions, informal conventions out there in the projects, and so on. It starts as an unspoken presumption; and then, many specialists make it explicit for their own fields.
I think we should not send a message against efforts to unite groups of articles in that established way. I am yet to see an argument that such groups of articles (often cross-linked, often cited together) are improved by a perceived licence for each to take its own independent direction, subject only to the whim of editors narrowly focused on a single article rather than a thematically united group of articles.
I agree with Noetica's general principles here, but would formulate the propositions to take account of the following.
for P1 and P2, "where MOS presents options or is silent".
for P3 I think we should make it clear that consistency is expected for closely-related articles (and try to establish that if anyone is inclined to disagree).
Of course, how closely articles are related can be a matter for discussion. Authors should be relatively free to agree the appropriate scope for any consistency.
Apart from being general common sense, an appropriate degree of consistency both enhances the user experience and makes it easier for editors to make corresponding changes everywhere where they are needed.
Nobody should be able to say "MOS says that articles do not have to be consistent with each other" as a pro forma excuse to block changes among such closely-related articles. At the same time we should emphasise that editors should establish consensus before making extensive changes. --Mirokado (talk) 09:51, 22 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree. The MoS does not require articles, even articles in the same Wikiproject, to match each other, so it is perfectly okay to say so. "Let's make this article match a related one" is not, by itself, sufficient reason for a change in style. However, "I feel like it, I raised it on the talk page, and no one objected within a reasonable time frame," is sufficient reason. To use the language of the thread, we should not put P3 in the MoS. 1. We shouldn't add rules to the MoS unless there is a real reason to do so, like a) said rule is part of the English language or b) adding said rule would solve a non-hypothetical problem and 2. Enric Naval has provided evidence that attempts to enforce cross-article consistency have caused non-hypothetical problems on Wikipedia. Darkfrog24 (talk) 00:42, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
With what do you disagree exactly, Darkfrog? I don't read Mirokado as saying that any version of P3 should be actually included in MOS. P3 is just a proposition that we are invited to consider. On the other hand, if you disagree with P3 itself, will you please tell us why?
I would in effect reverse your judgement on the two reasons you mention, like this:
"Let's make this article match a related one" presents an excellent reason for a change in style.
"I feel like it, I raised it on the talk page, and no one objected within a reasonable time frame" is never a sufficient reason for making a change in the style of an article.
To use the reason that you favour (the second reason cited here) is contrary to current provisions in MOS, at MOS:RETAIN:
When an English variety's consistent usage has been established in an article, it is maintained in the absence of consensus to the contrary.
That wording makes good sense. Some talkpages are sparsely attended; but the article in question might have a style that fits well with related articles, for example. A positively expressed consensus should be required, to overturn such valuable consistency.
I disagree with Mirokado's statement, "Nobody should be able to say "MOS says that articles do not have to be consistent with each other" as a pro forma excuse to block changes among such closely-related articles." Yes, they should be able to state that the MoS does not require inter-article consistency and use that to block changes among closely related articles. People should need a reason to make such changes. That reason need not be big. It can be "I feel like it, I raised it on the talk page, and no one objected." However, "We have to make these articles match because they're closely related in subject!" is false. No we don't have to.
I do not believe that we should add P3 to the MoS for the reasons that I stated yesterday. 1) We shouldn't add more rules without a good, non-hypothetical reason. 2) We don't have a good reason to add this rule; E. Naval even showed that we have a good reason not to. If pushing cross-article consistency causes trouble, then we shouldn't require people to push it, even if some people would prefer articles to be written that way.
As for the "I feel like it, I raised it, no one objected" rationale, if only one person has an opinion on the matter, than that person's opinion is the consensus. In that situation, 100% of the people involved would agree. Darkfrog24 (talk) 18:04, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The MOS is also a guide and set of pages to indicate to readers/editors which style to use when there are differing styles. We don't make rules to limit peoples' choices for the sake of limiting peoples' choices; we make rules, and the MOS's purpose, to make it easier for viewers to read our articles so there is some sort of consistency and so that readers can expect a sort of userfriendlyness versus a chaotic page-after-page styled encyclopedia. There is a way to block changes where people quote WP:IAR but that requires the use of WP:COMMON.Curb Chain (talk) 19:54, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe that's how it should work, CC, but it's not how it does work. 1. We should assume that anything written down in the MoS will be cited as gospel on article talk pages. 2. Because Wikipedia is a crowdsourced encyclopedia, giving people their freedom wherever reasonably possible, as in such proven policies as ENGVAR, allows disparate editors to contribute. Some inconsistency is worth it if it means we don't grossly insult Brits or Canadians or non-native-English-speaking contributors. Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:48, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is about other things as well as WP:ENGVAR such as WP:CITE and WP:APPENDIX (and others such as date formats, table formats, quotation styles and any other style of format issue that an editor thinks should be "consistent"), so there is a need for the extra statement over and above the specific ENGVAR. -- PBS (talk)
I disagree with "In groups of articles on similar topics, similar styling is better than an unprincipled or random selection of styles." this has never been a requirement. The problem is what is a group? For example it could be argued that all articles about any subject within the countries of the EU should use British English/Irish English because the EU does. Or all articles on NATO (except those specifically about Britain and Canada) should use American English because the US is by far the largest contributor to NATO and therefore most articles about NATO are about American topics, and As NATO is deployed in Kosovo and Kosovo is not a member of th EU all articles about Kosova should be in American English. This type of argument has never been accepted.
One can see the fun one can have with arguments such as if its in a category its grouped in that category therefore it has to be consistent with all the other articles that appear in that category (An editor at the moment is using that as a justification for using his preferred spellings and ignoring usage in reliable sources). When an article appears in two categories then in which "group" does it belong?
This is why the MOS has only ever agreed that consistency should within an article, not across "groups" of articles.
I am with SV, EN and Darkfrog24 on this one. If as has been said "SlimVirgin restored some wording that had been long absent from MOS" then as it is a sentence that sums up a lot of Arbcom decisions, when was it deleted who deleted it and what was the justification given on this talk page for the deletion? -- PBS (talk) 10:15, 25 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's a task for the history search where I pick half way between the latest and earliest version and see if the sentence was present or not and continue this process until I find the version where it was taken out. It doesn't always work, because there could be reverts in between or it could have been added and removed multiple times, but usually it does work. What instances where there that people were changing spelling styles according to like articles and not according to reliable sources?Curb Chain (talk) 20:45, 25 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But you miss the point, PBS. Please read the exchanges above with more care. The core suggestion is not they we insert P3 in MOS: "In groups of articles on similar topics, similar styling is better than an unprincipled or random selection of styles." I must say, I would be amazed if anyone disagreed with it as a statement considered in isolation. Do you disagree with it? In other words, do you prefer "an unprincipled or random selection of styles" in a group of articles (however defined)? For example, would you prefer that within a group of obviously related literary articles, these two forms be randomly selected: Dickens' novels; Dickens's novels?
With respect, PBS: perhaps you have neatly demonstrated the kind of confusion MOS should avoid inadvertently promoting, in the matter of consistency. Do not conflate "this has never been a requirement" [in MOS] and "this is a bad thing". Those problems you discuss with defining "group" are not weighty. Any competing systematic groupings among articles can be resolved by the appropriate projects, and agreements can be reached. Only if we actively seek difficulties, or manufacture them, can we expect possessive apostrophes to emerge as a casus belli in thematic groups of articles. Editors will generally prefer a consistent look and feel – and take pride not just in a single article but in the appealingly uniform style that greets the reader who follows links to similar ones.
That said, I have always favoured more singularity and less optional variability in MOS guidelines. Apart from British versus American, en dash versus em dash, and some other inevitable diversity, most variability in fundamental style is avoidable and detrimental. The community really does appreciate a well-considered standard that will settle disputes at the 4,000,000 articles. Look, I always prefer the spaced en dash for sentence punctuation, and always will. But I cheerfully use the em dash instead: and that includes across related articles, not just within them. If I got militant about it and sought to promote en dash regardless of such broad coherence, I would be doing a disservice to the readers. Let's all avoid such militancy; and let's not carelessly promote it by including unnecessary text that people will misread, and will use to justify disruption. And the fewer kinds of variability we have at the most basic level of style, the fewer opportunities we give to militants.
How about this: "Making this a requirement would be a bad thing." And Wikipedia has a long history of "guidelines" and other unofficial rules being treated like requirements. No, there should be no requirement or any unofficial resolution or declaration that could later be mistaken for one.
The more freedom/variability we have, the better. That way we don't insult people by claiming that their way of doing things is inferior. This is a crowdsourced project. The rule requiring intra- but not inter-article consistency is a good way to strike a balance between neatness and diversity.
Noetica, you state that making this into a rule would settle disputes in many articles. Can you offer evidence, as EN has offered evidence to the contrary? Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:58, 26 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Darkfrog, I cannot follow some of those points. Making what a requirement "would be a bad thing"? What does that answer, precisely? My point was general; but you seem to have something specific in mind. I do understand this though: "The more freedom/variability we have, the better." I appreciate your being consistent on that point. Unfortunately, maximising variability is not the business of MOS. Quite the opposite. A core function of any manual of style is to restrain variability in a principled and measured way, which improves the reader's experience. And freedom? A robust, clear, and consensual MOS has freed editors from many a wilderness, such as these archived disputes over Mexican–American War, which were only settled by the sharpening of WP:DASH that we achieved here in 2011. Remember those disputes? Wade through all of that archive! Or search for this: "consistent with itself", especially at the exchange following Enric Naval's "Oppose". Read all of that exchange. You will find him insisting on the same line as he does here. I had hoped that the lessons of Mex~Am War were well learned; but no. In that exchange see reference to this provision at WP:TITLE (it stood then and it stands now):
* Consistency – Titles follow the same pattern as those of similar articles. Many of these patterns are documented in the naming guidelines listed in the Specific-topic naming conventions box above, and ideally indicate titles that are in accordance with the principles behind the above questions.
That's the last of five points so salient that they bear this link: WP:CRITERIA. Why should we weaken its force with the "not necessarily" wording at MOS? My example, to answer Enric's evidence: Mexican–American War.
WP:TITLE and MOS have to be in harmony. This is achieved by WT:TITLE settling the choice of title (the wording, as the title would be spoken); and then almost all of the styling is delegated to MOS. As with any publisher. No other arrangement works. If the title were styled without consideration of MOS, we could not even achieve consistency within an article. The title would drift with the inconsistent and untrackable usage of "sources", but the text would follow recommendations at MOS. Or what?
As I've said earlier in this discussion, I mean that making P3 into a requirement or having some sort of resolution stating "It is better for closely related articles to use the same styles" would be a bad thing.
Wikipedia is not a publisher the way other entities are. There's no chain of command. There's no understanding that things are one entity's opinion. The current rule requiring intra- but not inter-article consistency strikes a good balance between the benefits that you cite above and the insult that we would be doing our editors by requiring them to kowtow to other people's whims for no practical reason.
And in case this wasn't clear, let me explicitly state that I don't think that cross-article consistency should be banned, only that it should not be required. If someone writing an article wants to use the same style as any other article in Wikipedia, then he or she should go right ahead. If someone proposes this or any style change on a talk page and a consensus forms that the change would be beneficial, then they should have that option. However, what people should not be able to do is say "We must make these articles match each other because the MoS requires it of us." Darkfrog24 (talk) 00:18, 27 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is very like a publisher in the relevant respects: it assembles and edits material, and disseminates it in text and related forms to the public. Very early in its history, people decided that it needed a manual of style, in the manner of a publisher. MOS has existed continuously since then. Its role has been tested and certified again and again, as for example in this ArbCom finding of fact:
The English Wikipedia Manual of Style has been built from a number of pre-existing Manuals from numerous fields. The best practices from these have been combined to create a single, unique MOS that applies to articles on the English Wikipedia.(from Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Article titles and capitalisation)
I have repeatedly challenged people here to find a manual of style for collaborative web writing, editing, and publication that is more thoroughly considered, or more comprehensive, or more detailed than Wikipedia's MOS. Like it or not, WP:MOS and its subpages are in their own right a major style guide of our time.
If you object to that, or want to alter the role of MOS, make a proposal to do so. Good luck!
You speak of "kowtowing". No one is asked to do that. MOS is as consensual as we can make it, and a good deal more consensual than WP:TITLE (look at the troubles there at the moment, and over the last ten months), and even than WP:CONSENSUS itself (currently a hotbed of troubles, and recently placed under a month-long protection). If you object to following consensual guidelines, with the occasional application of WP:IAR where they fail to cover a particular set of circumstances, then make a case against guidelines at the village pump. Not here! Here we continue orderly development of a premier style guide for a very special purpose, unprecedented in history.
Finally, you write: "... what people should not be able to do is say 'We must make these articles match each other because the MoS requires it of us.' " That's right; and MOS does not require that. It is policy at WP:TITLE that comes closest to requiring that. Nor should MOS provide an argument for those who would twist its words in support of inconsistency between thematically related articles.
The current discussion is about which rules Wikipedia MoS should endorse. Wikipedia's difference from other entities that disseminate information—its crowdsourced nature—is relevant. People aren't getting paid. People are for the most part nonprofessionals and volunteers. "Do it because I'm the boss and I think A looks better than B" doesn't hold much water here. We have to treat people with respect, and that means not making them adhere to our whims. If we endorse something as a rule, and people are punished for not following it, that is "requiring people to kowtow," as I put it.
For the most part, the rules that are in the MoS weren't made up from scratch here. They were sourced from other, professionally compiled style guides. The majority of those style guides say "using a lowercase s in 'summer' is right and using a capital S is wrong." There's a difference between copying what can be said to be a rule of the English language and making stuff up on our own just to shove down other people's throats.
Darkfrog, of course I don't know of any such cases. No one is claiming that there are any, right?
Wikipedia is not simple anarchistic "crowd-sourcing"; it has policies and guidelines to ensure that a high-quality encyclopedia results. So what, if people are not paid? People have always engaged in voluntary work and subjected themselves to local restrictions and rules – for a better outcome. As I have said many times, the work of this talkpage is to make the best set of guidelines to help Wikipedia be the best possible encyclopedia. If that work is done well, MOS will earn respect. The community will decide on the value and status of MOS within the project that it serves. We cannot decide that here. But ArbCom has decided; and the quiet majority of editors seems to appreciate the consensually derived recommendations and standards that MOS encodes. When they are asked, which is rare enough. No one is "making them adhere to our whims". No one here compels anyone to do anything, in editing articles; and anyway, the guidelines should certainly not be "whims". If any one of them is, let it be challenged. I have challenged in that way from time to time, and I will again. WP:MOS itself ("MOS central") is in pretty good consensual shape, but there are problems at several other MOS pages.
You said, "Nor should MOS provide an argument for those who would twist its words in support of inconsistency between thematically related articles." This caused me to wonder if perhaps you had seen a discussion in which someone thought that the MoS required different styles, "word twisting," as you put it.
By "people are not paid," I mean that at a regular publishing company, it is okay for one or a few people to hand down arbitrary decisions that could just as easily go the other way. This is because 1. the lower-ranking people are paid to put up with it and 2. the lower-ranking people can assume (sometimes with a great deal of benefit of the doubt) that higher rank was bestowed based on merit or seniority or something else that makes their supervisors worth heeding. Because Wikipedia doesn't have any of that, we should be extra careful that there is a good reason for every rule that we ram down people's gullets. "Y looks neater to me" invites the response, "Well X looks better to me." This is why I think we should be very cautious about adding new rules to the MoS. There are too many whims in it already. Maybe there shouldn't be whims in the MoS, but there are.Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:20, 28 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Read more carefully the answers you have already been given, Darkfrog. I have responded patiently and at length; and at considerable cost in time and patience. No one here is making "rules that we ram down people's gullets"; MOS has guideline status, and is consensually developed. As I have said (see above):
"No one here compels anyone to do anything, in editing articles; and anyway, the guidelines should certainly not be 'whims'. If any one of them is, let it be challenged. I have challenged in that way from time to time, and I will again."
What exactly is it that you want me to discern from your previous posts, Noetica? My last post, the one to which you're responding, consists entirely of my clarifying things that I had said to you. Did you mean to respond to my question about the M-A war article?
By "compelled" and "ram down people's gullets" I refer to anything that people can be punished or censured for disobeying, as in AN/I. The MoS may be only a guideline in theory, but in practice, it's a set of hard rules. That means that we should treat any new additions to the MoS as if they will be cited as gospel on talk pages.
By "whim," I mean any rule that offers no real benefit to Wikipedia. WP:LQ, for example, has been challenged repeatedly and it's still there, even though it directly contradicts the preponderance of reputable sources and discussions have failed to show that the ban of American punctuation gives Wikipedia any benefit. It is a lot easier to keep whims out of the MoS in the first place than to get them removed once they're there.
Bringing this back to the issue at hand, this is why I don't think that the MoS should endorse P3 either officially or unofficially unless someone can offer evidence that doing so would solve a problem that has actually happened. We'd be forcing people to follow rules that we made up solely because we felt like it, and that's a slap in the face. Darkfrog24 (talk) 05:33, 28 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There has never been style consistency across articles on WP, and the MoS makes that clear at various points (e.g. ENGVAR), as do other guidelines (e.g. CITEVAR). So the issue here is only that the lead should properly reflect that. I'd therefore like to go ahead and restore the words in question, because they do make the lead clearer on that point. SlimVirgin(talk)16:17, 27 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Of course there has been "style consistency across articles on WP"! How could that be a bad thing? MOS assists that; and so do WP:TITLE, the many naming conventions, and other "regularising" instruments across wikispace. But MOS is already very clear: in some areas there are choices. Where that applies, stick to one option within an article, and don't switch to another option without good reason and consensual discussion. No more needs to be said; stressing a lack of consistency between articles only encourages a lack of consistency between thematically related articles, through misreading for "political" purposes. I have given a potent example of such politics: Mexican–American War.
There has never been consensus to introduce style consistency across articles; on the contrary, there has always been opposition to it. I don't know what you mean by thematically related articles, or "political" purposes, and the example hasn't enlightened me, sorry. SlimVirgin(talk)22:35, 27 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sure there has been such a consensus! Style consistency across articles is what MOS is all about. But there has never been a requirement in MOS to implement a particular style option uniformly across articles, where MOS provides for such options. I for one am not proposing any such requirement. Let's be strictly accurate, otherwise we will be misread. It's bad enough when we do express ourselves with precision, apparently. ☺
As for Mexican–American War, it is an infamous example of a battleground. Disregard for reader-friendly consistency of style where MOS did not provide for such options; and it caused protracted conflict. I gave the example at least to show how hotly disputed the matter of conformity to MOS has been, generally. But more specifically, MOS was cited inaccurately: against any consideration of titles that in the relevant respect were precisely the same (based on the pattern "X–Y War", using an en dash). Cited, in fact, against the policy provision at WP:TITLE that I have quoted above (from WP:CRITERIA).
I finally had time to click your link and it's just the article on the Mexican-American War. How exactly does this serve as evidence that having some sort of resolution in favor of cross-article consistency on closely related topics would prevent problems on Wikipedia? I'm not being sarcastic; I'd like to know.
The link for you to click is clearly marked as "archived disputes" (see above). I then wrote (see above): "Remember those disputes? Wade through all of that archive!" You contributed there, Darkfrog. Read how you made points that are almost identical to those you make now, and read how I referred you to policy at WP:TITLE, then too. Try again.
I mean the link you posted a few days ago, the one that just leads to the war article. (Checks) And today's link just leads to the article too. Yes, there was a big fight about whether M-A War should be hyphenated/dashed the same way in every article, but I am asking you what you think. Wading through the archive would at best facilitate a guess at what your reasoning is. What I want to know is what part of which M-A war dispute you feel is a specific problem that would be solved if the MoS were to endorse P3.Darkfrog24 (talk) 05:38, 28 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry Darkfrog: I have no time to limn yet again the stance that I have already made quite clear. Just note my response to your last sentence: I have linked you the general archived mess at Talk:Mexican–American War; and I have drawn attention to your own points there, and Enric Naval's. Let us ask: How much progress has been made? Who has worked for that progress, and who has worked against it? Finally (as I hope!), I stress once again: I am not proposing P3 or anything like it as an addition to WP:MOS. NoeticaTea?00:29, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There seems to be agreement to restore "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." Enric Naval, Darkfrog, PBS and I are in favour; Noetica and Curb Chain are opposed; Mirokado wants consistency between closely related articles, but not necessarily across WP. I think the more people we ask, the greater the consensus will be against requiring cross-WP consistency, so I'll go ahead and restore those words. I think the lead could use some general tweaking too, but I'll address that separately. SlimVirgin(talk)16:13, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to add that this is not a discussion about whether we should change the policy. The policy is that cross-article consistency is permitted but not required. The issue is whether the MoS should have the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" in it. Darkfrog24 (talk) 21:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Break
The problem is that the second and third paragraphs contradict each other. The second says we have a house style; the third says we do not. Both have redirects (WP:CLARITY redirects to the second, and WP:Stability and WP:STYLEVAR to the third), so anyone reading those in isolation would be misled.
Second paragraph: "The MoS presents Wikipedia's house style, to help editors produce articles with consistent, clear and precise language, layout, and formatting. The goal is to make the encyclopedia easier and more intuitive to use. Consistency in language, style, and formatting promotes clarity and cohesion; this is especially important within an article. Writing should be clear and concise. Plain English works best: avoid ambiguity, jargon, and vague or unnecessarily complex wording."
Third paragraph: "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole. Where more than one style is acceptable, editors should not change an article from one of those styles to another without a substantial reason. Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable. (These matters have been addressed in rulings of the Arbitration Committee: see Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Jguk#Optional styles and Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Sortan#Preferred styles.) If discussion cannot determine which style to use in an article, defer to the style used by the first major contributor."
I see the third paragraph as a clarification of the second. It does not contradict anything in the second. The second says, "Consistency is good." The third says, "By that we mean intra-article consistency." Darkfrog24 (talk) 21:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The second paragraph says there is a house style, but the third paragraph says there isn't, so there's a contradiction right there. It matters less if the two paragraphs are read together, but the separate anchors mean they might not be. The question is: to what extent does Wikipedia have a house style, or to what extent does it allow contributors to choose a style so long as there is internal consistency? SlimVirgin(talk)00:48, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Never mind, Curb. SlimVirgin acted completely in good faith. I only objected because the way she did it left things unclear. I think it would often be fine to restore something had very recently been archived, and to put a clear explanation at the top. I do think that one is generally then expected to join in the discussion that one has wanted restored. I don't see that happening. ☺ NoeticaTea?20:03, 25 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think Curb's point is that, when you removed the discussion from this page, you removed six new posts that had not been archived. So they disappeared. But they're now in the archive along with the others. SlimVirgin(talk)16:29, 27 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
O yes, of course. Well, that's what can happen when material is retrieved from the archives without clear signalling. I have checked, and it turns out that anyone who made a post in that discussion has joined the new discussion, and can see what has happened. If anyone had been left out, I would have notified them now. Turns out not to be needed.
Reversion of non-consensual edits concerning inter-article consistency
I have reverted (see diff) two edits by SlimVirgin. The change in question clearly has no consensus. Editing and discussion for this page are subject to ArbCom discretionary sanctions (see the note at the top of this talkpage); so a high standard of conduct and respect for due process applies. Please discuss more, and if necessary initiate a neutral RFC. If any RFC is not set up in neutral terms, according to the provisions of WP:RFC, I will call for its immediate closure and refer the matter to WP:AE. Please note especially: This is not intended as inimical to any good-faith development of the page; but experience has shown how these things can escalate, and how they can wear away people's time and patience. ♥ NoeticaTea?00:18, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When changing subtle things, it's a lot easier on the rest of us if you use "Show changes" a bit, and try to minimize the distracting diff variants. I had to compare sentence-by-sentence, just to figure out that the only thing you changed in that edit was a single sentence, and a number of linebreaks.
This is why plain-reverting is bloody annoying. (The same thing is happening elsewhere at the moment). If you have a partial dispute with an edit, then just revert the part you disagree with (or even better, offer an alternative/compromise edit), not the entire damned thing.
The words in question were in the MoS for quite some time, and were removed without discussion. I have restored them because this is an important issue, and one that has caused quite a bit of grief on WP. If you want to remove them, please gain consensus here, or open an RfC to attract more eyes.
I didn't restore your other reverts, but I can't see the point of having six short paragraphs in the lead, so I'd be grateful if you would let them be condensed. SlimVirgin(talk)00:43, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As Noetica continues to object, I've opened an RfC below. Apologies if it ends up being largely repetitive, but it might attract fresh eyes and we can request a formal closure to avoid arguments. SlimVirgin(talk)01:17, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I reverted Noetica there in a moment of irritation, but I shouldn't have, so I'm going to revert myself and abide by whatever the RfC decides. SlimVirgin(talk)
Comment: It's obvious to anyone who thinks about it for a few seconds that this entire "intra- vs. inter-article consistency" thing is a false dichotomy. There is absolutely no conflict between the two ideas, except that which is purposefully manufactured by people who refuse to write in a way that is consistent between articles, just to satisfy their own personal stylistic preferences at everyone else's expense. The "versus" that is latent in this discussion is entirely artificial. It's what the British call a load of bollocks, and Americans refer to as total bullshit. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.23:38, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
RfC: Internal consistency versus consistency across articles
This RfC was about the sentence "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." In particular, whether the phrase "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" should be included or not. There were two reasons to remove the phrase: that it is superfluous and that Wikipedia should be striving to be consistent across all articles. These are two very different viewpoints that are arguing for the same change in the guidelines, but the net effect of the change would be that it would increase arguing over what was meant in the MOS. Those who wish to retain the phrase (or oppose removal) basically are arguing that consistency across Wikipedia articles is not, nor has ever been, required, and even if it is superfluous it should be reiterated in this sentence. The consensus of the discussion was to oppose the removal of the phrase. -Nathan Johnson (talk) 11:52 am, 4 October 2012, Thursday (9 days ago) (UTC−4)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Extended content
[Here I have reverted the irregular closure of part of the material that constitutes the RFC (simply by removing the template markers that added the heading "The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it."). That closure was executed by SlimVirgin, the RFC's proposer. Please wait for an admin to sort out this unholy mess, rather than adding even more irregularities to an RFC that was mismanaged from the start. ☺ NoeticaTea?22:18, 8 October 2012 (UTC)][reply]
The RfC was opened on 1 September. It asked whether the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" should be removed from the lead sentence: "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole."
The RfC was closed on 4 October by an uninvolved editor, Nathan Johnson, following a request at AN/RFC. He concluded: "The consensus of the discussion was to oppose the removal of the phrase." Noetica reverted his closure twice, [2][3] asking that it be closed by an admin. I am therefore going to ask an uninvolved admin to endorse or overturn the closure. SlimVirgin(talk)16:21, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
RfC
This sentence had been in the MoS for some time: "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." The whole sentence was removed 12 months ago, [4] then restored, [5] then it was changed so that it read: "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article." [6][7]
[Correction by Noetica: The sentence in question had been absent from MOS for over 12 months, till Slim Virgin reinstated it a few days ago. It was then removed by an editor, and then restored in part by Noetica.]
Extended content
Replies
[no threaded discussion here, please]
Oppose removal. There has always been an understanding that internal consistency is required when it comes to style issues, but not consistency across articles. There are formatting issues that are applied across the board (the general layout, for example). But when it comes to language variations, punctuation, and a host of other issues, we allow the editors on the page to decide, sometimes governed by personal preference, sometimes by whether a particular English-language variant ought to be dominant. The words "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" signal that cross-article consistency is sometimes expected, but not always, and I feel it's important to retain that point. SlimVirgin(talk)01:14, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am opposing the removal because style consistency across articles has always been discouraged since the "date delinking" edit wars years ago. It's clear and concise. The removal leaves room for other interpretations. --Enric Naval (talk) 14:12, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal. per SlimVirgin and Enric. (Maybe we can get "Description not prescription" added back to wherever it was, too, eventually...) Time is not especially relevant, the detail/context that the sentence contains, is. -- Quiddity (talk) 19:40, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal. I think it's important to include a phrase that underscores the point that we have options for styles. Otherwise MOS would require, say, American English and SI units and common date formats across all articles. The MOS is not a prescription to be applied slavishly to all articles. A short phrase serves as a useful reminder of that fact, and its removal, as Enric Naval pointed out, leaves room for other interpretations, contributing to wasted time in needless debates about inter-article consistency. ~Amatulić (talk) 04:00, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal. The sentiment expressed by the phrase in question is essential to preventing disputes over English spelling style, comma style, referencing style, etc. "The wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from." <grin> We should emphasize that we are not here to make everybody toe the same line. If somebody's formatting can be traced to a practice that is accepted in a particular venue, then that formatting should be allowed. Binksternet (talk) 04:35, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal. It must be understood that an absolute consistency across articles is not possible with the diverse population we have and hope to have. This lack of rigid consistency must be explicitly permitted, along with the wish expressed that styles be referenced and adhered to when possible. But when the permissiveness disappears silentlyquietly without much notice to the common editor, the appearances are chilling.
Which brings up two issues on my own mind. Noetica, do you really think that 12 months is a long time, for pages which nominally are to be used to guide the entire 'pedia? You've been here since 2005, seven years. The lapse of one year before even active editors discover a misjudged edit is not unreasonable. It would seem from your strong surprise that a year could possibly be called 'recent' that you must be far too familiar with these environs to tell on that particular.
These pages are not welcoming, quite dense, often confounding, and I am not surprised that editors would not often make themselves available to review proposed changes. Saying that "see talk" is sufficient for changes to MOS would seem to me to be entirely insufficient for the average non-MOS-wonk editor.
Removing the explicit allowance for editors to not be required to conform to the tittle of MOS, through a change by the MOS-most editors, is troubling on multiple levels. Shenme (talk) 06:27, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support the removal of text that was done twelve months ago. The stress on intra-article consistency is fine, of course. So is motherhood. But why labour to include what many editors have unfortunately misread as a licence for chaos? Groups of articles on similar themes benefit enormously from similar styling (where MOS allows for a choice). Why bend over backwards against such efforts? They are clearly in readers' interests. MOS was, till a few days ago, silent on such laudable efforts. What benefit is there in it making a statement that is bound to be misused by those who favour complete independence of styling, at each of 4,000,000 articles? No one is suggesting that a contrary statement be made; just that it is not the business of MOS inadvertently to counter worthwhile efforts to improve the readability of closely associated articles.
[NOTE: As I explain below in "Threaded discussion", I am tied up with matters in real life. I have said all I need to say for this RFC, in the discussion earlier on this page: #Internal consistency v consistency across articles. The question facing us is important, and I advise people not to conflate consistency of style for Wikipedia in general (the very essence of MOS) and consistency of style where choices are allowed in MOS (and there are very few such choices, at least in WP:MOS itself). Misreadings we observe in this RFC illustrate the very problem that such carelessly added wording introduces: people do not read accurately, nor discriminate as we expect they will. ♥ NoeticaTea?03:52, 7 September 2012 (UTC)][reply]
Oppose removal by which I really mean "support re-insertion." Wikipedia is not like other encyclopedias. It requires on the unpaid service of editors from many disparate backgrounds and it has no chain of command. There's no one who can legitimately say, "Do it this way because I'm the boss and I've earned my authority." Inter- but not intra-article consistency strikes a balance between neatness and the diversity of opinion among our editors. If it is "bound to be misused," then show at least one case in which that has happened. Has an editor ever claimed "We are not allowed to make these articles match each other; the MoS says so"? Darkfrog24 (talk) 13:31, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think the sentence should be re-inserted. It's good for readers of the MOS to see a reminder that it is meant to include only a minimal amount of standardization, and that there are many reasons why different articles will have different styles. Where some see chaos in numerous styles, I see a field of wildflowers. — Carl (CBM · talk) 21:25, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. In my opinion, style and formatting inconsistencies across articles within English Wikipedia should be viewed as unavoidable exceptions to a general ambition that Wikipedia should be as consistent as possible throughout. Inconsistency should not be tacitly encouraged or presented as part of a "principle". 86.160.221.242 (talk) 16:40, 3 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support re-removal per Noetica, and per the fact that the removal has been stable for a long time, and the fact that we do not need to repeat everything ever said in every guideline and policy on the system. It's already implicit in MoS's mandate as a guideline that it operates in juxtaposition and compromise with other forms of guidance here. Reiterating that a guideline can have exceptions, or that any particular guideline is not an ironclad policy, is not what we do here. Also, it really has been misinterpreted as a license for chaos. It was removed for a reason.
Furthermore, there's an underlying assumption (one that is often advanced by the sort of editorial misprioritization addressed by WP:SSF, and WP:NOTHERE before it) that inter-article consistency is not desirable, and is immediately trumped by narrow, even personal preferences. Yet, obviously it is desirable to the extent that it can happen without raising intractable problems (like those addressed by WP:ENGVAR). If it were not desirable MOS would be very short, as the bulk of it and its subpages is style advice for dealing with English-language prose across all articles here. Material is not being broken out of MoS into small, topic-specific WikiProject "guidelines"; rather, the exact opposite is happening: Good advice from projects is making its way steadily into MoS so that it is applied consistently in articles on other topics. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.08:24, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support re-removal When one says 'consistent within an article' and is mute on what happens outside, lack of consistency between articles is unambiguous as implied in the guideline. There is no ambiguity in its absence, and I find the deleted half superfluous and repetitive. --Ohconfucius¡digame!08:49, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal. The main purpose of the MoS , like other guidelines, is to achieve a level of consistency above the level of the individual article. Even in the case of the exceptions which prove the rule, like WP:ENGVAR we strive for consistency with things like WP:COMMONALITY. It is not required, but within the context of the Manual of Style we should not stress that it is unnecessary, thus giving the impression that it not desired. I think we achieve a reasonable balance by not mentioning it at all in this sentence.--Boson (talk) 09:04, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Remove to reduce chaos – "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" sounds like the opposite of what MOS is about, which is to encourage some consistency of style across WP. Dicklyon (talk) 05:02, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal.—It's unnecessary to confuse editors on this point, when the whole of MoS concerns stylistic consistency on en.WP. The absence of this text in no way suggests that articles have to be consistent with each other where a choice is allowed (engvar, em vs en dashes as interruptors, etc). Tony(talk) 06:57, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal (of "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole.") This is another case where discussion of wording changes gets confused with discussion of policy changes. "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article" of itself implies that between articles consistency of such choices is not of "overriding" importance, so if we were only discussing wording, I don't see the need for "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." That there is no overriding requirement for consistency throughout Wikipedia as a whole is clear from many other places (ENGVAR, choice of citation styles, etc.). If on the other hand those who don't want to include "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" seek thereby to change policy (as some comments above imply), so that consistency between articles becomes an "overriding principle", then these words should certainly be present, otherwise the implication is that consistency overrides ENGVAR, etc. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:23, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Retain/oppose removal' - The key words being "not necessarily". On those formatting issues about which broad community-wide discussion arrives at a consensus, consistency can and should be enforced, but about those the community maintains a more laissez-faire attitude, editors should have the leeway to improve articles as they see fit, given the specific needs of the specific article, without having to answer to those who try to enforce a non-existing consensus. The very most important thing, which it is best that we put our energies to, is to give our readers good, accurate information, well presented, rather than that every article have every tiny formatting aspect be exactly the same. Such "fooliosh consistency" is, in Emerson's words "the hobgoblin of little minds", in Shaw's words "the enemy of enterprise", and in Wilde's words "the last refuge of the unimaginative." Surely our editors are just the opposite: enterprising, imaginative and open to the world. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:37, 6 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose Though they certainly are superfluous these few words can serve as a reminder to people of how we do things here. It would be much easier to point a misguided editor to this phrase than to the absence of words to the contrary. There may not be a lot of benefit but the cost is nanofarthings. JIMptalk·cont09:25, 6 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal. Of course the Manual of Style applies to the whole of Wikipedia. That's what it's for. Are we now to have local consensus for commas? Em-dash wars breaking out in Birds? Apostrophe wars in Composers? WP:BEANSNeotarf (talk) 06:49, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal. The extra words seem to be encouraging inconsistency far too strongly. , indeed one responder says "consistency across articles has always been discouraged" which seems a good example of a rule which should always be ignored: should I look for ways of making every article I edit inconsistent with every other article? The wording chosen should not give anybody an excuse to be uncooperative, whether they wish to apply something too widely or ignore interrelationships between articles. Although readers must accept that Wikipedia's articles follow no single strict house style, they are not well served if, for example, individual articles covering the six books of a series have corresponding content distributed differently across sections, perhaps in a different order or with different names. The work of adding related information to several such articles could be doubled or trebled depending on how they were inconsistent and such barriers to editing cannot contribute to content improvement. Not even in a single article do we revert constructive additions merely because a wrong sort of dash has been used, so I do not see consistency within an appropriate scope, maintained tactfully, as stifling new content. Neither would any expectation of consistency remove the necessity for having consensus to maintain it: I would expect the ease of finding consensus to correspond to the closeness of the relationship in a self-limiting way. --Mirokado (talk) 14:00, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal. It is kind of silly for a project that uses four different flavours of English and can't decide what it thinks about the usage of diacritics to try and pretend that internal consistency is really all that important. When you get right down to it, Wikipedia is the informational equivalent of a quilt. It is a patchwork design that comes together into a single pattern despite the differences found on each tile. I see no reason to replace that with a unitarian attitude. Resolute01:18, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Meh. Should talking about the other part; there is far too much different-as-hell but internally-consistent going on. Consistency across the project is needful, with any variations being on a level vastly larger than individual articles. And no, don't talk to me about WikiProjects taking any lead, here. Br'er Rabbit (talk) 04:32, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal and reinstate the words per Slim, Resolute and Peter Coxhead. It's how we do things, and policies and guidance describe how we do things. HidingT11:00, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal Editors should be allowed to edit, to create articles. No one wants to see WP become an homogeneous blob. Part of its charm is that the best articles do bear the stamp of their creator. The phrase should be retained. It's not tautological. It makes explicit an import aspect of WP's ethos. 87.112.91.134 (talk) 14:39, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Meh, seems to make little difference either way. I would prefer to argue over something juicier like diacritics or nested quotation marks ;) Kaldari (talk) 04:43, 15 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal, per Special:Contributions/86.160.221.242: In my opinion, style and formatting inconsistencies across articles within English Wikipedia should be viewed as unavoidable exceptions to a general ambition that Wikipedia should be as consistent as possible throughout. Inconsistency should not be tacitly encouraged or presented as part of a "principle". -- Strongest point made in this discussion, bar none. We strive to present a consistent and consistently formatted encyclopedia to the public. A reminder to watch consistency first on the level of the individual article is perfectly fine, but the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" explicitly defy the purpose of having a Manual of Style in the first place. --87.79.226.106 (talk) 00:32, 17 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Support removal. Overall consistency in formatting and style across the entire English Wikipedia is an important goal also. Certainly exceptions can exist, but that language implies that broader consistency is of little importance. Rreagan007 (talk) 17:41, 17 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal/support replacing that phrase, unless I'm the person who gets to decide what that applies-to-all-articles style is going to be. We need more live and let live where style is concerned, and less time wasted in discussions about whose style of spelling, citing, image formatting, etc. is the one true way. WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:27, 17 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose removal (support re-insertion as case may be) per ENGVAR, CITEVAR, Date delinking case etc., and to douse the idiotic edit warring by those seeking to enforce style consistency over content judgment. That pigheaded editing is a far bigger problem for the project than minor style differences here or there. Life is inconsistent, the world is inconsistent, Wikipedia reflects that. Accept it and go do something useful. 67.117.130.72 (talk) 13:20, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Threaded discussion
Some questions
Question - How does this apply to an issue like "The" v. "the Beatles"? Could/should we have our article about the Beatles use "The" while those about John, Paul, George and Ringo use "the"? ~ GabeMc(talk|contribs)03:56, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In my opinion, no. Wikipedia should have a global view on that (unless the different camps become so entrenched and intractable that people just give up trying). 86.128.4.124 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 11:36, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And if that happens, go with MoS's default position, which is inter- as well as intra-article consistency. Those who would make weird exceptions have the burden on them to demonstrate a need for it. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.23:19, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Come on guys, don't descend into slipshod language again and again. See my admonishments to distinguish what are quite distinct issues, above. Sheesh! If we at this talkpage don't read with care, how do we expect readers of MOS to get the message? That is the core problem in this discussion.
SMcCandlish refers to "MoS's default position, which is inter- as well as intra-article consistency". Of course. That's the purpose of a manual of style!
If anyone (Enric Naval? Darkfrog?) thinks Wikipedia should not have a genuine, effective MOS, let them go to the village pump and argue their case. Or mount a self-contained RFC. Here, however, the business is to develop a manual of style that functions as one. It now qualifies as a major manual of style in its own right, and there is nothing remotely approaching it on the web – or for the web – in quality and coverage. You doubt that? Show us a better one! If anyone thinks MOS includes whims or foibles, let them argue here for particular improvements. That's the core purpose here.
So finally, for now: Do not spread confusion. Do not conflate these two issues:
Consistency of style generally (the purpose of MOS)
Consistent application of styles where MOS provides for a choice (a much smaller concern, the details of which are the present topic; it can only apply to groups of related articles, otherwise MOS would not provide for choices at all)
It is grossly irresponsible to hijack an RFC concerned with 2 to further one's agenda with 1.
Take your own advice, Noetica. No one said that Wikipedia should not have an effective MoS. The MoS does (or used to and should again) state that intra-article consistency is its purpose. It does not state that inter-article consistency is. One can imagine a default position, but no true one is given. Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Obdurate obfuscation. I have no time for this, as I have said. You write: "It does not state that inter-article consistency is [its purpose]." What? Inter-article consistency is the blindingly obvious plain supposition behind every manual of style. You wonder why I go on at length, repeating what I have already plainly stated in a few words? Think afresh; actually read what I write, and you might get it. You utterly, repeatedly, and apparently wilfully fail to see the crucial distinction that I have marked out several times already. Do better.
In other words, you looked at what the MoS said, and you drew your own inference about what it meant. Don't complain when other people do the same thing. I might read Hamlet and think that it's "blindingly obvious" that Hamlet's insane, but someone else might think that he's faking. I'm not "willfully failing" to listen to you. I just don't agree with you.
What we know for certain is that the MoS does explicitly state that intra-article consistency is a goal and does not explicitly state that inter-article consistency is. Darkfrog24 (talk) 18:41, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
A recklessly inept response, and unworthy. To mimic your analogy, missing the fact that MOS is about general consistency between all articles would be like reading Hamlet and missing the fact that it is a play. Hamlet is very evidently a play, even though there is no declaration like "this is a play, and is to be acted by actors in front of an audience". Its proper title: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. You have to know: in those days especially, a tragedy is a play. It has a list of dramatis personae, it is divided into acts and scenes, it is set up in standard dialogue format, and has stage directions. Now, the proper title for MOS: Wikipedia:Manual of Style. Kind of gives the game away, doesn't it? And what is a manual of style, that applies to 6,905,713 articles? It is necessarily a guide to elements of consistency, for and across all those articles. You continue to confuse the issue. Yes, MOS provides for some variation. But yes, MOS rightly stresses especially consistency within any given article. What is here under dispute, though you steadily refuse to acknowledge it, is the extent to which those few variable elements might vary across related articles. The issue could not rationally be anything else. You just don't read that; it seems to suit your agenda (and Enric Naval's, and sockpuppeting campaigner PMAnderson's) to insist instead on making MOS ineffectual. You would prefer that it have less influence, and that it not work toward general uniformity of style, across four million articles. But that is not what this RFC is about. Nor is it what the contested wording is about. Stop pretending that it is. Yet again: people will misread the wording that SlimVirgin inserted in MOS, which she now wants restored. You misread that wording, and you are a regular here. So it is even more likely that those less familiar with MOS will misread it. Where has this been a problem, you ask? I have answered: the best example I know is the life-wasting wrangling over Mexican–American War, in which you, Enric Naval, and PMAnderson pushed the same anti-MOS agenda, with the same perverse appeal to Slim's ill-advised and misleading words in MOS. Get it.
What this means, Noetica, is that you and I looked at the same document and came to different conclusions about it. That does not make me unworthy in any way or designate you as fit to give anyone orders. You have an agenda yourself: You don't want people to be allowed to do things in ways that you don't like, regardless of whether they can be proven to be correct or incorrect English.
Just because I don't think that pushing inter-article consistency or whims like WP:LQ is a good idea doesn't mean I don't want the MoS to be followed. Removing stupid and arbitrary rules from the MoS makes people less likely to disregard the sensible ones.
This conversation is in response to SmC's assertion that inter-article consistency is the MoS's default setting. I responded "The MoS does not have a default setting for inter-article consistency." The RfC is about whether the MoS should have a statement stating that its purpose is interra-article consistency, so that comment is relevant.
So, because I disagree with you, I must have misread the wording? Actually, my understanding is that you think that the fact that the MoS exists is proof that it must exist for the purpose of inter-article consistency, and that is what I don't accept.
Your comments seem to have a recurring theme of "The fact that you disagree with me is proof that you don't understand the issue." That's not a very logical argument. Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:59, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Palpable misrepresentations, Darkfrog.
I did not say you were unworthy. I said: "A recklessly inept response, and unworthy." It was unworthy of you, as a committed contributor at this talkpage.
You have no ground for the claim that I "don't want people to be allowed to do things in ways that [I] don't like". That is an irresponsible accusation. I am not forcing anyone to do anything; nor is MOS. MOS includes many provisions that I think are absurd; but I choose to respect MOS, and I hope other editors will do the same (as WP:POLICY says they should).
What you prejudicially characterise as "pushing inter-article consistency" is the very purpose of MOS. Again and again you fail to make the elementary distinction that I have again and again invited you to grasp.
WP:LQ is not "a whim". If it were, it could easily be exposed as one; and it could be removed. Your failure to achieve that removal does not prove that it is a whim. Quite the contrary.
You write: "The RfC is about whether the MoS should have a statement stating that its purpose is inter-article consistency, ...". Inaccurate to the point of being straight-out false.
You write: "Removing stupid and arbitrary rules from the MoS makes people less likely to disregard the sensible ones." So what? I want to remove those also! We all want to. Keep working on it, by all means. But don't weaken the standing of MOS in the meantime.
Your "understanding" shows that you do indeed miss the points that I have made. Because of your missing them, I repeat them; and still you miss them. If you have an alternative account of what a manual of style is, please share it. I have spelt out my account (which is the almost universal account, note). Let's see yours.
You wrongly apprehend the recurring theme of my posts. It is not your disagreeing with me that I find unacceptable; it is that you do not address the evidence and the arguments that I present.
It is a cheap and transparent tactic to ignore the arguments as actually given, present a straw man in their place, and then finish with the judgement "That's not a very logical argument."
That "inter" was a typo for "intra." I meant to say "This is about whether the MoS should state that intra-article consistency is its purpose."
So if I said "These posts are full of drama queen histrionics," you wouldn't think that I was calling you a drama queen? You wouldn't be insulted or consider it a personal attack? Because I think you would.
The difference seems to be that you think that just because the MoS says something doesn't mean people have to do it, so it doesn't matter if it contains unnecessary rules (and those rules might as well match your own preferences). However, people can be censured and punished for disobeying the MoS, so we must be more careful.
WP:LQ is a whim in that people like it but it offers Wikipedia no real benefit. It is not my failure to have it removed that proves that it's a whim. It's the fact that it contradicts established sources and that no one has been able to point to even one incident of American English punctuation causing any problems that proves this. It takes more than logic and the sources to get a popular problem out of the MoS. It would be great if it didn't work that way, but it does.
There is a difference between most manuals of style and the Wikipedia manual of style. That difference is that the WP:MoS is meant for Wikipedia, which is 1. crowdsourced and 2. dependent on the donated service of editors from around the world. The difference in skill, training and range of expertise is immense. Because they are not being compensated, we shouldn't expect them to take orders the same way we could expect paid employees to and we shouldn't expect every article to be exactly the same the way we could expect articles in Britannica to be. If we want to keep our contributors, we need to make compromises, and accepting that consistency has its limits is one of them.
My idea of a strong MoS is one that is obeyed. Not requiring inter-article consistency or a serial comma or any given point does not make people less likely to do what the MoS does tell them to do. Think of two teachers in a grammar school: One of them has a million rules about how the kids' legs should be positioned when they sit and exactly how far apart their coats should be on the rack. The other teacher has fewer rules but they're more about safety and schoolwork. Which one are the students less likely to disregard as a control freak or jerk? Which one is likely to have students who think that rules in general are made to be broken?
Noetica, you haven't presented any evidence in this thread ("Questions"). You've only repeated your opinions. You sound like you think I should take your word as proof. Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:53, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Concur with anon. Where something is clearly incorrect English and can be shown through sources to be incorrect English, like capitalizing "the" mid-sentence, then the MoS should not allow people to use it. This is a separate issue, dealing with optional matters, like whether or not to use the serial comma. As for "The Beatles," its my understanding that their fans kept shouting until the opposition was too tired to object any more. Darkfrog24 (talk) 17:05, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Break 1
An RFC should not be advertised misleadingly to the community. I have therefore added a factual correction that will appear on the relevant RFC listings. If Slim Virgin would like to amend her text to incorporate that correction, fine. Otherwise, please let it stand. ♥ NoeticaTea?11:55, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to write underneath my posts to correct or add an interpretation, that's fine of course, but please don't post inside them (this is the second time it has happened). In any event, none of these details – when it was restored, who partially restored it – matter. The question is simply whether we (now) want these words or not. SlimVirgin(talk)17:15, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Slim, I am the last person to want irregular procedure at this talkpage. But you posted misleadingly so that the RFC is not advertised honestly to the community; and your rewording is still misleading. An RFC is, as I clearly reminded people here recently, required to be presented neutrally (see WP:RFC). Please now reword accurately. I'm sure you will understand: if you do not fix the advertised portion of your text, my proper but reluctant next move might be to seek a remedy from ArbCom. NoeticaTea?23:09, 1 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I assume you are asking SlimVirgin to alter the text at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Wikipedia policies and guidelines, presumably to include the text you added above in the "Correction from Noetica" section? (Your request is unclear, and bringing up arbcom is .... [insert eyeroll insinuating-word here].)
I suggest a simple addition, there and above (SlimVirgin only, please): just add the list of relevant diffs, and let people come to their own conclusions based on the evidence.
Indeed: it may not be complicated at all, Quiddity. Ask SlimVirgin who inserted the contested words in the first place, and with what consensus, and with what signalling in an edit summary. That might be relevant here, don't we all think?
When the extra words were removed, a year ago, there was reference to an ongoing discussion on the talkpage, where everything was out in the open. The edit summary (see Quiddity's links just above here): "Rationalise unruly bunch of mini-sections ('principles'). Reduce negative angle. Rm repetition and redundancy. See talk page." Now, let SlimVirgin show how the original insertion of the text she favours was managed. And by whom. I'm all for transparency. ☺!
As for referrals to ArbCom, of course I mean through WP:AE (ArbCom enforcement). My purpose is not to impugn SlimVirgin's motives or good faith; but recent cases have left this page under ArbCom discretionary sanctions, and as a regular here I am very concerned to avoid deficiencies in process that have wasted months of editors' time, and reserves of goodwill. We have to be especially careful. False advertising at an RFC notification, editing unilaterally without establishing consensus, chaotic discussion – none of that helps. Let's work collegially to maintain an excellent manual of style for Wikipedia.
Mentioning AE has a chilling effect, and comes across (in this low-stress situation) as tactical. I'm not going to belabor the point, because it's plausibly deniable, and hence not worth debating. But everyone reading is aware, and most are rolling eyes.
Don't just insinuate, show the fracking evidence. Why are you asking others to do the legwork? ("Ask SlimVirgin who ...") Here's some relevant diffs, that led from its initial to final form: [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21] (And yes, SlimVirgin added it). It's not hard; Open the history, search for "consistency". With the time spent on crafting your polite wikilawyeresque statement, you could have been researching that, or doing something else useful. Grumblegrumble. [Addendum: Having trawled years of the history, I've seen how much work you do, and I do appreciate that. I'm just trying to point out that some of your sentences here are coming across quite badly.] -- Quiddity (talk) 21:31, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Posted with difficulty, away from my usual place, from an iPad, immersed in real-world concerns involving the care of an 89-year-old woman 18,000 km from where I am: References to WP:AE may be "chilling", but the mechanism is there for a reason, and MOS has a role and a history that mean we must exercise special care. It is not my fault if people edit it disrupively, or discuss without observing the protocols, or without revealing their involvements. If my objections when people do that are seen as unpleasant, consider dispassionately what chaos we must guard against repeating.
Look above on the page, Quiddity, and see how much effort I have already put into this discussion. Thank you for coming in now and doing some more of the necessary work, and for revealing what SlimVirgin really ought to hve made plain from the start. I genuinely have no time to do any more on this for a while. My opinions, and my rather closely articulated reasons for them, are all laid out clearly above this RFC.
I don't want to take part in a meta discussion, but I'd like to add that I didn't know before starting this discussion who had first added that sentence and who had first removed it, because there was a lot of history to look through and it didn't really matter. All I knew was that it had been there for a while, and had been removed relatively recently, so that's what I wrote. I don't like the implication that I knew I was the original author and for some reason wanted to hide that (why would I?). I also wonder what the point is of not saying directly: "Slim, did you realize you first added that sentence a few years ago?".
I am not sure if Noetica is still amazed, (21:00, 25 August 2012). But there is a possibility of arguing that while a consistent style may not be desirable across all articles, a consistent style in groups of articles may be desirable. This argument has been advanced in the past for the articles Orange (colour) and Grey because they are both articles about colour. It has also been advanced for the articles in featured topics.
My problem with arguing for consistence in "groups" of articles is what is obvious a group to one person is not necessarily obviously a group to another (and what to do with articles that are obviously in two groups with differing styles). I suspect that while the argument about obvious groups is superficially attractive, due to the problems lack of clarity in defining a group, it will eventual lead inexorably towards harmonisation of style over large parts of Wikipedia. -- PBS (talk) 08:52, 6 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And then you have overlapping. There are many articles that belong to more that one group. What will happen when those groups have conflicting styles? --Enric Naval (talk) 16:12, 6 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
*Oppose removal. per SlimVirgin and Enric. (Maybe we can get "Description not prescription" added back to wherever it was, too, eventually...) Time is not especially relevant, the detail/context that the sentence contains, is. -- Quiddity (talk) 19:40, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
Not taking sides in the RfC (haven't thought it through yet); but I want to point out now that all manuals of style are both prescriptive and descriptive. Tony(talk) 06:21, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't remember exactly where it was, but I think it was originally in WP:NOT or WP:PG or similar (not a MOS page). Pointers appreciated though. -- Quiddity (talk) 19:27, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
[Noetica's vote, quoted from above:] Support the removal of text that was done twelve months ago. The stress on intra-article consistency is fine, of course. So is motherhood. But why labour to include what many editors have unfortunately misread as a licence for chaos? Groups of articles on similar themes benefit enormously from similar styling (where MOS allows for a choice). Why bend over backwards against such efforts? They are clearly in readers' interests. MOS was, till a few days ago, silent on such laudable efforts. What benefit is there in it making a statement that is bound to be misused by those who favour complete independence of styling, at each of 4,000,000 articles? No one is suggesting that a contrary statement be made; just that it is not the business of MOS inadvertently to counter worthwhile efforts to improve the readability of closely associated articles.
NoeticaTea?08:51, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply] [NOTE: As I explain below in "Threaded discussion", I am tied up with matters in real life. I have said all I need to say for this RFC, in the discussion earlier on this page: #Internal consistency v consistency across articles. The question facing us is important, and I advise people not to conflate consistency of style for Wikipedia in general (the very essence of MOS) and consistency of style where choices are allowed in MOS (and there are very few such choices, at least in WP:MOS itself). Misreadings we observe in this RFC illustrate the very problem that such carefleesly added wording introduces: people do not read accurately, nor discriminate as we expect they will. ♥ NoeticaTea?03:52, 7 September 2012 (UTC)][reply]
*Oppose removal by which I really mean "support re-insertion." Wikipedia is not like other encyclopedias. It requires on the unpaid service of editors from many disparate backgrounds and it has no chain of command. There's no one who can legitimately say, "Do it this way because I'm the boss and I've earned my authority." Inter- but not intra-article consistency strikes a balance between neatness and the diversity of opinion among our editors. If it is "bound to be misused," then show at least one case in which that has happened. Has an editor ever claimed "We are not allowed to make these articles match each other; the MoS says so"? Darkfrog24 (talk) 13:31, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
I've already addressed this fallacious "we're volunteers so we should be able to do whatever we want for personal reasons, and consistency can go screw itself" meme at WP:SSF. Lack of payment has nothing to do with anything; there's no logical connection. It's like saying "I have blonde hair, so I should be allowed to eat small children", or "my dog is old, so I shouldn't have to pay the water bill". — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.22:36, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not saying that volunteers get to do whatever they want, and you know that perfectly well, but anyone who's worked in a volunteer organization can tell you that it's not the same type of dynamic as a workplace. On Wikipedia, no one volunteer outranks another. "Do X because I'm your boss" holds no weight here. "Do X because the majority of sources say that X is right and Y is wrong" does. People don't pull rank; sources do. When the sources cannot show that one way is better than another, no one person or small group of people should get to order the others around. Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:18, 9 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
[SMcCandlish's vote, quoted from above:] *Support re-removal per Noetica, and per the fact that the removal has been stable for a long time, and the fact that we do not need to repeat everything ever said in every guideline and policy on the system. It's already implicit in MoS's mandate as a guideline that it operates in juxtaposition and compromise with other forms of guidance here. Reiterating that a guideline can have exceptions, or that any particular guideline is not an ironclad policy, is not what we do here. Also, it really has been misinterpreted as a license for chaos. It was removed for a reason.
Furthermore, there's an underlying assumption (one that is often advanced by the sort of editorial misprioritization addressed by WP:SSF, and WP:NOTHERE before it) that inter-article consistency is not desirable, and is immediately trumped by narrow, even personal preferences. Yet, obviously it is desirable to the extent that it can happen without raising intractable problems (like those addressed by WP:ENGVAR). If it were not desirable MOS would be very short, as the bulk of it and its subpages is style advice for dealing with English-language prose across all articles here. Material is not being broken out of MoS into small, topic-specific WikiProject "guidelines"; rather, the exact opposite is happening: Good advice from projects is making its way steadily into MoS so that it is applied consistently in articles on other topics. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib. 08:24, 4 September 2012 (UTC)
You said "It was removed for a reason.", but what? The only clues I can find are the original edit summary, and the archived thread Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Archive 124#Extraneous clutter at the top - neither of which discuss the sentence/section in question at all. Is there anything else to look at, that makes you (and Noetica) consider it a license for chaos? (I'm assuming this is related to some sub-battle about date or titles or dashes or engvar or etc, but I'm not familiar with what/when/where/who :/ If I/we have more information, we can give better input. It is an RFC, after all; lots of non-regulars who need context...). Here's the talkpage history from 4/5 Aug 2011, in case that helps. -- Quiddity (talk) 20:55, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I second Quiddity's request. You are the second person to say that this rule has been "misinterpreted as a license for chaos." What happened, specifically, and when? Was it only once or many times? We've seen some evidence that this text prevents problems, but if we can prove that this text causes more problems than it prevents, then it should stay out. Darkfrog24 (talk) 23:43, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Please do not fixate on the idea that only a specific, major event is important; there was no Great Wiki Disaster of 2011. What there has been in response to this "rule" and various other kowtowing to intractable special interests who refuse to write consistent, encyclopedic prose for a general audience, is such editors taking license to do the exact opposite, and write articles on "their" topic as if intended for and published by professionals in their field instead of, well, everyone else in the entire world, which is what Wikipedia is actually here for, not regurgitating precious nitpicks from academia. It leads to wikiprojects acting as if they are sovereign states that own entire ranges of topics, and has led to enormous amounts of entrenched editwarring over the last 8+ years, threats of editorial boycotts, wikidiva resignations by editors, and other childish nonsense of massive proportions, all because some people are not here to write an encyclopedia but rather to spread their sub-sub-sub-field's particular stylistic peccadilloes and force everyone else to use them. Enough of that idiocy. It's been nothing but destructive. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.22:36, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, problems attributable to this phrase would be more relevant to the MoS if they happened more than once. If it was a lot of little incidents rather than one big incident, then point to a good example or two. However, it's not immediately obvious what "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" has to do with the issue of writing for a general vs. a specialized audience.
Encyclopedic tone seems to be a separate issue from intra- vs. inter-article consistency, and it is covered elsewhere in the MoS. All of Wikipedia should be written for a general audience. Can you show or tell us how the phrase "but not necessarily across Wikipedia as a whole" has caused these problems? Can you point to one or more talk page discussions in which someone cited that phrase as a reason to write articles in a Wikiproject in an inappropriate manner? Did it happen in WP:BIRDS? Those guys are pretty big on writing articles for a specialized audience. Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:26, 9 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
*Retain/oppose removal' - The key words being "not necessarily". On those formatting issues about which broad community-wide discussion arrives at a consensus, consistency can and should be enforced, but about those the community maintains a more laissez-faire attitude, editors should have the leeway to improve articles as they see fit, given the specific needs of the specific article, without having to answer to those who try to enforce a non-existing consensus. The very most important thing, which it is best that we put our energies to, is to give our readers good, accurate information, well presented, rather than that every article have every tiny formatting aspect be exactly the same. Such "fooliosh consistency" is, in Emerson's words "the hobgoblin of little minds", in Shaw's words "the enemy of enterprise", and in Wilde's words "the last refuge of the unimaginative." Surely our editors are just the opposite: enterprising, imaginative and open to the world. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:37, 6 September 2012 (UTC)
Misquotation, and skewed quotation out of context that misconstrues the intent of the original, is the hobgoblin of people whose arguments are too weak to stand on their own. Emerson actually said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers...", which is very, very different, and his message was about radical philosophy and the advancement of novel ideas, which Wikipedia absolutely does not do. Just one example. By way of contrast, see the old aphorism "Consistency, thou art a jewel." Its origin is lost, but uses the virtue-as-jewel metaphor of the Elizabethan era, so it's at least as old as Shakespeare (cursorily searching, I've found it in print in the 1800s, but Bartlett suggests it's much older).
What you're missing is that Emerson, Shaw and Wilde were all writing about the negative effects of conformity on new, creative output such as literature, fashion and other forms of artistic expression, as well as the propounding of new theories. That is not what Wikipedia is. We are not permitted to engage in original research or even novel synthesis. And WP is not creative writing. It is necessarily dry, strictly informative prose that serves a purpose. It is formal, technical communication, not art. It serves this function best when it does not confuse the readership or make them mentally work hard to figure out what we are trying to convey. Emerson is worth quoting in more detail here: "To be great is to be misunderstood." Emerson argues for being confusing and self-contradictory! That's fine if you are a philosopher refining your outlook over time. It's a disaster in an encyclopedia. Inconsistency between articles here, for no reason other than to suit the in-house preferences of (mostly) academics, government people and fandom obsessives (the three most common sources of WP:SSF problems around here), is directly inimical to Wikipedia's actual goals, which are in service to readers, not editors. Consistency between articles, where it does not create novel problems like conflict between English dialects, is a sensible and necessary consistency in our context, not a foolish one. More recently, Tim Robbins (again writing of creative not technical/formal educational output) said "only logicians and cretins are consistent", and that's important: Consistency in art is certainly cretinous and yawn-inducing. But encyclopedia writing is by definition the work of logicians.
In closing, see the other quotations at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Consistency, and notice that all of them that are in opposition to consistency are about either a) art and other creative output, or b) are about individuals changing their mind (i.e., a completely different meaning of the world "consistency" that isn't relevant to this discussion at all, and Cicero even suggests it's a misuse of the concept). I dare you to find a single exception. Even Larry Wall's quip that "the essence of sanity is to be inconsistently inconsistent" is directly applicable here, as it suggests that exceptions to consistency in human relation to reality (which is what WP is a tool for) should be rare; an insistent lack of consistency in such a context – what he calls "consistent inconsistency" – is, he suggests, a working definition of insane. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.23:19, 8 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
*Support removal. The extra words seem to be encouraging inconsistency far too strongly. , indeed one responder says "consistency across articles has always been discouraged" which seems a good example of a rule which should always be ignored: should I look for ways of making every article I edit inconsistent with every other article? The wording chosen should not give anybody an excuse to be uncooperative, whether they wish to apply something too widely or ignore interrelationships between articles. Although readers must accept that Wikipedia's articles follow no single strict house style, they are not well served if, for example, individual articles covering the six books of a series have corresponding content distributed differently across sections, perhaps in a different order or with different names. The work of adding related information to several such articles could be doubled or trebled depending on how they were inconsistent and such barriers to editing cannot contribute to content improvement. Not even in a single article do we revert constructive additions merely because a wrong sort of dash has been used, so I do not see consistency within an appropriate scope, maintained tactfully, as stifling new content. Neither would any expectation of consistency remove the necessity for having consensus to maintain it: I would expect the ease of finding consensus to correspond to the closeness of the relationship in a self-limiting way. --Mirokado (talk) 14:00, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
Hum, my bad. A better wording: "enforcing consistency across articles has always been discouraged". As in "changing articles from one MOS-approved to another MOS-approved style, just because you would like all articles in an arbitrary group to have the same style." People won't complain if you are actually working in a group of articles and you need to do changes in order to work better, and you only change articles that you are working in, or at most the odd article that is closely related. Now, if one was to land in a group of articles for the first time, then change the style to one's personal preference, then edit war when people complain that specific articles have a different style for a reason, etc, ..... --Enric Naval (talk) 18:49, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, Enric. Striking some of my response. I do agree with what you say just above, but not every editor is as sensible as we are and I'm still concerned that the proposed wording will encourage uncooperative behaviour, so I will stick with supporting removal. --Mirokado (talk) 21:15, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ideally nothing would depend on such a fine balance of words, but experience of Wikipedia editing suggests to me that either wording will be used by those who cherry-pick the MOS to support a prior position. "Sensible" editors already understand that intra-article consistency is a priority, and that inter-article consistency is highly desirable, and that both kinds of consistency are subject to consensus, not ownership. Unfortunately many editors are not "sensible". I guess that preference here may depend on which kind of uncooperative behaviour you've mostly encountered. I'm concerned that removing the wording will encourage uncooperative behaviour, namely editors trying to change styles which have consensus in one area of Wikipedia to those which have consensus in another, because this is the kind of edit-warring I've mostly encountered. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:31, 12 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Look at that post. When I keep asking about evidence, this is what I mean. What kinds of edit wars have you seen, what fights on talk pages, what poorly worded articles, what bad reader experiences have you seen and how do you think changing/keeping this wording would fix it? Peter, can you drop us a link to any of these edit wars? Darkfrog24 (talk) 13:47, 12 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well since the proposed addition has been absent for a year or so I can't point to any recent problems it has caused. I can however point to responsible and constructive activities that this wording appears to target and wonder why anyone would expend so much effort to try to prevent them:
the List of horror films extends over 70 other pages. My attention was drawn to these lists by an obviously incorrect entry while I was checking links from a stub I had created (Amy B. Harris) for general quality issues (which does not mean that I expected all those links to be consistent). These lists were in an appalling state with lots of redlinks and lots of incorrect entries. I noticed that because I naturally checked the other lists as well as the original one, something which would be pointless if consistency between related articles is to be discouraged. Although the lists generally had the same number of columns and the same column headings, in detail there were random differences between them as well as formatting inconsistencies within some articles. The only practicable way to fix these problems was to apply a uniform structure to all the articles and then check progressively for problems and correct them. The more subtle the problems, the more the growing consistency helped to reveal them. The end result is that (with content improvements mainly due to contributions from other editors) the lists are much more correct and better sourced. Citations needed on more than one list can be copied and pasted without alteration as can the occasional entry allocated to the wrong year. The fatuous entries from drive-by editors have almost disappeared. All the changes were discussed on talk pages, often with an announcement and progress report accompanying each set of changes. If the MOS allows an editor to insist that some of these lists can have a different table structure, or be a bulleted list instead of tables, or have a different citation format, or whatever, because "consistency between articles is not necessarily required", then I presume I would either have to let some articles rot, ignore the problems completely or start an RFC. I certainly would not do the work twice over to accommodate what I would regard as obstruction.
cooperation on the works of Anne McCaffrey is relatively easy because, generally, the articles on her books have a common format. We can refine changes to one article including discussions on the talk page knowing that the corresponding updates can be made with reasonable effort and reliably to the other articles. There have been disagreements which have been resolved on talk pages. New ideas are not stifled, very much the reverse, we are currently discussing a new set of improvements. As far as I know, nobody has been made to feel unable to make changes to the pages. I don't think anybody is saying "therefore every article about a book by a particular author must have the same format", simply that the MOS should not set out to prevent such cooperation.
it seems in practice unlikely that editors will often challenge these sorts of scenario, but that indicates that this proposed addition is in fact pointless. If anybody were to make use of it, the result would be more discussion not less, resulting in RFCs if necessary.
in cases like date linking which has been mentioned, nobody is going to prevent such an activity by saying "articles do not have to be consistent", that is far to vague to counter someone's conviction that the world can only be saved by linking (or delinking) every date. The lines of defence are already quite adequate, with a requirement for consensus in advance for extensive systematic changes, blocks for editors who do not accept that (we can all think of cases where that has happened) and specific criteria determining when a particular disposition is appropriate. Nobody prepared to be blocked rather than achieve consensus is going to take the slightest notice of this text even if it is adopted. --Mirokado (talk) 23:04, 13 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
To summarize, Mirokado seems to be saying the following 1. Inter-article consistency can make some improvements easier to make. 2. Mirokado describes one set of articles that happens to be written consistently and is working out well. To these two points, I respond that just because inter-article consistency is not required doesn't mean it's not permitted. Consistency alone isn't reason enough to change format, but my opinion is that effecting repairs is. 3. Mirokado thinks that the wording is extra/unnecessary. 4. Mirokado provides an argument against the date delinking example, which was previously offered as evidence by Enric N. Mirokado has not listed any edit wars or other nonhypothetical events attributable to the inclusion of the phrase "not necessarily across Wikipedia as a whole" in the MoS. Let me know if I've misinterpreted any of that. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:34, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is a pretty fair summary. It seems clear from your response that your concerns are not intended to impact the sorts of activity I have mentioned. As far as "consistency alone" is concerned, there will pretty well always be other benefits. I have already given examples from the editor's perspective. Readers benefit if they can easily understand where to find information in article Y if they have just been looking at the corresponding information in article X. Readers' expectations will be stronger the more closely they perceive the articles to be related.
Responding to "just because inter-article consistency is not required doesn't mean it's not permitted": if the MOS says anything at all about this it should acknowledge, as well, that although not required across the whole project substantial consistency is essential among many sets of articles in order to provide a satisfactory user experience and highly desirable, again among relevant articles, to support effective collaboration between editors. If it does not then it is encouraging a substandard user experience and article ownership in various forms, both of which are totally unacceptable. --Mirokado (talk) 20:49, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Mirokado, no one is saying consistency across articles, or groups of articles, must be opposed. The point is simply that just because an editor punctuates in a certain way in Holocaust in Poland doesn't mean editors must punctuate the same way in Holocaust in Romania. The sentence at issue is: "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." The word "necessarily" is important here. It signals that consistency across articles may sometimes, or regularly, be appropriate, but not invariably, and that some style issues are left to the editors on the page to decide. SlimVirgin(talk)21:27, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I believe that the MoS should not state that any sort of cross-article consistency is desirable because that statement will be taken as law. 1. We should give our editors freedom where correct English allows. 2. Some articles may logically belong to more than one group. Darkfrog24 (talk) 23:13, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Some things are the same across pages (e.g. the general appearance), and there have been style practices that were so odd that I was glad to see cross-article consistency applied (e.g. overlinking). But generally I agree that internal consistency is the aim, and agree too about the groups. SlimVirgin(talk)03:49, 15 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Tally against removal of "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" vs. for
As of now, responses are 2:1 in opposition of removal (AKA support of reinsertion). Would anyone like to offer or summarize evidence or change his or her position? Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:18, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I make it 12:7, Darkfrog. [Now updated: see new subsection below.–Noetica]
[After refactoring to make the new tally subsection, below:] And as we all know, an RFC should not be decided on the numbers, but on the arguments advanced. I submit that refusals to answer questions, and misrepresentations of issues, ought to be taken into account also.
I have notified three editors whom I contacted earlier (because they had earlier commented on the issue, with varying opinions), to let them know that you are counting votes here. The matter is important, and there is no rush for it to be concluded.
I suggest that we do indeed start a subsection for summarising the issues. Let it be one in which each side collaborates to produce a summary of its own case in 500 words – so there would be just two clear statements to read, side by side. Care to start?
(I'm one of those Noetica contacted, thanks for that as I had been following the discussion and intending to respond but also "rather busy" the last few days. --Mirokado (talk) 14:00, 11 September 2012 (UTC))[reply]
This poll is not meant to close the discussion, only to facilitate bringing it to resolution. As for the theory, I'd love it if RfCs could be decided based on issues rather than on numbers, but how often does that happen around here? Darkfrog24 (talk) 15:01, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Tally of votes
continually updated
Oppose removal
SlimVirgin
Enric Naval
Quiddity
Amatulić
Binksternet
Shenme
Darkfrog24
jc37
Beyond My Ken
Jimp
Peter coxhead
CBM [derived from a reading of the contribution]
Resolute
Hiding
Support removal
Noetica
SMcCandlish
Ohconfucius
Boson
Dicklyon
Tony
86.160.221.242 [derived from a reading of the contribution]
Neotarf
Mirokado
Br'er Rabbit [derived from a reading of the contribution]
I have reinstated the tally (see subsection below). No one should think that numbers alone count; but the voting has become diffused or replicated by quotation in various subsections. Quite confusing for newcomers, I might add! These lists serve an index of contributions so people can find them and evaluate their arguments. NoeticaTea?22:11, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And I have closed it again. If you want to open your own RfC later you're welcome to do that, but keeping a running tally of numbers is pointless at best, so please allow this RfC to run its course without it. SlimVirgin(talk)03:33, 15 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have no view one way or the other on the above discussion about including or not including the sentence about Wikipedia as a whole other than to comment that you might as well reverse the two words not and necessarily if it is included - just a comment... Apteva (talk) 09:27, 19 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Presentation of evidence for and against "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole"
I think this discussion might benefit from a summary of the evidence presented. Please limit discussions to things that can be verified (rather than discussing reasoning alone). I have paraphrased four other editors below and I invite them to replace my words with their own as they see fit. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:47, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Non-hypothetical evidence for and against "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole"
This section is for listing problems, such as fights and edit conflicts, that have actually happened. Practical experience falls under this category. Please show how the wording "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" caused the problem or would have prevented it. Contributors, please post links to the relevant changes, talk pages and archives whenever possible. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:47, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Enric Naval cited arbcom case "Findings of fact" (Enric N, please feel free to replace these lines with a brief explanation of why you think this discussion is relevant and why you think the inclusion of these words would have prevented problems.)[22]
Enric Naval cited arbcom case "Date delinking" (Enric N, please feel free to replace these lines with a brief explanation of why you think this discussion is relevant and why you think the inclusion of these words would have prevented problems.)[23]
Noetica said that the Mexican-American war page has to do with this issue. (Noetica, please feel free to replace these lines with a brief explanation of why you think this discussion is relevant and why you think the exclusion of these words would have prevented problems.) [24]
Quiddity cited the infobox discussion below as evidence that the absence of the words "not necessarily..." from the MoS can cause fights. (Quiddity, please feel free to replace these lines with a brief explanation of why you think this discussion is relevant and why you think the inclusion of these words would have prevented problems.) [25]
Hypothetical evidence for and against "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole"
This section is for listing problems or advantages that you believe would or could happen but haven't witnessed. PLEASE BE SPECIFIC. Don't say "this wording will be misused" or "this wording will keep Wikipedia running smoothly"; say how you think it will be misused or keep things running smoothly and why. Contributors, please include links where relevant. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:47, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mirokado is concerned that inconsistency between articles that a reader regards as closely related will deliver an inferior reader experience (for example not knowing where to find corresponding information in each article). --Mirokado (talk) 00:01, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mikorado cited many articles dealing with the works of Anne McCaffrey and said that inter-article consistency facilitated making repairs and improvements by saving the editors' time and making any remaining issues more visible. --Mirokado (talk) 00:01, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mikorado expressed a concern that reinsertion of the wording might cause some editors to render the articles inconsistent and therefore harder to repair and improve. (Feel free to reword or correct the previous sentence and attribute to yourself if you see fit to do so.) No specific case has been cited. Move this point to non-hypothetical if even one such case can be found.Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:22, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mikorado cited many articles within List of Horror Films and said that inter-article consistency facilitated making repairs and improvements by saving the editors' time and making any remaining issues more visible. --Mirokado (talk) 00:01, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mikorado expressed a concern that reinsertion of the wording might cause some editors to render the articles inconsistent and therefore harder to repair and improve. (Feel free to reword or correct the previous sentence and attribute to yourself if you see fit to do so.) No specific case case has been cited. Move this point to non-hypothetical if even one such case can be found.Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:22, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Summary of RfC: “Internal consistency versus consistency across articles”
A request for closure has been made, and the bot has removed the RFC tag, and in the meantime the thread has been archived. I have unarchived it and attempted to summarize the issues as follows.
Wording:
It is proposed to add the following sentence to the fourth paragraph of the introduction: “An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole.” There is a consensus, or at least no opposition, to adding the first part of the sentence, but the second part of the sentence is contested.
Issues:
Those who wish to add “though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole” say it is needed in order to discourage those who want to use similar format for similar articles, and that style issues should be determined by personal preference.
Those who do not wish to add “though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole” say it will discourage similar styling in groups of articles on similar topics, that the phrase is confusing and has been used for pointless argument, and that consistency across the Wikipedia as a whole is the purpose of having a Manual of Style in the first place
Survey:
Support adding “though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole”: SlimVirgin, Enric Naval, Quiddity, Amatulić, Binksternet, Shenme, Darkfrog24, jc37, Beyond My Ken, Jimp, Peter coxhead, CBM [derived from a reading of the contribution], Resolute, Hiding, 87.112.91.134, Jayron32, WhatamIdoing
Oppose adding “though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole”: Noetica, SMcCandlish, Ohconfucius, Boson, Dicklyon, Tony, 86.160.221.242 [derived from a reading of the contribution], Neotarf, Mirokado, Br’er Rabbit [derived from a reading of the contribution], 128.127.107.10, 87.79.226.106, Rreagan007
We should probably add that this is a restoration vs. endorsement of removal rather than an add. The words "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" were originally in the MoS. This is about whether to put them back, not whether to add them for the first time.
Ideally, disagreements on Wikipedia are supposed to be decided by the preponderance of sources and evidence rather than by the preponderance of proponents. So far, only one person has offered real evidence that having or not having this phrase in the MoS would make any material difference in the reader or editor experience, and that is Eric N, who cited disputes in which the idea of internal consistency was involved. Mirokado cited a few hypothetical problems but nothing has actually happened. A lot of the opposition to re-adding these words has been "this is unnecessary" rather than "this would cause problems." Most of the support for re-adding these words has been "the absence of these words can cause problems." Darkfrog24 (talk) 19:43, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify, while there may or may not have been a request to close the RfC, it is my understanding that the bot would have removed the tag tomorrow but when the thread got archived with the tag in it the RFCbot removed the tag from the archive. In any case, in closing an RfC what is important is not a tally of votes, but a summary of arguments. In my view, I have already commented that a consistent style is necessarily not possible across WP as a whole, and was not expressing any view one way or the other about the inclusion or exclusion of that or any other part of the sentence. I would also like to add that the words "An overriding principle" are a bit over the top, as that would tend to indicate that there were other principles that were not as important. This RfC reminds me of the problem of drafting anything by committee. What actually works is for one person to go off and write a proposal, and then have the committee edit and improve it, or even reject that wording. When a committee tries to write something it takes forever to discuss each word. Apteva (talk) 20:48, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Note that Apteva has changed the archiving time to 60 days [26] and has also altered various other archiving parameters. [27][28] Apteva also notes on my talk page that "There are about three copies of one of the RfC's in one of the archives left over from other times that RfC was un-archived, and they can all be simply deleted from the archive, but that has not reached the top of my to do list."
Those are technical changes. The bot has already moved on to /Archive130, and when the archive was unarchived the internal bot counter was inadvertently changed back to 129 which would have meant that new archives would go back on /Archive129 instead of where they belonged, on /Archive130. 600k is in my opinion horrendously large for archive pages. Mostly this page had been manually archived, and many of the archive pages are on the order of 25k, not even 200k. An edit summary noted that the archive was being split into smaller archives. The bot automatically archives any thread with no response in 7 days, and the RfC was split into sections that are getting replies and those with no responses, so it seemed easier to just tell the bot to slow down until the RfC is closed, particularly because there were two of them open at the time. In another 5 days both will have expired and the archiving can go back to 7 days. Apteva (talk) 05:10, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Actually, Darkfrog24, if you check the links, and I did, the contested words are not present on the page, awaiting possible removal. They were removed last year. And SMcCandlish and Noetica both presented specific examples of problems that had been caused by that phrase before it was changed. On the other hand, no one has shown anything negative that has actually happened in the last year without the contested phrase. Neotarf (talk) 20:59, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't say that they were currently on the page and that we were discussing their removal. I said that they used to be on the page and we were discussing reinserting them vs. endorsing their removal after the fact: "This is about whether to put them back, not whether to add them for the first time." As someone pointed out, a year is not so long for the MoS. If the person who removed it had discussed it on the talk page first (not required, but on this page it often helps), then the change probably wouldn't have gone through, if this discussion is any example.
I read SMC's and Noetica's posts and I didn't see any specific examples of anything, but they do both go on and it's possible that things got buried in the rhetoric. What evidence did they present? Noetica said "Look at this Mexican-American War discussion" but didn't say what he thought that discussion had to do with this one. Darkfrog24 (talk) 05:05, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And the contested words used to be *NOT* on this page. Rather you should be asking with what discussion they were inserted in the first place, and with what edit summary.
You didn't seem to have any trouble finding the evidence presented by SMcCandlish and Noetica when you argued against it in the above discussion. But this is not summary material, it is just a repetition of arguments already in the (rather long and unorganized) discussion section. You were invited before to make a summary of why this material should be added, and you did not do so.
Neotarf, I most certainly did and do have trouble finding the evidence that Noetica and SMC may or may not have presented: [29]. They both said "inter-article consistency is desirable" but didn't cite any cases in which the wording in question caused any problems with the possible exception that Noetica said "read the Mex-Am war page" but didn't say why. That's not an argument against evidence. It's a request for evidence. You seem to have missed this the first time, so I'll be more explicit: If you saw something that I did not, please point it out to me.
Maybe you and I aren't using the word "evidence" the same way. I would consider what Enric and Mikorado did to be evidence. Enric cited disputes that actually happened, with a link. Mikorado referred to specific articles and events and said why those articles might be threatened. It was hypothetical, but it made sense. Noetica and SMC both expressed a bunch of opinions, but I don't consider that to be evidence.
Neotarf, you will note that I said, "This is about whether to put them back, not whether to add them for the first time." I am not trying to trick anyone. I feel that there is a difference between restoring wording that used to be there and proposing new wording. Technically, the whole MoS used to not be there.
I actually did give a summary of why I think the wording should be restored. It's a few threads up under "oppose removal."[30]
As for "what discussion and with what edit summary," Quiddity dug that stuff up a couple weeks ago. Hit CTRL-F for "legwork" and you'll see a bunch of links. [31]Darkfrog24 (talk) 18:47, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Re: "no one has shown anything negative" - see the huge thread about infoboxes below! (and all the grumbling about it in many elsewheres, where the rubber meets the road). Site-wide-Consistency is one of the main arguments in favour of "infoboxes everywhere, regardless of objections".
See WP:ENGVAR. See WP:DATES ("Consistency in style and formatting promotes clarity and cohesion; this is especially important within an article"). See the very strong opinions that different groups with different priorities bring to other xVAR discussions. See WP:RETAIN.
We clearly still hold the value of “though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole”, but removing that phrase from this MoS page removes the explicit mention, and makes it merely implicit in the minds of those who follow it in various circumstances. Removing it moves us closer to being a bureaucracy. It should be retained (replaced), for the same reasons that IAR needs to be stated explicitly and also repeated in many places. —Quiddity (talk) 21:21, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Premature closure reversed
With this edit I reversed a non-admin closure of the RFC. Clearly there is no consensus, so the RFC should be closed by an admin. The editor (User:Nathan Johnson) erred in not realising this, and by less than competent summation of the issues. In particular, he completely failed to distinguish consistency in general (the purpose of all manuals of style, including MOS) and consistency where MOS allows choices. This distinction is crucial among the issues confronting us in the RFC, in a number of ways. As a central participant, concerned at least as much about due process as about the outcome of the RFC, I have been absent from Wikipedia for the last week for personal reasons. I mentioned one reason on this talkpage, and put a note at my talkpage. Meanwhile, Darkfrog wanted some summation from each side. I will be able to provide my summation within the next 24 hours. I ask to be given a chance to do that. If this RFC results in insertion of the contested wording, I will consider issuing a new RFC to address the genuine issues that have been aired in the course of this one. The conflation of utterly separate types of consistency has seen a great deal of time wasted. The proposer of this RFC should have known better, and so should a number of participants. An RFC should be framed, and discussed, in a way that keeps separate issues separate – from start to finish. ☺ Addition: Even as I wrote, the editor reverted my reversion. I have reverted that reversion, but will not do so again. NoeticaTea?23:05, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I concur that this discussion is not finished yet. Noetica did right in reverting the closure.
Yes things would be simpler if certain ideas were kept separate. The biggest example of this is that, as can be seen on other WP: pages, Wikipedia favors intra-article consistency and not necessarily inter-article consistency. The issue that SlimV raised was whether or not WP: MoS should say so, not whether the rule should be changed, but both issues have been discussed in this thread. Darkfrog24 (talk) 23:14, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica is many, many things (I could tell you stories) but he has not shown himself to be incompetent. If you believe that Noetica has broken a rule or acted improperly, then explain yourself or file a complaint. There's no need to use insults. Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:35, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Nathan. And thank you for not caring (see my talkpage). Surely it is appreciated when non-admins step in to clear backlogs of work that admins normally do; but I think you misjudged, this time. NoeticaTea?21:54, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Agree to keep discussion open. Darkfrog has done some framing of the policy problem and Noetica has returned and wishes to respond. Since there is no consensus, perhaps further discussion will help clarify the issue. It would certainly save time in the long run if the issue could be dispensed with. Neotarf (talk) 18:12, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am a little delayed (beyond the 24 hours I had expected). I will submit a summary later today. In Australia, that is; so let's say on 6 October by UTC. NoeticaTea?21:54, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, Safely Anonymous. I am acting in good faith to preserve due process. See remarks I have just posted below. There is nothing in policy or anywhere else to preclude my actions, prompted by wild irregularities in the conduct of this RFC. (It was already closed by the BOT, note!)
You didn't "preserve due process". You reverted the closure, which was made by an uninvolved editor, because you, an involved editor, disagreed with his assessment. What kind of chaos would result if every editor did that "in good faith" whenever they disagreed with the result of an RFC? 23:07, 8 October 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.90.43.8 (talk)
Noetica's RFC summation
[This is my final systematic statement in the RFC. I request that no one post comments or questions within it, only after it.–NoeticaTea?14:26, 6 October 2012 (UTC)][reply]
Procedural problems
There have been problems with this RFC from the start, and they have obscured the issues most unproductively, as I will show below. Procedural problems include these:
Biased wording in the advertising of the RFC. Some of that was fixed at my insistence, though reluctantly (on evidence from refusals to reword things for accuracy at my request before the formal RFC). At the head of the RFC my correction can be seen.
Poor oversight by the proposer of the RFC. SlimVirgin has done little to keep things on track, except twice to hide my own efforts at recording the state of the voting (though all acknowledge that this count is not the sole or main consideration in an RFC).
Replication of entire votes, including prohibited copying of signatures. My attempts to rectify that chaotic development were also reverted in part by SlimVirgin. They are what prompted me to register the votes in one place; but in an apparent assertion of ownership, I was overruled. I gave up such attempts. The RFC remains sprawling and barely navigable.
Loss of the RFC tagging. The RFC was archived, but SlimVirgin did nothing to rectify this. It was left to Neotarf (a far less experienced editor) to sort the mess out. Neotarf did well, but the status of the discussion as a legitimate RFC has been left uncertain.
History of the text in question (November 2008; August 2011)
SlimVirgin was the editor who originally inserted the contested wording ("... though not necessarily throughout the encyclopedia as a whole"), with this edit of 21 November 2008.
SlimVirgin's edit summary does not reveal in any way that she added it, or even which point she was addressing exactly: "(→Consistency: created new header to emphasize this point; removed sentence from previous section that seemed to contradict it)". The intent of the edit cannot be determined from that summary.
No evidence has been adduced in this RFC that SlimVirgin's edit was discussed first, or had any sort of consensual backing.
Tony edited to rationalise the early part of the page, with this edit of 4 August 2011.
Tony's edit summary did reveal the intent and effects of his edit: "(Rationalise unruly bunch of mini-sections ('principles'). Reduce negative angle. Rm repetition and redundancy. See talk page.)".
Tony's edit did refer to discussion on the talkpage.
The section on the talkpage that Tony initiated ("Extraneous clutter at the top") drew considerable participation. The discussion Tony started runs to just under 4,000 words (about eight A4 pages).
The discussion Tony started did make reference, with a diff, specifically to SlimVirgin's text:
And the "general principles" section that these were stuck into had its start in this diff by SlimVirgin. Probably, in retrospect, saying "General Principles" made it a magnet for people with an agenda to sneak things into. [Dicklyon (talk) 06:13, 3 August 2011 (UTC)]
Well, Slim's good with this stuff, but probably didn't envisage that it would become the unruly forest we now see. [Tony (talk) 06:40, 3 August 2011 (UTC)]
Tony's removal of the contested wording was unchallenged for more than twelve months (till a few weeks ago).
My position
The central purpose of Wikipedia's Manual of Style (MOS, with WP:MOS as its main page) is to present style guidelines for all Wikipedia articles. As discussion above shows, this natural account of manual of styles in general has been endorsed by ArbCom, and no one has offered any plausible alternative purpose for having MOS at all.
The great majority of MOS provisions are what I call singular guidelines. That is, they recommend just one option among possible alternative style choices. This follows naturally from its central purpose; to the extent that it does not select form the range of possible alternatives, it fails as a manual of style.
In just very few areas, more than one option is allowed for. These MOS-permitted alternatives include systematic variations in English (like US or British), variation in choice of dash for sentence punctuation (spaced en dash or unspaced em dash), management of possessives ending with an /s/ or /z/ sound, and so on.
The contested wording fails to make clear the crucial difference between singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives.
The crucial difference can be extracted from wording that comes immediately after (like this, in MOS as it stands right now: "Where more than one style is acceptable, editors should not change an article from one of those styles to another without a substantial reason. Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable.") But in practice, such a continuation is not cited at article talkpages: just the text finishing with the contested wording.
The best evidence for this and related confusions can be found in this very RFC and the discussion leading up to it (all underlining is mine):
"I am opposing the removal because style consistency across articles has always been discouraged since the 'date delinking' edit wars years ago. It's clear and concise."
[Enric Naval. An alarming misrepresentation of the very purpose of MOS. "Clear and concise"? Concise, but on the evidence here it is not at all clear.]
"[After a challenge from Mirokado:] Hum, my bad. A better wording: 'enforcing consistency across articles has always been discouraged'."
[Enric's correction is still inaccurate, since the purpose of MOS's singular guidelines (see above) is indeed consistency across 4,000,000 articles. Enric's continuation can be read above on this talkpage; but it reveals no clear conception of MOS guidelines, instead showing that he perhaps wavers in his attitude to the contested wording.]
" 'I feel like it, I raised it on the talk page, and no one objected within a reasonable time frame,' is sufficient reason [for a change in style]". ... "People should need a reason to make such changes. That reason need not be big. It can be 'I feel like it, I raised it on the talk page, and no one objected.' However, 'We have to make these articles match because they're closely related in subject!' is false."
[Darkfrog. These are bizarre priorities, according to which consistency between even related articles takes lowest place of all; they suggest a misunderstanding of provisions of MOS itself, and of WP:CONSENSUS.]
"I do not believe that we should add P3 to the MoS" "We shouldn't add more rules without a good, non-hypothetical reason."
[Darkfrog. P3 was an abstract proposition I put forward (see above on the page); no one suggests that it ought to be included. But then, the contested wording is itself in the category of "more rules"; so how can its inclusion be supported without "a good, non-hypothetical reason"? No one has demonstrated that its loss was felt over the last twelve months!]
"We should assume that anything written down in the MoS will be cited as gospel on article talk pages."
[Darkfrog. But then, gospel can be interpreted many ways – especially when it includes words like "not necessarily" (which caused some difficulty for Enric as I have shown just above), and is turned to political purposes (see citations of "gospel" in the archives of Talk:Mexican–American War, where Enric and Darkfrog are among those who insist on conflating singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives for crusading purposes).]
"The MoS may be only a guideline in theory, but in practice, it's a set of hard rules. That means that we should treat any new additions to the MoS as if they will be cited as gospel on talk pages."
[Darkfrog. Again dealing with singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives as if there were no distinction; and ignoring the explicit directive at the head of every MOS page: "Use common sense in applying it; it will have occasional exceptions." This is a confusion about a confusion. MOS explicitly does the opposite of claiming to be "a set of hard rules"; and it is the responsibility of its readers to ... read it!]
"The policy is that cross-article consistency is permitted but not required."
[Darkfrog. But note that MOS is not policy. The nearest relevant policy is at WT:TITLE, which by the way includes inter-article consistency as a basic principle.]
"The MoS does not have a default position for inter-article consistency."
[Darkfrog. Yet again confusing MOS-permitted alternatives (inter-article consistency not called for) and singular guidelines (inter-article consistency definitely intended).]
"The MoS does (or used to and should again) state that intra-article consistency is its purpose."
[Darkfrog. Plainly not a fair reading of the contested wording, and opposed to the very purpose of any manual of style.]
"Inter- but not intra-article consistency strikes a balance between neatness and the diversity of opinion among our editors."
[Darkfrog. Just muddled. Is it what was meant, in fact? Even reversing "inter-" and "intra-" here, it yet again ignores the distinction between singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives.]
"I disagree with 'In groups of articles on similar topics, similar styling is better than an unprincipled or random selection of styles.' [T]his has never been a requirement."
[PBS. Again, it is astonishing to see the priorities here – as if there were not many projects within Wikipedia that see the value of treating their articles with extra consistency, beyond what MOS calls for. And of course this is a non sequitur: "[T]his has never been a requirement." Of course there is no explicit and particular "requirement" that one should avoid what is random and unprincipled in style choices. But if we appeal to common sense at the head of MOS pages, that would seem to include orderly and principled decision-making.]
"The problem is what is a group?"
[PBS, and elsewhere Enric Naval and Darkfrog. But this can hardly be the problem, in efforts toward harmonising thematically related articles. There are others, like Which style choice is apt for that theme? And even if it were the problem, that does not preclude the finding of solutions, or workarounds; and it cannot be shown to apply in every situation. For an obvious example, the articles on the chemical elements form a perfectly natural grouping, and it naturally trumps any competing grouping that might intersect with it like "common substances", "valuable substances", or "dangerous substances".]
"I suspect that while the argument about obvious groups is superficially attractive, due to the problems lack of clarity in defining a group, it will eventual[ly] lead inexorably towards harmonisation of style over large parts of Wikipedia."
[PBS. Some of us will struggle to see how that could be a problem!]
"There has never been style consistency across articles on WP, ..."
[SlimVirgin. Confusing, yet again, singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives.]
"There has never been consensus to introduce style consistency across articles; on the contrary, there has always been opposition to it." ... "There has always been an understanding that internal consistency is required when it comes to style issues, but not consistency across articles."
[SlimVirgin. Confusing, once more, singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives. And ignoring the very reason for MOS to exist.]
"The problem is that the second and third paragraphs contradict each other. The second says we have a house style; the third says we do not." ... "The second paragraph says there is a house style, but the third paragraph says there isn't, so there's a contradiction right there. It matters less if the two paragraphs are read together, but the separate anchors mean they might not be. The question is: to what extent does Wikipedia have a house style, or to what extent does it allow contributors to choose a style so long as there is internal consistency?"
[SlimVirgin. No, that was never the case. Same confusion. And "the question" rests on that confusion of singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives.]
"The words in question were in the MoS for quite some time, and were removed without discussion."
[SlimVirgin. Wrong. See diffs above, and the link to an archived 4,000-word discussion.]
"The word 'necessarily' is important here. It signals that consistency across articles may sometimes, or regularly, be appropriate, but not invariably, and that some style issues are left to the editors on the page to decide."
[SlimVirgin. But the word 'necessarily' is one of the most confusing and misread elements in all of this. See misreadings cited above, including statements by SlimVirgin herself.]
"The MOS is not a prescription to be applied slavishly to all articles."
[Amatulić. This is not what the RFC is about, though many have assumed that it must be. The same muddying of issues that we see above. The level of authoritative status that the community accords to MOS is one matter; MOS's varying recommendations in singular guidelines and MOS-permitted alternatives is another.]
"A short phrase serves as a useful reminder of that fact, and its removal, as Enric Naval pointed out, leaves room for other interpretations, contributing to wasted time in needless debates about inter-article consistency."
[Amatulić's continuation. But as we see abundantly from the quotes above, it is the inclusion of the contested words that brings confusion! Has there been confusion over the last twelve months, while it was absent?]
"We should emphasize that we are not here to make everybody toe the same line. If somebody's formatting can be traced to a practice that is accepted in a particular venue, then that formatting should be allowed."
[Binksternet. But the contested wording does not emphasize that; or at least, if it is interpreted most reasonably in the light of what should follow it (about MOS-permitted alternatives), then that emphasis is very slight. The second sentence here leaves room for speculation; it seems to appeal to efforts toward inter-article consistency, but it could amount to a rejection even of MOS's singular guidelines! On either reading, there is confusion of issues.]
"Removing the explicit allowance for editors to not be required to conform to the tittle of MOS, through a change by the MOS-most editors, is troubling on multiple levels."
[Shenme. But that is not what the contested wording is about at all; and not what this RFC is about!]
"Oppose removal/retain - This would also seem to fall afoul of WP:ENGVAR, among other things..."
[jc37. How? Why? The editor does not say. Has the force of ENGVAR somehow appeared diminished over the last twelve months?]
"Ideally nothing would depend on such a fine balance of words, but experience of Wikipedia editing suggests to me that either wording will be used by those who cherry-pick the MOS to support a prior position. 'Sensible' editors already understand that intra-article consistency is a priority, and that inter-article consistency is highly desirable, and that both kinds of consistency are subject to consensus, not ownership. Unfortunately many editors are not 'sensible'." ... "I'm concerned that removing the wording will encourage uncooperative behaviour, ..."
[Peter Coxhead. And I will close with his very thoughtful words, which ought to be studied in their entirety above. In my own experience, almost any wording can be perverted to uncooperative ends. We have to draft Wikipedia guidelines and policy with skill, diligence, and goodwill to minimise that. Where I disagree with Peter is on the inclusion of the contested wording, which in my experience, and from the evidence of the quotes above, is spectacularly subject to misreading, misrepresentation, and all manner of abuse.]
In light of the evidence just given, I oppose any simple patchwork solution to optimising the wording of MOS's lead: especially the restoration of wording that brings such serious and counterproductive confusion.
I propose that the contested wording remain excluded from MOS, and that there be a new discussion toward accommodating all points of view about the status of MOS within Wikipedia. That seems to be the issue to which most of those wanting the wording restored have gravitated, rather than what it actually says.
If somehow this chaotic and compromised RFC were to succeed, anyone should feel free to start another one on more rational principles to address what remains totally muddled in this one (including in the proposal the removal of wording discussed here). I might do that myself, if I can find the time.
Noetica, I think you are overestimating the level or order that is required of an RfC and the specificity of the actions required of the person who starts it. Is it nice if things have a clear structure? A lot of the time. Did SlimV break some rule or act irresponsibly by not enforcing such a structure (and is controlling other people in that way even reasonably possible)? No.
Maybe Eric N and those others whom you cite were not misunderstanding the MoS. Maybe you have misunderstood it. The only thing that we know for sure is that you and they (and I) do not agree. The fact that someone disagrees with you is not evidence that you are right and they are wrong.
The statement "We have to make these articles match because they're closely related in subject" is false. I'm referring to rules, to what the MoS requires, which is why I chose the words "have to." Does the MoS require inter-article consistency? No it does not. But it doesn't forbid it either. That is why I find "I like it. I raised it on the talk page and no one objected within a reasonable amount of time" to be a good defense of optional changes.
By "cited as gospel," I mean "taken as a rule that is not open to exception or deviation," not "treated as one would treat a religious text."
When I say, "In practice, the MoS is a set of hard rules," I mean that people can be censured and punished for disobeying it. "The MoS is just a guideline, so I can ignore it if I feel my changes make the article better" is no defense at all to an AN/I.
The MoS does not have a default setting for inter-article consistency. No part of it says "inter-article consistency is required." It explicitly permits editors to make their own choices with respect to British and American English, the serial comma, etc. etc.
What evidence? Noetica, you have not presented any evidence. You've only presented opinions: some of your own, and some of others, many of which you seem to have misunderstood.
You mentioned the Mex-Am War talk page again. What exactly do you think that that event has to do with the inclusion or exclusion of this wording? No, it is not obvious from looking at that talk page. (And the word "gospel" does not appear on it.)
Maybe the reason why "everyone has failed to mention the distinction between singular guideline and MoS-permitted alternatives" is because allowing people to use incorrect English isn't the issue. This entire discussion has been about what you call MoS-permitted alternatives from the start.
Time to close this (RfC for re-insertion of "not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole")
The RfC had been open for 33 days, and it was closed by an uninvolved editor, [32] so I can't see any reason not to respect the closure. Restoring a sentence to a guideline shouldn't require this level of meta discussion. SlimVirgin(talk)16:02, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It obviously does because the added text is wholly inadequate to address the issues it purports to deal with. The only way of closing the rfc at present would be "no consensus" which would mean restoring the text which had been stable for a year or so. Actually I would be quite happy with that... And I will not accept a non-admin closure of this either, it is far too contentious. --Mirokado (talk)
Why wouldn't you accept a non-admin closure? What is special about administrators that means they, and only they, can close this?!? --Jayron3219:07, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Administrators adjudicate policy disputes, and hence are solely authorized to close, say, contested Afds. There is nothing in WP policy or guidelines which says uninvolved editors cannot close contested RFCs, since they are not binding. Noetica's idea of closing the discussion with Noetica's own lengthy summary (an involved editor's summary) seems not ok. Asking for an administrator to arbiter what is essentially an editorial dispute is not ok either. Reverting an uninvolved editor's closure is acceptable on grounds the summary is incorrect, but not on the grounds he (specific case here) is a non-admin. Churn and change (talk) 21:14, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I made a summation for the side that opposes insertion of the contested wording. Did you miss where there was discussion of each side doing such a thing? I clearly labelled it as my summation. Surely anyone is welcome to do one of those. Make your own, if you like. But stick to facts – and opinions that are supported by evidence and argument. As I do, right? And this is not simply an "editorial dispute", as you call it. As if we were dealing with a mere article! No: we are dealing with Wikipedia's core style resource, affecting 4,000,000 articles. Spot the difference. NoeticaTea?09:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
A highly flawed and misleading summation in which you consistently if unintentionally misrepresent the meanings of other editors' statements and present no evidence in favor of your position. Darkfrog24 (talk) 15:01, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Clearly we disagree about that. But remember: it was my summation, of the sort that I believe you had called for, some time back. You replied to it, as you were entitled to. And I let your reply stand, giving you the last word (as things stand). Good enough? If you make a similar summation of your own, I will reply to it. Will you give me the last word, when I do so? NoeticaTea?22:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No I didn't ask you to do that. I invited you to present and explain evidence, specifically your comment that the discussion o Mex-Am page has to do with this discussion.
You made a summation, Darkfrog. And you invited others to participate in such a process: "I think this discussion might benefit from a summary of the evidence presented. Please limit discussions to things that can be verified (rather than discussing reasoning alone)." Neotarf independently made a summary. I too chose not to proceed in the exact way the way you had set up, because I regarded it as skewed and disorganised. After announcing clearly that I would do so, I gave a summation from my point of view. I labelled my summary clearly: as mine. You did not do such a thing. I now invite you to make a summation that overtly presents things as you see them (not purporting to be a summary for all sides). Forgive me if I misunderstood: I thought you were in favour of people presenting such epitomes from the various points of view. You answered my summation, and I then let you have the last word. How long would you like this to drag on?
You write: "You are not being gracious by not removing other people's comments" [sic]. Sorting through others' dirty work, one gets dirty hands. This RFC was a disgrace from the beginning – from before the beginning, in fact. I have a particular interest in due process. Quibble selectively as you like; and I will act as I see fit in accord with policy and guidelines, in the interest of MOS as I see it. And therefore in the interest of Wikipedia, as I see it.
Yes, a summary of the evidence as opposed to the previous parts of the discussion, which had focused primarily on opinions and hypothetical reasoning. No, the summation that you gave was not what I asked you to do. I'm not saying that you have to do exactly what I tell you to, but then you don't get to say that this was "of a sort that I believe you had asked for," as you do above.
Disorganized? It was divided up by subject and then by chronology. It might not have been set up the way you would have done it, but it was not disorganized.
I've already presented things as I see them. The participants in this discussion have already read and responded to everyone's opinions. That's why I thought a new angle, evidence, might be more productive. More than half of the participants support reinsertion of the wording, but that's not how consensus is supposed to work. More than half of the evidence would be another matter.
Refraining from removing other people's comments is not due process. You don't get to pat yourself on the back for not doing something that you're not supposed to do anyway.
First, I put "an sic" next to my quotation of your words because I would not want anyone to think I introduced an error into them. Look again: "You are not being gracious by not removing other people's comments." It struck me, and it may strike others, as a strange construction that possibly has one "not" too many. So a "sic" is justified and normal. Assume good faith. Second, I am not obliged to do what you asked me to do, as (obviously!) neither you nor anyone else has an obligation to do what I want. Third, I explicitly chose to narrow my evidence to the copious misunderstandings that are evident on this page. That is potent evidence, and easily checked in one place. You ask for more? Sorry, I have given all that is needed, and spent far more time than I can justify on this RFC (if indeed it is still an RFC). Fourth, I wrote: "I regarded it as skewed and disorganised." So yes: as you rightly diagnosed, we disagree. Surprised? I made my own solution, neatly labelling it. Fifth, move on now? NoeticaTea?03:46, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Strange construction does not merit an sic. And no it does not have too many nots. I am not being a saint by not stealing from you. You are not being gracious by not deleting other people's comments. Count before you sic. As for assuming good faith, don't push your gosh darn luck; you've already had plenty of benefit of the doubt from me.
Noetica, I just said that you aren't obliged to do what I tell you. I also said, "If you don't do what I tell you, you don't get to say 'I'm only doing what you told me!'" No, I didn't ask you to post a long list of your own arbitrary opinions peppered with misinterpretations of other contributors. Again, you can do your own thing, but then you don't get to claim that it's my thing.
Keep guessing, Darkfrog. I find all of this most unpleasant, and a serious intrusion into things that I have to get on with, to meet real-life obligations and deadlines. You could simply drop the business of "an sic". I wish you would! I used "sic" in good faith, and I explained why I used it; but you refuse to leave it at that. Do just leave it at that, OK? You said that I misinterpret others' comments; I chose to let you have the last word, when you alleged that in answer to my extended submission above. Happy? I say you misinterpret me; but I really want not to dwell on any of that now. Enough! NoeticaTea?05:58, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There actually is a way to get people to stop replying to you on a thread. Instead of telling other people to shut up or complaining that you have a million other things to do, all of which are more important than the discussion or the people who've been talking to you, you stop posting on it yourself. Darkfrog24 (talk) 13:39, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica reverted Nathan Johnson's closure twice, [33][34] with the edit summary: "Revert closure of RFC by User:Nathan Johnson; controversial RFCs should be closed by admins; this was premature: actions had been asked for and were pending; failed to distinguish points about consistency 1. where choices were allowed and 2. generally)".
The RfC had been open for 33 days, so there was nothing premature about the closure. There's also nothing controversial about the RfC. Nathan has closed RfCs before and the request for closure was made on AN/RFC, so it all seemed to be in order. I've requested an uninvolved admin to endorse or overturn the closure, but it really shouldn't be necessary. SlimVirgin(talk)21:52, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes Slim; and I have in good faith reverted your reversion of my action.
In fact the RFC was already ended, by the BOT. Before Nathan got to it. From WP:RFC:
There are several ways an RfC can end: the bot can automatically delist the RfC, the RfC participants can agree to end it, or it can be formally closed by any uninvolved editor.
That can be read as final; or it can be read as just one element in the disruptive and irregular trajectory of the RFC from the start. And that can be read as an excellent reason for abandoning the proposal in the RFC – on procedural grounds alone.
Yes, I reverted Nathan's closure: twice, because he reverted my reversion. There is nothing at WP:RFC to preclude my doing so – as an experienced editor in good standing, deeply concerned about due process and the calm and consensual development of MOS. I gave my reasons, and I have just now given more reasons. I did not revert the action of an unvinvolved admin, note.
My reversion was endorsed by Darkfrog, the most vigorous proponent of the views that I reject in the RFC.
The best solution: leave it. Start again, if anyone wants to. But let any future RFC be conducted fairly, honestly, without the appearance of ownership by any party, and with a question that is transparent in its intent and useful in its scope.
He has reverted again. [36] This is one of a series of reverts and clarifications from Noetica during this RfC, and editing other people's posts, adding his own opinion in bold, attempts to keep a running tally of votes, reverting when it was removed, topped off by twice reverting an uninvolved editor's closure, and now twice reverting my explanation for the closing admin -- which I have had to request only because of his reverting. It has been really unacceptable behaviour. SlimVirgin(talk)22:49, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What Nathan "closed" was not an RFC any more. The RFC had been ended by a bot (see WP:RFC).
My use of bold, and other devices, has been in response to your own faulty presentation and later inadequate management of an RFC that you initiated, Slim. That was disruptive, on your part. I am entitled to keep things readable, and to work toward an orderly structure and process where you did not.
You are involved, I am involved. If you act in a partisan way, or against the provisions of WP:RFC or WP:OWNERSHIP, someone ought to counteract that. You are an admin, with very high standing in the community; I am not an admin, and am in an extremely vulnerable position. But I will defend due process here, and I will explain my actions and meet the requirements of policy and guidelines to the best of my ability – in the face of abuses by others. It is a great pity that uninvolved parties do not intervene similarly, so far. It has been left to my own good-faith efforts.
This should be evaluated by someone who is "sufficiently experienced", "impartial", and "familiar with all of the policies and guidelines that relate to the proposal". (see WP:PROPOSAL) This is a policy page, not a wikilove kitten page, and IMHO needs to be closed by an admin, and not someone who is helping out with the backlog but "doesn't care" (see Noetica's talk page). The boxing and summary should be done by the closing admin, not the person bring the RfC.
One of the troubling things about this RfC is that no one really understands what it is supposed to do. That was clear enough from the extensive comments. The first time the wording was introduced, there was no explanation or edit summary, at least not that was brought out in the rather confused discussion above. Likewise when this RfC was introduced, the new language was just inserted without much of a rationale. Maybe that's where any new attempt at a consensus should start.
--Neotarf (talk) 00:16, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, yes. Except that it is not a policy page but a guideline page. One of the most important we have, in fact.
I say it again: the RFC was delisted by the bot, and according to WP:RFC, that ends it. Just like a similar one at WT:TITLE, which simply fell of the edge due to neglect, intractably bad management – and eventually, despairing lack of interest. But then, we have grown accustomed to RFCs running counter to the provisions at WP:RFC. A shame.
I really wish people would void themselves of this idea that any tricky closure, or anything in any way related to policy, should be handled by an admin. That is absolutely not the case. Wikipedia content and policy is built by editors. Secondly, are you not embarrassed to pull a quote that far out of context? You're making the case that an admin should close this, so you use this quote, "sufficiently experienced", "impartial", and "familiar with all of the policies and guidelines that relate to the proposal". The sentence that you pulled that from is this: "This does not require the intervention of an administrator, but may be done by any sufficiently experienced independent editor (an impartial editor not involved in the discussion) who is familiar with all of the policies and guidelines that relate to the proposal." 146.90.43.8 (talk) 00:48, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But Nathan was clearly out of his depth, and unfamiliar with the many complex procedural and other niceties in the case; and the RFC had already been delisted by the bot. Nothing tricky about that, right? It's clear from WP:RFC. If the proposer of an RFC is so negligent as to let it slip away into the archives, that should tell us something about its merits. NoeticaTea?01:12, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You didn't like the way Nathan closed it, so you called him incompetent and reverted him. That's no way to carry on. You were far too heavily involved to revert the closure. Do you really think it was helpful, let alone pleasant, to start tossing "incompetent" around? People disagree with RfC closures all the time. It's in the nature of the thing. Rather than reverting, you should have brought it up on talk, or gone to one of those 3rd opinion noticeboards, or just taken your lumps. Regarding the bot's intervention, that seems to be something you've picked up on tonight. You certainly didn't mention it when you reverted. What did the bot say? Is it a competent bot? Whatever it said, I think that to attempt to overturn Nathan's closure on a technicality goes against the spirit of what we're trying to achieve here. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 02:08, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, it does not. I commented on Nathan's actions; Nathan issued a judgement concerning me (with which you disagreed, in fact). There was no further escalation from me. I wrote: "Thank you Nathan. And thank you for not caring (see my talkpage). Surely it is appreciated when non-admins step in to clear backlogs of work that admins normally do; but I think you misjudged, this time." NoeticaTea?22:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica, if I were to say, "your actions are those of a big fat drama queen," wouldn't you think I was calling you a drama queen? If you leave sarcastic comments, you don't get to say that you didn't escalate. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:57, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"Sounds like obvious sarcasm, but it wasn't." Want to know what I would think? I would think you were for the second time in this sprawling discussion resurrecting old, old material in an especially provocative way. The last person borrowing that particular trope of yours for political effect is now enduring a one-year block, and an indefinite topic ban from all MOS and TITLE matters. Take care. And move on. NoeticaTea?05:58, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Do you say the same about Darkfrog's endorsement of my reversion? He would have liked the close, but he agreed that it was flawed and he had no problem with my action. To his credit! Your assumption about my motives is against WP:AGF. I was ready to let things take a different course; but if people want to go by the wikilawyering letter of the law, I must resort to the details in WP:RFC and other provisions – where, by the way, there is nothing said against such actions as I have taken. Unlike the actions of some others involved here. I do not toss "incompetent" around. It's not something I would bring in lightly. But I now give the facts as I read them. So do you – anonymously, of course. ☺ NoeticaTea?02:20, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Why would I have liked the conversation to have been ended by an outside party? People were still talking and new voices were still welcome. Does the closer get to decide the issue or something? Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:55, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
To be clear, Darkfrog: that outcome would have suited you, I thought. But not the means by which Nathan sought to produce it. As I have said, it is to your credit that you responded as you did in the circumstances. I am glad that there are some of us who want due process and wise judgements, even if we disagree about how those judgements end up. The quality of RFCs is declining. That should be of concern to us all, regardless of our more particular opinions. NoeticaTea?09:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I shouldn't have put incompetent in quotes, and I'm sorry for that, but it's essentially what you said. I'm not going to get into a discussion about who did what after you reverted. or about your motives. You were a heavily involved editor who reverted an RfC closure because he didn't like the result. That's the crux. You keep going on about "due process" as though you have some great wrong to right, but don't you think every editor on the wrong side of an RfC closure feels that way? Due process, if that means anything at all within the context of WP, would have been to let the decision stand, and to enter into discussion about your reservations. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:11, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I believe reinserting the contested wording to be right and proper, but why would closing the RfC have resulted in said reinsertion? Sure, the preponderance of evidence is in favor, but how often does that matter around here?
People should continue to discuss this matter if they aren't finished and new voices should still be welcome. I don't think you and I have the same ideas about proper procedure and due process, Noetica. Darkfrog24 (talk) 15:01, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Fine! I do not withdraw my compliment to you, Darkfrog: it is to your credit that you endorsed my reversion of a closure, even though the closure favoured your position. Apply what gloss you will. NoeticaTea?22:40, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is my understanding that, besides the bot ending it, the participants can also just agree among themselves. In fact, WP:RFC also says "Deciding how long to leave an RfC open depends on how much interest there is in the issue, and whether editors are continuing to comment." It's probably better to leave it open for too long than to close it too early. Clearly the disputed wording was being interpreted in at least two ways, and further discussion may be able to unravel that. --Neotarf (talk) 01:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, they might agree on various things among themselves – with difficulty, of course, if the proposer comes in and closes parts of it that she doesn't like, which happened in the present case at least three times. But this is not a simple question of "deciding how long to leave an RfC open". It was not open, after the bot delisted it. So it could not be "left" open. That's in accord with WP:RFC; and it makes sense. If there's so little happening that it gets archived and delisted, something is not useful or fathomable about the RFC. A new one should then be started, along better and fairer lines. NoeticaTea?02:05, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Goodness gracious. There's a lot of people here who keep insisting that admins have special privileges in closing RFCs. Quite simply, and with all due respect, this idea is total and complete bullshit, and I'm not sure where it gets into the mindset here, but it really has never been a standard. Admins do not have any special powers in declaring consensus on any matter; in cases where Admins are granted priority, is always in cases where doing so potentially requires the use of an administrator tool (blocking, deleting, or protecting) and even in those cases, it is sufficient for a non-admin to close the discussion and evaluate it, and get an admin to enact the results. There is absolutely no requirement or mandate for any discussion which doesn't even need an administrator to enact the results of, to involve an administrator at all. Now, admins may, as experienced editors, often close discussions, but a discussion closed by any uninvolved and sufficiently experienced editor is perfectly legitimate, and doesn't need confirmation by an administrator. At all. Stop trying to make Administrators out to be more than they are. There's no policy page, no guideline, and no requirement written ANYWHERE on Wikipedia that non-admins can't close discussions like this one. See Wikipedia:ADMIN#Administrators.27_abilities, and note the lack of "only admins can close RFCs". Stop it already. --Jayron3204:34, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You misrepresent what is said, Jayron. And I will thank you to restrain your language in your "fucking" edit summaries, all right? (And you're an admin?) I agree with you that admins are not absolutely required for closing these things; but we are entitled to expect better judgement in closing contested RFCs, and there is some hope of that from admins, who have higher standing for a good reason. That's the theory, anyway. In practice, the admin who started the RFC on such a shaky footing then left it to tumble into a mess. So there you go. Just as there is nothing anywhere requiring admins to do such a closure, there is nothing anywhere to stop me from reverting a premature closure that showed poor judgement. I acted in good faith, and Darkfrog (holding opposing views) endorsed my action. You have a problem with that? Think about it then; and if after that you still have a problem, with me or my actions, take it to my talkpage. But please: keep a civil demeanour chez moi. ♥ NoeticaTea?09:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That might be your theory, but it's not mine; it's not in the policy, nor is part of the WP ethos. Why do you think the admin icon is a mop and bucket? You're asserting that an admin typically has better judgement than his non-admin homologue. If that were the case, it would be reasonable to go the whole hog and give admins primacy in all content disputes. And wouldn't that be fun! 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:11, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, here is an example of a user requesting an admin closure of an rfc. Two admins responded favourably to the request, both contributed to the closure and nobody seems to have objected. My apologies if that is not as routine as I had assumed. Even if formally admins have no "special privileges" it is common practice to ask them to help when peer interactions are making no progress. A closure by an uninvolved admin once discussion has died down (or is merely going in circles) would be helpful in this case. --Mirokado (talk) 12:33, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's fair enough, Mirokado. If people want to post there ask an admin to close an RfC, that's up to them. Personally, I don't like that idea at all, but if others do, good luck to them. But this is something completely different. This is overturning an existing closure because it was not made by an admin, and that really is not on. Surely, you can't support that. The argument that admins are in some way more competent to deal with matters of content than non-admins runs counter to everything that WP is about. And if you've ever glanced at RfA, I'm sure you'll have seen that ability to contribute to the content side of WP is not high on the list of prerequisites. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 13:19, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica, by your own argument, summations should not be removed from the talk page; in general, something on-topic should never be removed from the talk page, except for archiving. So you should put back Nathan's summary and SlimVirgin's summary of summary, probably at the tail end of the discussion. You have the right to overturn a closure (admin or non-admin), so you don't need to put back either closure. Beyond that, I don't think it makes any sense to ask for admin help here when there is no editorial consensus. If an admin hands down a specific judgment, it will just be an imposed one. If it sticks in spite of that, we would have set a wrong precedent for WP. The "no-consensus" summary (probably about right) would not work because there is the question of what it means: to keep current wording, wording as it was a month ago, a year ago, four years ago? I see debates on all those issues. I suggest you close the discussion (a purely technical procedure, with no summary or evaluation added) and start a new thread asking explicitly whether the part-in-question should be 1. included or 2. removed. This means we don't need to worry about what was in the article when. I would say every line in an article should have justification for being there, and so the onus of consensus is on those wanting inclusion. That last part, I realize, is the crux of the practical side of the issue.
One point on the theory and practice of admins closing such discussions. The theory is that admins are the same as the rest except for policy decisions on Afds, user blocks and so on. The practice is that their opinions carry a tad bit more weight because they, on average, have more editing experience than others. But here we have plenty of experienced editors already contributing to the debate, and taking an admin's word as the final one is just elevating them to a position WP policy doesn't entitle them to, and, in all fairness, one I haven't seen any admin asking for. Churn and change (talk) 20:09, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think I agree that anyone has the right to overturn a closure after 33 days. If it's closed prematurely, then yes, but 30 days is the default, and no one had commented for some time. So the closure was valid and the closing editor was uninvolved. Starting yet another RfC with the same question seems like overkill. We already had a discussion before this RfC, where there was consensus to include the words in question; that was on 31 August (see here). Noetica would not accept that consensus, so I started the RfC on 1 September. He did his best throughout it to turn it into a mess, then he overturned the closure on 4 October. To open yet another RfC to please just one person makes no sense. SlimVirgin(talk)20:35, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
By "right" I meant a procedural right in the sense such a revert would not attract sanctions (short of being 3RR). RFCs, including closing summaries, aren't binding. If a closing summary is unacceptable to an editor (in this case, to two editors) then the dispute is still on.
There is the issue several experienced editors did oppose inclusion, even though they were a minority (as per the list you posted, and which Noetica edited out of present existence). To me, content of an article should be justified by consensus; if there is no consensus it should be there, it shouldn't be there. Churn and change (talk) 21:27, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but the rationale for refusing to recognize the closing summary is invalid. Claiming to not recognize the validity of the closure because the person doing the closing wasn't an admin is a non-reason. It would be like claiming that because it wasn't closed on a Wednesday, it can't be valid. If there's a real reason to oppose beyond "It didn't close the way I voted" or "It wasn't closed by an admin", then I don't see what the actual objection is. Can you bring up a problem, beyond either of those two reasons? --Jayron3221:35, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree the admin/non-admin thing is nonsense. After all, most of the admins voting here actually voted for the proposal to begin with (you, jc37, the proposer, and, I think PBS), so the closure accorded with their views. No point asking me about the objection to the closure; I think the closure should probably be discussed standalone, if there is consensus, not necessarily unanimous, that the summary should be respected, the issue is done. The objection closure was too early seems strange if the thread had gone into the archives because of inactivity. But I can't speak for the two editors who objected to it. Churn and change (talk) 21:55, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Churn, if you look at the sorry history of this RFC, you will find me preserving what others had written: keeping everything open and visible, and explaining my actions to keep the RFC in conformity with settled procedures. You will find SlimVirgin, in her occasional entries here, hiding and reverting such attempts to keep order. You will find her, as the proposer of the RFC, selecting a portion of it and declaring it to be closed discussion, and attempting to draw administrative attention to that selection. If I have once or twice, in reverting grossly anomalous actions here, left some remarks off the page, that was not my intention. It is how reversions work though, isn't it? I have no problem with any such remarks being restored. Please go ahead and do that, if it's important to anyone. I think it is clear: the appropriate closure would be, or will be, "no consensus". That should not itself be controversial. We can hope that an admin, or indeed a suitably experienced and impartial editor, can see that pretty clearly. It is in a way inevitable. The sooner we get such a closure, if the RFC is not deemed to have simply lapsed on closure by the bot (according to explicit provisions at WP:RFC), the better. Then we might move on, having learned that such thoroughly flawed RFCs will encounter resistance for their serious procedural shortcomings. The stakes are too high for such RFCs to become the norm at vital policy and guideline talkpages. NoeticaTea?22:40, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Slim:
I am not surprised that you find Nathan's "closure" acceptable. But I contrast your attitude with Darkfrog's, who endorsed my overturning it even though he supports your proposal and therefore might have been pleased with the content of Nathan's judgement. You speak of "rights"? I question your "right" to start an RFC with non-neutral and inaccurate advertisement to the community, against the explicit provisions at WP:RFC. I question your "right" to assert ownership of the RFC, censoring well-explained efforts to document its course when you had simply gone missing. I definitely question your characterisation of my orderly efforts to remedy the disorderly actions of others. Or wanton inactions, which were also a problem. And I question a great deal more; but we have to move on. Let's all learn from this, yes? Another RFC might well be justified: properly and fairly conducted, and with a proposal that truly addresses concerns unearthed in the one we should now be abandoning.
Churn:
You speak of "the list [SlimVirgin] posted, and which Noetica edited out of present existence". That is fully explained above. That's how reversions work; but let any remarks be restored. I would welcome that. Don't expect me to do all the work, though! Now, do you speak also of Slim's suppression of my earlier list? Did you track that also, as you selectively track my actions? Your count of who might be displeased by Nathan's "closure" is also rather wayward. If you want to avoid interminable churning of issues here, don't make careless statements that cry out for correction. Move on?
Jayron:
There was a complex of reasons for opposing Nathan's "closure". Don't simplify unreasonably, or you will just prolong pointless to-and-fro when we ought to be doing something more productive, now.
But the whole point is you should have reverted what you disagreed with, the closure, and moved the summary comments to the end. You removed those comments, don't you think you should restore them as a courtesy? Is the argument others have done it a justification, even if true? Yes, I did read the running-poll debate, and the final disposition, of collapsed but present, seems good. I am focusing specifically on your actions not because of non-neutrality but because your actions are the latest ones and hence are more visible. Where did I count who might be displeased by Nathan's closure? I said two people have objected to it; is that a wrong statement? Are you reading an implication "just two" there? I maintain, of the three reasons you gave, the non-admin and too-early aren't valid because of policy and because discussion had been inactive long enough for thread to be archived; the third, incorrect summary, would be valid if there are others agreeing with you. If there are, I would say the dispute continues, with present disposition 'no consensus.' To me, 'no consensus' means 'no consensus to include.' That conclusion depends rather strongly on how you justify your overturning of the RFC closure, and how much support you have on that. Churn and change (talk) 23:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It may be your "whole point", Churn. That does not make it the whole point. I have already explained my actions to put things back on track according to the provisions for RFCs at WP:RFC, and said that if they are imperfect, others can do some of the work too. By all means, restore any remarks that were incidentally removed. You still ignore or excuse, interestingly, some of the much larger anomalies to which I have adverted. If my actions are "the latest", ask yourself why I resorted to those actions. Or better, read and fully absorb the reasons I have already given you for those. Where are Slim's reasons for her actions, anyway? Including in the discussions that preceded the RFC. Let's just leave it all behind, as an unredeemable mess. There is clearly no consensus to insert confusing text that was removed, with accompanying discussion, more than a year ago. Address the real underlying issues, fairly and collegially, and we'll all be better off. So will MOS; so will Wikipedia; so will the readers, ultimately. That's what it's about – not maintaining one's cherished text in MOS at all costs. Can we move on now, really? NoeticaTea?00:06, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica, you are not the angelic defender of order. You are the defender of your own personal preferences and your own ideas about how RfCs should work. There is more than one right way to hear everyone out. Absolutely no one but yourself has said anything about procedural shortcomings. All objections to Slim's proposal except yours have had to do with its substance.
As for "clearly no consensus," chuck the "clearly" and one could argue either way. More than half of the participants supported it and far more than half of the evidence supports it. Darkfrog24 (talk) 00:45, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not invariably angelic. Who is? But I am a staunch defender of order, in the best ways that I know.
Personal preferences? Hardly. Not unargued ones, at least. There is much in MOS that I think is ridiculous, but I leave it alone. And I defend it against arbitrary removal.
My ideas of how RFCs should work are the community's ideas, as captured in WP:RFC. If people here don't like that, let them take it up at WT:RFC. Or the village pump, maybe. Don't blame someone who stands out for insisting on those consensually derived provisions.
There is clearly no consensus either way. If we discount merely confused votes that mix up two kinds of provisions in MOS (see my detailed account of this in my summation subsection, above), there is not even a numerical majority in favour of the misunderstood wording. When there is no consensus either way, accept it. And work on the underlying issues, which really need to be articulated in an honest RFC, conducted as the community expects. The sooner the better.
WP:RFC does not contain the large number of formal rules that you are acting as if it contains. If there is something in WP:RFC outlining the specific structure that an RFC must have or stating that the person who initiates the RFC has very specific duties which Slim has failed to perform, then point to the line. If your ideas came from the community, then the community is something other than WP:RFC.
No numerical majority? There's been a numerical majority in every single count. You'd have to do some serious cherry-picking to get an even split. Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:18, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Did you read what I wrote, a few lines above? It was this: "If we discount merely confused votes that mix up two kinds of provisions in MOS (see my detailed account of this in my summation subsection, above), there is not even a numerical majority in favour of the misunderstood wording." Keep misreading and misrepresenting, and we'll be here forever. Can we put it all behind us, and in future work according to WP:RFC? For a start read the bits about neutrality and delisting by the bot; note the omission of any prohibition on reverting incompetent closures; read the whole thing, preferably. And read what the community says at WP:TALK, also. Both Slim and I edited at others' contributions; I have explained my own reversions, and I have twice said that I have not the slightest objection if anyone will undertake the work of restoring anything incidentally removed along the way. Do it yourself, if it bothers you! The intent was plainly not to stifle comment. Then compare Slim's actions; and note for example how signed votes (including actual signatures) on this page are still replicated, misleadingly, through her intervention. Give it a rest. I will when you will! Move on. NoeticaTea?03:46, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Of course I read what you write. I just don't agree with you. Cutting out the contributions of everyone whose votes displease you, perhaps because you would prefer to believe that they didn't understand the issue, would be cherry-picking. You consistently claim that people who don't agree with you must have misunderstood something.
And of course I have read WP:RFC. It doesn't contain the content that you claim it contains. You've accused Slim of doing wrong by not enforcing a strictly structured RfC, but WP:RFC doesn't say that anyone has to. It doesn't outline a strict RfC structure at all. This idea of a "proper" RfC structure is not coming from WP:RFC. It's coming from you. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:50, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Laughable and entirely unsupportable misrepresentation of my actions, if doing that were not a serious departure from productive talkpage behaviour. Tell you what: I will resist the inclination to refute it in detail. This has to stop somewhere. NoeticaTea?06:07, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I step away from the keyboard for a moment, and look what happens to this thread! The subthreads have become impossible to follow; I will put my points all together.
I don't know if it was me Jayron was cursing out with the F-bomb in the edit summary, or someone else, but at the risk of being hectored about "feelings", I will respond to the issue of who should close that Jayron seems to be upset about. True, there have been non-admins close discussions, but they are the type you will see a few months later with an RfA where everyone votes to support because "I already thought they were an admin". The same with admins who close the discussions. Although admins are expected to know something about different areas of the Wikipedia, the editors who follow these pages are used to seeing certain admins participate in the discussions and have an idea about whether they have clue or are familiar with the issues.
Is Darkfrog (sic)? No, the usage sounds perfectly normal to my version of AmE. The way it is phrased I interpret to be a way to soften a criticism. But Noetica should be humored since he uses OzEng, and as I understand it, they do things a little differently; I have even heard that in the antipodal lands, they walk upside down. But Darkfrog has not introduced an error.
Did Darkfrog make a summation? No. I'm afraid I was the only one who tried to summarize the rationale for the proposal, and it was the same as the first rationale against the proposal. The so-called summation was a comment added after the ivote, and was more of a rhetorical question. If comment was seriously expected, you would think it would have been presented in the discussion section. I suspect the real problem isn't lack of understanding, but lack of agreement.
It's clear there is no consensus, and advertising in additional forums just produced the same result on a larger scale. If the original requester still wants to pursue the idea, perhaps it should be reworked to address the issues that were brought up, and a new discussion should focus on something like "Should the MoS be ignored for all articles?" or "Should projects be able to opt out of MOS?" Or "Should projects be encouraged to set requirements for articles in one category in the areas where variations are permitted?" or whatever.
Does anyone agree with the reasons given for reverting Nathan's closure?
Noetica's primary reason for reverting was that a "controversial RfC should be closed by an admin". The above discussion shows that he is a minority of one in that opinion. Noetica has argued, at length, that the validity of the votes should be decided according his own criteria. Jason's "failure" to use Noetica's criteria was another reason that Noetica gave for reverting him. It seems to me self-evident that Jason is not obliged to use Noetica's criteria, any more than he's obliged to use mine or any other participant's. Jason's job was to assess the opinions and thought processes of all participants, which he did. Subsequent to his revert, Noetica has mentioned that the bot had delisted the RfC before Jason closed it. Well, the bot did exactly that, it delisted it; it removed it from the list. It didn't declare that all bets were now off, and we must start again. The RfC was open for 33 days. All interested parties must already have seen the listing. The hours between the delisting and the closure made no difference at all.
I don't feel that Noetica, a heavily involved editor, should have reverted Nathan, an uninvolved editor. I don't feel that Noetica has found any support for the reasons he gave for the revert: it should have been an admin, Jason didn't use Noetica's criteria, a bot had delisted the RfC. Noetica's cri de guerre throughout all of this has been "due process". Surely due process now is that Nathan's closure stand, and the text be included in the article. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 12:09, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's my understanding that an RfC tag is a request for new voices and new participants. Because the conversation is ongoing (or was before we all got sidetracked into a discussion of whether or not the RfC tag should be removed), I believe that it is still proper to invite new participants.
The rules do not seem to require that the person who closes the RfC be an administrator.
As for deciding the issue, more than half of the participants support re-inserting the contested wording, but that's not how consensus is supposed to work (it's often how it does work, but that's another matter). I'd like to look at the evidence of the practical consequences of this wording. Four different contributors claim to have seen problems that they attribute to the presence or absence of this wording, and I'd love to hear from them again or from anyone who's witnessed something similar. Darkfrog24 (talk) 13:46, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's reasonable Darkfrog,but I think there's a limit to how many new participants we can attract. I'd also be interested to see concrete examples. How about we a drop a line to those four and see what they come up with; then, after that, if nothing's changed within the RfC, we go with Nathan's closure? Consensus is always the thorniest issue. At some point, someone has to make a decision, even if it's to declare no consensus. In this instance it was Nathan who made the call, and he was fully qualified to do so. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 14:07, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The point of an RfC is to create a framework within which a decision can be made, however imperfectly. The framework is "30 days discussion as the default maximum (can be closed earlier if there are no objections), with closure by an uninvolved editor." People can revert a closure if it happens before the 30 days is up, or if the closer has previously taken a side and therefore shouldn't be the closer, or if there has been inappropriate canvassing or inadequate publicizing, but otherwise closures are respected. There would be no point in holding RfCs otherwise.
This RfC was held according to the normal standards for a guideline RfC. It was publicized on the usual bot pages and on the PUMP, GA and FA pages. It was left open for 33 days. Someone requested closure on AN/RFC, and an uninvolved editor weighed up the consensus, which reflected the consensus of the previous discussion. It also reflected reality (namely that cross-article consistency is not, as a matter of fact, required). There is therefore no reason not to respect Nathan's closure. SlimVirgin(talk)16:57, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There's nothing to stop us from re-respecting it. The only alternative is another RfC. Given that I started this one by apologizing for being repetitive (an informal discussion had already established a consensus on August 31, but Noetica objected), it would be absurd to start a third one just because Noetica has objected again. SlimVirgin(talk)22:55, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Again from WP:PROPOSAL: "If consensus for broad community support has not developed after a reasonable time period, the proposal is considered failed. If consensus is neutral or unclear on the issue and unlikely to improve, the proposal has likewise failed." Also: "It is typically more productive to rewrite a failed proposal from scratch to address problems than to re-nominate a proposal."
I don't see why not. How big does it have to be to qualify? One paragraph? Ten pages? It's new, it's a proposal, and it's a guideline. Policies and guidelines have a unique position. --Neotarf (talk) 18:11, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This closure was premature.
The original discussion died down about halfway through, and the initiator of the proposal made a request for early closure. But there was some disagreement about the early closure. This request was postponed, and in the meantime, notices were placed on various pages. This drew in a few more votes and comments, about equally divided, as before. Again the discussion died down. At this point, I wrote a summary of the positions and started a new section for tallies, since the the discussion seemed to be finished and the tallies had not been updated. This triggered a new round of discussion. At the time of the latest attempt at closure, several questions had been asked, and the problem reframed in several ways, but responses were still being awaited.
I don't think it's too fair to dump on the editor who attempted the closure, since it was done in good faith, although evidently without being familiar with WP:CONLIMITED, which states "Wikipedia has a higher standard of participation and consensus for changes to policies and guidelines than to other types of articles" or with WP:PROPOSALs for policies and guidelines, that asks that a closing editor be "familiar with all of the policies and guidelines that relate to the proposal", consider whether "major concerns raised during the community discussion been addressed", and whether "the proposal contradict(s) any existing guidelines or policies". The editor's statement "The closure was neither premature nor incompetent, but you've cleverly exploited my not caring. You may continue arguing about something that no readers actually care about."[37] should pretty much answer any questions about that individual's level of attention to nuances of policy and guideline. It is admirable that they responded to a request to help out with the backlog, especially on these pages that seem to have so many hidden landmines for the unsuspecting newcomer, but they didn't seem to have noticed that the discussion had indeed started up again.
--Neotarf (talk) 23:26, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The RfC was over. The bot had archived it because no one had commented for seven days. You unarchived it but prematurely removed the bot tag (on 28 September). [38] Then a few of you started discussing whether the words to be restored had ever been in the MoS (yes, they had). But there was no new discussion, no new issues. That discussion petered out too. Nathan then came along on October 4 (33 days after the RfC had opened) formally closed it, and summed up consensus. Then suddenly Noetica claimed (a) that an admin had to close it, which is not correct; and (b) that the closure was premature, which is clearly also not correct. SlimVirgin(talk)00:41, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No I did not "prematurely remove the bot tag", the bot removed the bot tag with the edit summary "Removing expired RFC template." [39] I had to revert the removal later in order to take the discussion out of the archive, but I restored it as the last step. --Neotarf (talk) 01:58, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't agree that the closure was premature, Neotarf. There was no on-going substantive discussion at the time of the closure, and there hasn't been any since. It's true that Nathan's response to Noetica's insulting remarks was somewhat petulant, but that has no bearing on the closure itself. Anything said after the revert clearly could have not been used as justification for the revert. I can't accept that this RfC has to be closed by someone familiar with the minutia of the MoS. The question in the RfC is not one that requires any particular specialist knowledge. It deals with a concept that pretty much every editor is familiar with. And let's not forget that it's the job of the closing editor to assess the consensus among the arguments put forward within the RfC itself, nothing more. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:54, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I believe that rearranging the issue so that we could view it from the POV of evidence rather than by the number of people who agreed with one side or the other (not that that can't work too) counts as new material for the purposes of this thread.
I do believe that the closure was premature but I do not believe that an admin has to do the closing. My only objection to Nathan specifically was that he resorted to name-calling. Darkfrog24 (talk) 00:56, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What is your suggestion now, Darkfrog? I noticed on August 11 that these words had been removed and I restored them. I was reverted. I began this discussion on August 12. The bot archived it and Noetica objected to me unarchiving it, so I had to restart it on August 22. We achieved a majority to restore the words on August 31. Noetica reverted. I therefore started the RfC on 1 September. On October 4 Noetica twice reverted Nathan's closure.
As a result it has now been two months to discuss a sentence that we all know is demonstrably true -- Wikipedia does not as a matter of fact require style consistency across articles. If you're not going to support Nathan's closure, what do you suggest? SlimVirgin(talk)01:31, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Of course it does, and there are probably some bots operating on that premise. You should probably go back and read the comments everyone gave with their ivote. You may think you know what you wrote, but does everyone interpret it the way you do? Proofreading is more than looking for typos. --Neotarf (talk) 02:09, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Darkfrog, you've mentioned a couple of times that one side of the debate has a numerical majority and that the same side has put forward by far the strongest arguments. That, essentially, is consensus. If we don't act now and implement the proposal, then we are left with the version supported by a numerical minority and by far the weakest arguments. You've also mentioned that some editors were going to provide examples which will shed new light on the issue. I feel that if they were going to do that, they would have done so by now. We can't wait for ever. If such examples do exist they will surface at some point, and we'll all face-palm and make the appropriate adjustment to the article. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:54, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Minor distinction: I said "evidence," not "arguments." Evidence includes things that people have observed. Arguments are demonstrations of logic that can include hypothetical situations. There have been several decent arguments on both sides.
If evidence is presented which will settle the discussion, that will be great. I rather feel that if it existed, it would have been presented by now. By "act", I mean put the amended version of the text into the article. The article can have only one version of the text. There is a version which is supported by the numerical majority and the strongest arguments. There was consensus in favour of putting that version into the article in the RfC. As things stand, it is not in the article. I feel that it should be. Once the RfC decided that amended version should be in the article, the change should have been made immediately. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 19:01, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, it is the arguments FOR the proposal that have not been summarized. What is broke? What is it trying to fix? I don't care if someone presents either "evidence" or "arguments" for the insertion of the language; I would love to see either. I haven't seen anything beyond some wild yearning for expression that MOS is supposedly inhibiting. Is this proposed language meant to weaken MOS so people can insert dashes and hyphens and capitalization all over the place whenever they have a creative urge to do so? Because those are the people who are all over this thread and the proposal is worded in a way that is very hard to interpret. Can someone cut through the woo factor and provide some clarity to this issue? --Neotarf (talk) 19:20, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I see multiple editors objecting to the closure on grounds discussion wasn't over. Almost by definition, that means there is no consensus to accept the closure. Debating whether they are right becomes a debate over a debate over a debate.
Another point. On WP, if an edit sticks, it is assumed to represent consensus. Per WP:CONSENSUS: " Any edit that is not disputed or reverted by another editor can be assumed to have consensus." That means SlimVirgin's addition of the wording four years ago was per consensus. It also means the removal a year ago also reflected a consensus, a new one changed from the old one. From the very next sentence on WP:CONSENSUS: "Should that edit later be revised by another editor without dispute, it can be assumed that a new consensus has been reached." The latest addition by SlimVirgin was disputed, so the existing consensus before the RFC was not to have the material there. The RFC, in my opinion, has ended in no consensus, since the "include" group doesn't have an overwhelming majority of votes, and the subjective weight of arguments is strong on both sides. That means the existing consensus from before the RFC, not to include, stands. Churn and change (talk) 01:37, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is why we have RfCs with a default 30-day closure, rules about publicizing, rules against canvassing, and uninvolved editors to close them. So that someone makes a decision regarding current consensus (not four years ago, or one year ago), based on arguments and based on numbers, and then we move on. The problem with this page is that the normal decision-making processes seem not to apply. I'm not talking only about this RfC but apparently right across the board. It's in everyone's interests to get that sorted out, whether you agree or disagree about any particular issue. SlimVirgin(talk)01:48, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I rather agree with Churn and change, and I think I would even if I wanted the addition. If there are any further attempts to add this text before a proper closure in favour of doing so, I think we should escalate this somehow. I will be commenting further, I hope later this evening European time, but real life calls for a while... --Mirokado (talk) 13:28, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Since we have been asked for our detailed opinions about the undone closure:
Nathan posted the closure at 2012-10-04T15:52:43. This was about two and a half days after Darkfrog posted the Presentation of evidence... section (diff) at 2012-10-02T04:47:15, with until then, no responses to that section (I responded a bit later). There was an ongoing thread about the bot archive and probably others in progress too (it is getting difficult to keep track...). The bot's archival was reversed indicating that at least some participants did not feel that the discussion was ready to be stopped. For these reasons I think the action was premature.
Here is Nathan's rationale:
This RfC was about the sentence "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." In particular, whether the phrase "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" should be included or not. There were two reasons to remove the phrase: that it is superfluous and that Wikipedia should be striving to be consistent across all articles. These are two very different viewpoints that are arguing for the same change in the guidelines, but the net effect of the change would be that it would increase arguing over what was meant in the MOS. Those who wish to retain the phrase (or oppose removal) basically are arguing that consistency across Wikipedia articles is not, nor has ever been, required, and even if it is superfluous it should be reiterated in this sentence. The consensus of the discussion was to oppose the removal of the phrase. -Nathan Johnson (diff)
The final sentence is both clearly inaccurate as just a bald statement since there was (and is) obviously no consensus and an unsupported statement of opinion, with no attempt to explain how this conclusion was arrived at, despite quite a long preamble. We need at the appropriate time at least a summary of which arguments are most persuasive and why, mention of discounted arguments and why, which policy(ies) were regarded as most relevant and so on. And not too long! Not easy.
Surely you can see the flaw in that argument. People start an RfC when they cannot reach agreement among themselves. The idea is to get as many people as possible to participate, and everyone agrees to abide by the final decision of an uninvolved editor. Anyone who participates in an RfC implicitly signs up to that contract. Here, you're reneging on your agreement. You don't like the decision so you're simply refusing to accept it.
You're also confusing two kinds of consensus. There is the consensus that counts, the one assessed by Nathan, which took into account all of the views expressed in the RfC, and there is the consensus between 3 or 4 of you who are not happy with the result. You 3 or 4 have decided that there is not a consensus between you to ratify the RfC--big surprise!--so you're not going to let it stand. As I wrote below, if you're allowed to get away with this, then you've just invented a way for any small group of editors unhappy with the result of an RfC to sabotage it. Well done!
You have absolutely no grounds for preventing the new version being added into the article. You said that the closure was premature, so I asked you to provide evidence of on-going discussion. You came up an exchange from last week about bot-settings. I mean, come on! You're also unhappy with the brevity of Nathan's closing remarks, and your cohorts would prefer an admin. Well I see we've had an admin closure, which stretched in its magnificence to two sentences. I genuinely hope you'll support my revert of that closure. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:26, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm going to add the text back into the article, per the RfC
I'm going to add the text back into the article. From the section above, the only remaining justification for the revert appears to be that the closure was premature. I'd say that is demonstrably not the case. The only discussions we've had in the last few days have been meta discussions about the closure, about the nature of consensus, and so on. At the time Nathan closed the RfC there had been no substantive discussion of the question in the RfC for several days and there has been none since. The RfC ran its course, and consensus was assessed by an uninvolved editor. To anyone considering reverting my change, I would ask that you point out here where the on-going discussion is. For the record, I commented within the RfC as 87.112.91.134. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:54, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I mean discussion relating directly to the question put in the RfC, discussion that could conceivably change someone's mind about including the text in the article. Without that the argument that the RfC was closed prematurely doesn't hold water. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 17:40, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Neotarf, I see that you've reverted claiming that there is no consensus. That's ludicrous. Nathan made the decision on consensus when he closed the RfC. You're involved in the RfC; it's not up to you decide whether or not there is consensus. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 17:52, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is obviously under dispute. Why don't you let the dispute play out, and let everyone have their say? Sheesh. When someone wanted to update a tally, there was a major freakout because discussion was still going on. Why be in such a hurry to stifle discussion now? There isn't a deadline you know. --Neotarf (talk) 18:43, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The RfC decided the question. The amended version should be in the article. Two or three of you who are not happy with the result are refusing to allow that happen, thereby claiming there is a dispute. If editors in every RfC carried on like that, it would wreck the entire process. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 19:01, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Filibustering
Can I point people to our policy on consensus which states Editors who refuse to allow any consensus except the one they insist on, and who filibuster indefinitely to attain that goal, risk damaging the consensus process. Can i remind everyone that Wikipedia is built by consensus and sometimes that means people moving away from their positions and coming to an accord. In the interests of this case, perhaps it might be best to examine the nub of the issue. The point is whether Wikipedia applies consistency across the entire encyclopedia as well as internally in an article. This is demonstrably not the case, the MOS makes the point itself by noting that when in dispute use the style of the first major contributor. This is why some articles use colour and some use color. If the MOS allows for such differences in style, shouldn't it therefore say so? Why would it not do so? If the fear is in the words themselves, can we not create a new set of words that please us all? Building a consensus does not allow anyone a finger on the nuclear button to disrupt any discussion by offering unilateral positions. Editors need to collaborate to find a common ground and remove the personalization of the issue away from she said he said and into an area of commonality. I would hate to see people become too frustrated over this issue. It's just an encyclopedia built by a group of people that will be changed when we're all long dead and buried if we've done our parts right. HidingT22:45, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, the point of this conversation was whether or not to reinsert the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole." The idea that the MoS requires internal consistency but does not require inter-article consistency has been around for years. The original issue here was what the MoS should say about that. Then that dredged up other ideas about what the purpose of the MoS should be.
And Hiding makes a point. Maybe "not ...whole" isn't something that can get consensus either way, but is there some other text that could? Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:54, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed. And the filibustering seems to be paying off. Three or four editors have used brute force to prevent the result of an RfC standing, and now a tame admin has come along and re-closed it in their favour. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 11:34, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Postmature closure?
I thought this thing was long dead and gone. Slim Virgin failed to convince people that we should add the odd clause that she inserted here on Aug. 11 claiming it was being "restored". As far as I can tell, the whole basis for this mess was this lie. We didn't buy it. Move on. Or if I missed something, what? Dicklyon (talk) 02:50, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There have been heated disagreements, Dicklyon, but no one has told lies. The contested wording was in the MoS for quite some time, so it is accurate to say that this was about restoring or reinserting it. Hit CTRL-F for the word "legwork" if you want proof. Quiddity dug up some relevant changes. Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:57, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, yes, I just studied the history some more. I see now that it was out for over a year, and that for quite a while earlier, until May 2010, it included a bit that clarified the intent, saying "Therefore, even where the Manual of Style permits alternative usages, be consistent within an article." That is, it was more about encouraging consistency. Without this last sentence, it seems to be more about permission to be inconsistent, i.e. to ignore the recommendations of the MOS as long as an article is internally consistent. That's the nuance that many of us object to. If it were restored in whole, it might be less of a problem. Dicklyon (talk) 03:12, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There's some extrapolation here, but I was under the impression that no one objected to reinserting that part of the sentence and that the whole conversation was about "not necessarily ...whole." Darkfrog24 (talk) 05:32, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Note: I've restored Nathan Johnson's close. There is no reason why an RfC cannot be closed by an editor in good standing and this editor does appear to be in good standing. The request for closure was sitting on AN for quite a while, the RfC itself saw no new opinions coming in for several days, closing it was a reasonable action. --regentspark (comment) 21:08, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And I have re-restored it. Noetica complained that it wasn't an admin closure, and now we have an admin endorsing that it was a valid closure. Noetica should stop stonewalling the consensus in this page with non-existing requirements that are in conflict with Wikipedia not being a bureaucracy. --Enric Naval (talk) 22:26, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Time to respect the admin's decision
RegentsPark stated "I've restored Nathan's closure." 1. The RfC hatting summary text should reflect Nathan's decision, not Kwami's. 2. That decision should be implemented in the MoS itself—the contested wording should be reinserted.
Yes, I opposed Nathan's closure at the time. That is because the discussion itself was still ongoing at the time. Certain parties asked for an admin to weigh in, and an admin did. Now it's time to let it stand. Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:54, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think I understand one source of confusion: by hatting I meant "hiding" text. My two "hatting" changes are the green bars you see with "Extended content" in them. Those are still there, as you can see. I never reverted anything else, did not change the summary at the top (I think what you are calling Rfc hatting text), which closure the thread reflected and so on. Hope that clears your confusion as to what I was doing at any rate. You can directly check the diffs to confirm I never reverted a thing. Churn and change (talk) 04:03, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oh I see. Yes that does show up before the change that you made. I rescind my "Churn probably just made a mistake." But I stand by my actual change. This section should reflect the text of the editor that RegentsPark approved. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:18, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And the confusions and chaos roll on and on. No, it is not time to accept any patchwork quasi-solution to a monumentally botched process. We really need to do better, to see that RFCs are conducted fairly from start to finish. The suggestion that the present RFC resulted in consensus is surreal. Only the most committed partisan could claim that it had and keep a straight face.
I knew it. I knew before the RFC started there would be difficulties. I know the players too well.
Set it aside, leave it behind, learn the lessons. If that is not done, an ArbCom case may be the only proper continuation.
Seventeen to thirteen in favor of reinserting the text. Far more evidence offered in favor of reinserting the text than against. No the conclusion that this discussion resulted in consensus is not "surreal."
Noetica, you insisted that an admin weigh in. An admin said "Nathan's original decision is valid." Now it is time for you to set it aside, leave it behind, and learn the lessons. As you keep pointing out, I didn't think that Nathan's closure came at a good time either, and I'm willing to let it stand. Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:48, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Resolving the underlying infobox "ownership" issue
The fact that "first major contributor gets to arbitrarily decided" idea proposed above isn't workable is only half the problem here, and not the root one. The other, which this proposal also tried to address, is that wikiprojects by and large do appear to believe that they have the authority to tell the entire editorship "thou must" or "thou shalt not" put an infobox on any article We the Project consider within our Holy Scope. They need to be rapidly and unmistakably disabused of this notion before this situation gets any worse. So, the underlying issue this proposal tried to address is a real problem and remains unaddressed with this proposal's failure (because it reached too far in the opposite direction).
I propose that we add a statement to the effect that no editor or group of editors can force this issue, and that it's up to a consensus of the editors at the article, on a per-article basis, just like almost all other editorial decisions on Wikipedia.
(PS: I rather wish we'd scrap the entire WikiProject system and replace it with something that forbids any kind of "club"-like model - no "members" or "participants", no "projects", just pages of recommendations arrived at by a consensus of editors who care, on how to address particular topics. But that's another issue for another time and place.)
Can you provide links to places where this has happened? (I'm not doubting you, I'm just interested in reading what the debate looked like in those instances.) Tdslk (talk) 00:54, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The rule you want already exists, or nearly does: "If discussion cannot determine which style to use in an article, defer to the style used by the first major contributor." The first choice is a consensus of editors at the individual article. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:21, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I was asked to comment again. That is not the consensus. The consensus that is followed in practice in WP is that once it is decided to use infoboxes on a particular type of article then the decision stands until consensus changes, and affects every article in scope. It does not go article by article. In particular, there is general consensus throughout WP to use infoboxes for people in as standardized and generalized a way as possible across all the relevant wikiprojects; that nobody is compelled to make such an infobox when writing an article, but that if they do not, someone will add it. (I understood the original proposal here to be challenging that, and I understand that challenge to be rejected. If the wording of the MOS needs to be changed to make it clear that they are not optional, I make such a proposal.) DGG ( talk ) 15:44, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not to mention in-article comments instructing people not to use infoboxes, which are a blatant defiance of the outcome of the RfC called by members of that project in a vain attempt to enforce their preference. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits18:08, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Quote - "Whether to include an infobox, which infobox to include, and which parts of the infobox to use, is determined through discussion and consensus among the editors at each individual article". There seems to be a drive here that all articles must have infoboxes, and that the editors of an article or members of wikiprojects have no say whatsoever about what the content or format of infoboxes, which people here appear to want to be set centrally as part of MOS and be immune from all challenge. Why should MOS (effectively a Wikiproject itself) have supremacy and be allowed to dictate things if no-one else is? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nigel Ish (talk • contribs) 18:32, 22 September 2012
Quote =Nigel Ish "a drive here that all articles must have infoboxes" and "the editors of an article or members of wikiprojects have no say whatsoever about what the content or format of infoboxes" - All that would be the opposite of what the policy says that you have just quoted. All content and format disputes should be discussed at the individual article level first - then proceed to outside the article if not resolvable at the article level. No blanket rules by a group of editors should prevail over talking about what is best for each article at each article!Moxy (talk) 19:45, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The quote is what the guidance currently says - the following comments are my take on what the regulars here appear to be doing in trying to force a Wikipedia wide standard for infoboxes onto all articles, with the appearance of trying to override any objections either at the article and ignore any issues that wikiprojects raise, whether based on valid subject related reasons or not.Nigel Ish (talk) 20:18, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oh sorry that was not clear to me.... but yes you are correct that the majority think infoboxes are beneficial thus an asset to our readers.Moxy (talk) 20:29, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I just want to comment to say I agree with DGG's analysis above. The current practice is that once there is agreement that a certain type (topic) of article should have an infobox, we do indeed put infoboxes on all articles of that type. This is not the same, for example, as citations, where different articles of the same type could have different citation styles. But I also agree that the MOS is not the place to decide what infobox to use. For many topics it would be better decided by a wikiproject. For types of articles that span many wikiprojects (e.g. biographies), the discussion should be on the village pump. — Carl (CBM · talk) 14:37, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It appears that the example "the Uganda–Tanzania War; the Roman–Syrian War; the east–west runway; the Lincoln–Douglas debates; a carbon–carbon bond" while not commenting that it is a little long (do we really need so many examples?), is in need of two corrections; in the first example, "the Uganda–Tanzania War", war should not be capitalized (see google book search), and it should be "but not the Roman–Syrian War (as Roman-Syrian War is a proper name)". The article at Uganda–Tanzania War should also be moved, to Uganda–Tanzania war, and if it is a proper name, a better example used, and it be moved to Uganda-Tanzania War. (already moved) [and now it needs to be moved, but there is an RM to decide that...] Apteva (talk) 23:08, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. I have reverted Apteva's undiscussed move of Uganda–Tanzania War, which was apparently done to prove a point here and not in the interest of the article itself. This section attracted no comment before Apteva elevated it to an RFC, probably because Apteva is pushing on proper names, en dashes, and hyphens at several forums at the same time – including an RM, now closed as not moved, for the long-settled Mexican–American War. I have explicitly said, on this talkpage and elsewhere, that general issues with WP:MOS guidelines should be raised as general issues, right here. Not at several locations, and not as particular sparring points. It seems to me that this RFC is yet another waste of time. I comment on one detail only: yes, obviously many examples are needed in the guideline. Even more than we have now, perhaps. Some editors are still refusing to accept the principle it is based on as consensual; and Apteva, for example, is playing hard by appeal to inconsequential differences among the present examples. If any element of the long and meticulous community consultation on dashes in 2011 needs review, let it be done in an orderly and informed way. Some recommended background reading for those interested: the article Proper noun, most of which is now accurate. (It needs a move to Proper name.) NoeticaTea?21:48, 7 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It was a correct move. Uganda–Tanzania war is not a proper noun and is not capitalized. Nor was it undiscussed. The date and time in the above discussion shows that it was pointed out on September 27 that it should be moved, and that it was not moved until October 5 (and a check of the edit history will show that I noted that it had been moved when I opened the RfC on October 7). Clearly plenty of time and some for anyone to disagree with the proposal. Seeing none, I took it as approval, not an unusual response. Should an RM to move proper noun come to my attention I would object. And I think that would be the consensus. The word phrase "proper noun" did not enter use until about 1890. The dictionary, if it contains "proper name", defines it as proper noun. The two terms are interchangeable. I have called for an RfC because I am not going to get into an edit war over the Revert. In the BRD cycle, after R comes D. There had been no response, so I am asking for a response. I do not believe that a review of a clearly embarrassing discussion needs to be reviewed. Proper names use hyphens and our MOS says so. 10,000 books use a hyphen and maybe a 100 use something else. Case closed. I would like to remind everyone to focus on the issue, not the editor, though. WP is never an authority on anything, proper nouns included. WP articles can never be used as a RS. Apteva (talk) 02:40, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
These topics have already been the focus of much long and pointless argumentation that wasted the time of multiple editors, time that could have been spent elsewhere, like in creating content. I don't understand the point of reopening these discussions so soon after they have finally and painfully been settled by consensus. --Neotarf (talk) 08:03, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There are still improvements that are needed - fix the misleading and incorrect examples. If someone wants to argue that proper nouns are not capitalized or that sentences do not need periods, not questions of course, then certainly their time is better spent elsewhere, but if someone insists that Roman-Syrian War is spelled with an endash they will have a very hard time supporting that premise. Is War capitalized in "Uganda-Tanzania War"? Possibly, but if it is the punctuation is a hyphen and not an appropriate example of where to use an endash. If war is not capitalized, Uganda–Tanzania war is an example of where an endash is used, and the capitalization needs to be fixed. In both cases the current article needs to be moved - either to Uganda-Tanzania War or to Uganda–Tanzania war. There are always people who misspell things, and use incorrect punctuation, and that is why there is an edit tab and a move option. Apteva (talk) 03:49, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comet Hale-Bopp
This example: "Comet Hale–Bopp or just Hale–Bopp (discovered by Hale and Bopp)" needs to be removed because used either with or without the word "Comet" this is still a proper noun and therefore uses a hyphen, as supported by the thousands of reliable sources that use this punctuation. According to Google Books there are 31,900 sources, the overwhelming majority of which use a hyphen. It is not even close. Apteva (talk) 22:47, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Nonsense. Many of those reliable sources do use the en dash, which confirms that it is simply a styling choice. The fact that many sources have a style that substitutes hyphens in the traditional role of the en dash, and that the Google books OCR can't tell the difference, does not mean that WP needs to adopt that style. There's nothing special or unique about Hale–Bopp here. Your concept of "proper noun, therefore hyphen" is unsupportable hallucination. Dicklyon (talk) 01:01, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not nonsense at all. There are some sources that do use en dash, but if there were many, as in many more than use hyphen, then statistically at least one would have appeared in the first ten. Out of the first 100 how many use hyphen? Out of the first 1,000 how many? Google books has 32,900 to look through. I strongly disagree with the supposition that an OCR can not tell the difference as there are a huge number of occurrences in google books of both endashes where they are appropriate and em dashes where they are appropriate. While it is far easier to do a text search, I am completely confident in my assessment that there are no endashes in the first 10 results that I obtained. As was pointed out before, any suggestion of "many" needs to also include "out of how many", as saying there are 432 examples of using Hale-Bopp with an endash sounds impressive until you find out, say, that that was out of 32,000, with 29,000 using a hyphen and 3,000 using a space, just as a made up example. Proper noun hyphen is not fiction. It is in our MOS and I really have yet to see any example of a proper noun that does not use a hyphen. I am not saying they do not exist. I can certainly imagine that if someone named Hale-Bopp and someone named Lennard-Jones discovered a comet it could be called the "Hale-Bopp–Lennard-Jones Comet, to distinguish between one discovered by Hale and someone named Bopp-Lennard-Jones, or by one person named Hale-Bopp-Lennard and one named Jones. Normally exceptions to rules are pretty easy to find. It is academic to find them, but still interesting, and I really have not seen one. One editor perhaps looked for examples of endashes in WP article titles and came up with two that are not proper nouns and two that are using incorrect punctuation on WP. Since when has WP ever been considered a reliable source? Apteva (talk) 04:27, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Nonsense. Several of them DO in fact appear in the first page of 10 hits on Google Book Search (with previews). You need to actually look at the previews to see how they are styled, as the OCR does not distinguish hyphen from en dash usually (and sometimes it sees en dashes as em dashes—I was going to say like this one, but it turns out that one really did get typeset with an em dash, due to some amateur typographer's blunder). If en dashes do show up sometimes in snippets, in probably from books that they got electronically, as with this one, where you can tell they got it electronically because if you zoom way in the letters aren't blurry or pixelated; they're being rendered from text. The same effect is often seen in Google Scholar, where papers with en dashes often show up as hyphen, but not always; in spite of that, nearly half show up on the first scholar results page with en dash. It's not an usual style like you're making it out to be. Dicklyon (talk) 05:33, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Am I hearing an echo? 5/20 is a long way from "nearly half". It is 3 to 1 in favor of using a hyphen. Which is correct based on that information? Clearly a hyphen. Apteva (talk) 06:35, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
For now I have changed "Comet" to comet, per p. 48 of the New Oxford Dictionary for Scientific Writers and Editors, and per our article on the comet, which does not capitalize the word comet - hence an endash is correct as it is not treated as a proper noun. There is an open RM to move the page to Comet Hale-Bopp, treating it as a proper noun. Sources clearly favor proper noun status. Halley's comet, on the other hand, does not favor proper noun status and can also be corrected. Apteva (talk) 16:28, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Please see WP:Policies and guidelines#Not part of the encyclopedia: "The policies, guidelines, and process pages themselves are not part of the encyclopedia proper. Consequently, they do not generally need to conform with the content standards. It is therefore not necessary to provide reliable sources to verify Wikipedia's administrative pages, or to phrase Wikipedia procedures or principles in a neutral manner, or to cite an outside authority in determining Wikipedia's editorial practices. Instead, the content of these pages is controlled by community-wide consensus, and the style should emphasize clarity, directness, and usefulness to other editors."
The "New Oxford Dictionary for Scientific Writers and Editors" does not have any authority over Wikipedia. The Wikipedia house style for comets is here: WP:Naming conventions (astronomical objects)#Comets.
Irrelevant. The name we have chosen is "comet" not "Comet". Using "Comet" gives it proper noun status, and it becomes Comet Hale-Bopp, with a hyphen, not an endash. the section referenced says to use the common name, and if none, give it proper noun status (how generous). The example, Comet Hyakutake, is littered with references that use comet and ones that use Comet. Apteva (talk) 18:53, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
IMHO, recalling high school grammar classes might be of help here. Is the word "comet" a part of the name, or it just reiterates what the name is about? In other words, can we leave "comet" out without loss of meaning? Does the (c/C)omet Halley-Bopp resemble the "New York Times" newspaper and a McDonald's restaurant, or, rather, The Wall Street Journal and the White House?
To my feeling, that particular space object is called Halley's Comet, and another one is called Hale-Bopp Comet. Since the names of space objects (planets, stars, comets, galaxies, constellations, etc.) are always capitalised (e.g., Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Aldebaran, Vega, Milky Way, Sun, etc., etc.) , the word "comet" should also be capitalised in all the instances, since it is an inseparable part of that object's name. Rules as to dash/hyphen should apply accordingly. kashmiri19:52, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Of course Comet Hale-Bopp (however hyphenated) is a proper noun. All names are proper nouns. Some sources may choose not to capitalize it; that's a style decision (a poor one in my view, but style rather than grammar). But even in those sources, it's still a proper noun — that's a grammatical rather than stylistic category. --Trovatore (talk) 20:29, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That may be obvious to any number of people, but it is not obvious to the people who write articles about the comet, or Articles as in scientific articles published elsewhere.[41] In both cases the spelling of the dictionary is used. Why would we write a style guide that no one was using? Style guides should follow what we are doing, not make up rules that no one uses. I suggest that Comet should be changed to comet in Celestial bodies to agree with common use. We use sun and moon when 99.9+% (probably a lot more 9s for sun than moon) of the time we actually mean Sun and Moon, and it is ridiculous to capitalize it, and not done in common practice. Our style guides need to follow common practice, not introduce peculiarities. Apteva (talk) 21:04, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Your reference to "common use" seems misguided: Sun and Moon are always capitalised when used as names of celestial bodies (i.e., not in sun lotion, sunbathing, moonlight, etc.); so are Earth, Mercury, etc. As to your removal of capitalisation in "Comet", I would thus suggest you refrain from making edits that deliberately violate WP:MoS. Any such changes should be reverted. kashmiri21:44, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking only for myself, I am not making any edits that violate the MOS. The MOS says that proper names use hyphens, so I am moving articles that are proper nouns and use an endash, like, for example, Mexican-American War and Spanish-American War. Doing that brings them into compliance with the MOS. I am removing the examples in the MOS that are not in compliance with the MOS. The MOS says that proper nouns use hyphens, and has three examples that are proper nouns yet use an endash. One of them, comet Hale–Bopp, is not capitalized in our article, is not capitalized in a respected dictionary, and yet is capitalized as an example in our MOS. What's up with that? What I do need to do, though, is politely ask editors to read the section of the MOS on hyphens and note that there actually are places they are used - like in proper nouns. We all need to get on the same page here though, and if someone can show me 10,000 books that use an endash in Mexican-American War, and that there are less than use a hyphen, by all means that is what we also should use. But no matter how some editors came to the conclusion that Mexican-American War should have been spelled with an endash so they are going to use one, if in fact that is not a reasonable decision, it needs to be re-opened. In case no one has noticed, out of 4 million articles, there are some that have errors, and that is where I would prefer to spend my time. Fixing errors - like the spelling of Mexican-American War. Apteva (talk) 02:27, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The dictionary link for Comet Hale-Bopp is amusing - links to WP with a hyphen, even though the article uses an endash, as of 2011 - "05:05, 26 January 2011 CWenger (talk | contribs) . . (31 bytes) (+31) . . (moved Comet Hale-Bopp to Comet Hale–Bopp: MOS:ENDASH #1, comet discovered by Hale and Bopp)".
We found 3 dictionaries with English definitions that include the word comet Hale-Bopp:
Click on the first link on a line below to go directly to a page where "comet Hale-Bopp" is defined.
General dictionaries General (1 matching dictionary)
Comet Hale-Bopp: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia [home, info]
You might want to check s.t. other than a dict, such as Cometary Science after Hale–Bopp (Böhnhardt, Combi, Kidger, & Schulz, eds, Springer 2003), which uses the en dash in numerous papers and research notes, such as The 1995–2002 Long-Term Monitoring of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) at Radio Wavelength; Large-Scale Structures in Comet Hale–Bopp; Modelling of Shape Changes of the Nuclei of Comets C/1995 O1 Hale–Bopp and 46P/Wirtanen Caused by Water Ice Sublimation; Observations of Rotating Jets of Carbon Monoxide in Comet Hale–Bopp with the IRAM Interferometer; From Hale–Bopp's Activity to Properties of its Nucleus; The Shadow of Comet Hale–Bopp in Lyman–Alpha, 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 3 – One Orbit after Break-Up; Nitrogen Sulfide in Comets Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) and Hale–Bopp (C/1995 O1), etc. These are proceedings of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Colloquium No. 186 "Cometary Science after Hale–Bopp" (Tenerife, Jan. 2002), which followed the First International Conference on Comet Hale–Bopp in Jan. 1998. There are other, similar uses, such as 4015/Wilson–Harrington, 55P/Tempel–Tuttle, the Kuiper–Edgeworth (K–E) belt, the Hertz–Knudsen relationship, and the Stefan–Boltzmann constant. They even use the dash for Hale–Bopp in their references, though I suspect that if we followed up, we'd find that many were published with a hyphen. That is, they punctuate according to their in-house MOS, which is s.t. people here have been arguing we're not allowed to do (esp. in article titles, claiming it violates COMMONNAME). — kwami (talk) 18:19, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Comment. Hale-Bopp carries a hyphen because the IAU says that it's spelled with a hyphen. Hyphenated surnames have the hyphen replaced with a space, like Singer Brewster, discovered by Singer-Brewster, or cut in half, like Bally-Clayton (1968d C/1968 Q1), discovered by Bally-Urban and Clayton. Some people had already moved a couple of featured comet articles via RM. Kwami (who is posting right above me by pure chance) then moved dozens of comet articles to dashed articles, then proposed "Hale-Bopp" for the MOS draft as an example of a dash names. He didn't mention that all comet articles were hyphenated only a few weeks ago, or that he had moved dozens of himself a couple of days ago without discussion. Months later I realized the problem and I tried to correct it, but the usual suspects stonewalled the change. Now Kwami has been desyosped for making massive moves against consensus. Maybe it would be time to discuss comet hyphens again..... Or should I wait until Noetica is topic banned for stonewalling and edit warring? --Enric Naval (talk) 18:45, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And Enric Naval posts pictures of cats he's killed on his user page. If you can provide a source for the IAU rule, great, but that would simply be their in-house style. We don't copy the in-house styles of our sources any more than they do, as the result would be chaotic. Punctuation varies from source to source, and is even adapted in references and quotations.
The IAU convention, BTW, is similar to typewriter hyphenation. It's because astronomers send the IAU telegrams of their discoveries, and telegrams can't handle dashes. — kwami (talk) 19:14, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Valuable link. Although I can't help an impression that the document deals more with naming than with typography. I wouldn't be surprised if its authors did not understand a difference between a hyphen and a dash. Astronomers hardly ever are typesetters... kashmiri12:06, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What it says is that spaces or hyphens are used: "each individual name is to be separated by a hyphen", and it is recommended that no more than two names be included. If someone has a hyphenated name that hyphen is replaced with a space or one of the two names only used. So that eliminates the ambiguity of Hale-Lennard-Jones - it would be either Hale-Lennard Jones or Hale-Lennard or Hale-Jones. Apteva (talk) 14:54, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know whether this has to be a joke or what. This is a printout of a French-language news release from 1920 regarding the position of an observed new planet. Nothing about comets, naming, etc. See, basic knowledge of French prevents being misled by comments like yours. kashmiri12:02, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The IAU circulars communicate the discovery of all types of astronomical bodies: stars, asteroids, minor planets, comets, etc. as well as observations of interest, corrections, etc. Here you have the printed IAU circulars announcing 1919 g (Skjellerup) and Reid 1921a and Väisälä 1944b. More recent version are available by subscription. As you can see, the official names have always been announced in printed circulars, which don't have any restriction for diacritics, umlauts, dashes, scientific symbols, etc. Decades before the circulars started, they were announced in printed journal Astronomische Nachrichten, which also didn't have any restriction in characters. Telegrams didn't play any role in name announcements, they were just for quick announcements of discoveries. At discovery time comets only had a provisional designation like 1944b (second comet discovered in 1944). --Enric Naval (talk) 16:27, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am not sure about the coded and illegible part. The IAU recently, though, asserted[42] using capital letters for planets, etc., but it is not clear if that extends to comets. Hale-Bopp for example could simply be certified as being "the comet Hale-Bopp", which provides no insight into capitalization of comet. The examples given were Solar System and Earth's equator.
It was noted that the naming of all planets so far has long predated the existence of the IAU. I think that rather than naming things they standardize names and certify them, and are an arbitor, but they do not make up the names, or sell names.
The IAU frequently receives requests from individuals who want to buy stars or name stars after other persons. Some commercial enterprises purport to offer such services for a fee. However, such "names" have no formal or official validity whatever.
Based on the survey of google book results below it is clear that the endash conclusion in 2011 took an extreme minority viewpoint and put the MOS in conflict with WP:TITLE. I suggest that it be reversed in light of new information, and that the examples of wars and comets with endash be removed from the MOS and replaced with hyphens. Whether the use of hyphens will remain dominant or, like Kiev could be replaced with a new spelling remains to be seen. WP is not a crystal ball and does not try to reflect what people should be doing or what they might be doing but simply what they are doing. Just as Kiev remains the overwhelming spelling in common usage, Comet Hale-Bopp (with a hyphen) is the dominant spelling for the comet Hale-Bopp (correctly not capitalized when preceded by the), along with airports and wars which have achieved proper name status and if there are any other names with endash or hyphen they, like Comet Hale-Bopp can be tested to see if they use an endash or a hyphen in common usage, but the MOS does not need to pretend that endash rules apply inside names, because that is not the interpretation of the vast majority of book editors. Should that change, clearly WP would eventually reflect that change as well, but certainly can not be expected to precede that change. To do so would be original research. Apteva (talk) 13:49, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The IAU decides who were the original discoverers and in which order they made the discovery, and the spelling of the comet name (the thing with modifying the hyphenated surnames). The IAU also fixates the transliterations of foreign names so they are spelled in only one way by everyone, although I can only give a example for a Moon crater(1). The IAU can ignore suggestions, see what happened to Hugh Percy Wilkins. If you disagree with a naming decision you can only appeal to the IAU itself. Most importantly, you can't assign arbitrary names to comes that you discovered yourself, the IAU will decide the name for you whether you like or not.
(1) The Far Side of the Moon: A Photographic Guide. 5.1 Identification of Named Features. Spelling of Feature Names. The IAU has fixated the transliteration of "Tsiolkovskiy (crater)", which is named after a Russian rocket scientist. You could drop the last "i" and still have a valid transliteration of the guy's name from the Russian language, but then it wouldn't be the crater's correct name. The IAU standardized all Moon crater names in 1975, and it only accepts names of dead people, except for Apollo astronauts; some old names were retained, others were changed [43]. In 2008 the MESSENGER probe mapped Mercury, and the IAU made rules for the names of it surface features: the biggest basin received a unique name, cliffs were named after famous ships, and craters were named after "'deceased artists, musicians, painters, and authors who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field and have been recognized as art historically significant figures for more than 50 years.". The IAU approved names for each feature and then published official maps.[44][45]. The IAU can pull this stuff because it's the naming authority in astronomy matters.
Q: Who is legally responsible for naming objects in the sky?
A: The IAU is the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and surface features on them. And names are not sold, but assigned according to internationally accepted rules. "Buying Star Names", IAU's FAQ
(...) rules established by the IAU, which emerged as the arbiter of planetary names and coordinate systems during the early years of space exploration. Back then, standardization helped to prevent the Solar System from being plastered with conflicting sets of names used by Soviet and US scientists. These days, the tensions are less nationalistic and more interdisciplinary: a dust-up between the geologists who tend to lead planetary missions and the astronomers who comprise much of the IAU. “Why should I let astronomers name things just because they’re on another planet?” asks Mike Malin, a geologist and principal investigator for the mast camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover mission, which has generated its own conflict with the IAU over the naming of a feature at its Martian landing site. "Space missions trigger map wars. Planetary explorers rebel against nomenclature protocols". Nature 22 August 2012
To avoid further disputes as proud pioneers sought to thank benefactors, curry favour or merely indulge themselves, the IAU went on to establish working groups to set rules and conventions for nomenclature.
,
Procedures now make sure that mountains on Mercury are named with words for 'hot' in various languages, canyons on Venus christened after goddesses and small craters on Mars twinned with villages on Earth. Just last month, a 39-kilometre-wide Martian crater was named Moanda, after a town in Gabon. "The Name Game". Nature 22 August 2012
By that time, tiny P4 should have a real name. "We're tossing around some ideas," says Showalter, "but the name has to come out of Greek mythology associated with Hades and the underworld." That's according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which formally approves the names of heavenly objects — and which has strict and sometimes arcane guidelines for what's permitted. Underworld myths are the rule for moons of Pluto; for moons of Uranus, it must be characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope — specifically Pope's poem "The Rape of the Lock." That required Showalter to learn the verses well. "I'm the discoverer of two moons of Uranus," he says. "We named them Cupid and Mab."
The IAU is also responsible for the decision in 2006 to demote tiny Pluto, just one-half the size of Earth's moon, to the status of dwarf planet. "Pass Out the Cigars! Pluto Is a Papa" Time, Science section, 25 July 2011
So who's in charge of naming solar system objects that are discovered now? Since its organization in 1919, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has been in charge of naming all celestial objects. When an astronomer discovers an object, or wants to name a surface feature, they can submit a suggestion to the IAU, and the IAU either approves it or suggests a different name. Since we don't think there are any undiscovered planets, the IAU focuses on the naming of moons, surface features, asteroids, and comets and has websites about naming conventions for each. "Curious About Astronomy? Ask An Astronomer: Who named the planets and who decides what to name them?" Astronomy department of Cornell university.
The only official body which can give names to astronomical objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). (...) All official names have to be adopted by the IAU. There are certain rules which have to be followed in the official names allocated to different types of object; some of these are outlined below. (...) Comets. Comets are named after their discoverers. (...) In 1994, the International Astronomical Union updated their mechanism for naming comets (...) For more information on comet designations, please visit the International Astronomy Union website (...) "The naming of stars" Royal Observatory, Greenwich
So, is it clear now that the IAU's naming guidelines are not an "in-house style"? And that the IAU is the only body with the power of naming astronomical stuff and defining the exact spelling of each name? --Enric Naval (talk) 22:59, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The words "The MoS presents Wikipedia's house style" need to be nixed too. WP is not a publishing house and does not have a house style. WP is not a monolithic organization under the command of one person, even though some editors would prefer that. There are many styles that are appropriate, and the MOS explains what some of them are. It is not either inclusive nor exclusive. Editors refer to it for suggestions, but use their own common sense in applying what it says. Britannica, on the other hand, is a publishing house, and does have a house style. The words "house style" are not common language and have no reason for being used, even if we were a monolithic organization, and even if we did have a "house style", which we do not. Apteva (talk) 17:08, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Let's not expand the scope of this section so much, or we will get nothing done. We were talking about comet names: the capital "c" in "Comet", the hyphens, and the proper name status. --Enric Naval (talk) 18:02, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Above, Enric Naval ignores the difference between naming and styling, and between official names and common names. The IAU has a brief style guide in which they "recommend" capitalization of names of individual astronomical objects (just as many other organizations have style guides that recommend capitalizing the important items in their respective fields). "The IAU formally recommends that the initial letters of the names of individual astronomical objects should be printed as capitals" as their web page says, referencing their style guide which clarifies that this is "in IAU publications". If they have a recommendation for how the general public should choose to style the names, I'm not sure where it is. And if they have info that says "comet" should come before or after the name, I'm not seeing that, either; it's clear that in common names, Halley's comet is more common the comet Halley, but others go the other way. Does IAU control this? I don't think so. Do they have an opinion on en dashes? Like many style guides, theirs doesn't say anything about that. Dicklyon (talk) 17:45, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(I'll comment on hyphens. I won't comment on comet/Comet.) The IAU's comet naming guideline, not styling and not an in-house style, says that discoverer names are separated by hyphens. And says to remove hyphens from hyphenated surnames to avoid confusions with said hyphens, like Singer Brewster, discovered by Singer-Brewster, or drop part of the name hyphenated surname, like Bally-Clayton, discovered by Bally-Urban and Clayton. Thus, these compounded names are not built with standard English rules, they are built with IAU's naming rules, which give explicit instructions for using hyphens and spaces to separate the name in a manner that doesn't cause any confusion about how many discoverers the comet has. (Thus, it's not necessary to use dashes to separate surnames, because there is no possible confusion with any hyphenated surname in any comet name, past or future.) --Enric Naval (talk) 18:02, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
First a clarification. The IAU is not referring to an internal guideline about how they should internally recommend capitalizing or recommend using spaces and hyphens - they are the final arbitrator as to what the "official" name of a comet or planet is. They use those guidelines in helping them make those decisions, and they publish their answers. Bally-Urban was certainly asked would you like to use Bally or Urban because you can not use both. Singer-Brewster could have been asked, but the guideline permits using up to two names. Some names go on much longer. Secondly while there is a difference between the official name and the common name of many things, in neither case do comets use a hyphen. Common usage is tested, as it was here, by checking as many sources as possible and determining the most common usage. Scholarly sources could tend to prefer the official name, but not necessarily. Common names could tend to prefer comet Halley or Halley's comet, or Halley's Comet. It is not clear whether the IAU is even specifying whether comet goes before or after the name and is simply addressing the variable portion of the name - the word planet is not a part of the name planet Earth, why would comet be part of the name comet Hale-Bopp? It is completely acceptable, in context, to use Hale-Bopp. The dominant convention though, is clear, for most comets, it comes first. But the MOS is not the place for establishing title rules. That domain is at WP:TITLE, which has, like the MOS, 70 subpages for assistance. Apteva (talk) 19:29, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Punctuation and footnotes
I would very much like to add the following to this section:
- - - - -
In contrast to scientific articles, ref tags are not placed immediately following the name of a scientist, but following the content that is referenced.
Example: Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers stated that the individual needed an environment that provided them with acceptance, empathy, and approval.[11]
- - - - -
The reason is that in more and more articles (anyway, the ones that I see) the ref tags are put immediately behind the name, just as in scientific articles. The problem is that is becomes unclear where the referenced content finishes and the unreferenced content starts.
For instance, "Rogers[11] stated that the individual needed love. Love is the most important need for a human being. Without love, people can get depressed."
In this case, there is no way to know where Rogers statements finish, and the editor's opinion starts. I would like to point this out to some editors and be able to refer to the manual of style. So that's why I wrote this extra example. Lova Falktalk08:03, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Too specific, and ambiguous. My impression is that by "scientific articles" you mean "articles in scientific journals, as opposed to articles in wikipedia", many of which are scientific articles. Just say references follow the facts they are referencing. If a specific editor is violating that you can {{welcome}} (subst:welcome) them and point that out. Apteva (talk) 18:22, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with WhatamIdoing. Suppose the Harvard style is being used. Then you would get something like "Rogers (2009) stated that the individual needed love. Love is the most important need for a human being. Without love, people can get depressed" (where "Rogers (2009)" would be linked). This style is perfectly acceptable in Wikipedia, but doesn't correspond to the advice that "references follow the facts they are referencing". Peter coxhead (talk) 10:56, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But how would we know where Rogers' statement finishes? If it is Rogers who thinks that people can get depressed or an editor who thinks so???? Lova Falktalk17:25, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Which is why that style is rarely used - but as pointed out it is still a valid reference style. I am guessing that someone could find an FA that uses it - throughout. Apteva (talk) 07:05, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It may or may not be the case that the Harvard style is "rarely used" in Wikipedia; I've never counted. It is, however, almost the norm in some academic disciplines. The trailing raised number style has precisely the reverse problem: it's not clear where the sourced material starts. If I read a paragraph with one raised number reference at the very end, does this apply to the whole paragraph, just the last sentence or what? No referencing style is perfect in this respect. Peter coxhead (talk) 13:01, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I want to make a case for including, as a style guideline, that all math using symbols other then the basic arithmetic symbols, be 'transcripted' into ordinary language. I don't mean that the math be replaced by ordinary language descriptions, but that displayed math have accompanying text that reads as if the math were being spoken. The case is very simple:
1) There is a huge problem of innumeracy in the general public, even among very intelligent people.
2) Part of this problem has nothing to do with the difficulty of understanding relations of quantity and so forth, but a simple inability to *read* math. Often people's eyes glaze over at the appearance of math because they simply cannot associate any sounds or meanings to the symbols.
3) I realize that the meaning and often the pronunciation of various symbols is covered in specific entries about the symbols but...
a) This is not universally the case. There are symbols without specific entries, and those that have them require either the symbol itself or its name to be found.
b) Math symbols are often displayed as graphic images, thus the symbols cannot be individually selected, linked or searched unless one already knows the name of the symbol.
c) People are reluctant to search lists and read about symbols when they just want to grasp the basic concept the math is expressing. Instead, they go away thinking, "this is not for me..."
4) An alternate possible solution would be to include a list of every symbol used on a page with a link to the specific entry for each, perhaps in a sidebar. But this solution is inferior because:
a) Symbols often have context dependent readings. For example '—>' may read 'implies' or it may read 'goes to' or 'maps to' etc. Disambiguation has to occur in context.
b) Even in the same context different mathematicians will sometimes read expressions differently. There is no one canonically correct reading for many math expressions.
c) It requires people to leave the page and come back, perhaps without the information they sought.
d) It is a little like telling people, "learn the math before reading this". But in some cases that is exactly why they are here... trying to learn the math!
5) The problems of reading math expressions and understanding them are related but separate problems. In some cases one does need to "learn the math" before understanding, but there are numerous cases where simply being able to read the expression conveys sufficient information to result in a satisfactory understanding of the article, including the unfamiliar math.
6) For the same reason we don't encourage highly technical articles laced with specialist jargon. The function of an encyclopedia is to transfer specialized knowledge to a general audience. We don't allow foreign language quotations to go untranslated. We oughtn't allow math expressions to remain impenetrable.
I think that means that at Maxwell's equations#Equations (SI units), for example, becomes something like (this is surely wrong; I didn't bother to look anything up because the details don't matter) the dot product of the electric field with the infinitesimal change in the surface, integrated over an infinitesimal change in the volume, is equal to the electric charge of the volume divided by the electrical constant. If that is your idea, I think that is harder to understand than the equation. The article's preceding paragraphs explain the equations to some extent. The Simple English equivalent is harder to understand, not easier (perhaps because my editing over there is frustrated by the "science not babytalk" faction) because it "simplified" mainly by omitting the verbal explanation. So how would you write that? And do you really think editors would even read any further nagging about readability?Art LaPella (talk) 20:33, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes! I think that's much more useful. Let me stress again that I am not advocating this as a replacement for the equation. I can at least look up "the dot product" and I know what an infinitesimal change is and what an electric field is (and could look them up if I didn't). I can't even look up a circle with two kind-of-extended "f"s (or perhaps "s"s) drawn vertically through it and two greek subscripts that I may or may not be able to name. Looking at the equation only, I don't even know that infinitesimals are involved. But perhaps you are trying too hard to deliver the meaning of the equation. That is labor the reader must undertake. I notice your code uses the term 'partial omega' for the subscript, and if I look up "dot product" the wiki page nowhere has the circle with two function signs drawn through it. So this must be "<something>subscript partial omega". What I am asking for is what you would say if you were reading the text aloud to a companion who's comprehension of the meaning of the math was not an issue. How do you read it to yourself? Do you just say to yourself, "oh, Maxwell's equation" and then substitute your understanding of the meaning without ever referring to the symbols themselves? The explanation of the meaning must be something else again, and stand apart. For instance, I might read a differential as, "dxdt" or as "dx over dt" or as "delta x delta t". There is not one "right way" to do it. I might be reduced to "d times x divided by d times t..." and I may have no clue what it means, but at least it can be read. I am looking for analogues of readings like, "the definite integral from a to b of y with respect to x...", or "take the integral from t-nought to t...".
As for the problems of getting consensus and editor resistance or push back... those are real problems I don't want to minimize. I think it is a matter of lobbying for the usefulness of it. Along with reminders of the purpose of an encyclopedia.. it is not to glory in one's superiority or have conversations with one's peers. I agree with the no babytalk guideline. I am not suggesting talking down to anyone. Merely providing additional verbal information that some (I think many) people would find useful. If done properly, it should not interfere with readability, but enhance it for most people. Those who see it as an unnecessary crutch can skip over it. That is not ideal, but it is, I think, preferable to skipping over the math itself, which many people currently do. In any event, thank you for entertaining the idea. Obviously it will not be an easy sell to math editors, who are the least likely to perceive a need for it, and who have much invested in their own math competency, unless they are also zealous educators. Baon (talk) 23:42, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. I looked at the SI units page you link to above. It is very good; very clean. The table provided on the symbols and notation is great! But consider a simple example: Is this "the dot product of the divergence operator and" or "the divergence of" or "divergence times..." All the above? None of the above? Uneducated, I read "the funny down pointing triangle that is the divergence operator, not delta followed by a dot that probably means multiplication". I want to know how it is commonly read. Then I can worry about its function in the equation. We have difficulty associating meaning to symbols we can't name, I think. Baon (talk) 00:36, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that Wikipedian editors are more driven by vanity than helpfulness, but there is no easy solution without paying them. If readers don't at least recognize that the surface integral symbol (I found the explanation in the table) is some kind of integral, then are we really doing them a favor by inviting them to look up dot product, divergence etc.? This is a physics article. We have other articles that describe multi-variable calculus. So if we're leading them into a trap they won't understand, then isn't "learn the math before reading this" more helpful? And even if a verbal description does more good than harm in this case, is that true of every case, such as the much simpler quadratic formula for instance? Or should we let editors use their discretion for individual articles? And even if we should have such verbal descriptions for all articles, what will another guideline accomplish that WP:JARGON isn't doing already, besides the familiar dangers of WP:CREEP? Most Wikipedians won't read it, and the ones who do will use it for edit wars as in the thread immediately after this one. Art LaPella (talk) 04:52, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks again for engaging with me on this matter. I am coming around to your point of view. I have spent more time looking over the symbol lookup table, and I see that there is a column in the table for "reads as", which is pretty much what I was asking for. I can see the duplication of effort that would be entailed in making that part of every article. I guess my problem reduces to individual cases where a symbol is used that is not in the table... I started this train of thought after trying to read something on the "Affine transformations" page. I have looked at the source.. The symbol is 'varphi' and I was able to look it up. I found the page on phi discusses this. It is a varient font form of phi, found mostly in older fonts, and is deprecated for mathematics. I am content to address this on the Affine transformations page, and take it as an isolated instance. I may add it to the symbol table with a note, so others will at least have a chance of seeing it there, if I can figure out how to do it. I still think there is a problem with symbol lookup... a kind of catch 22 where you need to know the name of the symbol in order to be able to look it up efficiently. And most users won't go to the page source to read the markup. (I didn't think of it myself, initially.) But I can see my suggestion is not really a good fix to those problems. Baon (talk) 16:11, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Just a note here — Baon appears to have misinterpreted a remark in the phi article. There is nothing "deprecated" about . It is a perfectly normal mathematical symbol and is used quite regularly. --Trovatore (talk) 22:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you visit the Unicode code chart index at Code Charts, and scroll down to the heading "Symbols and Punctuation", and find the subheading "Mathematical Symbols", you can select thereunder a sub-subheading or a sub-sub-subheading. For example, you can select "Supplemental Mathematical Operators", which is linked to http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2A00.pdf.
There, below the table with a width of 16 cells, the symbols are listed, preceded by their respective hexadecimal encodings and followed by their respective official Unicode names. For example, the symbol ⨀ is encoded hexadecimally as 2A00 (⨀ produces ⨀) and has the name "N-ARY CIRCLED DOT OPERATOR".
By reference to the names of symbols in these pages, at least in theory a person can read a mathematical formula without necessarily understanding what they mean. In some respects, the process is similar to reading a passage orally, and spelling orally an unfamiliar word whose pronunciation one does not know or can not articulate.
To remain within the honored traditions of this page, we cannot discuss "Maths styling" without first duking it out in a long, to-the-death debate about the title of the debate itself. Should it Maths styling or Math styling? I'm sorry to introduce a discontinuity, but critical points must be integrated in such differentiations, though it's a slippery slope. EEng (talk) 05:22, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This talk page is for serious-minded people communicating in seriousness about serious matters. Joking here belittles the importance of those matters. Some or all of us try to avoid misinterpretations and disagreements, but they occur anyway. Joking here about misinterpretations or about disagreements belittles the efforts of editors who try to communicate effectively in spite of them.
I have to admit, my short experience here a couple sections below has left me with the impression that while the people who are here are serious-minded, there's very little in the way of communication occurring here; it mostly appears to be people screaming and yelling past each other. A bit of lightening the mood here would do everyone a lot of good, as would focusing on issues our readers might actually notice. Hall of Jade (お話しになります) 21:05, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Spaced vs unspaced em dash
A certain well-intentioned user named Hydrargyrum keeps replacing unspaced em dashes in hundreds of Wikipedia articles with spaced em dashes (preceded by a non-breaking space). This is contrary to WP:DASH; still, Hydrargyrum maintains that his is the correct way because he has "completed a typing course". I recognise that there is no single way of using em dashes: The Chicago Manual of Style and the Oxford Guide to Style, for example, recommend unspaced em dashes while AP Stylebook and a few others propose that these be spaced. However, WP:Manual of Style has expressly stipulated that em dashes should not be spaced on Wikipedia. The above user argues that "the information at WP:DASH was developed by incompetent individuals operating in an information vacuum, who apparently never took a course in typing, nor are they familiar with how line wraps are handled in browsers and other software" (User_talk:Hydrargyrum#Em_dashes). What, if any, action should now be taken – either with regard to restraining Hydrargyrum or allowing other styles in WP:MOS? Thanks. kashmiri22:48, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, good read, I posted the link, let's see. Little optimism remains: Hydrargyrum has been asked to stop changing dashes his way already several times in the last few months – to no effect. kashmiri00:14, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As often when it comes to style discussions, they seem rather overconfident that they are "right" and that everyone else, or any different punctuation style, is "wrong". The reality of course, as appears to have been pointed out to them, is that there are alternatives, which are simply a matter of choice - and that the most commonly seen and used alternatives in the real world for dashes in running prose are the unspaced emdash and the spaced endash. MOS happily allows either. Common sense and the MOS would both suggest an editor shouldn't be making mass changes between the two of them - let alone changing either to the rarely seen spaced emdash. Nor do I think there's much need to change the MOS to add that third option (and even if we did, changing to that format in individual cases from one of the other two would still be utterly pointless). N-HHtalk/edits09:28, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is related to the internal consistency RfC in this same page. Some people take upon themselves to change hundreds of articles between two accepted styles in order to ensure consistency, and they refuse to take hints. The MOS needs to make really clear that this is not acceptable. If the MOS doesn't say this clearly then editors can't use the MOS to stop this sort of behaviour. --Enric Naval (talk) 09:39, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I also find spaced emdashes preferable for setting off parentheticals. Unspaced emdashes give an unwarranted sense of connection between the two words they join; parentheticals, almost by definition, should more tightly group the words contained within them than to the words outside. Endashes, on the other hand, do not seem appropriate for parentheticals at all. I think if the MoS does not permit spaced emdashes for parentheticals, this should be changed. --Trovatore (talk) 03:39, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The editor appears to still be changing dashes in violation of the MoS, even though several editors have asked him to stop. I have given him a warning on his talk page. Let me know if I need to follow up on it. Cheers. Kaldari (talk) 20:58, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps a modification of the guidelines in the MOS for use of the hyphen, en dash and em dash should be considered. There are technical reasons for doing so. By default, most browsers and text editors break text automatically after a hyphen (ASCII 45, HTML code -); I have never encountered one that doesn't, unless it is forced to display in "no-wrap" mode. This is not true of the en dash and em dash characters, however. Over the years I've encountered some software that breaks lines after these characters, but most don't. Instead, what one most often sees is a break before the en dash or em dash if it is unspaced, putting the dash in the first column of the next line. Although you will no doubt find examples in print publications where this occurs, this is generally considered bad practice in typography and typesetting. It slows down reading and comprehension. How wo uld it feel if type -setters interru ted text at random places within words and used hyphens in rando -m fashion? It would make reading such text much more time consuming, would it not? By forcing the hyphen or dash to be the last visible character before a line break, it prepares the reader's brain for what is to follow, requiring less mental effort on the reader's part.
Since we don't have any control over what browser software a visitor to Wikipedia will use, we cannot predict how that browser will handle all types of dash characters. Moreover, we don't know what type of display equipment a visitor will be using; it could range from sub-VGA to XVGA, so we can't predict where lines will end within the browser window. Moreover, not all users run their browsers maximized, so even on an XVGA display, they may be viewing Web content in a sub-VGA window. That being the case, how would you go about providing the best reading experience for the site visitor?
Since Wikipedia isn't a typesetting system, we have limited options in controlling where characters will appear in a given line of text. One way that we can control the position of en dashes and em dashes is to precede them with a non-breaking space ( or  ) and follow them with an normal space (ASCII 32, HTML code  ). This guarantees that a line break will not put those characters in in the first column of the following line. Another way of doing it is with zero-width spaces. There is a zero-width non-breaking Unicode character (⁠) and also a zero-width Unicode space character (​) that would allow en dashes and em dashes to appear unspaced, yet retain the desired control of where the line breaks.
Some have presented the argument that it doesn't matter whether one uses an en dash or an em dash. Indeed, one may find pathological examples in print where the typesetter has used en dashes in place of em dashes, particularly when text is arranged in narrow columns and an em dash might appear disproportionately wide. It's not good policy, however to do so in Web content. The technical reason for this again, we cannot predict what kind of hardware and software a Wikipedia visitor will be using. The reader may be using the default screen font, or due to "accessibility" requirements may be using a substitute font, something that one can do with most modern browsers. The hyphen, en dash and em dash can look confusingly similar, depending on the screen font. Hyphens are generally not offset by spaces, and when one uses an unspaced en dash or em dash in such a situation, it can lead to ambiguous interpretation of a line of text: Was the writer pausing and interjecting an incidental thought, or is that some strange compound word? By offsetting an en dash or em dash with spaces, it leaves no doubt in the reader's mind what the writer intended to convey.
If you enjoy abusing your readers, go ahead and insist that the present MOS must be followed without question. If, on the other hand, you care about your readers, consider what I've written here. — QuicksilverT@23:26, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for presenting your case on the proper page for it, not throughout Wikipedia. I have verified that a line break can occur before an unspaced em dash, and those who write rules here (not me; note that some people here write style manuals as their real life job, not (ahem!) as a lesser part of some other job) haven't discussed that issue, to my knowledge. And yes, an unspaced em dash could look like an unspaced hyphen depending on the font. Art LaPella (talk) 01:13, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The identified problem is not unique to the em dash. The problem is that browsers use a widow/orphan control scheme (also called text flow control) which responds poorly to the user's preferences for font size, window size and for image placement. Putting a non-breaking space in front of the em dash does not fix the problem. The problem is virtually the same for unspaced em dashes, spaced em dashes, unspaced en dashes, spaced en dashes, and every sort of hyphen. People here must get past the world of print and settle for the imperfect world of browsers where your writing is going to display in ways over which you have no control. Hydragyrum is tilting at windmills; there is nothing anybody can do to make the em dash work consistently online. The problem is not limited to Safari or Chrome or Mozilla or Internet Explorer—it is all-pervasive. Wikipedia's established em dash style is fine as it is. Binksternet (talk) 04:29, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Your statement about putting a non-breaking space in front of the em dash (or en dash) not fixing the problem can easily be shown to be untrue, at least with the Mozilla family of browsers and with Opera. Moreover, if a non-breaking space didn't do what it's supposed to do, it wouldn't even exist in HTML. — QuicksilverT@06:18, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
These comparisons of "- n – m —" in various 12-point fonts illustrate the typical relationship of lengths of dashes relative to the hyphen. In some fonts, the en dash (–) is not much longer than the hyphen, and in Lucida Grande the en dash is actually shorter than the hyphen, making this default Safari browser font typographically nonstandard and confusing.
The statement that the em dash can be confused with hyphen or en dash is also demonstrably false. I copied this image (and its caption) from Dash to illustrate. As for spaces, there is no case where spaced em dash is correct; but spaced en dash is an acceptable alternative to unspaced em dash. Dicklyon (talk) 06:44, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree they are confusing in monospace fonts, for example, the editing interface. Hopefully the upcoming Visual Editor will alleviate some of the confusion. Kaldari (talk) 22:11, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Modification to MOS:IDENTITY
A few weeks ago, there was a proposal at WP:VPP to modify the wording of MOS:IDENTITY, specifically Point 2; the archived discussion is here. It gained some traction, but it died down without any kind of resolution, so I want to raise it again. The specific change being sought is;
"Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to by the gendered nouns, pronouns, and possessive adjectives that reflect that person's gender at the time of notability as reflected within the prevalence of mainstream reliable sources. Identity changes thereafter should be dealt with chronologically but should always follow the conventions used with prevalence in mainstream sources."
Instead of copying over the rationale, the link to the archive shows Berean Hunter's rationale, and other examples are provided in the thread. If people think this would be better discussed elsewhere, that's fine, but since the waters at VPP have been tested this seems like the most logical place. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 17:49, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I made a similar proposal back in May here. I agree with Blade that we need to follow what mainstream sources say rather than get ahead of these sources by making a judgment based on an individual's statements. GabrielF (talk) 18:11, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Can you clear up the exact meaning of this proposed rule?? Is it any similar to the following:
Trans women who are notable for being trans women should be referred to as she/her. However, trans women notable primarily for an event before the operation of surgery for a reason that has nothing to do with being transsexual should be referred to as he/him as if they were cisgender men. Georgia guy (talk) 22:29, 4 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
To couch it in less loaded, more policy-based language, it's to avoid outright misleading revisionist history such as "she captained her tennis team at Horace Mann" (in the article on Renée Richards); specifics are in the linked VPP conversation. We at Wikipedia aren't here to play psychologists and pass judgment on whether or not they were really men or just women all along, we're here to report facts; in the cases of Grace and Richards, among others, they were notable under different names and sexes and our articles should reflect that. And this also works the other way too; the article on Andreas Krieger should be treated the same (and as of writing is actually a good example of what I'm shooting for). The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 01:34, 5 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The sex the person was commonly believed to be at the time. I think this is a slam-dunk. We do not — we must not — take a position on whether a person's "real" sex is. The choice to retroactively apply a sex change to previous notable events is nothing short of advocacy of a particular point of view; it must stop. --Trovatore (talk) 20:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This section can be archived, just like any section of a talk page. I remember from 2004-2006 the "Georgia moving poll" which was wasn't archived for a long time. (It was at Talk:Georgia; now it's in an archive.) Can we put this discussion in a similar area so that it won't be archived too quickly?? Georgia guy (talk) 17:00, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:MOSQUOTE reads "a few purely typographical elements of quoted text should be adapted to English Wikipedia's conventions without comment" and later "Spaces before punctuation such as periods and colons: these should be removed as alien to modern English-language publishing.". In to my opinion this includes and percent numbers. For instance if a quote includes something like "15 %" it should be changed to "15%" per WP:PERCENT. Am I right? -- Magioladitis (talk) 08:30, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(As the editor who raised the altering of the citation quote= with Magioladitis) I'd be happy to see WP:PERCENT linked in WP:MOSQUOTE under the list of minor typographic changes, and preferably for WP:MOSQUOTE to explicitly make a statement on citation quote= applicability. The general altering of citations literals in title= and quote= by semi-automated/WP:MEATBOT methods can be problematic though, as can be seen by the examples in [46]. —Sladen (talk) 11:35, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"WP:TIME" might be too broad as it includes date-reformatting. Perhaps the test would be whether a reformatting change would prevent the locating of the original citation; so removing a space in "15 %" to get "15%" probably doesn't impair locating of a source much; but renaming the title= of a work from "25 October - The Romanian Armed Forces' Day" to "October 25 - The Romanian Armed Forces' Day" significantly changes the ability to find that work by that name in an alphabetical card index, or Google. The second paragraph of following WP:TIME shortlinks talks about date reformatting, so perhaps that is possibly too broad. Perhaps the simplest would be to encourage quotation reformatting when used in the main body of an article, but even to go as far as to discourage reformatting within the {{reflist}} as the references aren't there to be read, but are there to allow the reader to locate additional reliable information easily. This would allow cases where a reformatted quotation is used inline, but the "raw material" is left untouched in the quote=. It could even be suggested that in the case of extensive reformatting of a quotation in the body, that the original can be preserved in the {{cite}} for clarity. —Sladen (talk) 15:54, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ah yes, You are right. I only meant the addition of non breaking space in 12-hour time. And In general I am referring only to addition/removal of whitespace. -- Magioladitis (talk) 16:11, 6 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Please do correct the space. And commas reversed with periods in numbers, as the continental Europeans do, and currency symbols after and spaced rather than before and unspaced. Tony(talk) 03:45, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree with making changes inside quotations. For what purpose? The advice of changing curly quotes with straight quotes and single quotes is fine, but spaces? Why? And "commas reversed with periods"? There is nothing wrong with that style, no matter how strange it may look. If the quote is really wrong [sic] can be used, but it should not be changed. Apteva (talk) 04:56, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
So no, "Spacing in quotes can be altered to comply with WP:PERCENT and WP:TIME" should not be added for two reasons - it is bad advice and it adds nothing to the MOS. If it said "spacing in quotes can not be altered" that would be one thing, but of course spaces are sometimes altered. Saying that something "can be altered" says nothing. It implies that they can also not be altered, and if someone alters them they might have done it appropriately or might not have. So what good is it? None at all. Apteva (talk) 05:03, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And that statement in the MOS is simply false. It is not universal practice, especially in respect of more substantive changes to formatting and typography. N-HHtalk/edits22:23, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree. Usually a quote is written in a book in the first place just following the rules of the given book. Or it appears in some media again following the rules of the given media. I've never seen a a quote in any of the popular internet media to follow different writing style than the rest of the site/portal/media. The same should hold here. Having or not having a space between a number and the percent symbol is only a matter of preference and the quote should be written following the Wikipedia Manual of Style. -- Magioladitis (talk) 22:57, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Magioladitis. N-HH is ignoring the word "this" in the MOS statement. It isn't any change in formatting and typography that is universal practice, it is the specific changes listed in the MOS that are universal practice. Jc3s5h (talk) 23:03, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I understand what it is trying to say perfectly thanks; nor is it likely that the precise stipulations of one MOS reflect "universal practice". As to the first response, it may well happen "usually" (although I doubt anecdotal evidence can show that conclusively). Equally, WP may decide to have an MOS that inists we do things that way. However, it is simply not a universal practice - that explicit statement is simply not true. N-HHtalk/edits23:11, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Then delete it. It clearly adds nothing to the MOS. It is an explanation of why it is done and looks a little foolish pretending to be universal. Here is why I do not think we need to be more explicit about refractoring quotes than to remove all caps. A politician gets quoted exactly as they say something no matter what they say, swear words included. If they misspell a word, we use [sic], but we do not correct it. If they use incorrect punctuation we can add a parenthetical, but we do not correct it. There are just too many quotes where the punctuation is an important part of the quote for us to be "universally" changing it, just to make it look pretty. I want to know if a politician knows the difference between a hyphen and an endash or whether to put a space before a % sign (or how to spell potato). I do not want us to make corrections like that inside a quote whether they are a politician or not. I want to see what punctuation Thoreau used or Dickens. Apteva (talk) 06:40, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"Adaptations of The Thing" vs "The Thing (adaptations)"
That is, the various instances or forms of a work are always parenthesized. I argue that "(adaptations)" is a superclass of instances of a work on Wikipedia, rather than an extant subject to which the works themselves are subservient.
Yet somehow a creeping, "standard" has been put forth, and is being acted upon en masse, solely by User:NeelixContributions. Discuss? --Lexein (talk) 16:40, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Modifier-last is used when the "correct" title cannot be used. In this case, an article listing adaptations of The Thing could not be correctly titled "The Thing", so Adaptations of The Thing (or List of adaptations of The Thing) would be correct. An article on the 1987 album would be titled "The Thing", except that it's not the primary topic for that title, so a parenthetical qualifier is tacked on to the title. -- JHunterJ (talk) 17:06, 9 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The farther I dig into the history of "don't imply subsidiary articles" or words to that effect, the less I find. It started out as partially a technical issue (old server software would literally create subpages if a slash was in the title). Over time, the explanation and rationale has been trimmed, and its application expanded to include parentheticals, to the point that it's a nearly empty imperative, without rationale. It's depressing. At some point, I had hoped to see discussion, consensus, or precedent mentioned, but nothing so far, using Wikiblame. In case anyone wondered, that's what I've been doing in spare moments, all day.
And yes, I'm starting to think that policies and guidelines should also have inline citations, linking to their origin discussion & consensus, precedent in other encyclopedias, or to an external manual of style, just to prevent the kind of endless spelunking I'm now forced into, just because a policy doesn't seem to make prima facie sense.--Lexein (talk) 04:52, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I see no reason for documenting changes other than is already available from the history. The basic principle of WP is that it does not matter who or why or when someone adds something as long as it is correct. In article space everything needs a reliable source, and because of the need for verifiability, needs a reference. In WP space everything only needs to make sense, and if not, that is what talk pages are for. Adding references is helpful in some cases, but in most cases they are not needed. That is what articles are for. Apteva (talk) 07:01, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No one's forcing you into spelunking. The distinction given above between titles and their qualifiers makes prima facie sense. -- JHunterJ (talk) 10:53, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
So when I see a policy that makes no sense, and has no historical rationale whatsoever, I should just shut up? I do not think that is the purpose of policies, in general, nor should it be, here. --Lexein (talk) 18:25, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. It is a detriment to the project to use parenthetical disambiguators to distinguish articles from their parent articles, both because parenthetical disambiguators have a well-established, disparate purpose and because subtopics by definition represent only a portion of the scope of the term indicated thereby. Neelix (talk) 14:42, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Neelix: sorry, "just because" isn't good enough. How can this be discussed in a way that does not result in you resorting to circular logic?
Apteva: "The basic principle of WP is that it does not matter who or why or when someone adds something as long as it is correct." In WP space, by what standard of "correctness"? Every article requires multiple support in independent reliable sources, but our policies require no substantiation of any sort? Ridiculous. That's a very good reason for academics to openly mock the work done here.
Question everything. If no one knows why it says something and no one objects, change the policy or guideline. But the authority is not a reference, although in some cases there is an authority, and in those cases it is appropriate to use an external link, the authority is actually the one or more editors who put it there, and their signature is already in the page history. Right now I am working on comet names, and there are guidelines that the IAU uses in specifying comet names, but even that does not really need to be referenced, because we are not the ones who choose comet names, they are the ones who are the final authority, but do we really need to know what spelling rules they used? The purpose of this discussion page is to discuss changes to this page, and it is archived so that it is possible to figure out what the reasoning was, if any discussion took place. That should be sufficient documentation. Apteva (talk) 02:51, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Article titles
This sentence
"The Manual of Style applies to all parts of an article, including the title. See especially punctuation, below. (The policy page Wikipedia:Article titles does not determine punctuation.)"
is, to put it mildly, absurd. Policies always trump guidelines, but policies do not specify everything, that is what guidelines and common sense are for, but to say that a guideline determines punctuation of an article title is not possible, and has created the absurdity of thinking that Mexican-American War should be called "Mexican–American War" (with an endash instead of a hyphen) just because if it was not a proper noun it would be spelled with an endash. Well it is a proper noun and it is spelled with a hyphen. But really, the idea that a guideline can say that a policy does not apply is completely absurd. Which is anyone going to follow, the policy or the guideline? The policy every time. Now if it was the other way around, if a policy felt a need to say, but please ignore such and such a guideline, never mind how absurd that is, that would work, because the policy gets precedence over the guideline. Just my two cents worth. I recommend deleting the entire sentence as absurd. Apteva (talk) 02:23, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I lost you between "policies do not specify everything, that is what guidelines and common sense are for" and "to say that a guideline determines punctuation of an article title is not possible ... Which is anyone going to follow, the policy or the guideline? The policy every time." Distinction without a difference? Art LaPella (talk) 03:40, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The only word between those two quotes is "but", an unusual place to get lost. I am having a hard time figuring out what is being asked. The only question at hand is, should the above sentence be removed? Arguments for or against need to be couched not on the clarity or lack thereof of my summary of the issue, but on the merits of the sentence being in the MOS. Apteva (talk) 03:57, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I meant that what comes before "but" seems to contradict what comes after "but". If you recognize that policies do not specify everything, then why isn't title punctuation an example of something a policy wasn't intended to specify? Art LaPella (talk) 05:24, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The point is that the MOS does not over ride the policy. If someone finds a policy reason for using punctuation in a certain manner, that is what will be used regardless of what the MOS says, but I have not found any examples of that being the case, hence clearly no reason for the sentence even being in the MOS. I think it is there because someone wants a ridiculous justification for the ridiculous conclusion that Mexican-American War should be spelled with an endash, even though no one does. It is nothing more than trying to make a WP:POINT, and a waste of all of our time. Apteva (talk) 06:47, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The bureaucratic answer is, in your own words, "policies do not specify everything". For example, if you read MOS:ITALICS (admittedly a guideline, but the same IAR logic applies) you might think Kyrie should be in quotes as a song, but WP:MUSIC says it's "generic" (at least the words aren't; the only words you can sing to Kyrie are "Kyrie ..." or a translation). OK, so only the music guideline covers that detail.
The practical answer is that laughing off the Mexican–American War debate, one of the biggest debates we have ever had, is completely inconsistent with complaining about wasting time. Art LaPella (talk) 18:49, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The fact that WP:TITLE is a policy and WP:MOS a guideline shouldn't be given too much weight, as it's a bit of historical anomaly. Not much of what is in WP:TITLE can really be called policy, as it's most full of guidelines. Nevertheless, if there's a conflict between them, point it out and let's talk about it. Dicklyon (talk) 04:16, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I find the words guideline and policy to be carefully chosen and uniformly applied - and not just an accident. A great deal of discussion goes into which items should be a policy and which should be a guideline. Apteva (talk) 06:47, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
They are more carefully chosen now than they used to be. Early on there were few debates (as most did not consider it an important distinction) for example WP:V was turned from a guideline into a policy with this edit (I suspect with no debate on the appropriate talk page) back in April 2005. Likewise what is now Article Title received its banner in 2005 with this edit but it had been in the "Category:Wikipedia official policy" since 2004 after being "One of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines" before that. Of course since then there have been intermittent debates on whether the central MOS page and AT should be a policies or guidelines and each time the status quo has been kept. To understand the reason for the sentence you have picked out you will have to read the talk page archives, and who was in favour of what. Personally as I have stated before (in April this year) that I am in favour of removing this sentence for similar reasons to those you have given. -- PBS (talk) 16:48, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This appears to be part of a campaign being carried out in multiple threads and multiple forums to reopen the n-dash wars that were settled in 2011. For example, see here [47] --Neotarf (talk) 20:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I stayed away from the hypen/en dash thing, but given that it's being discussed here, I also find the en dash usage odd-looking. It's often at odds with what I would write and with what I see written elsewhere. I have no examples to hand as I've not collected any. But I do wonder about the origin (the sources) of the rules we adopted. SlimVirgin(talk)23:04, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is not the rules that are being questioned, but some of the examples used that do not follow those rules. The correct use of a hyphen, endash, and emdash is relatively subtle, but I think what we have is mostly correct - other than in at least three of the examples, and in at a minimum dozens of articles that were moved in 2011 to follow the "Mexican-American War" misspelling by using an endash. According to "New Hart's Rules", style guides only address issues where more than one style is perfectly acceptable in writing, such as using "co-operate" or "cooperate", both of which are implied as valid, but the book also uses the word "bemade" to mean "be made".
"No appeal need be made to stylistic conventions or record kept of them where text is incorrect". That would apply to names, of which it only says that names use hyphens. I think that point has been missed by the advocates of "Mexican-American War" spelled instead with an endash.
On hyphens is says "If an author has consistently applied a scheme of hyphenation, an editor need not alter it, although a text littered with hyphens can look fussy and dated. Editors can find the dominant form of a particular compound in a suitable current dictionary such as the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors."
There are examples where either a hyphen or an endash could be used: "Note that in US style an en rule is used to connect a prefix and a compound (the post–World War I period)." Implying that others would use "the post-World War I period" (with a hyphen instead of an endash). Apteva (talk) 00:41, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Slim, the sources of the rules were discussed at great length in the deliberations of 2011. We even had tables of abbreviations (like CMOS for Chicago Manual of Style) to make it easier to compare and contrast the style guidance of dozens of different guides. Feel free to look into it, so you won't have to just wonder about it. As for "odd-looking", I'm not sure what you mean. To me, it's odd to the see the tight binding of a hyphen where the relationship of parallel items is what is intended. Many people never learned about the typography to signal that, since it wasn't in the realm of the typewriter, or of Microsoft Word, to get that right. Mac users had a better chance, since Steve was inspired by typography and had both en dash and em dash on the keyboard from day one, but many people still didn't learn it, since having it available was not enough. People who make docs with TeX and LaTeX are more likely to have learned about en dash, since you have to get past it (--) to make an em dash (---). Dicklyon (talk) 20:46, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, thanks for the explanation. I avoided that whole discussion and I'm afraid I still don't understand it. Could you explain briefly why Mexican-American War is wrong? It seems correct to me, and using an en dash doesn't. It would matter less in the text, but bolded in the title does look odd (odd as in devoid of meaning, unusual, perhaps just unnecessary or perhaps an error). SlimVirgin(talk)20:59, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There's several aspects to this debate of course, starting with the broader issue of whether WP should employ a hyphen/en-dash distinction at all when it comes to compounds and prefixes. Many, possibly even most if you exclude book publishing, online and print publishers don't bother and simply rely on the hyphen for the whole range of such links (and it's not simply because they are "wrong" or not sufficiently sophisticated). I still don't understand why a general-use website like WP, where the editing system makes it difficult to add en-dashes anyway, decided to make the switch at some point to start bothering about it. It makes editing more complicated and leads to endless disputes on the secondary issue, as here, on how to apply the distinction in specific cases, such as the ones under debate now. We have incredibly complicated and detailed rules, formulated after months of haggling, and we still don't have any clarity – in the Mexican-American/Mexican–American war case, we have people citing real-world examples/practice and title policy and/or their interpretation of the rules here to back up each alternative, with equally valid arguments; when at the end of the day the average reader doesn't give a toss, were they even to notice the difference. N-HHtalk/edits22:43, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Slim, it's not that the hyphen is "wrong", but that we have adopted the style of recognizing the type of distinction that the en dash versus hyphen signals. That the distinction is meaningful can be illustrated with this particular example, though. The hyphen is used when a compound noun is used as an adjective. When the the compound noun Mexican American is used as an adjective, as in a Mexican-American neighborhood, or Category:Mexican-American culture, or Mexican-American Studies, the hyphen is used to signal that those are about Mexican Americans. If we had a war against or involving primarily Mexican Americans, we'd probably call it the Mexican-American War. To signal a different interpretation, a relation between parallels, in this case a "versus" or "against" relationship, we use the en dash in Mexican–American War. As N-HH points out, many authors and editors and styles don't bother to try to send such signals to their readers, and many readers don't notice. But for those who notice, and sometimes even for those who don't, the looser coupling of the longer dash helps to get the right message across. That's why so many many guides recommend the en dash for such roles. The fact that styles and guides vary meant that we had to work to hammer out the right compromise for WP. Dicklyon (talk) 05:32, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. The hyphen used in an adjective or noun subordinates the first item to the second. So an X living in country Y would be X-Y while a Y living in country X would be Y-X. The second part of the hyphen is the main part, and the first the qualifier. But this convention means we can't link two nouns in an "equal" fashion, as is required for a construct such as the "Mexican–American war." That is where the en-dash comes in. Apteva is not disagreeing with this; Apteva's claim is that in a proper noun: Mexican-American War, which is what a title is, the convention is to use a hyphen and not an en-dash, against the convention when the phrase is not a proper noun. I would like to see some sources cited for the claim. Churn and change (talk) 05:48, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I can provide a small list of names that are similar to this. My source is 1) do they appear in a dictionary 2) how do they appear in books and 3) how do they appear in other sources. I really do not think that I am at all out of line in thinking that the vast majority of editors have been applying the same convention. Use a hyphen in a proper name. Use endash otherwise using the endash rules. Apteva (talk) 06:34, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, that wasn't a rhetorical question objecting to your suggestion; it was a real question. I went and checked. Online, the en-dash is, in general, absent in both content and titles. That is not surprising because most keyboards don't have one. The Chicago manual does not provide an explicit exemption for titles (proper nouns) for its en-dash rule. However that doesn't mean it requires en-dashes in proper noun titles. It does require the use of en-dash in constructs such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but that is mentioned as an exception. It requires a hyphen, not an en-dash, for abbreviation compounds such as U.S.-Canadian relations (The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. 2003. 6.85 and 6.86 pp. 262–263). The APA manual mentions it in passing for equal-weight compound adjectives, but that is it. The MLA doesn't mention the en-dash at all, using just the dash (two hyphens, often an em-dash) and the hyphen. I would say we leave the current guideline wherever it is at now, assuming there is a guideline. Churn and change (talk) 21:05, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Following on from that, why won't we allow article titles to use a hyphen in titles like Mexican-American war? Most keyboards don't have an en dash, most publishers and style guides don't recommend one for that usage, so why did Wikipedia get locked into using one to signal a distinction of no consequence? SlimVirgin(talk)21:14, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I would say it is unclear what style guides recommend. Note that manuscripts (the focus of APA and MLA) and books (the focus of Chicago House) don't have "article titles"; they have book titles, chapter headings and so on. As to your specific questions, I don't know the history of why the WP:MOS guideline says all sections and their headings should follow same punctuation rules; I notice somebody has proposed taking that out. WP:AT#Special characters, the policy, allows it and requires a redirect from keyboard-friendly titles. I would say the rules for Article Titles should be in WP:AT, the policy, since administrators effectively decide it by ruling on contested moves (NACs are disallowed there), and, in general, administrators do not enforce guidelines. I would also say article titles should contain only characters people can type, because otherwise they will mostly come in via redirects. However, I suspect this has been discussed to death before. Churn and change (talk) 22:44, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
@Apteva: You are mistaken. See WP:POLICY (and its section WP:GUIDES) and WP:NOT#BUREAUCRACY. The only difference between WP:AT as a policy and its earlier WP:NC version as a guideline is that now one should have a stronger reason for citing WP:IAR and ignoring it when necessary, because the editorship at large takes it more seriously now. That doesn't mean that a small group of tendentious editors can form a "local consensus" at WP:AT to magically sweep away a much larger and longer-lasting community-wide consensus at MOS (despite the fact that you personally are trying to pull of exactly this as we speak, pushing for recognizing of birds as some kind of exception to capitalization rules). WP:AT and all its NC subpages derive their style advice from MOS and its subpages, and always have. Otherwise we'd have sheer chaos, with article titles radically differing from usage within the article text. Do not mistake WP policies for wikilaws with wikicops and wikijudges running around enforcing them against "mere" guidelines. WP doesn't work that way. There are some policies, including WP:BLP, WP:COPYRIGHT and WP:OFFICE that do have the force of real-world law behind parts of them, but they are special cases, not general ones. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.12:28, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Digressions from the topic
Discussion of hyphen examples
[After Apteva's refactoring; my next post here responds to one by Churn and change, above.–NoeticaTea?08:05, 12 October 2012 (UTC)][reply]
Good, Churn. As an avid collector and analyst of style guides, I would be most surprised if a source could be found for Apteva's odd claim. The editor appears to be working from something in WP:ENDASH that is pretty well unrelated:
By default, follow the dominant convention that a hyphen is used in compounded proper names of single entities, not an en dash.
Guinea-Bissau; Bissau is the capital, and this distinguishes the country from neighboring Guinea
McGraw-Hill, a publishing house
That provision started off restricted to place names, like Guinea-Bissau and Alsace-Lorraine. Those cases are clear enough, and each has a hyphen for its own distinct reason; but many place names whose components refer to entities that are more easily separable are treated more variably. "Poland~Lithuania" for example has been a difficult case, resolved on Wikipedia with the disambiguation page Poland-Lithuania (and a redirect from Poland–Lithuania). That fits with the provision in MOS.
Later, A di M generalised this provision to cover cases like McGraw-Hill, because like the geographical examples it is utterly fixed in usage with a hyphen. That is what I call a "fossilised proper name". It is never analysed in terms of separate entities "McGraw" and "Hill".
The qualifier "by default" is crucial. It stands prominently at the start of this provision, which has nothing to do with those proper names having the quite different structure "X~Y Z", where "X~Y" is understood in the way Dicklyon and Churn explain above. This is all perfectly standard, and in accord with the style resources that extensive discussion in 2011 determined would be followed on Wikipedia. But I am reluctant to enter into debate about any of that while Apteva wages several connected campaigns at several scattered locations. He or she is initiating RM discussions and the like for pointy "political" purposes, in a most disruptive way. When all that has settled down, it will be possible to consider any problems with WP:ENDASH calmly and reasonably here. But let's bear in mind that most of it has been thoroughly talked through last year anyway. ♫♪
I have not checked all of the examples in endash, but I do know of at least three that are incorrect and need to be removed or repaired. Comet Hale-Bopp is either not capitalized or spelled with a hyphen. Uganda-Tanzania War is either spelled with a hyphen or an endash and war is not capitalized. Roman-Syrian War is definitely spelled with a hyphen. There are also some cases where it should be more clear that either a hyphen or an endash can be used, but consistency within an article for that word combination should be used - post-World War I can either use a hyphen or an endash. The whole focus on the MOS should be in helping editors, not forcing them to change everything. The vast majority of our editors and readers neither know nor care what a hyphen or endash is, and could not care less if the mark on the screen is a few micrometers longer or shorter. New Hart's Rules says that consistency locally is more important than consistency globally "It is, of course, vital to make sure that individual forms are used consistently within a single text or range of texts. If an author has consistently applied a scheme of hyphenation, an editor need not alter it, although a text littered with hyphens can look fussy and dated. Editors can find the dominant form of a particular compound in a suitable current dictionary such as the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors." (emphasis added) Apteva (talk) 06:56, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The fact that you're forcing a choice between capitalization and the dash shows you haven't quite got the concept. The dash shows a union of two distinct entities, as for example in a war. Capitalization is irrelevant. In fact, when combining people's names, there is a strong tendency to go with the dash, even in sources which otherwise don't bother with it much, to distinguish cases of a single person with a hyphenated name. So, one entity: hyphen, two entities: dash, and being a proper name is not a factor. — kwami (talk) 07:15, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Trust me, I understand that part. I also understand why 10,000 books use a hyphen for Mexican-American War - because the style guide says to use a hyphen in Mexican-American War. But it is not an "odd claim" that names such as Mexican-American War use a hyphen. It is an "odd claim" that they do not use a hyphen, and the examples in print of an endash are few and very far between, and not anything that can be taken seriously as representing common use. What I am saying is the research is good, but if the conclusion makes no sense it is time to try to figure out what went wrong, and I think it comes down to only one sentence. Names use hyphens. Apply that and you end up with 10,000 books that spell Mexican-American War with a hyphen, 10,000 bird name articles with a hyphen, and who knows how many airports, wars, and towns in Wikipedia with a hyphen. Apteva (talk) 07:28, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There is no such rule, AFAIK. Many sources simply don't bother with dashes. (Probably the majority of sources use hyphens for date and page ranges as well.) But for those which do, being a name is irrelevant. It would also be a problem with the many mathematical and scientific theorems/theories, where people are more careful to use the dash. — kwami (talk) 07:38, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is very true that many sources only use hyphens, but in books it is far more common to see endashes and emdashes used instead of hyphens, but hyphens for every name within that book, even though it liberally uses endashes and emdashes in the same way that our MOS uses them. Their style guide says the same thing ours does - names use hyphens. They just follow that advice. Apteva (talk) 07:54, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hyphenation also occurs in bird names such as Great Black-backed Gull, and in proper names such as Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre.
New Hart's Rules:
Use a hyphen in newly coined or rare combinations with -like, and with names, but more established forms, particularly if short, are set solid: tortoise-like, Paris-like, ladylike, catlike, deathless, husbandless
Apteva, I'm not at all an enthusiast for the current MOS guidance on hyphens versus dashes. (I waste far too much of my time "correcting" entries at List of botanists by author abbreviation; new editors to this page almost never notice the two uses of en-dash as opposed to hyphen in each entry.) But you aren't properly addressing the MOS; the issue isn't names per se but distinctness of entities.
Kwami has expressed the underlying principle very succinctly: "one entity: hyphen, two entities: dash, and being a proper name is not a factor". Your examples above show nothing about names. "Black-backed" as an compound adjective has a hyphen regardless of whether it is part of the name of a species of bird. "Trois-Rivières" is a combination of a number and a noun; it's analogous to "one-woman" in "he's a one-woman man", which would only ever be hyphenated. The fact that it's a name is irrelevant.
The real problem is different: when does a compound which began life by referring to two entities become a reference to a single entity? "McGraw-Hill" obviously once referred to "McGraw" and "Hill", but as these now don't have independent resonance it is argued that the compound refers to a single entity and so should be hyphenated. "French–British rivalry" refers to rivalry between the French and the British, i.e. to two distinct entities, and so should have an en-dash according to the MOS. "Mexican–American wars" referring to more than one such war between Mexicans and Americans again obviously refers to two distinct entities and should have an en-dash. But, from what I see as your perspective (perhaps wrongly), it could be argued that if the noun phrase "Mexican~American war" refers to one single war (whether or not "war" is capitalized) then a single entity is meant and a hyphen should be used. (To be clear I don't see this as a valid argument but it does test the principle.)
As another problematic example for the principle, consider double-barrelled names. If such a name is of "long standing" then it is hyphenated as it refers to a single person. But if two people with surnames "Smith" and "Jones" get married and decide to call themselves "Smith~Jones", should this novel combination, which still clearly refers to two entities, have a hyphen or an en-dash? Convention rather than the principle rules here, I guess. (But then why rule out convention(s) in other cases?)
In summary, the principle "one entity: hyphen; two entities: dash" is a semantic test and is not easy to apply in practice. If it is to continue to form the basis of MOS guidance it needs some further clarification, if this is possible. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:35, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the 'name' thing misses the point entirely. Apteva, your MOS and Hart's examples have nothing to do with dashes.
As Peter said, there is a point where a dash becomes a hyphen. Austria~Hungary is a case in point: you could even see that as a political statement, with a dash indicating a union of two constituent states, and a hyphen indicating a single state named after two ancestral states. And indeed the perception of the degree of unification may have changed over time. You get essentially the same thing with people's names: a dash in a theorem named after two people, because it's a union of their work, but a hyphen for a child named after two parents, because even though a child is a product of that union, no-one presents them as half mom, half dad. The publishing house would originally have been McGraw–Hill, but we're now long past the point where both McGraw and Hill are dead, and no-one remembers who they were, so now it's simply a company with a double-barreled name, like the child. The Mexican-American War, with a hyphen, would be a war of Mexican Americans, just as the Russian-American Company was a company for Russian America. There will be cases which are indeterminate, just as there are when a city or country changes its name and we debate which name is better for the title, but such cases are relatively rare. — kwami (talk) 12:30, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Right. There will always be indeterminate cases, as with many other deployments of the limited resources of punctuation against the far more rich and subtle semantic nuances in the language itself. Just like the limited resources of an alphabet, pitted against the subtly varying sounds of any natural language. Problem cases do not count as refutations of anything, in these domains; solutions are expected to be optimal, not perfect. Kwami has given a good account of the McGraw-Hill-type cases. Now, another way to think about double-barrelled surnames: just as a parent-teacher has a hyphen, because the same person is both parent and teacher, so in a way Mary Smith-Jones is both a Smith and a Jones! She might equally have been called a Smith after one parent, or a Jones after the other. She is called both, like the parent-teacher. It all makes a good sort of sense; that is why the guidelines in MOS are in good accord with best practice, as captured in many other major style resources. [Posted from an iPad; apologies for any typos.] NoeticaTea?12:54, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The problem with Peter's and Kwami's theory is that McGraw-Hill has always been written with a hyphen, see google books from 1880 to 1917, a period where both founders were still alive.
For "American-Mexican War", as Peter pointed out, some people take Mexican-American as a compound adjective for "War", with the same role as "Spanish" in "Spanish Civil War". --Enric Naval (talk) 13:41, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
From the summary above, or below, it is possible that some editors, in the extreme minority, prefer to use an endash in Mexican American War, and no editors prefer to use an endash in Julia Louis-Dreyfus and in Wilkes-Barre. There is a small, but statistically significant difference between 97% and 100% - but certainly not enough to say that all editors follow the preference of what 2.8% follow. Some books both randomly capitalize words in American Mexican War and randomly even in the same paragraph use endash and hyphen. That is not a style that WP should emulate. Apteva (talk) 16:21, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But no. That account of McGraw-Hill doesn't have to be taken literally. It gives a schematic way of thinking about the name for such an entity. People need to understand: the theoretical foundations of punctuation are underdeveloped. The linguistic literature on it is extremely sparse, for example. Nunberg did famous pioneering work a couple of decades ago, and it's been rather stagnant since then. Again, don't expect perfection: and don't be so dogmatic! It is not computer programming: these are "naturally" developing sets of conventions, sometimes in competition, all aiming at effective communication of what needs highlighting in written language beyond what mere letters can achieve. Wikipedia has chosen a high-quality, best-practice set from the competing alternatives. Any change would affect 4,000,000 articles, and is not to be entertained lightly. Or approached with the certainty that is born of ignorance. NoeticaTea?14:08, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When opposing the hyphens in airport names, the account of McGraw-Hill was a posited as an example of how compounded proper names started having a dash and eventually changed into having a hyphen. If McGraw-Hill was never written with a dash, then the whole point of the account becomes moot, independently of whether it's literal or not. --Enric Naval (talk) 15:49, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think Noetica raises a valid point that comes up in many of these MOS-related debates that have been going on for years. There are some cases where there is no consistency across the English language. In some cases, it's an WP:ENGVAR issue, and as such our convention is to keep British subjects in British English, Australian subjects in Australian English, etc. Other times, however, the inconsistency isn't dialect-dependent. It's just that there is no universal, accepted standard across all sources (I'm also thinking of the currently running dispute of The Beatles vs. the Beatles which is occupying such a large proportion of the Wikipedia servers now). In cases like this, where there is clearly no agreement between reliable sources, or widespread agreement on usage, the more important issue is consistency across the project. We need to establish a set of common-sense and easy to follow rules which is supported by enough well-respected style guides to be supportable, but we're never going to be able to reach a universal agreement with all reliable sources because they don't agree with each other. So since it doesn't matter which convention we pick, but we do need to pick one and make it the site-wide standard. And then just be done with it, and not keep revisiting it every six months because someone comes along and decides that just because they're personal favorite style guide disagrees with our usage, it's got to be overhauled yet again. Perfect agreement is impossible, so we should stop looking for it. Set a rule, stick to it, and be done with it. --Jayron3214:17, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But a lot of the discussion here is not so much about what rules to have or whether to change them in any substantive sense (although that broader debate does exist, all the way to whether to have the hyphen/en-dash distinction at all; my preference FWIW), but how to apply the rules we do have to specific cases and groups of cases, such as airport names, Mexican-American War etc. The point is that even with these complex rules, we very definitely do not have best practice, clarity or a rule that we can stick with - because people have different views of what the rule means, as the above thread and countless past arguments demonstrate. N-HHtalk/edits14:29, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
N-HH, I'm unsure of some of your meanings. Andreas, I agree with much of what you say, particularly the point that style typically varies in sources, no matter how much the most authoritative style guides on both sides of the Atlantic might huff and puff about various issues. Often, experts and those used to seeing a stylistic usage every day (e.g. ignore hyphen as unnecessary) forget that their text needs to be easily read by semi- and non-experts too—people who don't see these items every day. WP writes for a broader range of readers than just experts. Every reputable publisher, including en.WP, has its house rules, and I must say that there's sometimes tension in those publishers between stylistic disharmony within the expert fields to which they contribute publications, and from one chapter/article to another within their portfolio. It's not an easy task, sometimes. So WP faces calls to be inconsistent in its use of the dash to link parallel items (mandated by many authorities), because the sources are inconsistent, either between (or within) themselves, or against the major styleguides. My feeling is that we've reached a good compromise in many cases, and that Mexican–American is the right call here, given the large body of examples we have of analogous items with a dash. Tony(talk) 14:50, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that the correct punctuation of Mexican–American wars to refer to multiple wars between the US and Mexico is correct with an endash, and that French–British rivalry is correct with an endash. I also agree that probably 99% of the people with an Apple computer with all three hyphens or dashes on the keyboard have never had a clue what the other two were for. I can certainly remember experimenting with them to see what they looked like and trying to pick the one that looked right. The MOS is not a top down organization where you put into the MOS that every third letter has to be red and all of a sudden 4 million articles are affected. It is bottom up. People write articles and a MOS is written so that new articles look sort of like the ones that already exist. In cases where something new comes along, like an endash that as late as 2007 was banned from FA titles, and was only used in 1% of the cases where it should have been used, I found it annoying to have a copy editor who clearly knew nothing about the subject come along and change a hyphen to an endash - even though the change was correct, such as Bose–Einstein statistics. The advice from New Hart's Rules would be that if an article or group of articles are consistently spelling Bose-Einstein statistics with a hyphen, leave it, as local consistency is more important than global consistency. I have no objection, though, as we are running out of articles to add and running out of content to add (or are we?) to go back and spend time bringing the 1% that use an endash up to 80%, but what I object to is spilling over into articles like Mexican-American War that use a hyphen, and what I object to is even discussing whether it should have an endash. Of course it uses a hyphen. There are though, actual situations where two words and two punctuations are equally valid and that also applies to hyphens and endashes, and I would recommend treating those as British English and American English (it is Brit speak to use a hyphen in post-World War I and Am speak to use an endash). The status right now is that of the spillage into names like "Spanish-American War", relatively few have been tainted with an endash, so the collateral is relatively small, but needs to be corrected. As to where we are on the 1% to 80% spectrum of text that really should use an endash, I have no guess - it could be 2%, it could be 79%. I doubt it is 99%. We had an editor embark recently on changing emdash to nbsp space emdash space, for example. But no, changes to the MOS do not make changes to 4,000,000 articles. It is the other way around - changes to 4,000,000 articles bring changes to the MOS, so that the 4,000,001st article looks like the rest. And yes, avoiding titles with an endash is preferable. Is it really going to kill anyone to use California (1840-1847) in the title and California (1840–1847) in the text? It certainly avoids a lot of redirects, and do three pixels really make that much difference? Apteva (talk) 18:28, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Break 1 (Article titles)
I looked for MoS compliance on dashes by clicking "Random article", and searching for dashes or hyphens that should be dashes according to MoS. This almost always means ranges (pp. 56–58 or date ranges) or list punctuation, the most common places for dashes or hyphens that should be dashes. Out of 20 such articles, 11 used dashes, 6 used hyphens, and 3 used both. As for whether we should use dashes, I tend to sympathize with Hyphen Luddites but the last time we had an RfC, nobody like that showed up at all, so it's hard to claim a silent consensus. And if you want to avoid redirects for better performance, you need to argue with these people and these people first. Art LaPella (talk) 19:57, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
However, when I first encountered the dash rules, compliance was non-existent. Art LaPella (talk) 20:02, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But counting like that tells only part of the story. 3 of the 20 did not apply a consistent style, so they are beyond the pale entirely. Of the 17 that did apply a consistent style, 11 complied with the MOS guideline. That's roughly 65%; roughly two out of every three, in that small sample. NoeticaTea?23:04, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Noetica, I don't think you can simply discount the inconsistent cases. Counting editors is more relevant in my view than counting articles, and the 3 articles with inconsistent styles may have had them because different editors consistently applied their usual practice without noticing the inconsistency within the article and/or without being aware of what the MOS says. As I've noted above, my experience at the List of botanists by author abbreviation pages is that a significant proportion of new editors to these pages don't use en-dashes correctly (I've never tried to estimate the exact proportion). Fortunately in this case the guidance is easy to explain to them: always use spaced en-dashes, not spaced hyphens; always use en-dash in the year range. The problem with hyphens versus en-dashes within compound words is that it's not easy to explain what the MOS says. I believe I understand it but I'm not confident that I can explain it simply, and the discussions here reinforce my view (no names, but some of those contributing here clearly hadn't understood what the MOS was trying to convey).
I can only repeat my view that if this part of the MOS cannot be made clearer, then it does not meet your description of it above as "high quality": the quality of a manual of style does not consist only in the content of rules it recommends but also in whether reasonable writers are able to apply those rules. With regard to en-dashes within words I remain doubtful that this is the case. "Too long; didn't read" applies here: if a principle requires a long explanation it's not suitable for a collaborative enterprise like Wikipedia. Peter coxhead (talk) 01:20, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Should the sentence including article titles in the scope of MOS be deleted?
Back to the main question, are there any objections to deleting the sentence "The Manual of Style applies to all parts of an article, including the title. See especially punctuation, below. (The policy page Wikipedia:Article titles does not determine punctuation.)"? If not, it will be deleted. Apteva (talk) 05:54, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is not the issue, but in fact there are reasons for title style to deviate from the text, for example for technical reasons an underscore can not appear in the title but can appear in the text. Chinese characters can not appear in the title but can appear in the text. It is also probably better to use a hyphen in the title even though endash would be used in the text. The basic folly though is guidelines never tell policies what to do. Policies tell guidelines what to do, and both policies and guidelines must be consistent with each other, so the sentence is both unnecessary and absurd. Apteva (talk) 03:02, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely. I object most strongly. When you settle down to discuss one question at a time in an orderly way, and only at the appropriate location (which is indeed here, for the present question), I will give my reasons. ♫♪ NoeticaTea?06:32, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The way to fix that, though is not to try to make a guideline tell a policy what to do (which is highly questionable), but to fix the examples here so that they are in compliance with policy. While our guideline here can be toned down to avoid must should and not do quite as much, it basically has sound advice - but needs to be consistent with policy, not the other way around. Apteva (talk) 15:02, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hyphen examples
Google books
Name
Hyphen
endash
Percent
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
51
0
100%
Spanish-American War
Mexican-American War
172
5
97.2%
Philippine-American War
Wilkes-Barre
50
0
100%
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
Comet Hale-Bopp
52
5
91%
comet Hale–Bopp
19
7
73%
Comet Hale Bopp
1
0
100%
Bose–Einstein statistics
5
5
50%
male–female height
4
2
67%
1914–18
1
9
10%
1941-45
Birds do not need checking, as they are specifically mentioned.
The purpose of the MOS is to help improve the encyclopedia. The purpose of this section is to answer the question, is an endash ever used in a proper noun/proper name? A couple of dozen examples one way or the other should be sufficient. The criteria is, do a majority of books using that term use one punctuation or the other? The purpose of the MOS is not to determine what any particular punctuation should be. The purpose of the MOS is to reflect commonalities so that new articles can be added that are consistent. For example, at one time a guideline said that all species names used all capitalized words - Grizzly bear would be Grizzly Bear, Brook Trout, House Wren, etc., etc., and three examples of birds were provided. The veracity of always capitalizing all species common names was questioned, and the guideline was tagged as disputed. Quite some time later there are still some species that are being moved from capitalization. Bird names, though, actually are capitalized, as maybe some other types of species, particularly fish and in botany. But those questions are not answered here, or at WP:TITLE, but at each species, and whatever seems to be a commonality can then be summarized in the appropriate guideline or policy. Why are punctuation questions answered at articles and not in policy or guideline discussions? Because there are always exceptions and the discussion of is it an exception belongs at the article affected. Apteva (talk) 16:21, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is utterly pointless. As I've said every time this silly debate comes up, Google searching is not useful here, because the results are skewed. Hyphens are **overwhelmingly** more common in online prose, because hyphens are right there on the keyboard, and dashes are not. These search stats are completely meaningless. It's like going to a rave to do statistical research on how many people wear suits after 10pm. You'll be unlikely to find one at all, but the sample isn't statistically useful. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.03:10, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am only looking at books, not the web. Books are typeset. Google ignores punctuation in the search, but the results can be checked. If anyone else has any better place to search that can be done as well and the results compared. Also, some terms that are known to be correctly spelled with an endash will show if the google search confirms that punctuation. Apteva (talk) 04:59, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Use of with ellipses and dashes
“
Use non-breaking spaces ( ) only as needed to prevent improper line breaks, for example:
[...]
To keep the ellipsis from wrapping to the next line ("France, Germany, ... and Belgium" ...).
is used in many situations enumerated at WP:NBSP. The question is whether we should also use it in front of every ellipsis. If we should, I have often complained that the WP:ELLIPSIS phrase "only as needed" is misleading because it goes on to say the nbsp is necessary with each normal use of an ellipsis. Art LaPella (talk) 20:17, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Art, I recall that this was discussed before. I said then, and say again now, that the point is accurately expressed with the present wording. A may indeed be advisable with every ellipsis; but where does it go? Sometimes before, sometimes after – only as needed to prevent improper line breaks. No, we should not use it in front of every ellipsis. In this case, we need one only after the ellipsis:
These were his exact words: "... we are still worried".
That's to avoid this happening:
These were his exact words: "... we are still worried".
But in this case we need a hard space only before the ellipsis:
"Are we going to France ...?" he asked.
And that's to avoid this happening:
"Are we going to France ...?" he asked.
In a third case, the hard space after the ellipsis is overkill, because there is no harm in a break that may occur there:
"France, Germany, ... and Belgium"
This is fine:
"France, Germany, ... and Belgium"
The ellipsis guideline may need minor fixes to explain things better. I've said that for a long time! But the guidance itself is pretty standard, and robustly adapted for online use. Compare the shockingly poor treatment of ellipses in CMOS, which has improved only a little in CMOS16.
Similar points can be made about a spaced en dash (in any of its uses). When one is used in punctuating a sentence, for example, it marks some sort of a break in sense from what precedes it – like the effect of a colon, perhaps. It's preferable not to have that dash turning up at the start of the next line, almost as we would not want a colon wrapping to the next line. Sometimes it makes little difference; but sometimes it looks awful and might obscure the meaning. In online work, we do not know how different text will be rendered on different browsers with different individual settings (window size, text size, and so on). So the guidelines must be more foolproof that those for more static printed text, traditionally in the hands of professional typesetters.
Yes, I noted that it was discussed before. No, I didn't say "in front of every ellipsis"; I said "each normal use of an ellipsis". "normal" refers to the "France, Germany, ... and Belgium" situation, which I encounter as a proofreader much more often than the other cases. If you disagree about which use of the ellipsis is most common, I will prepare statistics. I'm not talking about rewriting the whole guideline. Can we simply remove the misleading word "only"? Art LaPella (talk) 22:58, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
We don't disagree on anything important then, Art – except that "only" is crucial, as I have once again explained. How is it misleading? I agree that you have trouble with it, and please don't get me wrong: that is important input! But I don't see the original poster having trouble with that word "only". Do you?
Why not draft an alternative text here, carefully laid out as it would appear in MOS itself, so we can work on this together?
The original poster asked why we have an nbsp with an ellipsis at all. Why is a break after Germany worse than a break after France? I don't have an answer to that question. While explaining it, I mentioned my long-standing objection to "only". He didn't ask about that word, and I can't explain why nobody else objects to that word. One alternative text would be to simply omit the word "only", so I don't see what there is to lay out.
How is "only" misleading? From the standpoint of most editors other than MoS insiders, it is strange to use an nbsp at all. So their first reaction to using an nbsp only as needed, would be: why do we need it at all? It certainly wouldn't be: why don't we use it twice, both before and after the ellipsis? And yet the guideline goes on to recommend an nbsp with every ellipsis (apparently not just the main France Germany & Belgium case). It also explains that we don't use two nbsps, just in case anyone thinks we should. For most editors, an unexpected nbsp with every ellipsis is more of a "Wow!" than a "What, only one?" I believe my previous analogy was "Use a space suit in space only as needed, for example if you want to breathe." Art LaPella (talk) 23:57, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for clarifying, Art. Three points in answer:
To the original poster: It's just a norm of good typesetting that the indication of an omission should come before any linebreak, so that the fact and the context of the omission are immediately apparent to the reader. Such norms are respected by some publishers and not others. Penguin, I think, is happy for all sorts of punctuation to shift to the start of the next line. But the long-standing practice here has been to respect such norms, especially with judicious use of .
Art, if you think that removing the word "only" would help, I will not object. But I think we should then give one or two examples of undesirable breaks that the use of will avoid. Perhaps those that I offer above, yes?
In reviewing an archived RM for Halley's Comet I came across a live example that is relevant here, where I had failed to use and the line did indeed break badly on my screen, at the end of a quote like this:
"[The initial letter of a word ...]."
(Just to demonstrate that the less "normal" cases do occur.)
How would a line break after "Germany" make the omission and its context less apparent to the reader? What's next, "to do" (i.e., avoiding a –ha ha– split infinitive)? —Tamfang (talk) 08:31, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Something like the way having a period, a question mark, or a closing parenthesis or quotation mark at the start of a line would. The ellipsis is different in its precise logic from each of those, and a sentence-punctuating dash is different again. But there are relevant similarities here. Also, note that I did not speak of the omission and its context being more or less apparent; I spoke of immediacy: "... so that the fact and the context of the omission are immediately apparent to the reader." Often it's like that: the reader can be delayed, irritated, or distracted if the information doesn't come quickly and naturally, or just where it is expected. I don't make the norms, and I didn't design human perceptual psychology☺; but I have made efforts to understood both, and both are relevant to good punctuation and good disposition of text on a page or a screen. NoeticaTea?08:52, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
My answer didn't get saved last night. "examples of undesirable breaks" I usually don't object to adding more explanation, but since you asked, it would add a lot of text without explaining anything I missed. I can easily imagine that omitting an nbsp can result in a line break at that location. But if you think readers need more explanation, it should go at WP:NBSP because it is explaining how nbsp works. Or you could explain some things about nbsp that really are mystifying: it assumes we all recognize bad line breaks when we see them, but in practice I add nbsp only in places that closely resemble the examples, rather than try to guess what the consensus may be on this page, or worse, the consensus on the page I'm editing. Is this related to "only", or is it a separate idea? I don't see how removing "only" would make examples more helpful, because "only" makes sense only to editors who were somehow expecting multiple nbsps, and we already have a red-colored example discouraging multiple nbsps. Art LaPella (talk) 20:21, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Talk pages
It was mentioned above that a lot of discussion on this talk page is about how to apply the MOS. That is like going to an article and discussing the subject of the article instead of the content of an article. For example, it is not appropriate to go to the talk page of Abortion to discuss whether abortion should be legal, but it is appropriate to go there to discuss whether the article should say that in some places they are legal, and the article should say that is legalized murder, or that is not legalized murder (both are oxymorons by the way, and neither are appropriate). Ideally the place for all discussions on the application of the MOS would be on the article talk page that is being discussed or at the help desk, and not here for the same reason. And if it turns out that the MOS is FUBAR, bring it up here. Apteva (talk) 20:25, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to discuss whether abortion should be legal, you go to a blog, not Wikipedia. Assuming you don't want MoS applications to be driven off Wikipedia completely, I don't think that analogy works at all. So where should we discuss whether a specific article conforms to MoS? If everybody agrees what MoS is saying on some specific issue, then I suppose the article talk page is appropriate. If not, then I suppose we come here to discuss what it really means – especially if the same issue applies to multiple articles. I hope we don't need another rule on the subject; we have way too many rules as it is. Art LaPella (talk) 22:26, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Discussion takes place on the talk page of the page to be changed. If the meaning of the MOS is unclear, that is not a discussion of how to apply it but a discussion on how to change the MOS. When an issue applies to multiple articles there is normally a wikiproject where the correct interpretation can be discussed. But questions about whether to use an endash or a hyphen within an article do not belong here, they belong at that article or at the help desk. Questions on whether endash should be used in titles belong at the talk page for Wikipedia:Article titles, which says nothing about endash, or at the article talk page. Questions about whether Mexican-American War is spelled with an endash or a hyphen belong at Talk:Mexican-American War, not here. Questions about whether the MOS is correct do belong here. Talk page guidelines are at Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. If too many people are asking style questions here the banner at the top of that pages talk page can be added here - {{metatalk}}Apteva (talk) 04:53, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If discussion takes place on the talk page of the page to be changed, then removing dashes from titles changes the MoS, which rightly or wrongly claims to regulate title punctuation. According to the Arbitration Committee, questions about dashes including the Mexican–American War were settled here. The talk page guidelines say to avoid off-topic posts; is that your point? If so, it's circular reasoning to assume it doesn't belong at the MoS to prove it doesn't belong at the MoS. The actual Mexican–American War debate took place on several pages, with no attempt to exclude anyone who was interested. That sounds better than having some nobility class decide who gets to discuss something. Editors often agree to centralize a discussion, but only when everyone has been notified if they are likely to be interested. Art LaPella (talk) 07:53, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Questions about how to use the MoS are relatively rare and almost always resolved quickly. They don't get in the way. If it isn't broken, why fix it? 1. Where would these users go if not here? 2. It's kind of nice for all the people who work on the MoS to see proof that people care about using it correctly. Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:05, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Where would they go? To the help desk, like for any other how to question. Here is what I propose:
change
Any issues relating to style guidance can be discussed on the MoS talk page.
to
Any issues relating to style guidance can be discussed at the Wikipedia:Help desk.
(talk pages are for discussing changes, not the subject, and help desk editors especially need to be able to correctly answer MOS questions) Apteva (talk) 15:04, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What for? Everyone uses the MOS and every experienced editor should be able to answer most questions. Did every physics teacher call up Einstein every time a student asked a question? Apteva (talk) 02:15, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Most questions (posted 02:15, 16 October) or Any issues (posted 15:04, 15 October)? They certainly can't authoritatively answer questions when even we can't agree on them. Judging by how little MoS regulars know about their own document, help desk editors surely know even less. Art LaPella (talk) 04:37, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The MOS currently says "Any issues relating to style guidance can be discussed on the MoS talk page." All I changed was where they should ask them. I did not change any to most. Not all questions have answers, but is still okay to ask them. The point that if "we" can not agree on the answer indicates that we are not the best ones to ask. Apteva (talk) 03:05, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"most" comes from this quote and "any" comes from this quote. Most MoS outsiders don't debate style, but when they do, they're usually more impervious to any kind of evidence or consensus, not less, and obviously they are less aware of MoS text. Art LaPella (talk) 04:12, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Are the changes this editor is making permissible? Since 2008, has made no other contributions to Wikipedia other than to change American English to British English and is starting to look like a WP:SPA with his editing. While some of it is appropriate, not all the articles he is changing have strong national ties to England. I came across it at the Steven Lewington article, which is essentially a professional wrestler of English descent who wrestles in America and who was most notable in America. In addition to that, I was the original author and I used American English. My concern is that he has made thousands of these changes and that is his entire editing history. A cursory glance is some of the topics, for example, may be like the Steven Lewington article, like his changing the date usage on album articles of a British artist when American English was used before. Regards, — Moeε08:23, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In general, it is not okay to go into articles and change one optional style to another. However, if this editor is going onto the article talk pages, saying "I think this article should be in British English because its topic is related to Britain in ways X, Y, and Z," and receiving no objection within a reasonable period of time, then this would be a grayer area.
Contact the user and direct him or her to WP:RETAIN, specifically the line, "When an English variety's consistent usage has been established in an article, it is maintained in the absence of consensus to the contrary. With few exceptions (e.g. when a topic has strong national ties or a term/spelling carries less ambiguity), there is no valid reason for such a change." Maybe this person just doesn't know about this rule. We have so many. Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:57, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Upon further examination of the articles, if they're about British citizens, then there is a real case for using British English. In this case, I can see why the user is making these changes. I'd say that Teusdaily only needs to raise these changes on the article talk pages if someone objects to them—which you have. Drop Tues a talk page line and say that you've started a talk page discussion about his or her changes. State your reasons why you think the articles should be in U.S. English, allow others to contribute, and a consensus one way or the other will probably form.
I think your message to him was sufficient, along with all other warnings he has received. Like I said, a lot of the changes are good since British English would be better for citizens, but in the case of an article like Steven Lewington, he changed it based on them being from Britain. Lewington made his notability and resides in the United States, making American English more proper here. That was my concern, since this is something that is either American-preferred or simply neutral differing back to the original style (American, in this case). This was also a concern because he has made so many of these edits. If you feel a majority of his past edits are alright, then it's fine, but I will be looking at future changes he makes to ensure he isn't doing this to neutral/American-English preferred articles again. Regards, — Moeε03:29, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I consider the person being from Britain to be a legitimate reason to prefer British English, even if the person was famous for actions performed elsewhere, though you could certainly make the case otherwise. I wouldn't write an article about J.R.R. Tolkien in South African English, but there are few cases as extreme as his. Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:42, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Curtis, his edit summaries are also misleading as it implies that British is international language.
Darkfrog: I guess it would vary on our definition of what a strong national ties are. Interestingly, J. R. R. Tolkien used British English, so it would make since that his article and works use British English, not American or South African English. Personally, I wouldn't consider your ancestors or your place of birth to be a strong national tie. If you leave the country and there is seemingly nothing that ties you back to their country of origin other than "X was born in _____", then how are they tied to that country? Certainly topics like Elizabeth II, Great Fire of London and articles on the election of the British Prime Minister establish a strong national tie to use British English. Articles when they are mixed where notability/residence differs from birthplace and it's disputed, is where WP:RETAIN should seemingly come into play. Regards, — Moeε06:27, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have audited the contributions of Tuesdaily (of 500 articles) going back to May 2012 on a 1:4 sample basis. In my opinion, aside from two articles where it may be argued that WP:TIES may not have been correctly interpreted, the articles were correctly put into DMY date formats. Of those two, A Bridge Too Far was an Anglo-British film but for one date was already predominantly in dmy format; "Alone Again Or" may have been converted mistakenly on the basis of the song version by The Damned, but the prior version was also predominantly in dmy format. To me, I cannot see how the editor could be classified as a WP:SPA – (s)he is a [{WP:GNOME|gnome]] for they edit a wide variety of articles across Wikispace for compliance with WP:MOSNUM. It is also clear that the editor has been doing the work manually and rather fastidiously. Specifically regarding 'Steven Lewington', I would contend that many British have made their careers on the other side of the pond, and that it is not totally reasonable to assume that WP:TIES would no longer apply to someone on that basis. It would be more reasonable to go along with how the subject identifies himself, which in this case (according to the article) seems to be unambiguously as a Brit. Therefore I see nothing wrong with the actions of said editor. -- Ohconfucius ping / poke07:15, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(I am restoring this section that was blanked by Apteva. Users are reminded that this page is under ArbCom sanction, as indicated by the notice at the top of the page. --Neotarf (talk) 08:35, 13 October 2012 (UTC))[reply]
In recent weeks, User:Apteva has been the most active contributor to this talk page, pushing his idiosyncratic theory about hyphens, dashes, and proper names. He has started at least three RMs based on this theory. As far as I can see, he has not been able to convince anyone to buy into his theory, and his RMs have been roundly opposed, as have his proposals here. I have not had time to read everything that he has written here recently, but on scanning it appears to be just same old same old. I think the vigorous pushing has become too disruptive, and needs to stop now. Does anyone agree, or have a good idea how to encourage a good resolution to this dead horse? Dicklyon (talk) 06:44, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that his or her behaviour has become disruptive, and I agree that something might need to be done about it. I hold off from concrete suggestions, for the moment. NoeticaTea?07:03, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I would also point out the comments of IP user 146.90.43.8 / 67.208.235.66. This user, as IP 146.90.43.8, has made multiple changes and reverts to the project page without consensus. --Neotarf (talk) 09:02, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have restored this section again, after Apteva collapsed/hid it as "off topic". The question before MOS editors is whether anyone supports what he is trying to do here, or if not whether they have good ideas how to help bring the disruption to an end. Of course, if he stops, no further comment or escalation is needed. Dicklyon (talk) 22:18, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What does it matter if someone started a retread thread? If that's a disruption, then it's the type of disruption that talk pages are for. Let people go on if they want. Hiding or changing other people's posts might be a problem, though. There are legitimate reasons to move an off-topic post, but that can be abused.
EDIT: Upon examining the change in question, I concur that Apteva was wrong to collapse the question about whether a user was violating the MoS. However, Apteva might simply have not known that such questions are acceptable here. Darkfrog24 (talk) 01:45, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Thanks very much for letting us know, Neotarf. I missed this earlier, because Apteva hid it!
My intention is, if the RFC is not set aside as a hopelessly confused jumble from the very start, to request an ArbCom case to sort the whole thing out. I have joined that ANI discussion to alert admins to that intention.
Unfortunately I may not be able to respond fast to developments. I am away from my usual resources, and busy with urgent matters in real life.
Yes, I noticed your earlier mention of some situation, a family emergency I presume, I hope things are well for you on that front; but of course these things happen to us all and when they do, there is no alternative but to drop everything else. I will probably soon be away from internet access for an extended time as well. Too bad that those who wish to revisit the dash-hyphen matter again so soon chose this exact time frame to start a new push; it is also a very busy time in academia. I would wish to participate in such an Arbcom discussion, otherwise I fear another three wiki-years will be spent trying to explain the concept of in-house style guides to those who take their authority from whatever advice they remember from their football coach or third grade teacher. There is much expertise among the editors here, as far as understanding the technical necessities of the ever-expanding array of devices people use to access the Wikipedia, at the same time, the people side of Wikipedia, "the encyclopedia that anyone can edit", has not kept up. You would think it would be enough to simply write an article and let the gnomes take care of the arcane details and the polishing, but unfortunately the gnomes seem to be spending more and more time here instead, trying to explain to those who demand repeated explanations but appear not to understand them. --Neotarf (talk) 09:39, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Both in the article and on this talk page, needs to stop right now. I've done half the job for you by protecting the page for a few days. Please reference the Arbitration Committee notice at the top of this page for information on what happens if this recurs after the protection expires or there are continued inappropriate edits or edit warring on this talk page. Please do not bother to post any long replies here justifying your actions, any of you. Just don't edit war, ever, anywhere. It's a pretty much a hard and fast rule and liberally handing out blocks to everyone involved is another option that could already have justifiably been taken. Beeblebrox (talk) 03:48, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"An WP:EW war occurs when editors who disagree about the content of a page repeatedly override each other's contributions, rather than trying to resolve the disagreement by discussion." Beeblebrox, that is not what has been happening here. There has been copious discussion. An RfC ran for over a month and was legitimately closed. The closure was reverted within a few minutes by Noetica. An ANI thread ran for two days, at the end of which RegentsPark made a change to the talk page, with the consensus of ANI. That change was reverted within minutes, by Noetica. What you have done is freeze the process in favour of Noetica's position. A result he is determined to have, by hook or by crook. Please reconsider your decision. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 10:44, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You confuse issues, whoever you are. And you distort the facts and the history, as you do at the ANI discussion – which you re-opened after it had been closed! Such impropriety ☺. Confine your assertions on that topic to one forum, please. The relevant one for this matter: ANI. Soon it will be ArbCom, I fear. I will not refute your assertions here. NoeticaTea?11:42, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Facts, not assertions. There is only one person edit-warring here, and that is you.
Nathan's closure of a month-long RfC: [48]. Your edit warring [49][50]
RegentsPark's restoration of Nathan's closure after a 2-day ani discussion : [51]. Your edit warring: 1 2 3
The 3RR rule applies to reverts that are made without discussion. The reverts were about the summary text. I've started a discussion about what the summary text should say under "Time to respect the admin's decision." The admin has changed the summary text. Darkfrog24 (talk) 15:36, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
as usual, the wrong version has been protected...Just so we are clear, I have no position as to which version is right or wrong. The combination of the edits to the page itself and this page did constitute an edit war and the protection was applied solely to stop it, it is not an endorsement of any version of the page. Also, for the record, having consensus on your side does not shield you from responsibility for taking part in an edit war. The only exemption to WP:ER is the reversion of blatant vandalism, which is clearly not the case here. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:36, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(I split the above section because B specifically asked that we not start a long discussion there. Feel free to revert if you're unhappy 146.90.43.8 (talk) 14:52, 14 October 2012 (UTC))[reply]
I have restored the order of the comments to indicate which comment was responding to which, and also the chronological order, per WP:REFACTOR. The above comment about lengthy posts refers specifically to justifications for edit warring, not long comments in general; however I have left in an arbitrary break. --Neotarf (talk) 23:02, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it seems to me that if an RfC on changing MoS, by adding a weird caveat/disclaimer, failed to come to resolution, then MoS reverts back to its original wording. That's not editwarring, it's just standard operating procedure. The roundabout proposal to add wording to the effect that inter-article consistency goes out with the bathwater clearly failed. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.12:34, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Except that the RfC was deceptively worded, to make it look like the disputed wording was already in the text. In fact, the proposal was to add the wording, not remove it, but somehow all the protests against the deceptive wording kept getting hidden--by resetting the archiving bot, by collapsing discussions -- so new people coming into the discussion could not see the facts. Nathan's close did not say anything about consensus, it is very possible that it is as obvious to him as to everyone else that there is no consensus, but his closing summary just repeated the deceptive language of the RFC, that is, it appears he believed that the proposal was to remove the wording and not to add it. --Neotarf (talk) 13:18, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) The text was added to the guideline in November 2008 in a rewrite[52], and it was removed in August 2011[53] as "repetition and redundancy". I don't think that there was any discussion for the inclusion, and certainly there was no discussion for the removal, as pointed out by Quiddity[54].
We had an RfC. The consensus [56] was that the article should contain the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" . Noetica and two or three others have reverted any attempt to add those words to the article. Those words should be in the article. If Noetica or anyone else is still unhappy, then he should start another RfC. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 14:17, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
BTDT. We already failed to come to a consensus that it is, and the idea has more opposition than support. If a proposed change to a page fails to gain consensus, it goes back to the way it was. This is just an drawn-out case of WP:BRD. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.14:29, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(EC) I don't really understand what you're saying. There was an RfC to determine consensus. The consensus [57] among all who took part in the RfC was that phrase should be included. Now, a small minority of those who took part in the RfC are preventing the phrase from being added.. 146.90.43.8 (talk) 14:45, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, the offending "as a whole" passage appears to be absent from the extant text anyway, so I'm mollified. It should not be added back in. ((em|The entire point of MoS}} is consistency between articles. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.14:35, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There has been some argument over whether the RfC resulted in consensus or not. The last time I counted, it was about seventeen to thirteen people in favor of reinserting the contested wording, and in my opinion there was more evidence cited in favor of doing so as well.
There is a difference of opinion regarding whether the discussion resulted in consensus or not. Uninvolved non-admin editor Nathan Johnson found that it did. Admin Kwami found that it did not. Admin RegentsPark confirmed that Nathan Johnson's decision was procedurally valid. 14:37, 14 October 2012 (UTC)
Half of the entire point of MoS is consistency between articles. If all we wanted was consistency within each article, it would all just be a matter of local consensus at each article's talk page; let's not be silly. Let's also not beat around the bush: The passage in question was added by people (do I see any birdwatchers in the bushes, perhaps?) who want to advance a topical "standard" through a wikiproject, or just their own personal editing habits, that conflicts with MoS, plain and simple. The way to change consensus about a point of grammar, spelling, punctuation or orthography on Wikipedia is to put forth a clear case to change that consensus, at the talk page of the guideline in question. It isn't to sneak in a clause that effectively says "ignore this guideline except inside the same article"; that is what is colloquially known as "a load of crap". If someone wants to propose such a thing, let them do it in another RfC: "Should MoS be limited to only applying within the same article, and it's rules/advice considered null and void for inter-article consistency?" I predict about a 97% outcry against that, especially if it's advertised though WP:VPP and WP:CD. A finding this way or that with regard to the results of an RfC can't ignore basic WP:COMMONSENSE. A vote headcount is now how RfCs or other consensus-determination processes work. You feel the arguments for the passage were stronger, but I sure don't. Most of them appear to be logically invalid to me, because they fail to understand what MoS's obvious purpose is (among other errors). Again, just put the real, underlying question – limit MoS to intra-article authority or not? – to the test. Trying to get at this question by nipping at its heel is disingenuous nonsense. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.14:51, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, SMC, the purpose of the MoS is not inter-article consistency. It is 1. the promotion of correct and intelligible English on the English Wikipedia and 2. intra-article consistency where more than one correct option exists.
I didn't say arguments. I said evidence. More people cited actual problems that that had observed that they believed were attributable to the absence of the contested wording than cited problems attributable to its presence. That's what I mean by evidence; observed events rather than hypothetical events or logical arguments. Darkfrog24 (talk) 14:58, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I can read. I disagree with most of them and with your summary of them as supposed observations rather than opinional positions (i.e. arguments) about their observations. And "No, Darkfrog", the purpose of MoS is not "correct" English. MoS makes no pretense whatsoever that it has identified and is promoting "correct" English, since there is no such thing. MoS, for internal Wikipedia use, promotes, yes, intelligible English for the benefit of the widest readership, and this by definition means between not just within each article in a vacuum. Basic logic dictates that promotion of intelligible English – as prescribed by MoS – on the English Wikipedia necessarily means across articles, not just in one article here and one article there, willy-nilly. It would be "reader-hateful" to have one article "consistently" using one set of terminology, capitalization, hyphenation, spelling, units, abbreviation, punctuation, etc., etc., while permitting, even encouraging other articles to "consistently" within their insular selves use completely different sets of these things. The no. 1 role of MoS is to set a baseline of standard writing practice here. The no. 2 role is to see that it is used consistently *between* articles, or there was no point in doing no. 1 to begin with. The KISS principle and principle of least astonishment are legitimate and important MoS goals. MoS promote intra-article consistency where more than one correct option exists, but only in the relatively uncommon case that MoS has not already selected one of these options as the preferred Wikipedian way. Furthermore, Nathan Johnson should recuse himself from any further admin closures on this and related issues. His closure rationale includes his own pro/con statement that not adding the clause back in would "increase arguing over what was meant in the MoS", which makes him a belated party to the debate, not a neutral party, and his statement that opponents of the phrase were advocating that consistency across articles be required is a straw man – no one in this debate has done so, and doing so wouldn't make sense, since MoS doesn't really require anything. In actuality, opponents of this phrase being added take the much more reasonable position that inter-article consistency is desirable and is a valid goal when achieving it is reasonably possible. I therefore dispute the validity of Johnson's closure, as both by an involved party and fundamentally misrepresenting/misunderstanding half of the debate. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.15:21, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What is and isn't correct English can change over time (and sometimes with place), but the idea that there's no such thing as correct English is not true. If I spell "cat" "khup," then that is wrong. If I capitalize a t mid-sentence, that is wrong. Darkfrog24 (talk) 15:40, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Again, see Linguistic description, esp. vs. prescriptive grammar. If it became commonplace to spell cat as khup instead, then then would be how to spell cat henceforth. "Wrong" is a value judgement and doesn't make sense with relation to language. Khup right now is simply unintelligible, which accurately describes it linguistically without pretending there is some kind of Platonic Truth involved. [Aside: Interestingly, almost the same transition you are talking about has already been transpiring; the other way around. Ketchup (derived from various cognate Southeast Asian terms in Malay, Indonesian and Chinese, like ke chiap, meaning 'fish sauce' or 'soy sauce') has been mutating over the last couple of generations into catsup. That doesn't wouldn't make catsup "wrong", even the day it first appeared, just odd at the time, and now routine.] — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.03:03, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the language could change to make "khup" the accepted spelling. But right now, it isn't. That's what I mean by "wrong." At any given time and place, there are correct spellings and usages and incorrect spellings and usages.
There's no point in arguing about when the words were added and when they were removed. This seems to be just another way to filibuster (as in, "you didn't describe the entire sequence of events going back four years 100 percent accurately, therefore you were trying to mislead us, therefore you are a liar, therefore the RfC isn't valid, therefore we're not really edit warring"). The point is: should the words "though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole" be in the sentence in question, and the RfC consensus was yes.
In addition, SMcCandlish, it isn't correct that the entire point of the MoS is consistency between articles. Editors have opposed that idea for as long as I recall. We aim for local consensus and internal consistency, and we have an MoS to offer guidance as to how to local consensus is usually shaped. But a lot of style issues devolve to the first major contributor, the idea of regional differences, changing consensus on talk pages, and who is actually doing the writing. The only thing we require is internal consistency so that articles aren't a mishmash. SlimVirgin(talk)23:46, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, that is so opposite to my understanding. First of all, there was clearly NOT a consensus to re-add this old line in the RFC. And it to re-add it without the other part, that said "Therefore, even where the Manual of Style permits alternative usages, be consistent within an article," makes it seem as if it's giving permission to ignore the MOS and develop wholly independent local styles, which is the way of chaos. Dicklyon (talk) 00:07, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
1. Dicklyon, speaking for myself, I have no objection to "Therefore ...within an article" and would support its reinsertion. I think it's a bit redundant, but hey.
2. When I last checked, seventeen people favored reinsertion and thirteen opposed. Yes, this isn't a vote. But, as Nathan Johnson pointed out, the people who opposed fell into two very different groups: A good chunk of the people who opposed reinsertion said, "Because it's obvious that inter-article consistency is not the purpose of the MoS and unnecessary to repeat it." If we consider that most of the rest of the people who objected believe that the MoS either does or should require inter-article consistency, then this assumption can be proven false. If we either assume that these people would switch their votes or that they wouldn't vote at all, then that put it closer to twentysomething to eight or nine. (And yes, if we wanted to be sure what they'd do, we'd have to ask them.) Darkfrog24 (talk) 00:29, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
SV, I've already moderated my statement. I didn't literally mean "entire", and was using it hyperbolically, but at least you and one other didn't pick up on that, so I used <ins>...</ins> to fix it. Consistency between articles, however, is still a top-level goal of the MoS, otherwise we wouldn't really need one. WikiProjects would just set topical standards, to the extent anyone cared, and that would be that; we'd have a really messy encyclopedia, but that would be our norm. The consensus in this latest RfC wasn't "yes", add it. An admin who badly mischaracterized half the respondents and himself offered a strong opinion on the matter said the consensus was "yes". These are very different things. Even without those issues, others have disputed the "consensus" finding anyway. It's pretty much moot. A finding of alleged consensus that immediately results in a huge many-party, multi-day argument about whether there was consensus or not obviously misread the level of consensus, as the argument demonstrates that there is in fact no consensus. When have I ever suggested that first-major-contributor isn't the rule of thumb when MoS fails to offer a pre-set WP-wide preference? I've never said such a thing. MOS does, however, offer pre-set preferences on many, many, many things, and does so equally for inter- as well as intra-article consistency reasons. Both GAN and especially FAC treat MoS as a set of inter-article consistency rules, no doubt about that at all. I think you're mistaking my argument and running with it off into the distance. Observing that MOS is firmly intended and used for inter-article consistency does not mean that one opposes or is oblivious to principles like consensus on the article talk page among active editors of an article, or the principle of first major contributor, or that in various ways WP has decided not to have some kinds of inter-article consistency (WP:ENGVAR, etc.) – namely places/aspects that MOS itself has failed or declined to set a site-wide rule. Per WP:LOCALCONSENSUS making up local rules when MOS does provide a site-wide rule is, at least, problematic and contraindicated unless the need is so strong it legitimately triggers WP:IAR. If MOS were not intended and continually used for inter-article consistency, an edit summary of something like "style fix per MOS" would signal an edit that should be immediately reverted, by anyone/everyone, as borderline vandalism or PoV pushing, since such an edit's basis would be fallacious. It isn't and it doesn't, however, as we all know. QED: MoS is provably an inter- as well as intra-article consistency guideline. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.03:03, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking of consistency, to me the highest priority is fixing the inconsistencies between the various MOS pages, and removing the notice of using this page instead of another if there is a disagreement. In particular, there are two "disputed" tags at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations and it would be helpful to remove both as quickly as possible. Apteva (talk) 02:20, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is actually just one dispute, that the list of acronyms is arbitrary. My recommendation is instead of pretending that those are the only acronyms, present the list as examples. Apteva (talk) 03:18, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Species capitalization "asking the other parent" (2 cases)
The process of consensus building is crucial to the success of Wikipedia. Consensus does not always bring the result any particular editor or group of editors desires, nor is it necessary that a 'consensus' that has been found is necessarily correct. But, as long as it is determined by an independent editor, we should go with it. If we don't, then the process becomes useless. My suggestion is that, if you don't like this consensus, you take this to some other venue - arbcom if you will. But, don't subvert the process. I also direct everyones attention to the following text from WP:CONSENSUS: The continuous, aggressive pursuit of an editorial goal is considered disruptive, and should be avoided. Editors should listen, respond, and cooperate to build a better article. Editors who refuse to allow any consensus except the one they insist on, and who filibuster indefinitely to attain that goal, risk damaging the consensus process. Any further reverts to the RfC will be disruptive and subject to blocks. And, I won't hesitate to protect the page as well. There is a lot to do on Wikipedia that is more important than arguing disruptively over a sentence in MOS. --regentspark (comment) 15:18, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Correct. My suggestion is, count to ten, and then some, and when it is appropriate, bring up the topic again. First as discussion, and if not enough editors are participating, or if no consensus can be reached, as an RfC, or go to moderation, etc. Everyone has a reason for their viewpoint, and ignorance is just as valid a reason as any other. When the reason for the viewpoint is discovered it is easier to figure out which side to take - which is why at WP:RM (one of my frequent haunts) votes are not as helpful as reasons for the vote. It occurs to me that some of the editors here would like a WP:RS for Requested Style. But note that no RM discussions take place at RM - WP:RM is only a listing of the RM discussions. Apteva (talk) 16:42, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's an interesting point, that "ignorance is just as valid a reason as any other". It does explain a lot about your recent behavior, where by rejecting responses from others you keep yourself ignorant to try to keep your veiwpoint valid. Wouldn't it be better to consider such viewpoints based on ignorance as not "just as valid", but rather as transient states to be gotten through? Dicklyon (talk) 17:17, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Plesase revert the WP:POINTedly insertion of "some" into "and in some proper names such as Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre".[58] What it implies is that Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre are two of the extremely few proper names that use a hyphen, when no one has been able too find even one proper name that does use anything but a hyphen. If you think about what the sentence actually says, it is easier to understand without the examples - "Hyphenation is also used in some proper names." As in not all proper names have a hyphen - for example, Washington and Sun are not commonly spelled with a hyphen, but Mexican-American War and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are spelled with a hyphen. The intent of the edit was to point out that Mexican-American War is spelled with something other than a hyphen, even though 97.2% of books do use a hyphen, which clearly refutes that idea. Walmart was correctly spelled with a star or a stylized asterisk in the middle of the word, but using some just because of that exception is pointless. All guidelines and policies have exceptions. This is not a place that adding some is warranted, and only confuses the meaning of the sentence. Apteva (talk) 18:10, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If the page had not been protected, I would have reverted that edit myself, because it's off-topic and too obvious to bother with: It's a simple statement that hyphens are used, equivalent to saying that apostrophes are used in proper names like O'Hara. But you illustrate exactly why it was added: people have been abusing that passage to argue for something else entirely. I don't know whether this is a willful misreading or not, but it very obviously has nothing to do with the hyphen–dash question, any more than it means that O'Hara needs to be spelled "O-Hara". As long as we are able to acknowledge that, I would support removing the added word. If we're not able to acknowledge that, then this extraneous wording would unfortunately appear to be necessary to prevent such misuse. Significant portions of the MOS have already been reworded to head off gaming the guideline in cases like this. — kwami (talk) 18:39, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is my point exactly. But adding significant portions of the MOS to head off gaming the guideline is itself a miss-interpretation of what a guideline is. If someone does not want to follow it no amount of specificity is going to help. Apteva (talk) 19:50, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mexican–American War would use a dash, not a hyphen. It wasn't a war of Mexican-Americans vs. someone else, but between Mexico and the United States of America. Juxtaposition of two independent entities. — SMcCandlishTalk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ Contrib.02:33, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sure. But his argument is that since the MOS says hyphens are used in proper names, dashes cannot be used in proper names. Which is the opposite of what it says, of course, but he's been repeating that argument over and over. I think the "pointy" addition of 'some' into the MOS was intended to make it more obvious that that argument is specious. — kwami (talk) 02:48, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But as pointed out adding "some" does not say what it was intended to say. And it can not say that all proper names use a hyphen because Sun does not use a hyphen, and it can not say that no proper names use a hyphen because Wilkes-Barre does. As far as I can see 2.8% of books use an endash for Mexican American War. A second study using only page images may raise that percentage. Adding some does not in any way affect what our article is going to use. The article has been bouncing around half a dozen times from a hyphen to an endash. Adding some will not change whether it uses an endash or a hyphen. Does some mean that where an endash or a hyphen could be used a hyphen is used some of the time? Or does it mean that for all proper names, some of them are hyphenated? If an endash is ever correctly used in a proper name it does not matter in the least how many times that happens, so some, most, all, none, few, many are meaningless. Use the correct punctuation. All the time. It is also a fact that I am not aware of any examples of an endash being correct in a proper name, but certainly it should be trivial to find an exception. And if there is one? What good does adding "some" do? We already say that the guideline has exceptions. Do we have to say that in every sentence? Apteva (talk) 05:22, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, if you would bother educating yourself about what grammar guides say, or about the en dash discussions, you'd know that in some styles the role of the en dashed is filled by the hyphen – like in styles based on typewriters, and some others. There's probably no en dash role that actually appears as en dash in a majority of sources – not even in page ranges or date ranges. It's not that the hyphen is "wrong", but that in styles that recognize the distinction between hyphen and en dash, the en dash should be used when it signals the intended relationship better than the hyphen does. Proper names have nothing to do with it, except that some proper names, such as person names that have been derived from two parent names, or city names that have been compounded from two names, where the two distinct person or entities are not being distingushed, the hyphen in used. When the two are distinguished, as in Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, the en dash is used. Have you tried consulting grammar guides about this? None of them have anything resembling your theory. The "some" that I added was to blunt your erroneous interpretation of a sentence that nobody had misinterpreted before; I'm not sure why people are calling it pointy. Only very few proper names include a hyphen, so the "some" makes perfect sense. Dicklyon (talk) 05:48, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that the wording is awkward. If no-one were using that sentence to claim that the MOS says that we need to use hyphens instead of dashes in proper names, then I would remove it. There are, however, several other places in the MOS which are awkwardly written because of repeated misinterpretation of more straightforward or elegant wording. — kwami (talk) 06:11, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have looked at some style guides. No where near as many as were consulted in developing the MOS, but Seattle-Tacoma Intl is not a particularly good example, because the vast majority of sources spell it with a hyphen. Adding some does not change what I think the sentence says. I think the some was added to try to change the meaning of the sentence, but it has no affect on the sentence other than to mislead. Some implies how many, 1 out of 4, 3 out of 4? One out of a hundred? Nine out of ten? Lets say that there are 100 proper nouns and 2 use a hyphen and 3 use an endash. Does saying some help to know which is which? Lets say there are none that use an endash. Does saying some use a hyphen help to add an endash? What I am saying is that adding the word some was intended to mean that some names use an endash, but it does not say that. It says, and I quote, "Hyphenation also occurs in bird names such as Great Black-backed Gull, and in some proper names such as Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre." How by any stretch of the imagination does that help add an endash to any words? That is why I am saying that it was added just to make a point. Apteva (talk) 07:07, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'll be the first to agree that it doesn't change the meaning, and wasn't intended to. But it was intended to keep you from claiming that the meaning is that proper name cannot have en dashes, which it never said. As long as we agree, I don't really care if we remove "some". Dicklyon (talk) 07:19, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Excellent. I am certain that some kind admin will be happy to do that - for exactly that reason - "as long as we agree"! Edit protected can never be used to perform an edit that has not gained consensus. Apteva (talk) 07:32, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
So we agree now? Above where you said "Even I am wrong sometimes, I freely admit that, like when I think that I am wrong." you weren't just kidding as you implied? You're admitting now that you were wrong in your interpretation of the MOS as saying the proper names can't have en dashes? Dicklyon (talk) 07:40, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I was saying that in my personal experience I have yet to find a title that has come through WP:RM that seemed to indicate, based on common usage, that it should use an endash in a proper noun That had nothing to do with the MOS, but only to do with personal experience. But that is a tiny microcosm. I searched through as much of the dictionary that time and google would allow and hoped to find one to no avail - so far. I have not given up, and hope to find some in the comets perhaps. Normally exceptions to anything are trivial to find. But moving on, while reading New Hart's Rules, it says that it is Brit speak to use post-World War I with a hyphen and Am speak to use an endash. Based on what I am finding in the google book search for hyphens and commas in for example male-female I am wondering if perhaps we should have a grey area where either a hyphen or an endash is acceptable? 1914-18 pretty universally used an endash, Bose-Einstein we can ignore because those are scientists and what do they know about punctuation? I am being a little bit facetious but only a little. Male-female surprised me. Apteva (talk) 07:53, 15 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Abuse of hidden template
Lately I've seen several examples of articles including large amounts of non-encyclopedic cruft by including it inside hidden sections (using either the {{Hidden}} or {{Hidden begin}}/{{Hidden end}} templates). For example, the Gangnam Style article recently included 3 hidden sections: A list of celebrity tweets related to the song, a list of quotations from various media, and a regular section of article prose about the spread of the song outside Korea. This brings up 2 questions:
Should regular sections of article prose ever be hidden by default?
Can editors ignore WP:NOT by hiding lists of trivia rather than deleting them or integrating them into the article prose?
Clear vandalism of whatever origin may be reverted without restriction.
Editors who otherwise violate this 1RR restriction may be blocked without warning by any uninvolved administrator, even on a first offense.
If you are a new editor, or an editor unfamiliar with the situation, please follow the above guidelines. If you are unsure if your edit is appropriate, discuss it here on this talk page first. When in doubt, don't revert!
The reason for this is we look like a fool if we want articles to maintain a consistent style and we do not even maintain consistency in the MOS. If there are inconsistencies I recommend fixing them like yesterday, but certainly not pretending that one page is more correct than another. Are there any inconsistencies that anyone knows of? There are 71 pages in the MOS. Apteva (talk) 05:08, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It would be best to actually find and fix discrepancies on a case-by-case basis, rather than make a blanket statement like this. --Jayron3205:21, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The sentence puts the editors of subpages on notice that they should not incorporate guidance that conflicts with the MOS, and gives editors license to remove any such conflicting guidance from the subpages. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:53, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose. I added the sentence about page precedence at 04:45, 21 July 2012. It does not make us look like fools, but it simply acknowledges that there may be inconsistencies, and it provides guidance to editors who find them. Resolving them might involve long, convoluted discussions, but in the meantime editors can apply what has precedence.
The problem though, is that editors are going to use common sense, not what the sentence says - anyone can change either page to say anything at all, and there is no greater likelihood that this page is the better of the two to use. Fixing discrepancies is what is needed, not advice on which to use. If it said "if you find a discrepancy correct it", that would be appropriate, and would not pretend to know which was correct. Possible wording could be, "There are many pages to the MOS, and conflicting or confusing information should be corrected or discussed on the relevant talk page." But that should be in a side note, not within the text. In looking through most of our policies, guidelines and essays, many are brilliantly written, at the level of professionalism of our best Featured Articles. This MOS would not even qualify as a GA in its present form, and frankly sets a poor example of what to do. Apteva (talk) 19:55, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Common sense is subjective. Saying that editors will ignore a meta-guideline (and therefore discarding the meta-guideline) is like saying that people will ignore advice to avoid exceeding the speed limit, avoid abusing drugs, or avoid participating in extramarital sexual intercourse (and therefore wasting appropriate opportunities to give such advice). Even if a guideline on a page with precedence needs to be revised later, there is value in having order instead of a free-for-all.
Please see Terms of Use: 17. Other Terms, paragraph 6 of 7: "These Terms of Use were written in English (U.S.). While we hope that translations of these Terms of Use are accurate, in the event of any differences in meaning between the original English version and a translation, the original English version takes precedence." For many examples of similar wording, you can search on the Internet for english version takes precedence and english version prevail.
Not a good example. Any document that is translated is liable to be horribly translated, and in the case of discrepancies it is obvious to refer to the original. Had the original been in Russian it would have said that in case of discrepancies the Russian version takes precedence. In the case of the MOS, I have no idea if or where any discrepancies occur or how they got there, but it is clearly equally possible that WP:MOS is the one with the error, for example if it said, just as an example, to spell Mexican-American War or Comet Hale-Bopp with an endash, and if a subpage said to spell it with a hyphen, clearly the subpage is correct and should be followed, not WP:MOS. Apteva (talk) 01:20, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As to the comet and the war. If the MOS specialists here decided to use a hyphen, no one at any time would question that decision. Recommend an endash, and it both will and has been questioned. Until it is changed. Apteva (talk) 03:22, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose deletion. There are going to be some discrepancies no matter what, and this tells editors what to do about them. If anyone wants to organize a discrepancy-resolving task force, I'd be interested, though. Darkfrog24 (talk) 18:28, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:HEAD says "Change a heading only after careful consideration, and if doing so use an anchor template ..." But Help:Section#Section linking and redirects doesn't require the anchor; it lists anchors as one of several alternatives. MOS:SECTIONS is similarly permissive, using the word "Consider ..." rather than a simple imperative.
Anchors are not required. They are only used when there are known articles that link to that section heading. The choice is to either change the link or add an anchor. Either can be done. Apteva (talk) 01:47, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:TPOC (version of 09:23, 9 October 2012), point 13, ends by saying: "In order to ensure links to the previous section heading (including automatically generated links in watchlists and histories) continue to work, one should use one of the following templates to anchor the old title: {{formerly}}, {{anchord}}, {{anchor}}." The same benefits apply to article pages.
As you go down the list, "fixed" means fixed previously; I didn't fix anything tonight. About half the list has been fixed over the last few years. Art LaPella (talk) 05:34, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
MOS:CURRENCY
MOS:CURRENCY says "In non-country-specific articles such as Wealth, use US dollars (US$123), the dominant reserve currency of the world. Some editors also like to provide euro and/or pound sterling equivalents ..." (emphasis added). But [[MOS:#Currencies]] says "or", not "also": "In non-country-specific articles, express amounts of money in United States dollars, euros, or pounds sterling." (emphasis in original)
Not fixed yet. The latter is from the main MoS page, so I suppose the former should be changed to the latter, unless someone otherwise resolves the contradiction. Art LaPella (talk) 04:28, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:COPYEDIT
WP:COPYEDIT#Common edits says "The wording, spelling, and punctuation of literal quotations should not be changed. ... See WP:MOSQUOTE for details." MOSQUOTE starts out the same way: "Preserve the original text, spelling, and punctuation." But then it says "Trivial spelling or typographical errors should be silently corrected ...", and there's no hint that some spelling errors are more trivial than others. Presumably it means that quotes over 200 years old shouldn't be spell checked, but that isn't the most common cause of misspelling. Thus most spelling should be corrected, depending on which guideline we read. Most of MOSQUOTE is about "Allowable typographical changes" that similarly undermine the rule against changing punctuation.
Changed since then, but not fixed. "obvious errors in the original can be marked with [sic]" is inconsistent with "Trivial spelling or typographical errors should be silently corrected (for example, correct supercede to supersede, harasssment to harassment)—unless the slip is textually important." Art LaPella (talk) 04:35, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:Manual of Style (France & French-related)
WP:Manual of Style (France & French-related)#Railways says "use the basis Ligne de XXXXXXXX - XXXXXXXX (ex. Ligne de Grenoble - Montmélian)". It should say "despite WP:HYPHEN and WP:ENDASH" if you really want French railways to be an exception to our usual taboo against spaced hyphens. The following section about railway stations says "it should be joined by hyphens. ex: 'Gare de XXXXXX-YY-ZZZZZZZZ'", which isn't a spaced hyphen, but anyway.
The ampersand in the title "WP:Manual of Style (France & French-related)" conflicts with WP:&. I realize it says "Retain ampersands in titles of works", but since we named it ourselves, we can rename it.
1 has been fixed except for "Gare de XXXXXX-YY-ZZZZZZZZ", and I no longer think that is an error since we decided to hyphenate Austria-Hungary for instance. 2 has not been fixed. Art LaPella (talk) 04:44, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:ELLIPSIS says: "Use non-breaking spaces ( ) only as needed to prevent improper line breaks, for example: ... To keep the ellipsis from wrapping to the next line ("France, Germany, ... and Belgium but not the USSR")." But the very purpose of is to prevent wrapping to the next line. So "Use ... nbsp only as needed to prevent improper line breaks, for example ... to keep it from wrapping to the next line", can be simplified to "Use nbsp only as needed to prevent improper line breaks, for example every damn time."
Noetica apparently agrees to removing the word "only", and hasn't answered concerning the other changes he proposed. So if there is no further comment on this issue, I will remove the word "only" when page protection comes off, which would resolve this old issue. Art LaPella (talk) 04:54, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WP:NBSP says "Use a non-breaking space ... in expressions in which figures and abbreviations (or symbols) are separated by a space (e.g. ... AD 565". But WP:ERA says "BCE and CE or BC and AD are ... separated from the year number by a space ornon-breaking space (5 BC, not 5BC)." (emphasis added)
WP:DECADE says "The two-digit form [of a decade], to which a preceding apostrophe should be added ..." But [[MOS:#Longer periods]] says "(the '80s or the 80s)".
The end of [[MOS:#Longer periods]] says "Centuries and millennia are written ... without Roman numerals". But the section it's supposed to be summarizing at WP:CENTURY doesn't mention Roman numerals.
[[MOS:#Large numbers]] says "Because large rounded numbers are generally assumed to be approximations, about or similar qualifications are not normally needed." But [[MOS:#Currencies]] says "approx. US$1.4M ... approx. €1.0M".
WP:BULLETLIST says "As a matter of style, list items should start with a capital letter. They should not have a punctuation mark such as a period, a comma or a semi-colon at the end, except if a list item is one or more full sentences, in which case there is a period at the end." But [[MOS:#Bulleted and numbered lists]] says "When the elements are sentence fragments ... [they] are formatted consistently in either sentence case or lower case. Each element should end with a semicolon, with a period instead for the last element. Alternatively (especially when the elements are short), no final punctuation is used at all." (emphasis added)
WP:Manual of Style (music)#Usage says "The word hip hop is ... not hyphenated." The compound adjective article says "Conventionally, and with the support of modern writing guides, compound modifiers that appear before a noun phrase generally include a hyphen between each word, subject to some exceptions", and none of the exceptions applies to a phrase like "hip-hop music".
I don't know if it changed, but now I wouldn't call it inconsistent. The compound adjective article says
WP:PAIC says "Place inline citations after any punctuation such as a comma or period" ... But WP:REFPUNC says "If an article has evolved using predominantly one style of ref tag placement, the whole article should conform to that style unless there is a consensus to change it."
WP:ANDOR says "Avoid the construct and/or on Wikipedia", which is often easier said than done. Searching the Manual for "and/or" proves that the real guideline is "Do as I say, not as I do." The same could be said for other guidelines such as spaced hyphens in the subpages, although I have changed many of them to en dashes according to WP:HYPHEN and WP:ENDASH.
Parentheses are more common for trig functions, but there is no need to specify how formulas should be written. Not using parentheses for ln though does make sense - ln 2 but does not need to be in the MOS. Apteva (talk) 01:53, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Apteva has filed an arbitration enforcement action against me and against Neotarf, for our attempts to deal with his disruption on this page: here, in case anyone here cares. Dicklyon (talk) 07:48, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The fact that sanctions are requested for violating the ARB sanction are not important. Each individual user has already been notified. Apteva (talk) 15:10, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have removed the tag that user Apteva placed at the top of this section. Notifications of actions and discussions that affect this page are entirely appropriate and appear here frequently. --Neotarf (talk) 20:32, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There's only one closed section on the revision of the page you linked, and none of Apteva's edits seem to be to that section. Did you provide the wrong link? – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›00:37, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am pretty sure there is one section there that I inserted a blank line before the next section so that when it gets archived it will be easier to read. The normal procedure on sections is they end with a blank line, and after the == section heading they optionally have a blank line - but always have a blank line before the section heading. Apteva (talk) 02:32, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I provided the correct link. Apteva modified the content of the sub-subsection "I'm going to add the text back into the article, per the RfC", which is a sub-subsection of the section "RfC: Internal consistency versus consistency across articles". That modification included the removal of one blank line and the insertion of a wikitable with items "Mexican=American War" [sic] and "Comet Hale-Bopp" [sic] and "comet Hale-Bopp" [sic]. As a sub-subsection of the closed section "RfC: Internal consistency versus consistency across articles", the sub-subsection "I'm going to add the text back into the article, per the RfC" was closed. [Apteva also modified the section "WP:Manual of Style (British Isles-related articles)" by removing 2 blank lines.] The entire edit summary is add, and no mention of any section or subsection or sub-subsection or sub-sub-subsection is visible, because Apteva revised the page as a whole. Here is a link to the version of 16:56, 17 October 2012.
You've misread the diff. The wikitable was added to the top-level section 12 "Hyphen examples", not the closed subsection you indicated. The only line in his diff that was within a closed section was removing a double-newline, a code change that has no effect on the display of the discussion whatsoever. In fact, some editing tools do this for you automatically. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›21:49, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are right and I was wrong. I was misled by the fact that Apteva edited the page as a whole, and the difference page caused the sub-subheading "I'm going to add the text back into the article, per the RfC" to appear above and near the added wikitable, whereas actually it was and is far above it on the displayed page. This illustrates that a variety of revisions made simultaneously to a page as a whole and spread over different parts of the page can complicate the task of reviewing the page history, just as missing or uninformative edit summaries can complicate that task. I hope to review page histories more carefully in the future.
Agreed, small section-based edits make it easier to review. I had trouble getting drilled into my head to make many small commits instead of few large ones when I was doing team software development, but I certainly understand why it's preferred. The diff page could stand to have some small visual improvements to make it clearer too, it's easy to skim the line numbers without noticing a big jump. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›00:02, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The ANI is a discussion related to disruptions here, and Neotarf's note is (I assume) one of courtesy notification of a related action. -- JHunterJ (talk) 00:27, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Without commenting on the validity of it, the ANI discussion is about behaviour that has little to no bearing on the content of the MOS. There's no benefit in notifying WT:MOS of this. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›00:33, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I understand there's been some politics and drama here recently and I'm not unsympathetic to the frustration involved on all sides, but perpetuating it with notices like this is exactly the wrong direction to be taking to get things back on track. Apteva shouldn't have removed the thread above, and neither the thread above nor this one should have been posted here to begin with. WP:TPG applies, this page is for discussing the MOS. I think both these threads should be hatted. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›00:51, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I see no reason to keep this secret, especially since it involves MOS. Editors who are interested in MOS may also wish to comment on the ANI forum. --Neotarf (talk) 01:14, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It doesn't involve the MOS, this page was simply the site where an alleged behavioural problem occurred. Apteva himself is certainly heavily involved in the MOS at the moment, but his AE and ANI threads have no relevance to here, they're both behavioural. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›01:17, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Stay on topic: Talk pages are for discussing the article, not for general conversation about the article's subject (much less other subjects). Keep discussions focused on how to improve the article. Comments that are plainly irrelevant are subject to archival or removal.
The relevance is in Apteva's continuing outrageous behavior here. When I sought input on how to deal with his disruption, he removed it, he hid it, he took me to Arbcom enforcement, he removed and then hid my notice of that, and then he sought to punish the admin who tried to stop him. It's all too much. He suggests we take him to RFC/U instead, but I don't have time for that. I'm on vacation -- in Hawaii -- had a great helicopter tour today. There, now that's something off-topic to chide me about. Dicklyon (talk) 05:42, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You know better than that, Dick. This is not the venue to discuss behavioural issues, which Apteva's complaint against you is, nor to rally support from Apteva's detractors. Use his or your talk page, use the AE or ANI pages. If it has nothing to do with the improvement of the MOS (and it doesn't), don't bring it here. It doesn't concern anyone except the people involved. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›21:57, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"Where the MoS permits alternative usages ...'
I've reverted this edit of Dicklyon's, as it seems to push the disputed paragraph in the direction of all edits having to be MoS-compliant. We would need consensus for any change in that direction, especially coming right after an RfC.
The current lead paragraph says:
An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole. Where more than one style is acceptable, editors should not change an article from one of those styles to another without a substantial reason. Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable. If discussion cannot determine which style to use in an article, defer to the style used by the first major contributor.
The words "optional" and "acceptable" need not refer to optional or acceptable in MoS terms, but in terms of style guides generally. Local consensus is not allowed to decide not to be neutral, or not to use sources, but a local consensus of editors is allowed to choose how to write citations, no matter what CITE says, and is allowed to ignore the MoS, so long as their style choices are internally consistent (and somewhat consistent with advice that might be found in external style guides, i.e. it shouldn't be too strange).
Dicklyon's addition -- "Therefore, even where the Manual of Style permits alternative usages, be consistent within an article." -- changed the emphasis to suggest that only MoS-permitted usage is ever allowed, which seems to promote the MoS to policy. SlimVirgin(talk)00:01, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It means no such thing. It is as semantically empty as the wording you added. And regardless, this is being said in a guideline, and however we word it it's still a guideline. I don't understand this attempt to find some conspiratorial meaning behind the words, on either side. We should simply say what we mean. — kwami (talk) 01:41, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Merging from 'Consensus'
The disputed text is as follows:
An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article, [though not necessarily throughout Wikipedia as a whole]. [[Therefore, even where the Manual of Style permits alternative usages, be consistent within an article.]] Where more than one style is acceptable, editors should not change an article from one of those styles to another without a substantial reason. Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable.
I'm not sure it makes much difference which of the three versions we use. The context is clearly that of internal consistency regarding selection of MOS-acceptable styles. All that any of the three versions means is that, for example, we shouldn't mix US and UK spelling within an article, even though we mix them on WP as a whole. Stylistically, the more concise the better, but adding the redundant bits in brackets makes no real difference. People have expressed the concern that the first redundant bit will be used to claim that the MOS need not be applied to all articles, but I don't see how it even implies that. The surrounding statements (intro and conclusion of the paragraph) clearly summarize the intent of this section: style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article: Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable. Everything in between is filler, so the irregular RfC (add non-consensual wording and then require consensus to remove it), while a mockery of normal MOS process, makes no practical difference in this case other than setting a bad precedent. — kwami (talk) 00:08, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'd appreciate it if you would stop misrepresenting the RfC, and in particular would not imply that I was in any way dishonest, as you did on another talk page. I've had enough of the assumptions of bad faith on this page. The RfC was held to decide whether people wanted those words in the MoS. Whether they were being added or restored made no difference to people's responses. SlimVirgin(talk)00:15, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Bias doesn't make you dishonest, of course, and I don't believe I've said that you're dishonest. My point is that this is not a meaningful change, so it doesn't really matter to the MOS. If in the future you are willing hold yourself to the same standard you hold others to (per the edit summary of your last edit to the MOS: rv, pls gain consensus for this first), that is, if you're willing to follow BOLD in the future, then I doubt we'll have a problem. — kwami (talk) 01:26, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(end merge)
Ah, but I see that pushing this unsupported reading is exactly what you're now trying to do. Please read WP:LOCALCONSENSUS. You can't use an irregular RfC to add semantically empty verbiage to a guideline and then claim that this overrides an established policy. The MOS is a guideline. As such it is no more required than any other guideline. The words you added make absolutely no difference in this regard. They quite obviously do not mean what you are claiming they mean, and even if they did, they would be negated by WP policy. — kwami (talk) 01:33, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The version before the change recognized the need to be consistent on style matters where style guides in general call for consistency, even if the MOS is silent on a particular usage, and also recognizes that an established style should not be replaced by another acceptable style, even if the MOS is silent on the particular usage. So by mentioning the MOS, there is a new implication that consistency is only required on matters spelled out in the MOS. Jc3s5h (talk) 01:40, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(not clear which version or which change you're referring to. — kwami (talk))
The problem with implication is that not everyone will understand it the same way. If we mean to say something, then we should say it. If we don't say it, it's not legitimate to claim we mean it. If we can't say it directly, because of opposition, and so are reduced to trying to reword the MOS in such a way that we can later claim there's meaning between the lines, then obviously we didn't have the consensus to actually say it, and the claim is therefore void. The MOS is (obviously) an in-house style guide to be applied to all of Wikipedia. If people don't like that, then the solution is to have a community-wide discussion on voiding the MOS. With a change of that magnitude, we should probably advertize it at the top of every editor's page, the way we advertize Arbcom elections. — kwami (talk) 01:51, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Guidelines are not exactly "voided" but they are guidelines and everyone expects that there will be exceptions. One thing I noticed is that we say consistent three times, so in the lead I would recommend deleting "; this is especially important within an article" as it is duplicated in the sentence: - "An overriding principle is that style and formatting choices should be consistent within an article." (How many times do we have to say something?)
Obviously I may find disagreements with the following, but I would like to delete "house style" as "house" refers to a publishing house, and not a term that is very well known, but more importantly WP is far too eclectic to pretend that there is any such thing as a monolithic style that is used by everyone. So the wording that I suggest, instead of "The MoS presents Wikipedia's house style, to help editors produce articles with consistent, clear, and precise language, layout, and formatting." is "The MoS is a recommendation of best practices. It is neither inclusive nor exclusive, yet serves to help editors produce articles with consistent, clear, and precise language, layout, and formatting." There is a place in Article titles where we say "The following points are critical:" and in my opinion that can simply be removed, because, in fact, all points are important. Apteva (talk) 04:28, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If the sentence adds nothing meaningful, it's better to remove it - lean, simple language is less likely to be misunderstood. If it does add meaning, such as by implying the guidance only applies in MOS situations or by implying the MOS is more important than it actually is, then that does seem like something that should be discussed before adding it.
My perspective is in common with the authors of the Chicago MOS, which ours is heavily based on. On numerous occasions the CMOS authors have pointed out that style guides are exactly that - guides - and that they exist to help bring consistency to the actual purpose of the document, which is its content. In any conflict between content and style, the authors say content should always take precedence. I personally would go one step further and suggest that if 'enforcement' of our MOS is interfering with or distracting editors from providing and improving content in any serious way, content should take higher priority. – NULL‹talk› ‹edits›04:46, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The added sentence was not mine. I just restored the rest of the bit that SlimVirgin had restored. I agree it's not a great piece; the idea that the MOS "permits" or "forbids" or "requires" anything is an idea that I have argued against in the past. It suggests. And it does so for the sake of consistency, which is why I'm puzzled as to why people wanted to add that bit that seems to say it doesn't. As for "house style", that's not just for publishers. See these books about the concept: [59], [60], [61], among others. Dicklyon (talk) 07:39, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Which say "many firms have adopted a 'house style'". Firms are monolithic, WP is not. "Many companies have a 'house style'." Companies are monolithic, WP is not. The third one does mention organizations "Apart from general styles and the styles peculiar to the media or specific documents are the style issues internal to every organization." However, in that regard, about the only styles that we have that are a house style are the use of sentence capitalization and avoiding all caps other than in acronyms, and in the layout of the articles, but no, the words house style do not add anything, and are a detractor. Much of the MOS is not a "house style" but is more related to hints on good writing, e.g. from The Elements of Style. Apteva (talk) 15:00, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Comments for subject headings
The current MOS says:
==Evolutionary implications<!--This section is linked from [[Richard Dawkins]] and [[Daniel Dennett]]-->==
Do not place an invisible comment outside the "== ==" markup but on the same line as the heading:
I would like to recommend restoring the text used before, with the exception of moving the anchor to below the section heading:
For example:
==Evolutionary implications==<!--Linked from [[Richard Dawkins]] and [[Daniel Dennett]]-->
As well, consider a preemptive measure to minimize link corruption when the text of a heading changes by inserting an {{anchor}} with the old name with which to link to that heading section. For example:
==New section name==<!-- Linked from [[Richard Dawkins]] and [[Daniel Dennett]] -->
{{anchor | Evolutionary implications}}
The reason it was changed was so that the edit summary would show the section that was being edited better, but I do not see this as at all important - when someone clicks the edit link at the top, for example, which is actually what I often do, there is no section heading. The tone of the language is better too, "for example" instead of "do not". No one likes being told what to do and what not to do. Also, "this section" can be removed, so it just says "linked from", as shown. Apteva (talk) 07:05, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hyphen example less than ideal
At WP:HYPHEN(3), bullet 3, an example of hyphenation of proper nouns/names is given as "Trois-Rivières". I believe this is a poor example because French names are customarily hyphenated in more situations than their English equivalents. Additionally, this name, in particular, is not a compound of proper names ("3 Rivers"), and would not be hyphenated if it were in English. To put it another way, "Trois-Rivières" is hyphenated because it's French, not because it's composed of two proper nouns/names (which it isn't anyway).
I believe a different example should be used. There maybe should also be a note about the additional instances of hyphenation in French (and maybe German?) placenames (not that we want to rewrite their punctuation rules here, but advice to follow sources carefully).
Apologies if this is misplaced or was hashed out somewhere above – it's pretty hard for someone that hasn't been a part of the discussion to get through the massive volume of it. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 08:11, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
To me the entire sentence doesn't fit where it is:
Many compounds that are hyphenated when used attributively (before the noun they qualify: a light-blue handbag), are not hyphenated when used predicatively (separated from the noun: the handbag was light blue). Hyphenation also occurs in bird names such as Great Black-backed Gull, and in proper names such as Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre. Where otherwise there would be a loss of clarity, the hyphen may be used in the predicative case as well (hand-fed turkeys, the turkeys were hand-fed).
The first and third sentences are about attributive vs. predicative uses. The middle sentence just introduces issues not relevant to the point. Great Black-backed Gull is a attributive use, no different from any other use of black-backed; the fact that it occurs in the name of a bird is immaterial. Trois-Rivières is an example of French or French-Canadian punctuation. Wilkes-Barre relates to the punctuation of compound English surnames. I would remove the second sentence entirely, and add other points to deal with:
Cases where common names of organisms use hyphens which would not otherwise occur. Thus the Botanical Society of the British Isles issues a standard list of common names for plants which requires the use of hyphens in a principled way (and also the use of capitals, but don't let's go there!). Thus Parietaria judaica has the common name "Pellitory-of-the-wall".
The use of hyphens in names taken from other languages: I guess the general rule should be to follow a reliable source in that language.
The use of hyphens in compound names of a single person as opposed to compounds of the names of multiple people.
Eliminating the second sentence would remove one of the most common cases where hyphens are used - in names. There are no known cases where endashes instead of hyphens do/do not appear in names, of course, but if there were some, they could be mentioned - at least if there were a lot of them. Walmart used to be spelled with an asterisk, Wal*mart (WAL★MART), but there is no reason for adding the only exception known to a guideline. The reason I added Wilkes-Barre as an example was because Trois-Rivières was a good example, because hyphenation is often used in French names, but it is my guess that Three Rivers would not be hyphenated if it was a city name - but to show that there are also English names that use a hyphen. And of course I would recommend adding Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, or Dillant-Hopkins Airport as the second example. But Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a much more well recognized example. I am not aware of any name choosing a hyphen because of the parts of speech involved - noun phrases and adjective phrases alike end up with hyphens in names. Hyphenated flowers appear so rarely that they do not need to be included. Birds yes, because we have four thousand examples of hyphenated bird names. There are maybe a few hundred each airports and comets that are hyphenated, and I am not sure that an example from such a small group needs to be included. How many wars are there that are hyphenated? A dozen? Less than a hundred?
How about moving the second sentence to after the third, and replacing it with "Hyphens are also used in bird names such as Great Black-backed Gull, and in proper names such as Trois-Rivières and Wilkes-Barre, or in Julia Louis-Dreyfus." Apteva (talk) 14:23, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
becomes something like (this is surely wrong; I didn't bother to look anything up because the details don't matter) the dot product of the electric field with the infinitesimal change in the surface, integrated over an infinitesimal change in the volume, is equal to the electric charge of the volume divided by the electrical constant. If that is your idea, I think that is harder to understand than the equation. The article's preceding paragraphs explain the equations to some extent. The Simple English equivalent is harder to understand, not easier (perhaps because my editing over there is frustrated by the "science not babytalk" faction) because it "simplified" mainly by omitting the verbal explanation. So how would you write that? And do you really think editors would even read any further nagging about readability?Art LaPella (talk) 20:33, 3 October 2012 (UTC)
Not done That change could be controversial; please get consensus first. --Rschen7754 05:20, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
