[WikiEN-l] need to work out clear policies on MANDATORY and OPTIONAL rules on WP

[Tom Cadden]

  the MoS does not dictate what opinions are valid.

 It says it explicitly. Most common name. All one has to is example independent sources involved in communication to English speakers from a wide geographic sources to establish the facts clearly. 
 
 US: Uses Cote d'Ivoire more than usage. A review of major publications, source books, broadcasters, communication documentation, etc pulls usage in ratio of approximately 75:25 Ivory Coast:Cote d'Ivoire.
 
 Africa: Majority uses Cote d'Ivoire. Ivory Coast on sources is used by around 25%. The higher echelons in society tend to use C d'I. Sources used by ordinary populations show much more usage of IC. 
 
 Europe: Overwhelming majority usage among English sources for Ivory Coast. Cote d'Ivoire primarily used by French speakers. Other languages translate the name into their own language, and use neither the English nor French name in most cases. 
 
 Australasia: Overwhelming usage in English for Ivory Coast. 
 
 UK: one major publication, uses Cote d'Ivory. All others either use Ivory Coast exclusively or predominantly. Most style books recommend IC, not C d'I. 
 
 South America: Usage primarily of IC. 
 
 Under MoS criteria, the result could hardly be more clearcut. Only one continent uses C d'I, and even there not universally. All overs use Ivory Coast either overwhelmingly or exclusively. In random sampling of sources by state, many countries not merely do not use C d'I generally but never seem to use it anywhere other than in Letters of Credence and at the highest level of diplomatic contact. Diplomatic usage does not match MoS criteria because diplomats amount to an insignificant proportion of the electorate and their usage rarely gets outside each country's small diplomatic community of no more than a few hundred. Even within that community diplomatic usage is restricted to work and does not reflect actual human usage of individuals when outside their diplomatic functions. 
 
 It is one of the clearest open and shut cases imaginable. Put in ordinary language, the ordinary English speaker on the planet uses Ivory Coast not Cote d'Ivoire. Those that use the latter are aware of the former. Those that use the former are rarely aware of the latter. Under MoS criteria the only place the article can be placed at is Ivory Coast. But as the vote shows, most users aren't using MoS criteria but deciding on personal whims such as 'I like it', 'that's what I hear',  'it is what will become popular', and the even more POV 'we should help encourage its usage'. None of that fits the criteria of the MoS and means that that one article is in a different location to 99% of other such articles on WP, which follow most common usage, not personal agendas. 
 
 Thom


		
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