[WikiEN-l] "Consistent" Section naming & order rules?

[Doug Henkle]

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. - Oscar Wilde
      I plead guilty as charged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Bumbry
Subject: Wikipedia article on Grace Bumbry
BCC: Casey Abell

      In response to my edit which placed Sections in the same order I have 
seen them on many other Wikipedia (WP) pages for Opera Singers and other 
Musicians,

External Links
References

your edit changed them to,

References
External Links

      You wrote explaining why the order of Sections I have been adding to 
WP pages is wrong.

At 09:28 AM 11-12-2007 -0800, you wrote:
>I was just following the usual practice at Wikipedia by placing the 
>"External links" section at the end of the Grace Bumbry article. As 
>Wikipedia:External links says: "If an article has external links, the 
>standard format is to place them in a bulleted list under a primary 
>heading at the end of the article." If there is a different convention for 
>opera singer articles, I have no problems with the "External links" 
>section being placed somewhere else in the article.

To [WikiEN-l]:

      I thought that WP was trying to emulate a real paper 
encyclopedia.  In a real paper non-fiction book, the bibliography is always 
the last thing before the Index.  Why WP calls a bibliography "References" 
doesn't make sense, but I would accept that, IF it was consistent 
throughout all WP pages, but it is not.  The Section naming inconsistency 
displayed at,
    http://www.folklib.net/opera/wikipedia_sections.shtml
is unacceptable, at least to me.  "usual practice at Wikipedia" ... where 
exactly is the documentation for the proper naming and order of ALL 
Sections for Musicians?  I will continue to look for the consistent rules 
that govern how Musician's Sections are to be named and exactly what 
consistent order they are supposed to be in.  I had plans on adding 
"External Links" and "References" to the WP entry for the 200 Opera Singers 
listed on my page,
    http://www.folklib.net/opera/singers.shtml
plus in my fifteen years of indexing almost 300 books about musicians,
    http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/bibliog7.shtml  (opera)
    http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/bibliog.shtml  (general)
I also have "Reference" lists for about three thousand others,
    http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/birth2days.shtml#COPYRIGHT
However, as my WP editing is wrong by following consistent paper publishing 
rules, and there are no consistent Wikipedia rules to match, there is no 
point in my continuing.
____________________________________________________________
Doug Henkle - mailto:henkle at pobox.com
P.O. Box 1447, Oshkosh, WI 54903-1447