On 26 Nov 2008, at 19:29, phoebe ayers wrote:
Most probably,
most users who type in "Ireland" are looking for the
article
about the Republic of Ireland. However, we can't escape the fact
that the
term Ireland is ambiguous. Some users would be unaware that six of
the 32
Irish counties are not currently part of the Republic.
I would actually argue that a reader who doesn't know anything about
Ireland (picture a schoolchild in the US doing a project for St.
Patrick's day)
I don't think Ireland is all that obscure.
... would be expecting to get exactly the article that
is currently
located at "Ireland".
I tend to think that we should aim the bar a bit higher.
Both the current Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland articles
are heavily focussed on the historical and political situation, and
not the kind of comprehensive overview that is currently at "Ireland."
Much that is at the "Ireland" article shouldn't be there, as it
belongs either to "Ireland (state)" or "Northern Ireland". Compare the
article at "Great Britain" (the name of the island next to Ireland).
That's why it's proposed that "Ireland" be a disambiguation page.
What if I don't even know there are two countries
on the island, let
alone which one is which?
That's what the disambiguation page is for.
It's pretty confusing to be sent to a
disambiguation page when I'm
just trying to look up something that is a pretty basic geographical
topic.
We do it all the time. See "Georgia". Or "Macedonia".
Would just moving Republic of Ireland to [[Ireland
(state)]] and
leaving the rest alone be acceptable?
I don't think that goes far enough.
The latter title would avoid any unfortunate political
connotations
as it's a straight disambiguation title, but would still leave the
background article at the main title.
As I say we've identified problems with the main title vis à vis
"Great Britain". But we can't make the needed edits (with confidence)
without "Ireland (island)".
Michael Everson *
http://www.evertype.com