2008/11/26 Michael Everson everson@evertype.com:
I don't know whether this is a reasonable place to put this problem, but the articles on Ireland on en.wikipedia.org need a serious look by people with a neutral view.
wikien-l might be a better location; I've sent this reply there.
Right now we've got a clique of about 10 editors filibustering and preventing any change to the article naming conventions. It's driving us mad, and preventing the articles themselves from being improved. Somehow I think we need binding arbitration.
Having had a look at these debates once or twice before (and a similar set involving the term "British Isles"), yeah, they're big and messy and affect a lot of articles. A resolution would be good for everyone.
A number of us think that the most sensible proposal is to move [[Ireland]] to [[Ireland (island)]], [[Ireland (disambiguation)]] to [[Ireland]], and [[Republic of Ireland]] to [[Ireland (state)]]. That's a compromise over an alternative, which is to move [[Ireland]] to [[Ireland (island)]], keep [[Ireland (disambiguation)]] where it is, and move [[Republic of Ireland]] to [[Ireland]]. If any of you would like to take a look, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ireland_(disambiguation)#Proposed_move_to_... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ireland#Proposed_move_to_Ireland_.28island...
A quick summary of the background, for those who (like me) have to keep reminding themselves of the nuances:
"Ireland" is a big lump of land northwest of France. It contains two political entities, "Ireland" (that's the formal name), an independent nation state sometimes known as "Eire" or (mostly in the UK) "the Republic of Ireland", and "Northern Ireland", which is a part of the UK. Prior to the 1920s, both were one and the same political entity, which occupied all of the geographical island; this historical period is described under [[Kingdom of Ireland]], etc.
Currently:
[[Ireland (disambiguation)]] - disambiguation page. [[Ireland]] - geographical entity, primary title [[Republic of Ireland]] - political entity
Proposal #1 above:
[[Ireland]] - disambiguation page, primary title [[Ireland (island)]] - geographical entity [[Ireland (state)]] - political entity
Proposal #2 above:
[[Ireland (disambiguation)]] - disambiguation page. [[Ireland (island)]] - geographical entity [[Ireland]] - political entity, primary title