Reading all this over, I can't see the harm (I think) in delinking [[1776]], lets say, but for common words? It depends on how common. If I write,
"Samuel Adams was hit in the [[face]] causing an [[Consussion|injury]] in [[1776]] by a frying pain wielded by a [[British]] loyalist," I could see delinking Face (obvious), Concussion (depends, was it an actual concussion or some really interesting valid link there?), and 1776, but why British? That's the sort of link that I'm prone to follow when I read an article. Compare these:
-> '''Bob Jones''', born 1956, was raised in [[England]]. -> '''Bob Jones''', born 1956, was raised in [[Namibia]]. -> '''Bob Jones''', born 1956, was raised in [[Mypos]].
On my recent FAC, the MOS stuff came up to delink Australia and England (it was about a band composed of two Australians and an Englishman). Would Namibia count as a common phrase? How about Azerbaijan? I don't know if it's for the MOS to decide commonality on things like place names or nationalities, as an example. Sure, I know lots about England. But maybe the person reading my article (or my Bob Jones example) doesn't. I know nothing about Namibia, so I'd be likely to clink that to see where Bob grew up. Maybe someone else reading about Bob is FROM Namibia, but never heard of Mypos.
- Joe