Hi all, I just noticed this one. Whenever you have a date, like the 5th of October, you're supposed to link it, so that the MediaWiki software can reformat it according to the user's preferences: [[5 October]].
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
So is this page following the guidelines or breaking them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
Steve
Steve Bennett wrote:
Hi all, I just noticed this one. Whenever you have a date, like the 5th of October, you're supposed to link it, so that the MediaWiki software can reformat it according to the user's preferences: [[5 October]].
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
So is this page following the guidelines or breaking them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
It would be helpful if our "guidelines"/"policies" were set down in the same manner as IETF RFCs are, with the same uses of SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MUST, MUST NOT, etc...
"never" overrides "always", so "never link anything in section titles in articles" overrides "always link dates in articles".
Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:
Steve Bennett wrote:
Hi all, I just noticed this one. Whenever you have a date, like the 5th of October, you're supposed to link it, so that the MediaWiki software can reformat it according to the user's preferences: [[5 October]].
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
So is this page following the guidelines or breaking them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
It would be helpful if our "guidelines"/"policies" were set down in the same manner as IETF RFCs are, with the same uses of SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MUST, MUST NOT, etc...
"never" overrides "always", so "never link anything in section titles in articles" overrides "always link dates in articles".
Just because you want to invent that kind of rule in your own little imagination doesn't mean that it's going to apply to anybody else. If you don't want to link from section headings nobody is going to force you to do it. Please don't disrespect others by saying that they can't.
Ec
Can't someone dig into the MediaWiki code and have full dates display according to the preferences no matter what format they're in even without them being linked? That would solve the whole thing.
Mgm
On 2/5/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:
Steve Bennett wrote:
Hi all, I just noticed this one. Whenever you have a date, like the 5th of October, you're supposed to link it, so that the MediaWiki software can reformat it according to the user's preferences: [[5 October]].
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
So is this page following the guidelines or breaking them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
It would be helpful if our "guidelines"/"policies" were set down in the same manner as IETF RFCs are, with the same uses of SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MUST, MUST NOT, etc...
"never" overrides "always", so "never link anything in section titles in articles" overrides "always link dates in articles".
Just because you want to invent that kind of rule in your own little imagination doesn't mean that it's going to apply to anybody else. If you don't want to link from section headings nobody is going to force you to do it. Please don't disrespect others by saying that they can't.
Ec
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Can't someone dig into the MediaWiki code and have full dates display according to the preferences no matter what format they're in even without them being linked? That would solve the whole thing.
I think it would slow things down too much, as the code would have to read every page looking for dates, rather than just looking at links.
I did read something on this list a couple of weeks ago about a possible new way of marking dates... I can't remember the details.
--- Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
Can't someone dig into the MediaWiki code and have full
dates display
according to the preferences no matter what format
they're in even without
them being linked? That would solve the whole thing.
I think it would slow things down too much, as the code would have to read every page looking for dates, rather than just looking at links.
I'd prefer speed and a focus on more important issues. I don't think I've ever pressed a date link while using Wikipedia. I guess I'm not part of the astrological consensus.
Besides, in terms of guideline importance, they both seem relatively insignificant.
~~Pro-Lick http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User:Halliburton_Shill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pro-Lick http://www.wikiality.com/User:Pro-Lick (now a Wikia supported site)
--spam may follow--
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On 05/02/07, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
Can't someone dig into the MediaWiki code and have full dates display according to the preferences no matter what format they're in even without them being linked? That would solve the whole thing.
This may be too susceptible to the AskFactMaster.compedia problem.
- d.
On 05/02/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
On 05/02/07, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
Can't someone dig into the MediaWiki code and have full dates display according to the preferences no matter what format they're in even without them being linked? That would solve the whole thing.
This may be too susceptible to the AskFactMaster.compedia problem.
Quite. Nothing worse than rewriting quotes, or the names of sources.
http://blog.anubite.co.uk/index.php/2006/12/23/dates/ seems to be a promising solution - <date>text</date> tagging, and reformat anything tagged as such, leave the rest alone.
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:
Steve Bennett wrote:
<snip>
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
<snip>
"never" overrides "always", so "never link anything in section titles in articles" overrides "always link dates in articles".
Just because you want to invent that kind of rule in your own little imagination doesn't mean that it's going to apply to anybody else. If you don't want to link from section headings nobody is going to force you to do it. Please don't disrespect others by saying that they can't.
I didn't invent it, I'm just stating how it should be applied; secondly, linking section headings is horrible from a usability perspective - just imagine how it will look when you print it!
On 2/4/07, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all, I just noticed this one. Whenever you have a date, like the 5th of October, you're supposed to link it, so that the MediaWiki software can reformat it according to the user's preferences: [[5 October]].
However, you're never supposed to link *anything* in section headings.
So is this page following the guidelines or breaking them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
Doesn't seem like too big a deal, to me, either way. I think I'd personally prefer to avoid linking dates in the headings, and just use whichever date format is most appropriate to the article (much as we'd use UK-English in UK-related articles), it doesn't seem like anything worth getting into a scuffle over.
One idea, though, you may be able to avoid the issue entirely, if you use the dictionary entry-style:
;[[July 8]], [[1949]] *''Maximum length'' — 2.8 [[metre|m]] *''Maximum width'' — 1 m *''Maximum height'' — 2 m *''Maximum [[engine displacement]]'' — 150 [[cubic centimetre|cc]] ([[Four-stroke cycle|four-stroke]]), 100 cc; ([[Two-stroke cycle|two-stroke]])
Just a thought. See if you like it -- helps clear out the TOC, if you start doing these things in really long articles. Sometimes people like to have the distinct sections, though.
-Luna
On 2/6/07, Luna lunasantin@gmail.com wrote:
One idea, though, you may be able to avoid the issue entirely, if you use the dictionary entry-style:
That was a good suggestion, but when I tried it out it still looked a little cluttered, so I put the information in a table instead. Check it out now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car#History_of_regulations
As to the general principles in play, I'm very much in favour of avoiding situations in which it is necessary to have dates in headings at all. That way the problem just magically disappears.