Steve Bennett skrev:
I have an idea for an improvement to the system of redirects, by using pattern-based aliases. <...>
The problem: Many pages require a largeish number of redirects, to cope with differences in spelling, optional words, accented characters etc. It's a surprising amount of work to create and maintain these, when the value of each individual redirect is so low. For example, [[Thomas-François Dalibard]] might be spelt four ways, each requiring a redirect: Thomas-Francois Dalibart, Thomas François Dalibard, Thomas Francois Dalibard.
General solution:
Soundex.
The title variants, or, very often due to differencies in spelling, is an old problem which was solved a long time ago, long before computers came about. The (old) solution was based on the fact that sound comprises differencies in spelling etc, hence "Soundex" :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundex#History
Difference spelling can be automatically translated to and from a Soundex scheme, on the fly. Soundex is "machine readable" as well as writeable, and can be computed by search engines instead of being stored (Redirects would still take care of "conceptual" differencies in titles, which requires human interaction).
Soundex is different and it would not exactly be creating a YARR system (Yet Another Redirect Redirect).
Regards,
// Rolf Lampa