[WikiEN-l] Ok, so about that ISBN template...

[Steve Bennett]

Now that I've read the reasoning
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion/Log/2006_July_9)...

Here's the deal. I created this ISBN template {{ISBN}} which does
nothing very exciting. It simply substitutes the text "ISBN {{{1}}}".
However, my reasoning for creating it seemed sound: to provide an
abstraction layer so users don't have to learn the rather arbitrary
syntax that Wikipedia uses to deal with ISBN codes. Instead, they can
use the same syntax they use everywhere: {{template name|argument}}.

Is this a bad idea? Personally, I find the ISBN markup extremely
arbitrary and maybe not that well thought out. We apparently only
allow pure ISBN numbers, with no hyphens, spaces or slashes, although
they are usually presented that way in other  contexts. By wrappering
this syntax in standard template syntax, we would clear the way for a
future, more forgiving ISBN syntax to be implemented.

Similarly, although the ISBN syntax is "simple" it may not be
"intuitive". What is the first reaction of people confronted with the
problem of inserting an ISBN number likely to be? "How do I make this
do that cool link thing?" What are they then most likely to try?
{{ISBN|34895342985}} maybe?

The arguments for deletion were interesting:
* How worse can we get? This perform exactly the same function as
typing ISBN+space+number, except with more characters. Let's burninate
it with fire.

In the same way that implementing getX() { return X; }} is a waste of space.

* Delete all text templates that take more characters to write than
what they produce.

I guess they wouldn't like {{--}} either. :)

* Subst but keep It's the sort of thing we'd create a redirect for if
it were an article, not a special piece of wikimarkup. It may be worth
checking 'what links here' every so often so that it can be susbted
and users who use it told the correct syntax.

The most enlightening - this person definitely thinks it's better that
we "educate" people on the "correct syntax", rather than admitting our
mistake at having a special syntax, and letting people not even have
to think about the question of formatting ISBN numbers.

* Comment This template was added to Maelor Way recently. I added a
notice to inform editors of the proper ISBN style.

Again - although the editors were using a template which took care of
"the proper ISBN style" for them, we choose instead to take away their
automatic transmission and tell them how to use a manual gearbox.

I'm just a bit dismayed by the kind of reasoning that goes on at some
of these deletion debates, where instead of "is this harmful?" we have
"is this needed?"

Comments very welcome, particularly if I'm completely misguided.

Steve