On 5/21/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
Technically speaking, modern Georgia has only existed since the fall of the Soviet Union (or there abouts), which is presumably what Matt was referring to.
Indeed.
The article does, however, include plenty of information about pre-Soviet Georgia, so that argument doesn't really hold water. Were the article specifically about modern Georgia, he would have a point.
My point, though, is not to say 'Georgia-the-state is much more important, of course it should have the un-disambiguated title', but rather that the position that Georgia-the-country, because it has been for sixteen years an independent state, should AUTOMATICALLY have primacy is ludicrous.
The state is bigger in terms of population and economy, although (according to Wikipedia) it is slightly smaller in terms of area, which I would consider a "measure [I] care to name".
My mistake; I'm remembering this from the last time this got argued on this list, and my memory clearly was wrong here.
I really don't think there is a better solution than to have a disambig page. There are two major meanings to the word, so we list them and let the reader choose. It works.
Exactly.
It irritates me that this issue is trotted out as an example of 'US-centric Wikipedia' every single time, when it's only a simple case on the surface and relies on a knee-jerk reaction for its popularity.
The reasoning behind complaining about this assumes that Wikipedia naming and disambiguation should rely on a rigid taxonomy of importance in which nation-states have automatic primacy over the constituent states of a federation. This creates the simplistic cry of 'These damn Americans think that a mere internal division of the US is more important than a EUROPEAN NATION STATE! How dare they?'.
Personally, I don't think that the US State of Georgia should have primacy either, and I would oppose any attempt to make the US state occupy the [[Georgia]] title just as strongly as I would oppose any attempt to make the country occupy it.
The current status quo ([[Georgia]] being a disambiguation page) is an outrage only if one accepts the rule that nation states should automatically have primacy.
-Matt