[WikiEN-l] Extended Articles/Subpages

[Steve Bennett]

On 3/17/08, Philip Sandifer <snowspinner at gmail.com> wrote:
>  *What should the namespace be called?

I don't like this word "extensions" - I thought you meant some kind of
plugin architecture at first. The most accurate word would be
"appendices" wouldn't it? Failing that, something like "related
information"? I'm thinking of online newspapers where it often happens
that there is an article, then links to various related things, like
galleries, tables, charts etc.

You're certainly right that there is a need for ways of grouping other
information with an article, where it doesn't fit *inside* the
article. But the idea of another article being such an attachment is
awkward, and makes me think immediately of content forks. I don't
think that trivia is a good candidate, for instance. Most of the
trivia we delete not for space reasons, but because it's, well,
trivial and isn't really adding anything of value. Galleries would be
great though.

>  *What should the tab in the site interface read?

"More"

>  *Should watchlisting an article automatically watchlist the extensions
>  (as is the case with talk pages)?

Of course.

>  *Are there more issues we need to solve?

Rules. Social issues. Safeguards. Avoiding all kinds of horrible
crufty garbage accumulating just because it's below the radar.

>  *Where should the line between sub-article and extension be drawn?

Where the logical choice is between throwing out the extraneous
material, or putting it on the extra page. If the choice is between
the main page, or the extra page, keep it on the main.

>  *How should the main extensions pages be organized?

There are more than one?

>  *How should individual extensions be linked to within articles? (In
>  the form of "Main article: Topic" or through small sidebar boxes, for
>  instance.)

No one looks at the sidebar.

>  *What extensions should be linked to from within articles, and what
>  extensions should be linked only from the extensions page?

If it's worth keeping the information, it's worth linking to.

Steve