On 26 Nov 2008, at 19:29, phoebe ayers wrote:
Most probably, most users who type in "Ireland" are looking for the article about the Republic of Ireland. However, we can't escape the fact that the term Ireland is ambiguous. Some users would be unaware that six of the 32 Irish counties are not currently part of the Republic.
I would actually argue that a reader who doesn't know anything about Ireland (picture a schoolchild in the US doing a project for St. Patrick's day)
I don't think Ireland is all that obscure.
Well, no, you wouldn't, nor would I. But is it possible that not every English-speaker in the world is quite so well informed on the subject? Anybody who can name all 32 counties, or even all four provinces, is probably a poor judge of the matter.
Disambiguation pages are to make the ambiguous unambiguous. So is Ireland ambiguous? I reckon the answer, as so often, would be that it depends. If you're looking for stuff on natural sciences, chances are you want the island. The current situation suits just fine. Same for history. Current events? The current situation is icky. Culture? High culture, ok. Pop culture, probably not. Biographies? Dead people handily outnumber the living, so the present setup should be good, although in practice it may not be until other groups are as well represented as TDs, hurlers and gaelic footballers.
In my humble opinion, this is just more old bollocks of the kind we have more than enough of on topics like Macedonia. If it's not what to call the political entity formerly known as the Free State, it's British Isles versus Britain and Ireland, or some nonsense with the Troubles or the Famine. Ireland an honorary Eastern European subject? It makes sense.
Angus McLellan