[WikiEN-l] Linking Dates

[Delirium]

Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Charlotte Webb
> <charlottethewebb at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> On 10/13/08, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>     
>>> Example: [[Ursula Oppens]] (born February 2, [[1944]]. The day of birth
>>> would not be linked, but I agree with those who feel that linking the year
>>> gives the reader (if they desire) an opportunity to see what else was
>>> happening in that year. The format, according to taste may be February 2, or
>>> 2 February; I don't see where that would be a problem. Any thoughts on this?
>>>       
>> What if readers are curious as to with whom Miz Oppens shares a
>> birthday? Fuck 'em?
>>     
>
> What if readers are curious which other people have names which, when
> converted to numbers, sum to the same value?
>
> You have to draw the trivia line some place, the only question is where.
>
> There are many hundreds of thousands of date related articles in
> Wikipedia.  The number of articles mentioning February 2 is enormous.
> To answer trivia such as "who else was born on the same day" you're no
> worse off searching. (The date article can't hope to list all the
> people born on that day, and whatlinkshere will be no more informative
> than a search).
>   
Also, the year articles, by contrast with the date articles, often have 
non-list background information relevant for the article they're linked 
from. See, for example, the excellent article on [[1345]].

-Mark