[Wikipedia-l] RE: Disambiguation pages (parenthetical)

[Daniel Mayer]

I hit the send button too fast, here is the rest:

Parenthetical disambiguation should also be avoided whenever possible. 

It would be idiotic to have a non-article list with a disambiguation notice 
at [[Paul Simon]] with links to [[Paul Simon (musician)]] and [[Paul Simon 
(politician)]] just because these two people share the same name. Of course, 
the musician (who is hands down the most widely known person by the name 
"Paul Simon") should be at [[Paul Simon]] and the politician should be at an 
article that has his middle initial (Like [[George W. Bush]]) and if that 
doesn't work then the hideous [[Paul Simon (politician)]] would have to be 
used. Notice, the decision to use a parenthetical title here was a last 
resort and was only used for the less well-known Paul Simon.  

In addition; if one thing is known only by a one word name, and another thing 
is usually called by the same one word name in its native context but is 
often also called by a naturally disambiguated two word name, there is NO 
need to have a disambiguation page at the one word page title (because the 
context here is an online hyper-linked encyclopedia, not the native context 
of the two word term). We can reasonably assume a person of average or 
greater intelligence making a link intended for the two word term, will make 
a link to the two word term and not the one word term because this is an 
encyclopedia and we should assume that person has enough sense to naturally 
disambiguate the link. 

For example: It would be equally dumb to turn [[worm]] into a non-article 
disambiguation page just because there is also such things as computer worms 
and candy worms. 

It is my opinion that one of the reasons why wikipedia has been as 
preposterously successful as it has, is due the ease with which links can be 
made from one article to the next. Unfortunately, as wikipedia grows, 
ambiguities will increasingly pop up and resolving those ambiguities might 
make linking more and more tedious as time goes by -- if we are not careful. 

In order to dramatically slow this, I propose that we should be very careful 
when deciding to make disambiguation pages and only make them when true 
ambiguities exist (also, to avoid parenthetical disambiguation whenever 
possible). No one of average or greater intelligence would link to [[Paris]] 
in the context of a hyper-linked encyclopedia and reasonably expect that link 
to go to an article about Paris, Texas. I also proposse to make it a policy 
that whoever makes these pages should have to fix each and every misdirected 
link so that they point directly to where they intend. 

--maveric149