Tardis:Disambiguation: Difference between revisions

{{inuse}}

'''Disambiguation''' is the fancy term for "giving an article a unique name". It is the act of adding a [[disambiguation term]] to the title of an article, so as to ensure that two similarly named things can have unique pages in our database.

This page defines disambiguation, then explains how it is handled on this wiki. These policies are different to those which exist on Wikipedia or most any other wiki, in part because the total sum of work done in the [[DWU]] forces disambiguation strategies that are sometimes explicitly different to those found on Wikipedia.

In a nutshell, our disambiguation policy is that pages having to do with stories '''always''' get a [[disambiguation term]].  Pages about in-universe topics don't get disambiguated at all, unless there are two or more [[in-universe]] terms with that same name.  Hence, [[Castrovalva]] means the city and [[Castrovalva (TV story)]] means the [[serial]], ''even though'' the TV serial is linked '''far''' more often than the city.  Equally, [[Adam Smith]] means a character whereas the page for [[director]] Adam Smith is [[Adam Smith (director)]].

But, for a colloquial term associated with a particular community, it's really long — and awfully pretentious.  That's why you'll often find it  shortened to '''dab''', which results other forms like '''dab-ed''', '''dabed''','''dabing''', '''dab-ing''', '''un-dab''' and '''undab'''. These shortened forms are often seen in [[help:edit summary|edit summaries]], where letter count is at a premium.

When you start an article, the first choice you must make is how to name it. In this decision, you must choose whether to give it a '''[[dab term]]''' or not. A '''dab term''' is the bit in parentheses which follows the main name. For instance, in the title [[Castrovalva (TV story)]], the dab term is "(TV story)".

But why does the [[serial]] ''Castrovalva'' get a dab term, at all?  Why isn't it simply ''Castrovalva''?  Our rationale comes down to consistence and ease of use.

#'''''All''''' story titles get a dab term, as explained further at [[T:DCS]].

#In-universe terms '''never''' get a dab term, unless there's more than one in-universe thing with that same name

#'''Things which appear in narratives''' '''''do not''''' get disambiguated, unless the exact name is used twice, in narrative. So, [[Castrovalva]] means the planet, [[The Pandorica Opens]] means the painting, [[Paradise Towers]] means the buildings and [[Miracle Day]] means the in-universe ''event''. But you will need to dab common names (like [[Susan]]), species names used twice (like [[Vogan]]), titles (like [[Captain]]) and anything else

#If more than three things share a common name, the un-disambiguated term typically goes to a '''disambiguation page''' — a list of all things sharing that name. Hence [[Nurse]], [[Sergeant]], [[Susan]], [[Bill]], [[Amy]], [[Rose]], [[Martha]] and the like are disambiguation pages, not specific people.

Those coming from Wikipedia will immediately see how our wiki is different. On Wikipedia, the thing that is most commonly associated with the name is un-disambiguated. Thus, '''according to Wikipedia rules''', [[The Pandorica Opens]] would be the episode, [[Martha]] would be a redirect for [[Martha Jones]], [[Rose]] would mean [[Rose Tyler]] and so on.

For us, the important point of distinction is in-universe/out-of-universe — '''''not''''' most commonly used/least commonly used. To re-iterate, in-universe terms generally aren't disambiguated (unless there's more than one of that thing in the DWU) and the out-of-universe thing always gets disambiguated.

#'''People''' are named according to the story (or episode) they ''first'' appeared in, even if they appear in subsequent stories for which they are arguably more famous. Common English names and titles are retained for use as a '''disambiguation page''', or a page which lists other pages that share that name. Take, for instance, the common name [[Charlie]]. [[Charlie]] is a disambiguation pages, while other people named Charlie can be found on pages like [[Charlie (The Gunfighters)]], [[Charlie (The Mind of Evil)]] and [[Charlie (Night of the Humans)]]. Note that characters like [[Nancy (The Empty Child)]] are named by the ''first'' episode in which they appear. Note, too, that titles can be disambiguation pages, too.  [[Nurse]] is a disambiguation page about all people with that title, whereas [[Nurse (Let's Kill Hitler)]] and [[Nurse (Out of Time)]] are individual nurses.

#'''Things''' encountered in universe usually don't have to be disambiguated. For instance [[Castrovalva]] is unmistakably the city, as the real world painting has never been mentioned in the DWU to date. However, when things ''do'' require disambiguation some standard terms are given at [[T:DCS]]. The general rule of thumb is to make the name a single, simple word, such as (planet), (moon) or the like.  

 

* Ensuring that a reader who searches for a topic using a particular term can get to the information on that topic quickly and easily, whichever the possible topics might be. For example [[Charlie]] is a disambiguation page, a non-article page which lists the various uses of "Charlie" and links to the disambiguated articles.

Although a term may potentially refer to more than one topic, it sometimes is the case that one of these topics is far more likely to be the one a reader is searching for when searching in the Search box. If there is such a topic, then it is known as the '''primary topic''' for that term. If a primary topic exists, that article should be titled with no disambiguation, however, with a note at the top of the article directing to a disambiguation page.  

An example is [[Regeneration]] which is a primary topic article, at the top of the article it directs to a disambiguation topic covering other uses of the term regeneration.  

The regeneration disambiguation article is titled thusly [[Regeneration (disambiguation)]].  

* '''Story titles are always disambiguated, according to our [[help:disambiguation cheat sheat|disambiguation cheat sheat]].'''

* '''You need 3 similarly-named things to start a disambiguation page, particularly one that is itself un-disambiguated.''' A disambig page that is itself un-disambiguated simply invites people to link to it.  For instance, if the page ''''City of the Daleks''' existed, then people would ''most likely'' link to it when they were trying to link to the modern [[City of the Daleks (video game)]], because many people are unaware of the 1960s [[City of the Daleks (comic story)]].   Deleting the page at '''City of Daleks''' is actually ''helpful'', because it forces users to pick one of the two valid links. We want disambiguation pages to help us create more correct links — not be lightning rods for bad ones. Un-disambiguated disambig pages tend to have long [[Special:WhatLinksHere|WhatLinksHere]] lists, so they really shouldn't be created '''before they are truly necessary'''. Thus, disambig pages consisting of just two items are actually considered, on balance, ''unhelpful''.

* According to [[Forum:Peter Anghelides's future doctor naming|a forum discussion]], if a thing needs disambiguation, but it appears in more than one episode or story, the disambiguation term shall be the ''first'' story or episode in which the character appears. For instance, Nancy of ''[[The Empty Child]]'' / ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'' is disambiguated as [[Nancy (The Empty Child)]].

It should also include the <nowiki>{{disambiguation}}</nowiki> tag on the page, this also adds the disambiguation category to the page.

[[Category:Policies]]