Help talk:Editing

Redirects

I think we should chill on pre-emptive redirect creation - those redirects aren't linked by any page but created in anticipation of future links. They don't show up in search results by default which limits their usefulness. And I have some doubts that people are entering staggered capitalization terms - Bottle of Rum, Bottle of Water - and terms longer than the articles they redirect to in the search box. --Lint 21:01, 8 June 2006 (BST)

I agree. Creating redirects from pages that aren't linked to does nothing but clutter the wiki. I recommend that we delete every redirect that doesn't follow capitalization standards (e.g., Wild Boar) and perhaps categorize each of them (Category:Redirects?) for easier upkeep. — Elembis (talk) 22:09, 8 June 2006 (BST)

While some redirects have been on my hit list for awhile, I can understand that they might be more useful than I believe them to be, so I'm holding off on deleting redirects for a bit. I wasn't aware that redirects could be categorized, but after poking around Wikipedia, I suppose it is not only possible but also policy. I think I'd find categorization very useful for maintenance. Visit Category:Redirects - get a list of redirects. Visit Special:Allpages - apply the list as a filter. Sounds great. --Lint 00:00, 9 June 2006 (BST)

The idea that a redirect must have pages linking to it seems weird to me -- presumably the proper wiki procedure is to fix originating links so that they point to the correct destination, rather than using an intermediary redirect. I'm grateful for redirects to terrain, animals, items, etc., that carry me there when I type in the name verbatim (eg Beach --> Terrain#Beach). Dump them all in a category and schedule them for occasional cleanup. --Tycho44 01:32, 9 June 2006 (BST)

I agree that the Identify Friend or Foe Initiative redirect that I made is totally worthless; at the time I'd heard multiple references to it as that and heard no references to the shorter Identify Friend or Foe. Unfortunately the page can't seem to decide on its own title, on the page in question it calls itself: Identify Friend or Foe Initiative (1x), Identify Friend or Foe initiative (1x), Identify Friend or Foe (2x), IdentifyFriendOrFoe (the transclusion label) (1x), IFF (2x), and IFF Initiative (1x). Ahhhh, forget it, I'll go clean up their page myself, and let them yell at me afterward. --Tycho44 01:32, 9 June 2006 (BST)