User:Inktog/Disambiguation

This is a policy proposal, not an official MTG Wiki policy. You don't have to follow it.

Policy proposal This is a policy proposal, not an official MTG Wiki policy. You don't have to follow it. “The higher the mind soars, the greater its understanding of the law.”

Disambiguation is the process by which articles with identical or similar titles are distinguished from each other. MTG Wiki generally follows Wikipedia's disambiguation guidelines, but there are some exceptions and additions. This page summarizes and qualifies the relevant Wikipedia guidelines.

Overview

There are three important aspects to disambiguation:

• Naming articles in such a way that each has a unique title. For example, three of the articles dealing with topics ordinarily called "Commander" are titled Commander (format), Commander (designation), and Commander (2011).
• Making the links for ambiguous terms point to the correct article title. For example, an editor may have created a link to Commander in reference to the format, and this should be corrected to point to Commander (format).
• 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 of the possible topics it might be. For example, the page Commander is a disambiguation page—a non-article page which lists various meanings of "Commander" and which links to the articles that cover them. Note that disambiguation pages are not always necessary.

Disambiguation is required whenever, for a given word or phrase on which a reader might search, there is more than one existing MTG Wiki article to which that word or phrase might be expected to lead. In this situation there must be a way for the reader to navigate quickly from the page that first appears to any of the other possible desired articles. There are three principal scenarios, of which the following are examples:

• The page at Undercity is a disambiguation page, leading to all alternative uses of Undercity.
• The page at Companion is about one usage, called the primary topic, and there is a hatnote guiding readers to Companion (disambiguation) to find the other uses.
• The page at Mercadian Masques is about the primary topic, and there is only one other use. The other use is linked directly using a hatnote; no disambiguation page is needed.

Primary topic

For guidance on identifying a primary topic, see WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. There are three criteria for deciding whether a topic is primary at a given term (one specific to MTG Wiki):

1. Usage: When someone searches for the term, this is the article they are very likely to be looking for, much more than any other article at that term.
2. Long-term significance: The article has much more enduring notability than other articles at that term.
3. Game term: The article is about a Magic: The Gathering game piece, mechanic, rule, or product, and other articles at that term are not. (See § Favor game terms.)

When two or more criteria point to different primary topics, consensus can be useful in determining which article, if any, is the primary topic.

Favor game terms

When choosing a primary topic, give more weight to the game of Magic itself (game pieces, rules, mechanics, and products) than to other topics (e.g. lore, design, tournaments). For example, the primary topic for Planeswalker is the card type, and Planeswalker (lore) is parenthetically disambiguated, even though they are arguably of equal interest to readers. This is not an absolute rule; significant non-game terms can be chosen as primary topics over marginal game pieces, as with Plane and Plane (card type).

Favoring game terms is especially important for the many cases in which an expansion set is named after its plane. The expansion is always the primary topic at its full, official name—i.e., the title at which the article is located. Innistrad is the set, and Innistrad (plane) is disambiguated. However, an expansion is not necessarily the primary topic at an abbreviated, colloquial, or alternate form of its name. The primary topic at Strixhaven is the university—not the expansion, whose full name is Strixhaven: School of Mages.

What comes first to mind

MTG Wiki lacks Wikipedia's site-traffic tools, so deciding on primary topics requires more guesswork and common sense. Given the wiki's narrow scope, "what comes first to mind" can be an acceptable tool. However, editors should still be aware of their biases, which may include:

• Being more heavily involved in Magic than the median casual player
• Having been more active in the game during specific years
• Having a particular area of expertise

Article titles

For guidance on naming disambiguated articles, see WP:TITLEDAB and WP:NCDAB. In summary:

1. If there is a primary topic, that article can use the title without disambiguation. Non-primary topics must be disambiguated.
2. Use natural disambiguation where possible: find an alternative title, such as Control deck (disambiguated from Control). The alternative title must still be a clear, valid title for the disambiguated topic.
3. Where natural disambiguation fails, use parenthetical disambiguation: add a qualifier in parentheses at the end of the article title, as with Guildpact (spell).

As an exception to Wikipedia's guidelines, don't use non-American versions of English for natural disambiguation. Also, note that comma-separated disambiguation (as in Windsor, Berkshire, disambiguated from Windsor) is rarely appropriate for MTG Wiki articles.

Guiding the reader

When a reader types an ambiguous term into the search bar, they should find the article they're looking for as quickly as possible. MTG Wiki has two main tools to get the reader where they're going: hatnotes and disambiguation pages. For guidance on which of these to use in which circumstances, see WP:2DABS. The golden rule for both is directness: provide only as much context as is necessary, and link only to the pages the readers might actually be looking for.

Hatnotes

For guidance on hatnotes, see Wikipedia:Hatnote (or WP:DABLINK for an overview). In summary:

• Place hatnotes at the very top of the article or section, above maintenance tags, but not above tabs.
• For the content of hatnotes, see Wikipedia:Hatnote § Examples of proper use.
• Don't include trivial information, dictionary definitions, slang, encyclopedic content, external links, links to related topics (unless they are being disambiguated), or extraneous links. Don't include unnecessary disambiguation: Kaldheim (plane) doesn't need a hatnote link to Kaldheim because readers are unlikely to stumble upon the former article while looking for the latter.
• Use {{about}}, {{hatnote}}, or a related template. This helps maintain a consistent style. Note that MTG Wiki's {{about}} has broader capabilities than Wikipedia's and can be used for most hatnotes.
• If a term would normally be italicized, such as the title of a set or novel, it should be unitalicized when it appears in a hatnote. {{noi}} and {{nil}} are your friends.

Disambiguation pages

For general guidance on disambiguation pages, see Wikipedia:Disambiguation § Disambiguation pages. For layout and formatting, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Disambiguation pages (but ignore the section on Wiktionary integration).

Whatsitcalled is a casual three-player format.

Whatsitcalled or What's It Called? may also refer to:

• Whatsitcalled (1v1 format)
• What's It Called?, a novel
• "What's it called?", a meme from the Strixhaven VII spoiler season

The first paragraph links to the primary topic. The next paragraph is the introductory line, which prefaces the non-primary topics and signals whether multiple terms have been combined (as they have in the above example). In cases where there is no primary topic, the first paragraph is skipped, and the introductory line excludes the word "also".

For individual entries, consider the following:

• Each entry should contain exactly one link to an MTG Wiki article. Two or more links risks confusing the reader about which to click.
• Piping and redirects should not be used except in specific circumstances.
• Don't make entries of individual cards, links to Wikipedia articles, other external links, or definitions without links. Partial title matches are not valid entries, but may be included in a "See also" section.
• Lists of partial-match names are more acceptable for MTG Wiki than Wikipedia. As a rule of thumb, the surnames of fictional characters are not suitable for disambiguation, but all other surnames and given names are fine.
• Entries should be ordered such that the reader can most easily find what they're looking for. A large enough number of entries can be grouped by subject area.

All disambiguation pages should include a {{disambig}} message box at the bottom of the page, or a more specific template like {{disambig set code}}. Only use an alternate message when it applies to every entry in the page; otherwise, use the default message. All disambiguation pages should be categorized at Category: Disambiguation pages, even when they have one or more additional subcategories like Category: Product disambiguation pages. For more guidance on message boxes and categorization, see the Template:Disambig documentation.

Links to disambiguation pages

Links to disambiguation pages are appropriate in hatnotes, but otherwise they are almost always mistakes. Editors should update these links so that they point directly to the intended article (or remove the link if there is no appropriate article). For more guidance on linking to disambiguation pages, see WP:INTDABLINK.

Contrary to Wikipedia's policies, intentional links to MTG Wiki disambiguation pages don't always need a "(disambiguation)" parenthetical. It's okay to link to the disambiguation page Khans without redirecting it through "Khans (disambiguation)". However, such redirection links should still be used in the case of double disambiguation.