Re: [WikiEN-l] the proliferation of ridiculous titular naming schemes

From: Delirium <delirium(a)rufus.d2g.com> Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org> Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 03:05:31 -0600 To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)wikipedia.org> Subject: [WikiEN-l] the proliferation of ridiculous titular naming schemes Among many other examples, if a reader were looking for the person commonly known as [[Robert Harley]], on Wikipedia they'll be pleased to find them under the ridiculous title of [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer]], a name not used except in the context of giving his title. Now, while the said Robert Harley may indeed have been 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, it's nonetheless a plain fact that his name was Robert Harley, and it is by this name that he is and was commonly called. This seems to be a proliferation on Wikipedia, and indeed there is a proposal, currently with a wide degree of support, being discussed on [[Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Peerage]] to make this official Wikipedia policy: where someone holds a title, it must be part of their name, without exceptions. At least for British titles; perhaps other countries' titles will be dealt with more vaguely. I'd argue that simply using peoples' names, except where their titles are commonly used or necessary for disambiguation purposes, is best in keeping with our standard "use the most common name in English" naming policy, and far preferable to the one currently being proposed. In either case, those of you with an opinion might wnat to head on over to [[Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Peerage]] and vote. -Mark _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)Wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l