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@
Jackmcbarn: Hey! Thanks for pinging me. Your two examples,
WP:USURP and
WP:USURPTITLE, detail specific processes for unconsented or undiscussed overrides of usernames and article titles respectively, whereas the reference to usurpation in this article is exclusively about discussed moves that have generated a consensus from editor. As such, I continue that "usurp" is not quite the best term to use here. I'm happy to use pretty much any other term, but using usurp is just plain incorrect to me - otherwise, you'd be saying that something like a
requested move with consensus is a usurpation... which it isn't.
ItsPugle (please use {{
ping|ItsPugle}} on reply)
04:23, 1 August 2020 (UTC)reply
When I originally added it, I believe the default was to just take the shortcut (usurp) without discussion, hence why I added that. However I also wrote in my edit summary, "feel free to edit/reword", and that still applies. May I suggest "appropriate"? -- Ϫ06:08, 1 August 2020 (UTC)reply
I don't have any issues with the term "appropriate"! Only thing is that I connect it to stuff like an
appropriation bill, but that fundamentally still works in terms of 'allocating'.
ItsPugle (please use {{
ping|ItsPugle}} on reply)
09:38, 1 August 2020 (UTC)reply
@
Jackmcbarn and
ItsPugle: Sorry, but I have to call foul here. Its (may I call you Its? ) wrote, by way of proposing a compromise on reappropriate: to keep the meaning that it used to be for something else, rather than being assigned for the first time? But that's not really the sense in which 'reappropriate' is typically used. What you described would be a better fit for re- words like reclaim, redirect... or the one you came within a hair's breadth of, even employing its root in your definition:reassign.
The re- in reappropriate has a implications more in line with a word like reclaim, recover, or restore. The sense is that you're not merely taking something, but rather are taking it back or striving, as the second definition puts it, "To appropriate [it] again." Describing the initial creation of a shortcut in those terms stretches the definition of "appropriation" almost to the breaking point, in the same way it would if, for instance, you described an AfC submission as an "appropriation" of its title text. When you're creating a new thing that didn't exist until that point, there's nothing being appropriated — being "claimed" or "set aside" for exclusive use carries an implication of there being some thing to being claimed, one which already existed prior to its appropriation.
You can appropriate finite things like funds, land, time on a schedule, or the patience other Wikipedians have for indulging overly verbose arguments. (Um... or so I've heard. 🤔 )
But you can't appropriate (and therefore nobody can re-appropriate) ephemeral things such as love, goodwill, article titles, or space to make overly verbose arguments on a Wikipedia Talk page. These are, for all practical purposes, infinitely renewable resources, even if contention can still arise over any particular allocation's exclusivity.
If I might make a suggestion that intentionally departs quite a bit from the previously-considered options (and therefore from their implications, as well), might I suggest simply "redefine"? It's both technically accurate and almost crashingly neutral, in this context. --
FeRDNYC (
talk)
17:21, 30 August 2020 (UTC)reply
I'm pretty easy-peasy with whatever, usurp just stood out to me as not quite the best term. I'm happy for something like redefine or retarget.
ItsPugle (please
ping on reply)
23:55, 30 August 2020 (UTC)reply
Disambiguated shortcut is an
oxymoron. Why would we DAB a shortcut if we have to go via an additional page every time? One of the suggestions in an
Rfd for a shortcut was to DAB it, and I was surprised to know there are
some 80 shorcuts that are DABs. Can we not ensure that shortcuts lead the editor to one and only one target? Anything else, can be a WP page DAB, but not a shortcut.
Jay(Talk)11:42, 3 July 2021 (UTC)reply
In my mind, there are similar considerations to the mainspace concept of
WP:PRIMARY topics. If there are multiple candidate targets for a name like
WP:FLAG and there's no agreement about what it should point to, because there are multiple candidate pages that are approximately equally popular and salient, then it makes sense to make it a dab. Basically, it's better to send 100% of people who search for it to a short directory from which they can quickly access the page they want, rather than sending 25% of users directly to the page they want, leaving the other 75% to struggle to get to their intended destination. (It's not a perfect analogy, since I imagine users are somewhat less likely to navigate meta namespaces by title search compared to mainspace. But it still happens - e.g. if I want to know whether the MoS has rules on whether I should write "17" or "seventeen", I'll take a leap of faith to
MOS:NUMBER and hope it's an extant shortcut pointing to the guideline I'm looking for.)
Colin M (
talk)
22:11, 3 July 2021 (UTC)reply
Shortcut overkill
A couple of months ago, an editor wrote an essay. The same editor also created five slightly different ALLCAPS shortcuts for it. Could we suggest to editors that a multiplicity of shortcuts is not a desirable outcome?
WhatamIdoing (
talk)
22:18, 24 March 2023 (UTC)reply
Yes, I saw the recommendation not to (necessarily) limit the shortcuts box to one or two, but I'm asking about telling people not to create a bunch of shortcuts/redirects in the first place.
WhatamIdoing (
talk)
22:52, 24 March 2023 (UTC)reply
Show shortcut name as parent name?
Hello, I created a shortcut
Template:UZAE as a shortcut for
Template:Use South African English. The problem is if I use UZAE directly in an article, it isn't very descriptive of what it means to an editor. Is there a way for the UZAE template to show its parent's name, or a description of what it is? Currently, I search for the quicker to search "UZAE" but insert the Use South African English template. Thank you,
Maqdisi (
talk)
06:47, 10 May 2023 (UTC)reply
What do you mean? These templates just categorize articles and indicate the preferred English variant to anyone reading the source; they don't display anything in the page itself, so there's nowhere to show a name or description.