Please note that disambiguation pages like
Karen Smith are meant to help readers find a specific existing article quickly and easily. For that reason, they have guidelines that are different from articles. From the
Wikipedia:Disambiguation dos and don'ts you should:
Only list articles that readers might reasonably be looking for
Use short sentence fragment descriptions, with no punctuation at the end
Use exactly one navigable link ("blue link") in each entry that mentions the title being disambiguated
Only add a "red link" if used in existing articles, and include a "blue link" to an appropriate article
Do not pipe links (unless style requires it) – keep the full title of the article visible
Do not insert external links or references - Wikipedia is not a business directory
Hello @
Leschnei: I can follow your reasoning only limited. I was looking for Karen Smith, a high-ranking UN diplomat who was Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General.[1] But in the German Wikipedia I found nothing. In the English Wikipedia I found lots of athletes, an award-winning model, three academics, the victim of a massacre and a fictional character, but not the person I was looking for. Maybe I'll get around to writing the relevant article myself someday, but I'd certainly be happy if I could find "my" Karen Smith at all. With kind regards
Fritzober (
talk)
23:38, 6 December 2022 (UTC)reply
I think of disambiguation page like the index of a book - if the subject isn't covered in the book, it doesn't help the reader to list it the index. On the other hand, it leads to a lot of frustration, as you described.
Leschnei (
talk)
01:08, 7 December 2022 (UTC)reply
Please note that disambiguation pages like
Karen Smith are meant to help readers find a specific existing article quickly and easily. For that reason, they have guidelines that are different from articles. From the
Wikipedia:Disambiguation dos and don'ts you should:
Only list articles that readers might reasonably be looking for
Use short sentence fragment descriptions, with no punctuation at the end
Use exactly one navigable link ("blue link") in each entry that mentions the title being disambiguated
Only add a "red link" if used in existing articles, and include a "blue link" to an appropriate article
Do not pipe links (unless style requires it) – keep the full title of the article visible
Do not insert external links or references - Wikipedia is not a business directory
Hello @
Leschnei: I can follow your reasoning only limited. I was looking for Karen Smith, a high-ranking UN diplomat who was Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General.[1] But in the German Wikipedia I found nothing. In the English Wikipedia I found lots of athletes, an award-winning model, three academics, the victim of a massacre and a fictional character, but not the person I was looking for. Maybe I'll get around to writing the relevant article myself someday, but I'd certainly be happy if I could find "my" Karen Smith at all. With kind regards
Fritzober (
talk)
23:38, 6 December 2022 (UTC)reply
I think of disambiguation page like the index of a book - if the subject isn't covered in the book, it doesn't help the reader to list it the index. On the other hand, it leads to a lot of frustration, as you described.
Leschnei (
talk)
01:08, 7 December 2022 (UTC)reply