This discussion is now closed. The results of the discussion across all pages can be seen at Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Macedonia/consensus‎.

This page served for a centralised discussion, during June/July 2009, about Macedonia-related naming issues, in particular:

• What should be the page title of the country article (currently Macedonia) and of the associated disambiguation page?

• What should be the conventions for page titles of sub-articles dealing with the country or the other Macedonias?

• What should be the conventions for referring to the country from other articles?

This discussion process was inititated by the Arbitration Committee through a decision in the " Macedonia 2" case. It was to create a new binding guideline for Macedonia-related naming issues, to supercede the old attempt known as WP:MOSMAC, which failed to reach consensus in 2007. The process was overseen by three referees: Fritzpoll ( talk · contribs), J.delanoy ( talk · contribs), and Shell Kinney ( talk · contribs).

During a first phase of the process, participants were invited to work together to establish an outline of the issues to be decided, by assembling a set of alternative proposals, each with a concise summary presentation of the arguments for and against. They also assembled a commonly agreed background-introduction section for new readers (see below), and evidence to back up their proposals (see navigation sidebar).

In a second phase, a brief poll was held to filter the proposals down to a smaller number that were to be presented to the wider community.

In a third phase, the proposals were presented for comments and endorsements from the wider community through an RFC.

In determining the results, the referees were instructed by the Arbitration Committee to "disregard any opinion which does not provide a clear and reasonable rationale explained by reference to the principles of naming conventions and of disambiguation, or which is inconsistent with the principles of the neutral point of view policy or the reliable sources guideline."^{[ 1}

The referees announced their determination of consensus on 8 July 2009, at Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Macedonia/consensus.

The discussions were held at several sub-pages dealing with separate issues. In the current phase, participants are invited to work together to establish an outline of the issues to be decided, by assembling a set of alternative proposals, each with a concise summary presentation of the arguments for and against. Some rules of conduct are outlined here.

• main articles ( talk): dealing with the page title of the main country article and concomitant issues
• other page titles ( talk): dealing with the page titles of various sub-articles
• other articles ( talk): dealing with conventions of how to refer to the country in normal article text in other articles
  • international organizations ( talk): dealing with special conventions for articles such as Council of Europe or 2008 Summer Olympics
  • Greece-related ( talk): dealing with naming practices to be used in the Greece article and other Greece-related articles.

Other pages:

• evidence is for presenting factual evidence in support of proposals.
• Nationalities and affiliations: a page where some participants have voluntarily provided statements disclosing their national affiliations, for transparency.

The discussion process was installed in response to an Arbitration Committee decision at WP:ARBMAC2, which says:

Arbitration cases:

• WP:ARBMAC2 – Arbitration case regarding the Macedonia naming dispute
• WP:ARBMAC - Older arbitration case

Policies and guidelines listed as relevant in ARBMAC2 decision:

• WP:NAME – Basic naming policy, containing WP:COMMONNAME
• WP:DAB – Guideline for handling disambiguation, containing WP:PRIMARYTOPIC
• WP:NPOV - Neutral point of view policy
• WP:RS - Guideline prescribing the use of reliable sources

Other guidelines:

• WP:NCON – Specialised guideline for naming conflicts
• WP:NCGN – Specialised guideline for geographical names

• WP:MOSMAC – An old essay that aimed to be a specialised naming guideline for Macedonia topics, but failed to reach consensus.
• Talk:Greece/Naming poll – March 2009 discussion and poll about reference to the neighbouring country in the Greece article.

Principles quoted from ARBMAC2:

• There are four principal meanings of the term "Macedonia" pertinent to this discussion:
  • Macedonia (region): An historical/geographical region, today split between Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and the independent Republic of Macedonia (part of Yugoslavia until 1992).
  • Macedonia (ancient kingdom), also often called Macedon in many sources.
  • Republic of Macedonia: The independent state, commonly called Macedonia in many sources.
  • Macedonia (Greece): Three Greek provinces collectively referred to as Macedonia, though it is not actually a political entity in itself.

    (cf. related Arbcom finding)

• The state formally calls itself the "Republic of Macedonia" (its "constitutional name", i.e. as formally established in its constitution) ^[1], informally just "Macedonia".
• The Greek government disputes the historical appropriateness of this name and demands the adoption of a composite name with some geographical qualifier. ^[2] Some parties in Greece reject any use of "Macedonia" in the country's name.
• As a consequence of the naming dispute, the UN in 1993 admitted the state as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (explicitly noting that this was not supposed to be a "name", but what the UN called a "provisional reference" ^{[3] [4] [5]}).
• Most other international organisations have followed UN usage or variants of it, as have several dozen UN member states.
• Just under two-thirds of UN member states (125 out of 192) have recognised the country under its constitutional name of "Republic of Macedonia". ^[6] This includes all of the major English-speaking nations except Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. [5]
• Three quarters of the countries of Europe use Republic of Macedonia for bilateral purposes individually sourced here.
• Proposed diplomatic solutions to the political conflict have envisaged that the country should adopt some qualifying adjective as part of its official name for use in international contexts, e.g. "North Macedonia" or "Nova Makedonija" ("New Macedonia") ^[7]. It cannot presently be predicted how common English usage worldwide would reflect a new settlement, if one were reached in the near future.
• The following facts about usage are largely agreed upon:
  • The state's most frequent name in common English usage is simply "Macedonia". ^[8]
  • In common present-day English usage in general-purpose sources, when the name "Macedonia" is used it is most often referring to the country. ^{[9] [10]}
  • In academic literature predating 1995 as well as in older common English usage, the name is used in other meanings, especially that of the ancient kingdom. In academic literature after 1995, usage has generally shifted to the country, although other meanings still occur in specific contexts. ^[11]
  • Wikipedia's article on the country receives much more page hits than all other Macedonia articles (roughly 5 times more than Macedonia (ancient kingdom), 10 times more than Macedonia (Greece), 20 times more than Macedonia (region), and 3 times more than all these together.) ^[12]