Talk:Outline of lichens

Latest comment: 5 months ago by Alalch E. in topic Heading phrased as a question
Featured listOutline of lichens is a featured list, which means it has been identified as one of the best lists produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.
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DateProcessResult
October 29, 2023Featured list candidatePromoted

Gaps in the coverage edit

I have found outlines useful for identifying gaps in our coverage. For example there does not appear to be an article or redirect for ascolichen. I am not a specialist, but it sees that this is a search term that could be used, and a general search does not identify an obvious target, though a redirect with possibilities to somewhere in Lichen might be suitable.· · · Peter Southwood (talk): 15:52, 18 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Thanks Peter. That's one we should definitely add, so I've done so. MeegsC (talk) 20:26, 18 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Lichen organisations edit

The final pages of the International Lichenological Newsletter (e.g. see recent issue here) contains a complete list of lichen organisations (and the journals/bulletins they publish); not sure how thorough this article should be in listing them. Esculenta (talk) 15:29, 8 October 2022 (UTC)Reply

Heading phrased as a question edit

@MeegsC: Pinging you about the "What is a lichen?" heading. Per MOS:HEADINGS headings should not be phrased as a question. Does this perhaps not apply to outlines? —Alalch E. 19:57, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply

It's an undocumented exception to the MOS:HEADINGS guideline. Standard practice for non-location outlines, is that most non-regional outlines' first subheading is a question of the form: "What type of thing is x?" That's for identifying the parent classifications that the topic belongs to, to help identify what it is. A dog is a canine which is a mammal which is an animal. Fluid dynamics is a branch of physics which is a branch of science. And so on.

We've experimented with non-question formats for that heading, and so far, we have not found a less awkward one than the question. Other headings that have been tried tend to leak, being broader in meaning, to overlap semantically with the lead section or other subsections.

In Outline of lichens, that heading somehow got reworded to become the very question that the lead is supposed to answer, an example of the leakage I just mentioned. But, the body of the section still answers the question "What type of thing is a lichen?, so, it still works.

If you browse the outlines, you'll find the question in most of them that are not regions (countries, provinces/states, counties, and cities). I hope this answer helps.

That the exception is not included in the Outlines guideline, is an oversight. Thanks for bringing attention to this.    — The Transhumanist   21:26, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply

P.S.: For further information about headings in outlines, see Wikipedia:Outlines#Section headings in outlines.
That's a lot, that's a very helpful answer.—Alalch E. 21:34, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply