Renaming redirect special tags edit
While these templates are relatively new and unknown, I'd like to propose renaming the special tags to make them more memorable, better clarified, and more useful.
Firstly, I'd like to remove the word "from". so instead of {{R from related word}} we'd just have {{R related word}}. This would make it easier to remember the tag, as some use "from", some "for", and others "to". I don't think there is any ambiguity, and the full meaning can be understood from the category page.
Secondly, {{R subtopic}} is much more clear than {{R with possibilities}}
Thirdly, instead of categories based on the original list of what redirects are used for, I'd like to make it categories based on what the special tags can be used for. Misspelling, for instannce, is useful in that it lets the reader know that it's not just an alternative name but a misspelling. (unfortunately that information is hidden at present, but I imagine in future the reader will be told they were redirected from a misspelling.) Also in future, perhaps the "what links here" will tell you which redirect pages are misspellings. That's useful documentation. It means links to misspellings cna be found easily, etc.
On the other hand, whether a redirect is counted as an alternate name or alternate language, I think is less generally useful, and only makes it more difficult to categorise redirects. Likewise for whether something is a different spelling, or just using ASCII. So I propose to lump all the "alternates" together, so long as they are all correct alternatives. This would bring the number of tags down from 13 to nine.
Fourthly, make "misspelling" its own tag, which can be combined with others.
E.g. Air's Rock would become:
- #redirect [[Uluru]] {{R alternate}} {{misspelling}}
as it is a misspelling of an alternate name.
Fifthly (ok these ordinal numbers are getting silly), {{R to disambiguation page}} to {{R disambiguate}}. "to disambiguation page" is not really clear, it really means someone should disambiguate the link that lead them there, not only that it redirects to a disambiguation page. And some other minor changes. See list below.
Finally, Any more suggestions? What about redirects from a misspelling of an alternate name? Is there a way to do a heirarchy of these things, like categories?
I don't know how these changes would be implemented. I assume someone would have to write a script, unless there are ways of migrating more elegantly. I also don't know what the appropriate Wikibureaucracy process is to get these changes implemented. I figure someone just has to do it. Comments welcome.
| Existing | Proposed |
| {{R from abbreviation}} | {{R abbreviation}} |
| {{R from misspelling}} | {{misspelling}} * (see 4th point above) |
| {{R from alternate spelling}} | {{R alternate}} |
| {{R for alternate capitalisation}} | |
| {{R from alternate name}} | |
| {{R from alternate language}} | |
| {{R from ASCII}} | |
| {{R from plural}} | {{R plural}} |
| {{R from related word}} | {{R alternate part of speech}} |
| {{R with possibilities}} | {{R subtopic}} |
| {{R to disambiguation page}} | {{R disambiguate}} |
| {{R for as of}} | {{R as of}} |
| {{R from shortcut}} | {{R shortcut}} |
| {{R to sort name}} | {{R sort}} |
| {{R from scientific name}} | {{R scientific name}} |
—Pengo 02:09, 19 August 2005 (UTC)