Talk:Symphyotrichum oolentangiense

Wikidata taxon ID

@Peter coxhead: Hi, Peter. I removed the second taxon ID from the Taxonbar template call because I thought the basionym would show up automatically when it's entered as the basionym in Wikidata. I see that happening on many pages. What did I miss? I did this on several other pages in the past few days, so if I need to go back and revert, I will, but I think they are happening automatically. —Eewilson (talk) 00:18, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

Two points:

• The basionym is only automatically added if the basionym property is present on the Wikidata item. It is present at Symphyotrichum oolentangiense (Q15555426), so it should be added if "Q38782815" is not in the taxonbar, and a quick test with "Preview" shows that this does happen. However, we can't control what happens at Wikidata, so the addition here ensures that whatever edits are made to Symphyotrichum oolentangiense (Q15555426) over there, the basionym will still appear.
• The small extra effort of explicitly adding the QID for the basionym is, in my view, always worthwhile. Adding it makes the taxonbar self-documenting, and avoids apparent "magic". (It's a bit like always adding |taxon= to automatic taxoboxes: if absent, the page title is used, so the parameter is most often redundant. But it documents the taxobox and ensures that it still works if the page is moved to the English name.)

Peter coxhead (talk) 06:18, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

Excellent points and I will follow your lead. Thank you, Peter! —Eewilson (talk) 06:24, 17 July 2021 (UTC)