User:Marc Mongenet/Interlanguage links untangling

Common problems with Interlanguage links.

Many interwiki links in disambiguation pages are bogus. Here is the problem:

Let's say that word W1 has meanings m1, m2 and m3 in language L1.
- Then we create a disambiguation page [[L1:W1]], with links to articles [[L1:W1 (m1)]], [[L1:W1 (m2)]], and [[L1:W1 (m3)]].
Let's say that word W2 has meanings m1, m4 and m5 in language L2.
- Then we create a disambiguation page [[L2:W2]], with links to articles [[L2:W2 (m1)]], [[L2:W2 (m4)]], and [[L2:W2 (m5)]]..
Let's say that word W3 has meanings m2 and m6 in language L3.
- Then we create a disambiguation page [[L3:W3]], with links to articles [[L3:W3 (m2)]], and [[L3:W3 (m6)]].

Clearly, [[L2:W2]] has nothing in common with [[L3:W3]] (not the same word, not the same meanings). So, there should be no interwiki links between [[L2:W2]] and [[L3:W3]]. The problem is that it happens. Why?
It happens because somebody linked [[L1:W1]] to [[L2:W2]] because of the shared m1 meaning, then somebody else linked [[L3:W3]] to [[L1:W1]] because of the shared m2 meaning. Then robots linked everything together.

The root of the problem is that interwiki between disambiguation pages should not be based on meanings (actually one meaning among several in one language), but on the word itself. A disambiguation page is about a word.

The disambiguation page [[L1:W1]] should only have interwiki links to [[Ln:W1]] disambiguation pages in other languages (they are disambiguation pages for the W1 word). The disambiguation page [[L2:W2]] should only have interwiki links to [[Ln:W2]] disambiguation pages in other languages (they are disambiguation pages for the W2 word)... Marc Mongenet (talk) 17:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)