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User talk:Emmette Hernandez Coleman/Deleting redirects to facilitate searching

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Requested move

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The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Move to User:Emmette Hernandez Coleman/Deleting redirects to facilitate searching. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 05:30, 20 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

User:Emmette Hernandez Coleman/Re-target to search page → ? – This title seams too vague. Anyone have a better idea? User:Emmette Hernandez Coleman 11:32, 21 September 2012‎ (UTC)[reply]

That's way too vague. I want a title that would work if this were in the WP namspace. I'm describing deleting a redirect in order to facilitate searching in general. It just so happens that the most developed part of this is the part describing the limitations. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 02:16, 29 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
How about Wikipedia:Deleting redirects to facilitate searching? I'm uncomfortable with the current title because, as the essay acknowledges, you're not actually retargeting to a search page. --BDD (talk) 16:48, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Perfect. I have the same concern about the current title, but I couldn't think of a better one. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 05:30, 20 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Not always true

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When a redirect is deleted, you don't always end up at a search page:

  • If you follow an internal link, The Terrible Towers, you arrive at the editing interface to create an article (with a note that the title has been previously deleted).
  • If you arrive at the former redirect's url (e.g. a link from an external site, entering the URL directly, bookmarks, some external search methods), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terrible_Towers, then you get the note that the title has been previously deleted above the "Wikipedia doesn't have an article with this exact title" message, inviting you to search. (I think this is MediaWiki:Noarticletext)
  • If you arrive by using the internal search engine [1] or some external search tools (e.g. the firefox search shortcut from the URL bar [2]) you get the search page.

People use all these methods and more to search and navigate Wikipedia so the user experience is unpredictable. I wondered whether a page could act as a redirect to search results, to ensure consistency so I created User:Thryduulf/R to search. No matter how I try and access it, it functions as a soft redirect. This could be exploited by presenting users with an explanatory template - the best way might be to just transclude MediaWiki:Noarticletext.
However this would require consensus (probably at somewhere like the village pump) before implementing though, and I struggle to see in which circumstances there would be benefit in doing this:

  • If we want an article there this would not give the benefits of a red link
  • If it is a useful search term for a specific article we'd keep the redirect
  • If there are several potential things it could be used to refer to we'd either convert it into a disambiguation page or redirect the title to a disambiguation page elsewhere;
  • If it isn't a useful title then search results are not going to help much.

It reminds me of the old template:deletedpage (admins can see the old versions), which was itself deleted - see Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Log/2007 September 10#Template:Deletedpage, Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2011 September 6#Template:Deletedpage and Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2011 October 14#Template:Deletedpage. Thryduulf (talk) 19:53, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Like I said, this page definitely needs some work. You could probably put the first part of you're post (about how you don't always end up at a search page) into the essay. I'd be quite an improvement to the essay in my option. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 20:14, 21 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I did it myself, and gave you credit. Thanks. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 03:57, 24 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's fine. I was going to do it myself but just forgot as other things came up! Thryduulf (talk) 13:45, 24 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
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