Wikipedia:Is disambiguation simple?

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WP:SIMPLEDAB

This page in a nutshell: Correct disambiguation is important and quite straightforward in practice once you get the hang of it, but the rules go for more than eighty pages and are a nightmare.

If topics covered by two different articles share one name, then the term is ambiguous and it is necessary to disambiguate. If there is a primary topic then the base name should lead directly to the article on that topic, ^[1] either by being the title of the article, or by being a redirect to it. ^[2] If there is no primary topic, then the base name should similarly lead directly to a disambiguation page. ^[3]

Does that sound simple enough? Often it is. But...

Examples

These examples do not cover every possible combination of circumstances. They are intended to cover a great range of possibilities including all the most common and interesting ones in a very few examples.

There is a primary topic

Rose

The primary topic of Rose is the flower, and so the article covering it (and also covering the plants that bear the flower) is named Rose.

There are many other meanings, so a hatnote points to Rose (disambiguation). In fact there are so many other meanings of Rose that this disambiguation page in turn points to several others, such as Rose (surname).

One other disambiguation page, Roses (disambiguation), is so likely to contain the article sought by the reader that it is explicitly mentioned in the hatnote at Rose, as well as in the See also section of Rose (disambiguation).

The plants that bear the flower are rose bushes, and this is the primary meaning of rose bush and is covered by the article at rose, so that title redirects to rose. This is an example of a primary redirect. (But see below for rosebush.)

Bach

The most famous of the Bach family is the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, but there are several other meanings of Bach, and his article is in any case better titled Johann Sebastian Bach.

He is still the primary topic of Bach, so that title redirects to his article, with a hatnote there to Bach (disambiguation). Bach is another example of a primary redirect.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Again, the most famous of the Bach family is the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, and that is the title chosen for the article about him by following the relevant article naming convention. There is only one other article that could be titled Johann Sebastian Bach, that of his grandson Johann Sebastian Bach (painter), so that article's title is disambiguated, and a hatnote points to it from the article on his grandfather.

No disambiguation page is needed for Johann Sebastian Bach, in fact one would be completely pointless. The hatnote is sufficient.

(And the only combination of circumstances in which disambiguation is required but a disambiguation page is not is this one, where there is a primary meaning and exactly one other meaning.)

There is no primary topic

Pot

There are many meanings of pot, and no primary topic. The page at pot is a disambiguation page. A disambiguator is used for the title of the article pot (poker), but most of the other meanings are naturally disambiguated.

Indian

There are many meanings for Indian, and no primary topic. The page at Indian is a disambiguation page. The titles are disambiguated in many different ways, for example that of Indian, West Virginia follows the specific naming convention for geographic names in the USA. Other topics use parentheses or natural disambiguation.

Rosebush

There are several meanings for rosebush, one of which is rose bush but there is no primary topic. Rosebush is a disambiguation page that links to rose bush and also to the other meanings.

John Quested

There are two articles on people called John Quested, and neither is the primary topic. John Quested is a disambiguation page with only two entries, and both of the article names are disambiguated.

This is a relatively rare scenario, but it does occur, and unlike in the case of a primary topic and one other meaning, a disambiguation page is required. Hatnotes are optional but recommended, as it is unlikely but possible that a reader will somehow end up at the wrong article.

Glossary of especially relevant technical terms

See also Wikipedia:Glossary

Ambiguous term

A word or phrase that might be used to describe more than one topic, such as iron, and which might therefore be used as the title of more than one article.

Article title

The page name of a Wikipedia article. The article title of the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron is iron (or Iron, as our software capitalises the first letter of article titles whether they have one or not), while the article title of the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_(golf) is iron (golf). Also known as the article name.

Base name

A plain article title, such as iron, or the first part of a disambiguated title, such as the word iron in iron (golf).

Disambiguation page

A page in the article namespace that is not an article but a list of articles which might have the same name, for example iron (disambiguation). A disambiguation page (or DAB for short) normally has a disambiguator of (disambiguation), which is reserved for DAB pages. However, if there is no primary topic, then the DAB is at the base name, see #There is no primary topic above.

Disambiguator

A qualifying word or phrase added at the end of an ambiguous term to form a unique article title, for example (golf) in iron (golf) or Aisne in Iron, Aisne.

Natural disambiguation

Sometimes a common phrase containing the ambiguous term, such as clothes iron, can serve as a unique article title and avoid the need for a disambiguator; This is called natural disambiguation.

Primary topic

A topic that is described by an ambiguous term but is sufficiently prominent or important that the base name is the article title, or less commonly if the article covering the topic has another title, the base name redirects directly to the article or to a section of it. (The base name does not become available for other articles just because another name is used for the article covering the primary topic.) Deciding whether there is a primary topic, and if so what it is, often generates a great deal of discussion and controversy, and tests the patience of editors on occasions.

A detailed summary of the rules

It is highly recommended that you read and try to understand both the examples above and the introductory page at Help:Disambiguation before tackling this section. It is just here for reference really. There are many scenarios, described in more than eighty policy and guideline pages at last count, and this section tries to cover them all... hang on to your hatnote...

Wikipedia's principles of disambiguation are given in the Wikipedia policy on article titles, and particularly its section on disambiguation, the disambiguation guideline in the Wikipedia Manual of Style, and in guidelines to which the article naming policy links. These guidelines include the general disambiguation guideline and many Wikipedia naming conventions covering specific topic areas. ^[4]

If topics covered by two or more different articles are both meanings of the one name (that is, the same article title could be used for an article on either topic if we had one), then the name (also referred to as the term) is ambiguous and it is necessary to disambiguate. This normally requires two things:
- Some or all of the article titles are disambiguated. This may be done:
  - By adding a qualifier known as a disambiguator to the end of the article title. There are several formats for this, the preferred format depending on the topic area, but most commonly the disambiguator is either in parentheses or is separated from the base name by a comma.
  - By natural disambiguation. This is preferred where possible.
- In most cases a disambiguation page is required. The only exception is where there are only two topics and one of them is decided to be the primary topic for the term.

If there is a primary topic then the base name should lead directly to the article on that topic. ^[1]
- This can be done in two ways:
  - if the term is the common name for the primary topic (or in some other rarer circumstances as described in the article naming policy and guidelines) then the ambiguous term is simply used as the title of the article.
  - Otherwise the ambiguous term becomes a redirect to the primary topic article. ^[2]
- A hatnote should lead from the primary topic article to all articles on these other topic(s). There are several hatnote templates used for this. They are listed at Wikipedia:Hatnote#Other uses of the same title ("For …, see …").
  - There should be a hatnote leading to any relevant disambiguation page(s), either directly, or indirectly by way of another disambiguation page.
  - There should also be hatnotes to any relevant articles not covered by the disambiguation page(s).

If there is no primary topic, then the base name should similarly lead directly to a disambiguation page. ^[3]
- In most cases it is the name of that disambiguation page.
- Otherwise it should redirect to a disambiguation page.

Policies and guidelines

^ ^a ^b Wikpedia article title policy, section on disambiguation: If the article is about the primary topic to which the ambiguous name refers, then that name can be its title without modification, provided it follows all other applicable policies.
^ ^a ^b Guideline on disambiguation, section on primary topic redirects: The title of the primary topic article may be different from the ambiguous term. This may happen when the topic is primary for more than one term, when the article covers a wider topical scope, or when it is titled differently according to the naming conventions. When this is the case, the term should redirect to the article (or a section of it).
^ ^a ^b Wikpedia article title policy, section on disambiguation: If the topic is not primary, the ambiguous name cannot be used and so must be disambiguated.
^ Category:Wikipedia naming conventions is for pages that have received general consensus as English Wikipedia guidelines to supplement and explain the Wikipedia article titles policy. There were 82 such topic area naming conventions at last count. These conventions should all also be directly or indirectly linked from Template:Naming conventions, which is a sidebar used both on the article title policy page and on some (but by no means all) of the conventions themselves.

[WPDIS1-1] Wikpedia article title policy, section on disambiguation: If the article is about the primary topic to which the ambiguous name refers, then that name can be its title without modification, provided it follows all other applicable policies.

[PRIMARYREDIRECT-2] Guideline on disambiguation, section on primary topic redirects: The title of the primary topic article may be different from the ambiguous term. This may happen when the topic is primary for more than one term, when the article covers a wider topical scope, or when it is titled differently according to the naming conventions. When this is the case, the term should redirect to the article (or a section of it).

[WPDIS2-3] Wikpedia article title policy, section on disambiguation: If the topic is not primary, the ambiguous name cannot be used and so must be disambiguated.

[NC-4] Category:Wikipedia naming conventions is for pages that have received general consensus as English Wikipedia guidelines to supplement and explain the Wikipedia article titles policy. There were 82 such topic area naming conventions at last count. These conventions should all also be directly or indirectly linked from Template:Naming conventions, which is a sidebar used both on the article title policy page and on some (but by no means all) of the conventions themselves.

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