Disambiguation is the process of resolving the conflicts that arise when a single term is ambiguous, and so may refer to more than one topic which the wiki covers. For example, the word "gold" may refer to coins, an ore, a metal bar, and numerous other things. There are three important aspects to disambiguation:
- Naming articles in such a way that each has a unique title.
- Making the links for ambiguous terms point to the correct article title.
- Ensuring that someone who searches for a topic using a particular term can get to the information on that topic quickly and easily, whichever of the possible topics it might be.
This page discusses the standard ways of handling the above issues and formatting of disambiguation pages.
Usage[]
Content[]
Disambiguation pages should contain a minimum of three entries. If there are only two topics, e.g. Red spiders' eggs and Red spiders' eggs (New Varrock), the primary topic should link directly to the secondary topic with the {{Otheruses}} template. In these cases, creating a separate disambiguation page is unnecessary.
For disambiguation pages that cover a broad topic with dozens of possible entries, use your best judgement in determining what to include. Listing every single article with the topic in its title is overkill and makes it much more difficult for readers to find what they are looking for. For example, Zombie (disambiguation) only contains undead non-player characters; items and emotes such as New Varrock zombie outfit and Zombie Walk are not mentioned.
Titling[]
Article names follow Jagex's in-game spelling and capitalisation exactly. Names for items, monsters, etc. are often reused, especially in annual events or promotions, and therefore require parentheses in the title to differentiate versions.
Use common sense in determining how to name the parenthetical:
- Pages having to do with quests should contain the full name of the quest, e.g. Air rune (The Slug Menace).
- Pages having to do with holiday events should contain the year and type of event, e.g. Turkey drumstick (2013 Christmas event), not the name of the event, e.g. "Turkey drumstick (Up to Snow Good)".
- Non-player characters with no other distinguishing features may be named after their location, e.g. Thora (Miscellania Castle) and Thora (Miscellania Dungeon).
- Items that have the same name but are sequential upgrades should be titled accordingly, e.g. Duellist's cap (tier 1), Duellist's cap (tier 2), etc.
- Quests and locations with the same name should have the quest as the primary topic and the location with the
(location)parenthetical, as people are more likely to be looking for a quest walkthrough, e.g. Eagles' Peak and Eagles' Peak (location). The only exception so far is Black Knights' Fortress (quest) – the quest was removed, while the location is the primary topic because it is still in-game.
Some pages may have the same spellings but different capitalisation, such as Shantay Pass, the location, and Shantay pass, the item. While this is technically allowed by MediaWiki software and does not require further disambiguation, the minute difference is confusing to both readers and editors. One of the pages should be given a parenthetical (see the next section to determine which page to move), and that page's original name should be redirected to the other article.
In rare cases where names already contain parentheses in-game and must be disambiguated with a second set of parentheses, e.g. Silverlight (dyed) (Dimension of Disaster), the {{Parentitle override}} template may be used to correct the automatic styling in the page title.
Location[]
The page that is most likely to be visited takes precedence when determining the location of disambiguation pages. Examples of possible cases include:
- Bucket of water is the most common item; other items also named "Bucket of water" are lesser-used quest items that are given parentheticals on Bucket of water (disambiguation).
- The monster Anima-golem is the primary topic; other monsters containing the phrase "anima-golem" are listed on Anima-golem (disambiguation).
- Two Black Knight champions exist; the one in Heart of Gielinor is the primary topic, while the one from Invasion of Falador is given a parenthetical as it is part of a temporary event.
- Even though there are three items called "Golden tools", Golden tools is a disambiguation page because all three are temporary items and therefore equally (un)important. If a permanent item named "Golden tools" is ever released, the disambiguation should be moved to "Golden tools (disambiguation)".
Hatnotes[]
Hatnotes are the templates that provide links to disambiguation pages or similar articles. Editors should keep the number of hatnotes at the top to a minimum. Two is the suggested limit, e.g. one {{Otheruses}} and one {{Confuse}} – if there are three or more, they should be placed on their own disambiguation page.
There are several hatnote templates available, each suited to different situations:
{{Otheruses}}is the most common hatnote for noting other uses of the primary topic, and generally links to a(disambiguation)page.{{Redirect}}is used when an ambiguous term redirects to a primary topic, but could also refer to a page with a similar title. For example, "Abbey" redirects to Abbey of St. Elspeth Citharede, but could also refer to The Abbey, a music track.{{Confuse}}is used when the primary topic could be confused with another page, either through misspelling (e.g. Aubury with Augury), a similar title (Blood Rush with Rush of Blood), or similar subject matter (Reindeer hat with Antlers).{{Main}}should only be placed in subsections of articles, generally accompanied by a summary of the topic being linked to.
As hatnotes separate the reader from the content they are looking for, descriptions should generally be as concise as possible. Long explanations are generally discouraged; the article's lead text, not the hatnote, should explain what the article is about.
Format[]
Introductory line[]
Disambiguation pages should always begin with: '''[PAGENAME]''' may refer to:. The pagename should not be linked, nor should any further descriptive text be added to the first line.
Individual entries[]
Each entry should be part of an unordered list (created with *). Entries may stand alone or have a short sentence fragment describing it. Information presented in the description should be kept to a bare minimum, and should only be just enough to direct a reader to the correct article. If a page title is disambiguated with parentheses, the parentheses may be hidden via pipe link; however, this will require it to have a description.
Links should not be used in descriptions, in order to keep focus on the entry; the purpose of a disambiguation page is to take the reader to the page they were actually looking for, not any other article.
Organisation[]
For pages with more than several items, the list may be split into sections. Short pages may use fake section headings by starting the line with a semicolon (; Header); longer pages should use level 3 headers (===Header===). If a section has too many entries, it may be split into columns with {{Multicol}} to preserve readability and space.
Headers should be titled by subject area, which should be as general as possible. Common groupings include "Quests", "Non-player characters", "Monsters", and "Equipment". For disambiguation pages that are already specific to one subject, the level of detail may change accordingly (for example, "Lucky" and "Golden" on Godsword (disambiguation)).
A "See also" section (different from an "Other" section) may be used to link to relevant disambiguation pages, e.g. linking to Sphere from Orb (disambiguation). If a "See also" section is needed, it should be given a level 2 header and placed last, after all other headers.
Ending[]
All disambiguation pages must have the {{Disambig}} template placed at the bottom for categorisation purposes.
Example[]
'''Chinchompa''' may refer to:
* [[Chinchompa (Hunter)|Chinchompa]], the standard variety of Hunter creature
* [[Carnivorous chinchompa]], the Hunter creature
===Weapons===
* [[Chinchompa]], an explosive weapon requiring 45 Ranged
* [[Red chinchompa]], an explosive weapon requiring 55 Ranged
* [[Castlewars chinchompa]], a variant of chinchompa used in Castle Wars
* [[Mechanised chinchompa]], a type of chinchopma powered up with the Invention skill
===Items===
* [[Giant chinchompa]], the Summoning familiar
* [[Skillchompa]], an item that grants additional experience in certain skills
* [[Chinchompas (level 99 approx.)]], juggling equipment
===Other===
* [[Ridgeley]], the Hairdresser's pet
* [[Big Chinchompa]], Distraction and Diversion
* [[Golden chinchompa (Squeal of Fortune)]]
** [[Golden Chinchompa]]
{{Disambig}}