Template talk:Disambiguation

Why not make the first parameter default to {{PAGENAME}}, effectively removing the need for it? » Cooper Kid (blether) • (contreebs) 08:49, 15 May 2012 (PDT)

I would think it's because some disambiguation pages would be located at titles of the form 'Shotgun (Disambiguation)'. —Moussekateer·talk 09:22, 15 May 2012 (PDT)

Bingo! Well played, sir. » Cooper Kid (blether) • (contreebs) 09:50, 15 May 2012 (PDT)

Easier creation/editing of disambiguation pages

When you look at these pages, they are all rather similar, so naturally templates come into my mind. For example, the Glove page:
Glove may refer to:

• {item name}, a {optional:promotional} {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:default} {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:community-made} {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, an {optional:unlockable} {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:promotional} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.
• {item name}, a {optional:slot} {cosmetic or weapon} for the {class}.

where {optional:slot} would be {||primary|secondary|melee} or something similar. The bold line for example is the page for the KGB, and all the information can be extracted from the item infobox:

• {item name} given by the user
• {optional:unlockable} from availability parameter
• {optional:slot} from slot paramater
• {cosmetic or weapon} from type parameter
• {class} from used by parameter

So the final glove disambiguation page could be done in a single line and look something like: {{newDisambiguationTemplateName|Apoco-Fists|Digit Divulger|Falconer|Fists|...}}
The questions are:

• How good can the template deal with exceptions
• How much does this improve the consistency of disambiguation pages.
• Can this used for translated disambiguations aswell?
• How often do we create new disambiguation pages, or rather, would it make sense to change existing disambiguation pages into using the template.
• Are disambiguation pages even worth the effort?

I think such a template could make the editing disambiguation pages really easy, but I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it, since the creation of the template would not be an easy task.
Your thoughts please! SackZement <Talk> 05:58, 31 July 2014 (PDT)

Wow, a great idea! Let me respond to your questions in order:

1. How good can the template deal with exceptions?
   Just as well as anything else, i.e. very well.
2. How much does this improve the consistency of disambiguation pages?
   A fair bit, though they are (at least in english) pretty consistent already (I saw to this).
3. Can this used for translated disambiguations as well?
   Yes.
4. How often do we create new disambiguation pages, or rather, would it make sense to change existing disambiguation pages into using the template?
   These two question seem unrelated. There are only around 600-1000 of them, so it's easy to change existing ones ("easy"). Pages are created fairly often.
5. Are disambiguation pages even worth the effort?
   Yes, every page (no matter how small) is part of the wiki. There is no reason to shunt out an entire subgroup of pages.

Now for mine own concerns:

1. You mention using item infobox, but there's no obvious way to do that--transcluding a page does not allow you to easily pick and choose amongst its elements.
2. Overlinking was (and still is, slightly) a serious issue on these pages. There is no simple way to handle that automatically in a template without some very complex logic.
3. Given point 1., how can we adapt what data stores we already have (the dictionary, in its many forms) to this purpose? Keeping in mind that duplication of data is a very bad idea (and is the entire purpose of templates)

Darkid (Talk | Contribs) 16:43, 19 August 2014 (PDT)

Well there are lua-based templates, I'm not entirely sure what their limits are but they seem quite powerful. At least they should be able to link every page only once per disambiguation page (concern 2)

I don't know if I completely understood your #3. You mean that things like slot etc. should be taken from the dictionary instead of the itembox so it's more consistent? SackZement <Talk> 02:47, 20 August 2014 (PDT)

You said templating, not modules, so I assumed you meant wiki templates. Lua is a full programming language, so it's quite possible there. #3 is only relevant as per #1. Darkid (Talk | Contribs) 17:48, 20 August 2014 (PDT)