UESPWiki:Archive/CP Leyawin Redirect

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Leyawin redirect

I came here and tried to find the page on Leyawiin, and typed "Leyawin" into the search bar (I was unsure of the spelling, but expected a redirect to be in place). This told me the page did not exist, and returned two search results, neither of which was particularly helpful. "OK," I thought, "so the redirect does not exist, so I will create it myself." Having found the correct spelling elsewhere, I thought I would make [[:Leyawin|Leyawin]] a redirect in the interests of improving this wiki for others, but there was no link to create the page. The instructions said I must first choose the correct game from the list on the left, so I clicked on Oblivion, and was just taken to the Oblivion page. How is that helpful?! I had to type into my address bar http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Leyawin to find the option to create the page, which I selected by following the "Start the Leyawin page" link. Then I was told that you "do not allow unregistered users and newly created accounts to create new pages", so even if I took the time and trouble to register just for the sake of creating this redirect, as a new user I still would not be able to do so!

So finally I am doing the only thing I can do, which is following the instructions to post a message here. The reason I love wikis is that anyone can edit, and I'm pretty well versed in editing them, but this is a huge ordeal to endure when all I wanted to do was to make a small but helpful change. I read this wiki quite often, but have never had the need to edit it before. Many wikis suffer from vandalism, but is this really the solution? In any case, if someone else could create that redirect, future users would be very grateful.  :-) Leevclarke 90.200.42.156 16:58, 22 February 2009 (EST)

Being unable to create new pages if you are an anonymous IP address is a standard restriction that exists on every wiki I know of (including, most notably, wikipedia). So, I'm sorry, but I don't think it's fair to criticize UESP for following the same practice as everyone else.

As for the specifics of the page you've been trying to create, we do not want a redirect created for Leyawin (or even Leyawiin) in the main namespace, which is very intentionally why we removed the "create a page" link for main namespace articles. We use namespaces more extensively than most wikis. Therefore an article on an Oblivion-specific topic, such as Leyawiin, belongs in the Oblivion namespace, not the main namespace. If you had tried to "go" to "Leyawin" from the Oblivion page to which you were taken, then you would have been given an option to create a version of the page in the Oblivion namespace. I'll admit that our namespaces can be somewhat confusing for new users, but I'm not sure what we can do differently from what we're already doing. You may find it frustrating that you can't create a main namespace article -- but if you were free to create it, you'd be just as frustrated (if not even upset) when that article was immediately deleted because it is unwanted, and multiple other editors on the site would also be frustrated by having to clean up the unwanted article. It's not an anti-vandalism measure, but rather a necessary measure to make sure editors create articles where they belong.

Beyond that, there is then also the question of whether a redirect from Leyawin to Leyawiin should even exist. We don't generally create redirects for misspellings -- the only exception being words that are actually misspelled in game. If we created redirects for every misspelling ever used by readers we would have ten times more redirects than articles on the site. Furthermore, such redirects would then promote the use of misspellings on other articles on the site -- if an editor were to accidentally type Leyawin instead of Leyawiin, the resulting link would be a valid link, instead of being highlighted as incorrect by showing up as a red link. At the least, I think that before starting to create such redirects for misspellings, there should be a community discussion about whether they should be created and, if so, which misspellings deserve such treatment. --Nephele^Talk 17:30, 22 February 2009 (EST)

OK, well thanks for clarifying your position. The thing is though, without the redirect, I am unable even to locate the article I was looking for. Now I know that you can't (and shouldn't) account for every misspelling, but if someone links to "Leyawin" (misspelt) from another article, with a redirect to Oblivion:Leyawiin in place then people using the site will at least be taken straight to the information they were looking for. Additionally, without the redirect in place, red links will be appearing in articles where their intended target was fairly obvious. Aren't these two together a bigger problem than worrying about too many redirects being created? Even if you did have ten times as many redirects as articles, if they all serve a useful purpose then what is the big deal? In any case, as a non-registered user I understand that my opinion doesn't necessarily matter, so I will let you decide your own policies.  ;-) Thanks again for explaining your position. 90.200.42.156 19:20, 22 February 2009 (EST)

We have thousands - quite literally - of redirects in place to make searching and linking easier. What we don't want, though, is a single incorrectly-spelled one. If somebody links to "Leyawin" or another favorite misspelling, "deadric", they'll get a redlink that should be adequate warning that there's a mistake. If you don't know the spelling of an item, then the site is logical enough to make it easy to find. Click "Oblivion" in the list to the left, then "Places" and it's right there. The only misspellings we want are for those items and places the developers misspelled themselves. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 01:11, 23 February 2009 (EST)