Wikipedia:Village pump/January 2004 archive 6

Broken link?

Can anyone spot what I've done incorrectly on the John Hanson (disambiguation) page. The links to minor Hansons show up as missing articles. When I click on one (e.g. the John Hanson (musician) ) the pedia gives back an edit page with the existing article. The reverse seems OK, in that the [[John Hanson (musician)]] list of what links here shows the disabiguation page. I've built several of these disambig pages but never encountered this problem before. Thanks, Lou I 18:27, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It should display OK now. I wikified a couple of links on the page to force it to save a new version (because it ignored me when I tried to save with no changes). Did you make the disambig page before you had created the new pages John Hanson (musician) etc? I think wikipedia remembers whether a page was blank at the last save or something? Hopefully someone who's not just speculating will come along and explain in a moment... Fabiform 18:50, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

War Quotation

Who said "I am going to Heaven because I have seen Hell" while fighting a war and in which war.

You're probably better asking quote-type questions of our buddies at Wikiquote - here's there Village Pump: http://wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Village_pump (they don't appear to have a reference desk). -- Finlay McWalter 19:57, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Your quote is wrong -- it's "God, if I should die today, I know I will go to Heaven, because I already did my time in Hell." by Rene A. Hebert during WW II. - Davodd 23:38, Jan 21, 2004 (UTC)

Only Move-this-page used but history now gone

Obviously i'm confused, bcz i'm convinced i've found some sort of anamoly in the system. I believe the only action i took was using "Move this page" to reverse what i thot (and would still think, but for the inexplicable situation i now see) was another editor's "Move this page" action.

In a line, neither List of people by name: Mas-Maz nor List of people by name: Mas now includes the history

• that Mas-Maz had yesterday,
• that i believe Mas had this morning, and
• that i believe Mas-Maz should have now.

Yesterday there was an "article", List of people by name: Mas-Maz or Mas-Maz (hereinafter, "the original"; not a conventional article, but a page in the article name-space that was (and i think again is; this note is more urgent than checking) a leaf in the tree whose root is List of people by name). The following extract from about 16:33, 2004 Jan 21 reflects an effort by another editor to turn that leaf into 4 new leaves, to replace the original (i.e. collectively list the people who were listed in the original), each new leaf having the same ancestor as the original:

14:32, 2004 Jan 21 M List of people by name: May-Maz

14:29, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: May-Maz

14:27, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mau-Max (top)

14:23, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mau-Max

14:23, 2004 Jan 21 M List of people by name: Mas (top)

14:20, 2004 Jan 21 M List of people by name: Mat (top)

14:19, 2004 Jan 21 M List of people by name: Mat

14:16, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mat

14:13, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mat

14:11, 2004 Jan 21 M List of people by name: Mas

14:10, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mas

14:07, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mas-Maz (moved to "List_of_people_by_name:_Mas") (top)

14:07, 2004 Jan 21 Talk:List of people by name: Mas-Maz (moved to "Talk:List_of_people_by_name:_Mas") (top)

14:06, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mas

13:57, 2004 Jan 21 List of people by name: Mas

My judgement was that

• this editor got confused, gave up, or set it aside temporarily despite not having finished,
• there were two copies of part of the list reachable by following links from the root, and
• the new configuration should not persist, due to the prospect of editors adding and deleting sometimes from one copy and sometimes the other, and readers consulting one of the resulting conflicting lists without being aware of the other (and therefore not realizing if they consult different copies on different occasions).

(I think i like the other editor's concept, but it needs to be checked, repaired, and evaluated, at leisure, rather than as done, on the copy that is in use.)

I am mystified by the two earliest entries, which appear to me to imply the need for a deletion of List of people by name: Mas if the two entries above them really reflect (a single?) "Move this page" action.

I am more mystified by the fact that my "Move this page" of Mas (back) to Mas-Maz, which i understand to have succeeded bcz of Mas-Maz being a history-less link, lacks any history but the other editor's move. (Yes, i understand why it doesn't reflect both moves, tho i heartily disapprove of that design decision.)

(While not definitive, this helps bolster my illusion of having a dim grasp of what's going on: related stuff that's obviously a place to look.)

I am loath to do anything toward rehabilitation of the data structure and names without resolving the history problem, tho of course users will before too long track mud all over it anyway.

Help!

TIA --Jerzy 20:08, 2004 Jan 21 (UTC) I said (emphasis added), just above the tabular extract above

Yesterday there was an "article", List of people by name: Mas-Maz or Mas-Maz (hereinafter, "the original"; not a conventional article, but a page in the article name-space that was (and i think again is; this note is more urgent than checking) a leaf in the tree whose root is List of people by name). The following extract from about 16:33, 2004 Jan 21 reflects an effort by another editor to turn that leaf into 4 new leaves, to replace the original (i.e. collectively list the people who were listed in the original), each new leaf having the same ancestor as the original:

But i shouldn't have needed to check: my plan after my "move this page" was to revert to my own last edit, which would have hidden the main (and probably all) links thru the tree to the new leaves; if the history had been intact as i expected, i'd have had the old version to revert to, and i forgot that having nothing to revert to was what led to this appeal. [shrug] --Jerzy 20:37, 2004 Jan 21 (UTC)

The history hasn't gone, it's at [1]. You probably need to Wikipedia:clear your cache, or at the very least click here. Hemanshu moved it to List of people by name: Mas-Maz, you moved it back. -- Tim Starling 01:53, Jan 22, 2004 (UTC)