Memory Alpha talk:Non-canon redirects

Non-canon names as redirects
A large problem we have in browsing is the large amount of unnamed characters. Many of these characters have been given non-canon names over the years. While I do not want to move them to those pages, I think it would be a good idea to make some of the more popular pages into re-directs in order to make searching and browsing easier. Jaz talk]] 03:26, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * That seems a logical proposal. We shouldn't prevent people from getting information just because they don't know the "proper" name of something.  I'm not that familiar with redirects, but if I understand it right it would seem to be a fairly transparent thing to readers and get them where they need to be.  Aholland 04:42, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Redirects provide a completely transparent browsing experience unless the reader bothers to click on the link in the small grey line after they use the redirect that says: (Redirected from non-canon title here) Example: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). I like the idea, but I'm not sure if such redirects would violate current MA canon policy. Someone more knowledgeable than I care to chime in? - Intricated 04:55, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * For what it is worth, my opinion is that this type of link would not violate the canon policy. The policy deals with the sources of information that can be used in the body of or as a basis for naming an article.  This redirect suggestion is more of an administrative approach to guiding readers from a "non-canon" identification to a "canon" one.  As such it seems to support canon data entirely.  There would be a problem if there was information beyond the redirect in an article with a non-canon identification, but I think a redirect is both clever and a way to help people who only know the non-canon name for something or someone.  Aholland 17:37, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to go ahead and start making the redirects. Jaz talk]] 20:35, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Having non-canon names redirect to the appropriate page does not violate canon policy, or at least it has never been questioned before. The only concern I have is that a link to a specific sub-heading within a page, i.e. to the "unnamed" character whose name you have typed into the box, is not possible. It then becomes confusing because you may not know to look for "Burly Klingon" instead of whatever name the non-canon source gave. I suppose there's no getting around that though. --Vedek Dukat Talk 20:50, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Is there a way to make redirects link to subheadings? I know you can do it with normal linking by using the #, example: Unnamed humanoids (24th century). I also know this does not work in redirects from previous attempts, but perhaps there is an equivalent? Jaf 21:03, 1 April 2006 (UTC)Jaf


 * No, it's not, which is what the Vedek was saying. Anchors (having a # followed by the heading) are not possible on MediaWiki redirects due to technical issues. But I don't see a problem with these redirects, which avoid confusion and also keep new people from creating the pages. --Broik 21:50, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Any non-canon names made into redirects as a result of this suggestion could be listed at Memory Alpha:List of non-canon redirects please. -- Captain M.K.B. 04:39, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Several articles with "novel" information (moved from Vfd)
Since I'm about to leave for the weekend right now, I'll just post this as a reminder. Feel free to change this into a list of articles, or handle each case individually. Anyway, several articles (for example 0) were just created/edited by Special:Contributions/61.69.188.244, others will probably follow. Non-canon "novel" information needs to be removed from all of them, by either rolling back, deletion or 'merging with the article about the novel. -- Cid Highwind 13:58, 31 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The articles have all been dealt with or moved accordingly. The redirects 0 and (*) should be deleted. -- Captain M.K.B. 15:23, 31 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Keep as redirects, there is a discussion in Ten Forward, we are using non-canon names a redirects. Jaz talk]] 23:03, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * The 0 redirect might be able to be kept, but we can't keep the (*) one due to naming conventions. Personally, I'd like to see the 0 one go, too, but... whatever. :P --From Andoria with Love 02:52, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * perhaps we should start a list Memory Alpha:List of non-canon redirects to track these so that they will be easy to track and delete if things should get... inefficient with them (for example, a canon article shouldn't link to a non-canon redirect in the main body, only in background notes, IMO -- suggest this for a new point should non-canon redir.s be kept). -- Captain M.K.B. 04:04, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Non-canon name redirects
A bunch of redirect were created today for non-canon names to redirect to the canon name article. These names seem to mostly come from the CCGs, if I am not mistaken:
 * Audit's Spoils
 * Aurulent
 * Janitza class
 * Na'Far class
 * Perikian class
 * Ma-Karn class

Do we really need them? They are non-canon, after all. --OuroborosCobra talk |undefined  23:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)


 * That doesn't mean they don't exist bud. You can't just yell "non-canon" and pretend things aren't within reason for being typed into the search box. Err on the side of accessibility. -


 * I would just like to say that I did not just "yell non-canon". I put them up for a vote. If the community votes in favor of keeping them, I will accept that. --OuroborosCobra talk |undefined  01:21, 8 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Comment, if we do choose to keep these, we must ensure that we add them to the Memory Alpha:List of non-canon redirects|non-canon redirect page. -- Sulfur 02:38, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I say keep them -- but we must make sure they stay orphaned except by games, novels and comics. Non-canon names should not be linked to from main article text. We aren't trying to say that non-canon doesn't exist -- we are trying to keep it out of articles, however ;) -- Captain M.K.B. 13:46, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Category
See Memory Alpha:Category suggestions. - 14:36, February 24, 2012 (UTC)