Help:Disambiguation

Shortcut H:DISAMBIG

Disambiguation is the process of determining the intended meaning of a word in context. On a wiki, this means guiding a user to their desired page based on their search input. This is especially important when one term may refer to multiple subjects e.g., "Poison" referring to both a type and status condition; or "Nidoran" referring to two separate species of Pokémon (Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀).

Article naming

The first step of disambiguation is naming articles in accordance with the manual of style. Essentially, if multiple topics have the same or similar names, then the topic that users are most likely to search for (the "primary topic") should be given the "base name", while the remaining topics should be renamed.

If multiple articles are about topics with the exact same official name, then those topics should include a disambiguation tag (also known as a "dabtag") in parentheses to differentiate them.

However, disambiguation tags should only be used when official names are directly in conflict. If an article is using an unofficial or descriptive name, then they should rephrase or change their name to a sentence-style descriptor, since they have the flexibility to do so.

• Example 1: "2012 McDonald's promotional Pokémon toys" rather than "Toy (McDonalds's 2012)" or "McDonald's toys (2012)". Official materials refer to the subject only as "toys", which is descriptive rather than an official name.
• Example 2: "Pokémon in the United States" instead of "Pokémon (United States)". The sentence-style descriptor also happens to more-clearly describe what the page is actually about.

Identifying the primary topic

Among a set of topics with the same or similar names, certain topics are more likely to be searched by users. In some cases, there is a clear winner for the most-popular topic in the group — we will call this the "primary topic".

Search likelihood can be tricky to determine. Generally speaking, information from the core series games or animated TV series tends to be more popularly searched by users. However, the significance of the information to its source material should also be taken into consideration; a major character in a spin-off game is a more-likely search topic than a character of the day from the animated series.

• For example: Rachel, a major character from Pokémon Masters EX, is more likely to be searched than Rachel (anime), a minor recurring character from the animated series.

If a primary topic can be determined, then that topic should be given the "base name", while all other pages with the same name should use disambiguation tags.

• For example: Gem for the group of held items in the core series, Gem (Duel) for the currency in Pokémon Duel, and Gem (Masters) for the currency in Pokémon Masters.

If there is no clear winner for the primary topic, then the base name should be a disambiguation page (shortened as "disambig page"), and users can pick the topic they want from there.

• For example: Poison is a disambiguation page, since the Poison type and the Poison status condition are similarly likely to be searched for. Users searching "Poison" will arrive at this page, and can then choose whether to navigate to the page for the type or the status condition.

Disambiguation tags

Disambiguation tags (or "dabtags") should be concise, while still clearly differentiating topics from each other.

Certain Bulbapedia page types use specific disambiguation tags:

• Pokémon species: [[Bulbasaur (Pokémon)]]
• Moves: [[Tackle (move)]]
• Abilities: [[Pressure (Ability)]]
• Types: [[Normal (type)]]
• Games/Animated series/Manga: [[Silver (game)]], [[Brock (anime)]], etc.

For more details on article naming practices, see the manual of style's sections on article titles and terminology and disambiguation.

Methods of disambiguation

Some common methods of disambiguation include:

• Automatically redirecting to the most-likely match for the search term (the primary topic).
• Including a hatnote at the top of the article, which links similarly-named topics that the user may have been looking for instead.
• Creating a disambiguation page that lists several related articles.

Determining which method(s) to use

The appropriate method (or combination of methods) generally depends on a few factors:

• The primary topic among the disputed pages.
• The amount of disputed pages.

Redirecting

A user's search input might not exactly match a page's name - for example, the search may use an alternate name for a topic, a shorthand, initials for a long name, a bulbapedia-specific shortcut, etc. If the search input is "close enough" to a topic, then it can be helpful to redirect the user to the most likely match.

• Example 1 (alternate name): A user searching "starter" is most likely looking for First partner Pokémon, since that concept is sometimes referred to as "starter Pokémon".
• Example 2 (shorthand): users searching for "Miku" are most likely looking for the Hatsune Miku collaboration project, Pokémon feat. Hatsune Miku Project VOLTAGE 18 Types/Songs.
• Example 3 (initials): users searching for "TPCi" are most likely looking for The Pokémon Company International.
• Example 4 (bulbapedia shortcut): users searching "natdex" are likely using the shortcut to reach List of Pokémon by National Pokédex number.
• Example 5 (workaround term): A user searching "NidoranM" is most likely looking for Nidoran♂ (Pokémon). This is a workaround, since the ♂ symbol may be difficult to generate on keyboards.

If there is some ambiguity in where a search term should redirect to, then users should first be directed to the primary topic, if there is one. In case this is not the topic they wanted, a hatnote should be placed at the top of the page with suggestions of other pages to try.

• For example, if a user searches "Spark", then they should be redirected to the primary topic "Spark (move)". There is a hatnote on this page that links to "Spark (GO)", the leader of Team Instinct, in case the user wanted that topic instead.

Hatnote

A hatnote is generally preferred when there is a small amount of disputed pages, usually about 3 or fewer. A hatnote is placed at the top of the page for the primary topic. Sometimes, a hatnote is also placed on the other disputed pages as well.

If there are several topics other than the primary one, then the hatnote can link to a disambiguation page instead of listing out all the topics. For example, users searching "Ash" are most likely looking for Ash Ketchum from the TV show "Pokémon the Series", so searches of "Ash" will redirect to that page. The hatnote links Ash (disambiguation) to list the several other topics that "ash" may be referring to, such as the Sacred Ash held item or the volcanic ash material.

Disambiguation page

If there are several disputed pages, it may be appropriate to make a disambiguation page (sometimes shortened to "disambig"). Disambiguation pages list several similarly-named topics, with a short summary of each, so that users can quickly identify the page they want. Pages with a high search likelihood should be listed near the top of a disambiguation page, so that users can find it more quickly.

If there is no clear winner for the primary topic, it can be acceptable to link to a disambiguation page directly. For example, searches for "Poison" go to a disambiguation page titled Poison, since the type and the status condition have nearly-equal search likelihood.

Redirects

When to use redirects

• Use a redirect when a search term is commonly used, and we can identify a target page that is "close enough" to the searched term (e.g., users searching for Ash are most likely looking for Ash Ketchum).

How to create a redirect

To make a redirect, create a new page named after the search term. Then, put #REDIRECT and a link to the destination page.

• Example: Create a page named Ash that contains #REDIRECT [[Ash Ketchum]]

Note that creating a page requires having an account that has earned the autoconfirmed user status. This status is granted automatically after the account has existed for a certain period of time, and has edited the wiki a certain amount of times.

Hatnotes

When to use hatnotes

• Use hatnotes when there are only 2 or 3 related pages.
  • If there are more than 3 related pages in the group, consider linking a disambiguation page in the hatnote, instead of listing out everything.

How to create a hatnote

Hatnotes are generally created using templates.

• Place the hatnote at the top of an article, to direct readers to the related pages.
• Briefly explain what each related page is about, compared to what the current page is about.

For redirects to other articles: {{redirect|redirect term|target page}}

• Example: {{redirect|Pokémon Red|the Japanese game with the same name|Pokémon Red and Green Versions}} outputs the following:

Pokémon Red redirects here. For the Japanese game with the same name, see Pokémon Red and Green Versions.

For articles sharing the same name: {{samename|other term}}

• Example: {{samename|retail store chain|Pokémon Center (store)}} outputs the following:

If you were looking for the retail store chain, see Pokémon Center (store).

For suggesting related search terms: {{search|search term}}

• Example: {{search|variant of Pokémon introduced in the EX series|the variant introduced during the Black & White and XY Series|Pokémon-EX (TCG)}} outputs the following:

This article is about the variant of Pokémon introduced in the EX series. For the variant introduced during the Black & White and XY Series, see Pokémon-EX (TCG).

Disambiguation pages

When to use a disambiguation page

• Use a disambiguation page when there are several related pages, generally 4 or more.

How to create a disambiguation page

Disambiguation pages may be titled as the base term (example: Poison), or may use the dabtag "(disambiguation)" (example: Ash (disambiguation)).

• Generally, if users searching the term see the disambiguation page first, then it should use the base term.
• If users are sent to a different page first, and then they go to the disambiguation page second, then it's appropriate to use "(disambiguation)".

Disambiguation pages are formatted as a list of article links, with a brief explanation of each one, so that users can quickly find the page they want. For example, the disambiguation page Red is formatted like this:

* [[Red (game)]] — the player character in Generation I and III games
* [[Red (Adventures)]] — the main protagonist of the Pokémon Adventures manga

Pages that users are most likely to be looking for should be listed at the top of the page. The remaining pages should be listed in descending order of search likelihood.

• Avoid listing loose relations - try to list only pages that users are actually likely to be searching for with the given term. For example: the page for Water doesn't list every move that contains the word "Water" (Water Gun, Water Sport...) - if the user was looking for one of those, they would likely use the full name. Instead, the page assumes that the user expected to find what they wanted from just the word "Water". Topics literally named "Water" (such as Water (type)), or that would be called "Water" as a shorthand (such as Fresh Water), are examples of good topics to list on Water's disambiguation page.

If a disambiguation page has a lot of links, it may be helpful to group them into sections, so that users can skim the page quickly. Example pages that do this include: Red, Detective Pikachu, Diamond. Try to list the sections in descending order of search likelihood.

At the end of a disambiguation page, make sure to use the {{disambig}} template. This will add the page to the "disambiguation pages" category, and add a footnote explaining what disambiguation pages are.

Linking to disambiguated articles

While it is possible to use normal linking (such as Pikachu (Pokémon)) to reach a disambiguated page, it's recommended to use link templates to help with consistency:

• {{p|Pikachu}} → [[Pikachu (Pokémon)|Pikachu]]
• {{m|Tackle}} → [[Tackle (move)|Tackle]]
• {{game|Silver}} → [[Silver (game)|Silver]]
• {{OBP|Detective Pikachu|character}} → [[Detective Pikachu (character)|Detective Pikachu]]

Dispute resolution

Contributors may have suggestions on better titles or disambiguation methods to use for a page or set of pages. Utilizing talk pages is the preferred method of solving disputes.

If the suggestion is primarily about one specific article, use the talk page of that article. If it concerns multiple articles, consider using a relevant project talk page, such as Bulbapedia talk:Project Games.

See also

• Category:Disambiguation pages – a full list of existing disambiguation pages
• Help:Link templates – a reference of frequently used link templates

Help