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Page title capitalization guidelines

I thought about making a blog about this, but then again, it's small enough a matter to be discussed here. Template:Username1 already addressed this in a blog, as well as some comments but barely anyone has taken any note of it.

So my question is, why is it common practice that we capitalize every word in page titles? For a recent example, Unnamed Sabre Launch Facility and countless more. "Launch", or "facility", aren't proper nouns and shouldn't be capitalized. I've done it myself in the past, yes, but just because it's common practice here. Wikipedia doesn't do it, and for a reason. It makes titles look out of place and complicates linking. If one wants to make a link for such a page, and they don't want to make the text to look awkward, it needs a redirect or a piped link.

So it's like we have this capitalization rule as a relic from the old times, but no one has bothered to do anything about it. I say we change it so that only proper nouns are capitalized, and with normal ones, lowercase letters will be used. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 12:14, June 16, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I started writing a blog with a formal proposal, but this is as good a place as any to discuss it. As is expected, I'm for the grammatical capitalization. --Dragonclaws^(talk) 02:20, June 17, 2010 (UTC)

Yes, this has been on my mind for a while now. Halopedia has serious capitalization problems, and we really need to introduce a new policy regarding it. I've seen proper use of capitalization on another wiki I am common on, and things look much tidier and efficient. - File:Black Mesa.jpg Halo-343 (Talk) (Contribs) (Edits) 14:11, June 21, 2010 (UTC)

See Dragonclaws' proposal to Capitalize Titles Canonically.- 5əb'7aŋk^(7alk) 14:13, June 21, 2010 (UTC)

Problems with Wiki

Most of the Wiki's basic features are down for me. Whenever I try to upload or delete an image, move or delete a page, rollback an edit or block someone, I get the following message: "The database is currently locked. Our main datacenter is down, you are accessing our backup datacenter. We are working to fix the problem". In addition, features like comments or avatars are down as well. It's been doing this for about three days already so it seems to take a bit long to be routine maintenance. Needless to say, it is extremely frustrating. Is this happening for anyone else or is it region-specific or just me? Because I've seen some others upload and delete images or pages with no problem, and if the database is really locked, how is that possible? It doesn't do this on other wikia sites though, just Halopedia. Haven't really seen anyone else report the problem so I guess it has to be regional. Just asking if it can be fixed, or if I just have to wait patiently. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 18:42, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

That happens often to me, mostly when I tried deleting an article. Simply refresh and repeat the procedure will sometime bypass this error. However, the error might not afterall be an error; Wikia could have taken down the features for temporary maintanence without notifying the administration team because it could simply be a minor bug that they wished to fix. So, just be patient is all I can say. :) - 5əb'7aŋk^(7alk) 18:55, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Sidebar

Ok, so what the hell is wrong with the sidebar? Where did the Halo stuff go and what the f**k is up with all those picture links? - JEA13 ^[iTalk] 22:44, June 27, 2010 (UTC)

No idea. Blame Wikia :P BTW, it wasn't like that 10 minutes ago...--File:Brigadier Grade One.png  General5 7    talk    contribs    email   22:50, June 27, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I know, it suddenly appeared. At last it's back now... - JEA13 ^[iTalk] 07:40, June 28, 2010 (UTC)

This happened to me once but it is back now. ;-) --File:Major Grade One.png Cally99117 15:53, June 28, 2010 (UTC)

Usage of bracketed addendums in article titles

I've begun to notice the unneeded usage of bracketed addendums in a sizable amount of articles lately, usually those that have a level of the same name. Examples of this include 343 Guilty Spark (Monitor), Armory (Room), High Charity (Structure), Cairo Station (Platform), Gravemind (Form), Kizingo Boulevard (Location) and countless others. If several articles share the same name, the bracketed distinction should only follow the titles of those named after the primary subject.

For example, there are two instances in the Halo series titled "343 Guilty Spark"; the monitor and the level. The level is named after the monitor, thus should be the only article using bracketed information in its title to distinguish it from the primary subject, with a small note at the top of the page to cover any confusion ("Were you looking for ____?"). If there is more than two instances, Gravemind for instance, the same rule should apply, but with a disambiguation page made to organize the other secondarily named pages, again with a note linking to it ("For other uses of "Gravemind", see Gravemind (disambiguation)"). This is what I, and indeed many other wikis, think should apply when it comes to this scenario, and I think Halopedia should implement it also. While I believe this should be incorporated into the Manual of Style, I'd like to address it here, and see what people think. - File:Black Mesa.jpg Halo-343 (Talk) (Contribs) (Edits) 20:33, June 29, 2010 (UTC)

I think you should have brought this up in a blog or on the forum, but whatever. Well, your points are valid; problem is, we need some sort of list in order to locate all articles about subjects named after something else and have a parenthesis indicating that, if we are to start correcting them. It's crazy to start looking for such articles all around the site. Another problem is that there are already articles like 343 Guilty Spark and Gravemind, without brackets, but they are disambiguation pages, so we need to carefully copy-paste everything on them and SOMEHOW keep the disambiguation page as well because it's needed. And as per an old proposal by Manticore, we may not create pages with the word "disambiguation" in brackets (it would also not make sense since we are trying to get rid of them). So yeah, its not that easy.- JEA13 ^[iTalk] 20:50, June 29, 2010 (UTC)

About the list of pages about that subject, you misunderstand, I stated that there of course should be disambiguation pages, but that the name of the page detailing the primary subject should go unchanged. And as for this proposal of Manticore's, I have never heard of it before, but think it to be quite ridiculous. We need disambiguation pages, as what I'm proposing is to retain consistency, the term "disambiguation" is inevitable to retain that, its elimination is nothing more than preference over order and consistency. - File:Black Mesa.jpg Halo-343 (Talk) (Contribs) (Edits) 20:57, June 29, 2010 (UTC)

I couldn't agree more; I was just thinking about this a while ago. Pages with the name of the original subject (like Gravemind or Covenant) should obviously not be disambiguation pages, since the original subject is what people are looking for - or linking to - most of the time. Like you said, the primary subject article should have a link to the disambiguation page which would have the addendum (disambiguation). It's a good idea, and common practice in most wikis anyways. Also, the bracketed addendums shouldn't be capitalized like they have been before, for example, Cairo Station (Platform) or High Charity (Structure). That makes it easier to link to them, not to mention more grammatically correct. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 21:01, June 29, 2010 (UTC)

I didn't say I disagree; I was referring to the old proposal which I'm sure the older admins will remember of. But the idea is good. - JEA13 ^[iTalk] 21:23, June 29, 2010 (UTC)