Talk:Arab Suqrir

caravanserai
User:BDD: I do not understand your reasoning under WP:INCOMPATIBLE: that is a policy about how to use categories in redirects. This is not a redirect page; why do you apply it here? Huldra (talk) 19:10, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * The point is that Arab Suqrir was a village. It contained a caravanserai, but it wasn't a caravanserai itself, any more than it was a farm (it also contained farms). So if there were a redirect from the name of the khan/caravanserai, that redirect should be in, not this article. Do we know the name of the khan? We could create a redirect from that name if so, or we could use a descriptive name like Arab Suqrir khan or Bnei Darom khan. --BDD (talk) 19:19, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * User:BDD: Ok, that is a rather narrow definition on what should be in a category, I´m not sure it is very helpful?  Take Khan Yunis, it started as a Khan (which is still preserved), but is today a lot more than just a Khan, with schools, college, souks, etc. We could off course create both  Khan Arab Suqrir and Bnei Darom Khan, but I´m not sure that is helpful. When it is not known what the Khan was named, just that there was a Khan there, it is usually referred to as "the Khan in place .." Huldra (talk) 19:52, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I think Khan Yunis is a different case, more comparable to a European castle that has been converted into a museum or hotel or something; it's still a castle. But you wouldn't put a town or city into a castle category just because that town or city had a castle, you know? Another option would be a list entry at List of caravanserais, where we could note that we don't actually know if this one had a formal name. --BDD (talk) 20:06, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * User:BDD: Actually, Khan Yunis is today classified as a town, and it has the caravanserai-category (much like Arab Suqrir used to have.) If I understand you correctly, we should remove that cat from Khan Yunis, too. I think this classification is a bit too narrow. I mean, fine for the US or Europe, where virtually every major structure (like a castle) have their own Wikipedia-articles. But in the Middle-East even major, significant structures (like Khans) do not have their own article yet, and will not, for years. Removing the categories which indicate that a castle, Khan, or whatever is (or has been) in a place makes it more difficult to find. At least one should  make a redir., say for   Khan Arab Suqrir, so that when you look a cat "Caravanserais in Israel" or "Caravanserais in the State of Palestine‎" you would find it. Huldra (talk) 20:24, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I guess the difficulty with Khan Yunis is that an article is supposed to reflect its subject throughout time. It's not a caravanserai today, but it started that way, and that seems like a defining characteristic of the city.
 * So what's the best descriptive name for the one in Arab Suqrir? I'm thinking Arab Suqrir khan. The Arabic name because it was associated with the Arab village, and the lowercase k to indicate that this isn't (necessarily) its proper name. You make a fair point about structures that don't have their own articles, but categories are there to organize content that we already have. The List of caravanserais would be a good place to mention ones that don't have their own articles yet. --BDD (talk) 21:34, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * User:BDD: The thing is: where Khans were located (say, in which village, town) is very important; khans were typically not put up by local people; they were built on decrees from the Sultan. And they were usually  placed exactly one days travel between them, on the main travel routes. So if you know where the khans were (in a certain period), you know the travel route. Both the Ottoman and Mamluk empires where huge: great effort went into connecting these empires. (Just like the Romans..) (I should have done Jisr Jindas and Mamluk Bridge, Yibna years ago...drowned in other work, I´m afraid. They were part of this road/Khan system). So, when you have located the remains   of khan, it is important that it should be reflected in the categories. I can certainly live with having  Arab Suqrir khan as a redir., and in cat. caravanserai. The important thing is that one should not remove a cat., and not create a redir. (When I first started  here I did a lot of work on lists, but in the end found categories easier to work with (automatically connected), but yeah:  it should also go into List of caravanserais) Huldra (talk) 22:20, 12 January 2015 (UTC)