Talk:Gordon Harold Smith

Of course it's immediately obvious when coming to this page that he's not a Scottish footballer, that's not the point. The point is that it was actually me who changed it so that this person was plain "Gordon Smith" for Wikipedia purposes, but I now think I was wrong. There are 2 Gordon Smiths on Wikipedia, but this one is clearly more important than the other, he should be treated as primary. As there are only 2 we do not need a dab page, but it would be worth keeping it for future expansion purposes. Unless someone responds after a while I will revert. PatGallacher 17:07, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

When I saw your initial changes, the ones moving Gordon Smith to Gordon Smith (politician), I thought the same way. I thought it was dumb to place a dead football player and a sitting senator on an even basis. But then it struck me a few days later- you worked as hard on your football articles as I have on many political articles. Wikipedia is a pretty democratic place. Who is to say one topic is more important than another? And when it comes down to it, both Gordon Smiths were born, breathed the same air, and will be buried in the same earth. Assuming both meet the criteria for inclusion in Wikipedia, then why place one above the other? I'm a cousin of the senator, and while I can't speak for him, I'd bet money that he doesn't think that he is any better than the other Gordon Smith.

That aside, I think that the format you settled on is problematic for two reasons. First, what happens when someone adds a 3rd Gordon Smith, and a 4th? Are we going to put "  See also Gordon Smith (Scottish footballer) who played for Hibernian F.C..; see also Gordon Smith (midget juggler) who xxxxx; see also Gordon Smith (stamp collector) who xxxxx?" A generic link to a disambiguation from the begining seems a wiser plan to me. Secondly, search engines will not perform as well with both terms on the same page. Your most recent changes created a page where the key-words SENATOR and FOOTBALLER needlessly appear on the same page. This increases the probability that someone searching for the senator will actually get the footballer's page, and someone searching for the footballer will actually get the senators page. It is best not to put words about unrelated topics on the same page, no matter how well-intentioned, because in the long-run, everyone will have to work harder to find the article that they really want. Just my thoughts, do as you think best. Warmest regards, Dr U 06:46, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

I think this should be moved back to Gordon Smith, he is the best known person with this name, it was me who moved it but I now think this was a mistake. PatGallacher 01:50, 6 February 2006 (UTC)