Talk:Pentangle (band)

Pentangle/The Pentangle
Greetings All, (The) Pentangle were known/and billed under both names (see album covers). I think it's worth mentioning somewhere, but not sure how to include it without making it appear excessively important or insignificant. Any ideas? --Technopat (talk) 07:37, 8 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Someone recently changed a couple of instances to "The Pentangle". I've reverted back, pending discussion. We should be consistent one way or the other. The band themselves have never been consistent on this point (see the album covers for instance). I'm not expressing a strong view for the status quo...only for a consistent approach within Wikipedia. Any views on whether the "The" is peferable or not? Bluewave (talk) 19:45, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Pentangle gets my vote. That's how I've always known them and that's how all the other Wikipedia languages know them.--ML5 (talk) 22:50, 2 April 2009 (UTC)


 * A proposal: I doubt if there will be enough people who care to get a meaningful vote one way or the other. I've looked back over the album covers, Jacqui McShee's website, John Renbourn's wesite, etc, and it's pretty clear that the band themselves were (and are) totally unconcerned about whether they are called "Pentangle" or "The Pentangle". I propose we stick with the status quo but change the lead section to say "Pentangle (or The Pentangle) are a band..." and add a footnote explaining that the band themselves and commentators have regularly used both forms, with some examples. Bluewave (talk) 09:13, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, seems sensible. I'm pretty unconcerned myself.--ML5 (talk) 15:22, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

Requested move 22 October 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: moved (page mover nac) Flooded  with them hundreds  14:04, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

– restore long-term titles which had been stable for 14 years until an undiscussed move in April 2017.  The British band has existed only for ~50 years and had only a brief period of prominence in 1969–70. A search of Google Books, which concentrates reliable sources, shows that the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC on that measure is of "Pentangle" as a synonym for Pentagram — especially in Arthurian legend — is by far the the primary usage, and of course it is also primary by long-term significance. On the other hand, a Google News search shows results primarily for the band. However, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia not a fanzine. We should not prioritise pop culture over millennium-old-history, and we should not promote the linguistic hijack of a dictionary term by a relatively minor musical group. Dictionaries show the primary meaning of "Pentangle" to be the geometric concept of Pentagram (see e.g. Merriam Webster, so there is a case for making a WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT to . (Note that Pentagram gets about ten times as many pageviews as Pentangle|Pentangle). I would not oppose that, but given the differences in perspective, I think readers are best served by making the bare title a dab page, as it was for 14 years. -- Brown Haired Girl (talk) • (contribs) 08:26, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Pentangle → Pentangle (band)
 * Pentangle (disambiguation) → Pentangle
 * Support primary to Pentagram (not the dab page) per information in the nom. The word is an alternate name for 'pentagram', it's where long-term significance applies, and the band itself was named for the topic. Randy Kryn (talk) 09:46, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Support - it seems likely that the band's association with the name will diminish as memories of their excellence fade. Oculi (talk) 11:02, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Support per nom (dab page at basename) per reasons listed in nomination above. Supporting the move as-is, with the disambiguation page being held at the basename. Paintspot Infez (talk) 11:57, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose Mild opposition. Worldwide Google search data suggests that people searching for pentangle are most likely from the UK and (based on related queries) searching for the band or one if its albums. The results of Special:WhatLinksHere/Pentangle don't reveal any pages incorrectly linking to Pentangle that should be instead pointing to pentagram. Thus, per WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, the band seems to be the appropriate target. The current dab page has 3 entries: the band, one of the band's albums, and the shape. I suggest that the dab page is unnecessary. Having a wp:hatnote at Pentangle pointing directly to pentagram instead of the dab page would remove a step of disambiguation.  A 2nd hatnote could be added for the album (which is already linked from the page, so maybe unnecessary). I would think a hatnote for the band is not needed at pentagram.GeoGreg (talk) 17:27, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * GeoGreg, the fact that other links are correctly disambiguated does not make the band the primary topic.
 * The trends map you you shows less than 50% of Pentangle searches being from the UK, and no evidence that any of them is looking for the band.  Sure, we can infer that some probably are, but it is equally plausible that they are looking for the usage of pentangle within Arthurian legend. -- Brown Haired Girl (talk) • (contribs) 17:42, 24 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Support moving the band, not the primary topic of the term by historical importance. With respect to the title, my first choice would be to redirect to Pentagram, and my second choice would be to disambiguate. bd2412  T 01:50, 23 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Support Agree the band isn't the primary topic even if Pentagram also isn't.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 14:03, 23 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Support. Personally, I'd say that Pentagram is the clear primary topic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:06, 24 October 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

BBC Radio Series
I'm pretty sure The Pentangle performed a series of weekly gigs on BBC Radio. I can't find any mention of this in the article. MrDemeanour (talk) 14:36, 5 June 2021 (UTC)