Talk:Playa

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was Casting vote: page moved. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 12:09, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Playa (disambiguation) → Playa — Playa is ambiguous and there is no primary use. If anything you could make a case that the slang usage might in fact be the primary use. While a case could be made that the use as a geographic feature is the primary use, this is in fact also ambiguous since it is used to describe several opposing features. So while it's use in the southwest United States may be clear to some, it is not clear to others. --Vegaswikian (talk) 22:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll add that the band seems to be a good number of the current hits, and newest adds, to playa. I'll also add that I removed a large number of hard directs here so those redirects now show up under the various other names like Salt bog, Salt pan, Salt flat, Alkali flat, Pan, Dry lakebed or Dry lake bed, Salt field, Alkaline desert flats, Alkali flat ecosystem, Inland salt flats, Dry lake basin and Desert playas among others.  I did move the article a few days ago to Dry lake and there was only one inquiry about that.  Several discussions in many places seem to indicate the need to split the existing article out into the various terms included.  But that is now an issue for the Dry lake article. Vegaswikian (talk) 22:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Oppose I believe the geographic landform type is the primary usage in English, and it should occupy the primary name "playa". 70.29.209.121 (talk) 04:49, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Agree that the slang usage, referring to the portion of the Black Rock Desert used for the Burning Man Festival, is probably the primary usage, but this isn't slang at all. Rather, it's accurate use of the technical term to describe the landform in question. For the moment I've done a minor refactor of the lead to sink (geograpy) to make navigation a little easier for the many Wikpedia readers who will encounter the term in this context. The line at playa (disambiguation) referring to Burning Man also needs some work IMO. Andrewa (talk) 16:52, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, so there are two slang uses listed on the dab page. Add that to the one still missing and there are at least three different slang uses.  Not convinced that any of those except for Burning Man that are about the feature. Vegaswikian (talk) 21:02, 4 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Support — This article is about a landform known regionally as playa, an English loanword from (Colonial) Spanish. To most of the English speaking world, however, playa is a Spanish word, meaning beach as in seashore.  Let's consider some other articles in the same category:  Potrero is a dab and the loanword is Potrero (landform); Malpaís is a dab and the loanword is Malpaís (landform); Hoodoo is a dab and the loanword is Hoodoo (geology).  Consistency is a minor issue here;  the main issue is that, like these other loanwords, to most English speakers the loanword "playa" is not the primary topic of "playa".  So I support moving the dab to Playa.  I also suggest that Playa (landform) be made a redirect to one of the other (and more widely used) English terms for this landform.  --Una Smith (talk) 04:51, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment: In the context of Burning Man, the site is almost always referred to as the playa. In this context, it's everyday English, and I suspect it's the most common usage, as Burning Man is quite famous internationally, and familiar to many such as myself who never expect to attend. Andrewa (talk) 16:07, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Everyone knows that Burning Man is held in the Black Rock Desert. No one will argue that the slang usage by attendees is the term playa.  But does that even come close to making it the primary use?  Let's assume that it did.  Then you should be suggesting that playa should redirect to Burning Man. Vegaswikian (talk) 20:29, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, I may just be arguing exactly as you say nobody would do. No, the slang term used by attemdees is not slang at all, it's correct use of the technical term. In this usage they are following the official Burning Man website and other documentation. Agree that my arguments suggest that a redirect to Burning Man would be more logical than the proposed move, but the current redir with a hatnote to the DAB is better still. Andrewa (talk) 10:30, 6 December 2009 (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. No further edits should be made to this section.