Talk:Porphyry

Opening heading
Should be something on Porphyrio the Byzantine whale... AnonMoos 00:07, 10 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Also Porphyrius, a very famous Byzantine chariot-racer. AnonMoos (talk) 01:52, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. 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. 

No consensus to move. Vegaswikian (talk) 21:07, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Porphyry → — Relisted. Vegaswikian (talk) 05:13, 3 July 2010 (UTC) The rock at Porphyry (geology) is clearly primary Johnbod (talk) 13:22, 20 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Clearly primary based on what? Subjectively, the first topic to come to mind for me is the philosopher. Google returns a mix of topics roughly split between the rock and the philosopher. Page traffic statistics don't seem conclusive: for June 880 hits for the dab page, 3528 for the rock and 1536 for the philosopher. However statistics for earlier months show a lot of traffic coming into the disambiguation page. A brief glance at the links in what links here for Porphyry are a mix as well, with an apparent bias towards the philosopher. The incoming links to the disambiguation page should be cleaned up and perhaps some special redirects created to measure traffic from the disambiguation page (i.e., Porphyry (rock) and Porphyry of Tyre, both of which are currently not linked in article space). That makes it possible to gather statistics as to which page persons arriving at the disambiguation page select. Until some other evidence is provided, this seems pretty clearly ambiguous to me. Oppose. older ≠ wiser 15:10, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I strongly disagree that "what links here" shows an apparent bias towards the philosopher; it is quite the other way. Perhaps you are unaware of the special place of the rock in classical and medieval art? Not to mention all the other classical people called Porphyry. Johnbod (talk) 15:25, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * You can disagree, but based on what? I did a quick survey of the first dozen or so articles listed there. My comment about the slight bias for the philosopher was based on that. Apparently, the bottom of the list is more heavily weighted towards the rock. But in any case, the evidence does not support claim of primary topic. That there were others named "Porphyry" only contributes to no primary topic. older ≠ wiser 15:41, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * The other people are pretty scattered, & as little relevant to primacy as other Bill Clintons. It is a two horse race. Johnbod (talk) 15:46, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Pretty much. That's why I made no mention of them until you brought it up. older ≠ wiser 17:12, 20 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Support Must admit I would have thought of the rock as clearly the primary topic.  Had never even heard of the philosopher until today.  Skinsmoke (talk) 03:56, 26 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Oppose. The rock is indeed the more common use, but not overwhelmingly so. Top hits on Google News and Scholar are for the rock, but on Google Books they are for the philosopher. For plain old Google hits, the two are intermingled. A hit ratio of 2.3:1 isn't convincing, and links to Porphyry are for both meanings. Fences  &amp;  Windows  13:27, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Support. Since the philosopher, I can only assume, usually has the add on "of Tyre" added on, then the use of just the term "Porphyry" might be more alligned to just the rock. Qfl247 (talk) 16:15, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
 * That would be a wrong assumption. The phrase "of Tyre" is used for disambiguating the Wikipedia article title -- the philosopher is most commonly known as "Porphyry" only. older ≠ wiser 16:19, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Although it is attested in English and Greek - or we should not be using it for disambiguation. But the Loeb, for example, describes him as Porphyry. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 20:28, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Oppose per dab. Type case of "there is no primary meaning". Septentrionalis PMAnderson 20:28, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Oppose, to the man in the street, there is no stand out primary usage, so where there are multiple terms on a disambiguation page like this, and a wide variety of uses, on a practical level it makes it easier to have the disambiguation at the base to direct. billinghurst  sDrewth  05:36, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. 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.