Template:WP AFL playerlist/doc

This template provides an easier way to track the completion of the creation of VFL/AFL player articles. It is likely to be only used in the WikiProject Australian Rules Football To Do lists.

Background
In 2007 we obtained a lists of every player to have ever played the game. We estimated that there were over 8000 players without articles. To make the list more manageable, it was split into four pages -
 * 1) WikiProject Australian rules football/Players/ToDo - all players with redlinks for their names, who played in multiple seasons, was approx 3700 players, now 2500.
 * 2) WikiProject Australian rules football/Players/ToDoSingle - all players with redlinks for their names, who played in only a single season, was approx 2600 players, now 2200.
 * 3) WikiProject Australian rules football/Players/SomeoneElse - all players who's primary page was taken, who played in multiple seasons, was approx 1300 players, now 1300.
 * 4) WikiProject Australian rules football/Players/SomeoneElseSingle - all players who's primary page was taken, who played in only a single season, was approx 740 players, now 800.

The single or multiple season split was purely arbitrary to reduce file size (the ToDo page was over 400kB, all pages are now (as of Feb 2012) approx 100kB, except for SomeoneElse which is 200kB) with the thinking that the multiple season players are more likely to be created than single season players. The split between redlinked and SomeoneElse pages was to only display the recommended disambiguation options of John Citizen (footballer), John Citizen (Australian footballer) and John Citizen (Australian rules footballer) when required, not for every name.

Overtime, these have been updated to some degree by removing names as articles have been created, but the complexity required difficulty in moving pages from the ToDo list to the SomeoneElse page has prompted the creation of this template, and the merging of the pages back to just the two ToDo pages and deleting the SomeoneElse pages.

Usage
Rather than having the list be a straight text with only wikilinks formating, each name will be located in this template, in the "name=" parameter. If the "taken=" is left blank or not set to "yes" then the template will only display the name as a straight wikilink:



will display as

Where the primary topic page is taken by another article (either another person, a disambiguation page or even a redirect), then the "taken=" parameter should be set to yes. This then expands the display to show the various disambiguation options.



will display as

Where we know of the middle initial, or some other variation on the name, then that can also be specified, using the "alt=" parameter.



will display as