User:Popcornfud/hatnotes

Pink Floyd

"The Tea Set" and "The T-Set" redirect here. For tea service, see tea set. For the Dutch band, see Tee-Set. For other uses, see T Set (disambiguation).

The situation
If you visit the article about the band Pink Floyd, the very first thing it says is:


 * "The Tea Set" and "The T-Set" redirect here. For tea service, see tea set. For the Dutch band, see Tee-Set. For other uses, see T Set (disambiguation).

This is because Pink Floyd performed under the name the Tea Set before being signed.

The problem
If you got to the Pink Floyd article by typing "The Tea Set" into the search box, the hatnote might be useful. Maybe you were looking for information about tea sets, or the Dutch band.

But if you arrived by typing Pink Floyd into the search box, or by following a wikilink from another page, you definitely weren't looking for information about tea sets or the Dutch band. In this case, the hatnote is useless and distracting. It takes up prime real estate right at the top of the article.

Are these notes interesting?
Some editors have said these disambiguation notes have helped them discover other interesting articles.

Well, great. But that's not what these disambiguation hatnotes are supposed to be for. They're for helping readers find the article they're looking for, not for helping them discover related material. (Hatnoes aren't a good way of doing that -- we use wikilinks, templates, and see-also sections are that.)

What should happen instead
The hatnote should only be displayed when users arrive at the article by searching for the term the hatnote disambiguates.

So: if the user searches for "Pink Floyd", they get the Pink Floyd article. If they search for "the Tea Set", they get the Pink Floyd article with the hatnote.

Can we do this technically?
I've no idea. But I suspect we can, because Wikipedia knows when users have been redirected. For example, search for RHCP and you'll be redirected to Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the note: (Redirected from RHCP). So let's change that to the disambiguation note: ("RHCP" redirects here. For right-handed circularly polarized waves, see Polarization (waves).)

It might make more sense for disambiguation hatnotes to be set up on the redirect pages, rather than the redirect targets.