Wikipedia:Disambiguation/Case study

This disambiguation case study is designed to address a common problem editors (particularly new ones) face: they want to create a new article, but one with the same name (about a different subject) already exists.

Question: What do you do if you want to create a new article, but one with the same name (about a different subject) already exists?

Example: You want to create an article about John Foo the scuba diver, but the article John Foo already exists.

Note: you could consider the article John Howard for a real example.

You have a few choices:

1. If the scuba diver is much less notable than the current person at John Foo, you would create your article at John Foo (scuba diver). You can then simply place a top link at John Foo, for example "See also John Foo (scuba diver)". Top links are discussed at Disambiguation

2. If the scuba diver is equally notable as the current person, you would still create your article at John Foo (scuba diver). After discussion, and possibly a visit to Requested moves you would then move (using the "move" tab) the current person to a new name (e.g. John Foo (politician)). Then at John Foo, which would now be a redirect to John Foo (politician) you would create a disambiguation page. The basic steps to create the disambiguation page are:
 * Start with an opening line, eg John Foo may refer to:
 * List the articles using bullet points, no piping, and no excess wikilinks
 * Place the template disambig at the end
 * The final wikitext might look like:


 * When saved, will look like:


 * Manual of Style (disambiguation pages) further discusses the layout

3. Use a top link to John Foo (disambiguation), if more John Foos are expected/exist

4. Make the scuba diver article the main one (unlikely, discuss first)