Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wiki Syntax/redirect-target-000.txt

Please note that the purpose of this page is currently being contested. --Fbriere 09:53, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This page was once put under protection against policy rules, an action which was successfully contested. --Fbriere 09:53, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Pre-emptive redirects are important
If no links to a redirect page exist and its target does not exist, that is a very bad reason by itself to delete the redirect page. I've put a lot of work into pre-emptive redirects. Their existence is important to Wikipedia. Some redirects should be deleted, but only for other reasons than those.

It has been argued that a link to a redirect page whose target does not exist is blue, as if the page exists. It would be better for a red link to appear, so that if the reader can write an article on the topic, the red link will notify them of the occasion. Therefore we need to consider it a software bug that a blue link appears, rather than a red link, in that situation. That needs to get fixed. Michael Hardy 21:23, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Deletion policy, specificially Criteria for speedy deletion, has listed redirects with a non-existent target as being deletable on sight for a very long time. If you wish to change that policy, gather a consensus. Until then, not only is the deletion of such redirects not disallowed, it is explicitly allowed. -- Cyrius|&#9998; 15:23, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * You've got the policy wrong; you've missed part of it. Read the paragraph starting with "However" after item #6 at Redirects for deletion.  In view of the list of exceptions in the paragraph beginning with "However...", I've revised item 6 at Redirects for deletion in a way that is really just a changed in emphasis and I hope will avoid some rash deletions-without-due-deliberation.  I think what confused you was that the emphasis was in the wrong place in the stated policy.  It now reads as follows:


 * 6. If the redirect points to an article that does not exist and does not help avoid the accidental creation of duplicate articles, it can be deleted immediately; but first you should check whether there is an alternative place it could be appropriately redirected, and whether any of the exceptions noted below are applicable.


 * Michael Hardy 03:48, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Bug report
I have submitted a bug report, as follows:


 * A link to a redirect page appears blue rather than red even when the redirect page's target does not exist. A red link would call attention to the article's non-existence and therefore cause an expert who sees it to write a good new article. Pre-emptive redirect pages are important and I've put a lot of work into them.  I am alarmed to discover that WikiProject Wiki Syntax/redirect-target-000.txt and its sister pages exist in their present form, in which they incite vandalism in the form of wholesale deletion of pre-emptive redirect pages.  But someone argued in favor of wholesale deletion of redirect pages when their targets don't exist and no pages link to them, by pointing out those blue links.


 * So it is necessary, if at all possible, to make links to redirect pages appear red rather than blue when the redirect page's target does not exist.

Michael Hardy 23:57, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Sounds like a duplicate of my bug #1711. Bovlb 03:28, 2005 Apr 4 (UTC)