Wikipedia:Redirect

A redirect is a page which automatically sends visitors to another page, usually an article or section of an article. For example, if you type "UK" in the ... Wikipedia:Redirect FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia Jumptonavigation Jumptosearch Wikipediamethod/tooltoautomaticallyredirectauserfromapagetoanotherpage "WP:R"and"WP:RDR"redirecthere.Forotherusesof"WP:R",seeWikipedia:R(disambiguation).Forcentralizeddisputeresolutionrequests,seeWikipedia:Requestingdisputeresolution. FortheWikiProject,seeWikipedia:WikiProjectRedirect. ThispagedocumentsanEnglishWikipediaeditingguideline.Itisagenerallyacceptedstandardthateditorsshouldattempttofollow,thoughitisbesttreatedwithcommonsense,andoccasionalexceptionsmayapply.Anysubstantiveedittothispageshouldreflectconsensus.Whenindoubt,discussfirstonthetalkpage.ShortcutsWP:RWP:REDIRWP:RDR Thispageinanutshell:Redirectsaidnavigationandsearchingbyallowingapagetobereachedunderalternativetitles. AscreenshotofWikipediashowingaredirectfromPichilemotoPichilemu HowredirectsshowupontheMinervaNeueskin Aredirectisapagewhichautomaticallysendsvisitorstoanotherpage,usuallyanarticleorsectionofanarticle.Forexample,ifyoutype"UK"inthesearchboxorclickonthewikilinkUK,youwillbetakentothearticleUnitedKingdomwithanoteatthetopofthepage(oronmobile,inablackmessagebaratthebottom):"(RedirectedfromUK)".ThisisbecausethepageUKcontainsspecialwikitextwhichdefinesitasaredirectpageandindicatesthetargetarticle.Itisalsopossibletoredirecttoaspecificsectionofthetargetpage,usingmoreadvancedsyntax. Redirectpagescancontainothercontentbelowtheredirect,suchasredirectcategorytemplates,andcategorylinks(whichprovideawaytolistarticlesectionsincategories). Redirectsareusedtohelppeoplearrivemorequicklyatthepagetheywanttoread;thispagecontainsguidanceonhowtousethemproperly.Fortechnicalhelprelatingtohowredirectswork,seeHelp:Redirect.OtherrelevantpagesareWikipedia:Doubleredirects,Wikipedia:Hatnote§ RedirectandWikiProjectRedirect. Contents 1Purposesofredirects 2Howtomakearedirect 2.1Editingthesourcedirectly 2.2UsingVisualEditor 2.3Whenmovingapage 3Howtoeditaredirectorconvertitintoanarticle 4Targetedanduntargetedredirects 5Doubleredirects 6Linkingtoaredirect 7Categorizingredirectpages 7.1Redirectsfrommoves 8Whenshouldwedeletearedirect? 8.1Reasonsfordeleting 8.2Reasonsfornotdeleting 8.3Neutralityofredirects 9Whatneedstobedoneonpagesthataretargetsofredirects? 10Redirectsthatreplacepreviousarticles 10.1Contentofthereplacedarticle 11Donot"fix"linkstoredirectsthatarenotbroken 11.1Self-redirects 12Templateredirects 13Redirectprotection 14Categoryredirects 15Suppressingredirects 16Technicalnotes 17Seealso 18References Purposesofredirects ShortcutsWP:POFRWP:RPURPOSE Reasonsforcreatingandmaintainingredirectsinclude: Alternativenamesredirecttothemostappropriatearticletitle(forexample,EdsonArantesdoNascimentoredirectstoPelé). Plurals(forexample,GreenhousegasesredirectstoGreenhousegas). Closelyrelatedwords(forexample,SymbiontredirectstoSymbiosis). Adjectivesoradverbspointtonounforms(e.g.,TreasonousredirectstoTreason) Lessspecificformsofnames,forwhichthearticlesubjectisstilltheprimarytopic.Forexample,EinsteinredirectstoAlbertEinstein,whereasAlbertisadisambiguationpageratherthanaredirect,sincenoAlbertisregardedastheprimarytopicforthatname. Morespecificformsofnames(forexample,ArticlesofConfederationandPerpetualUnionredirectstoArticlesofConfederation). Abbreviationsandinitialisms(forexample,ADHDredirectstoAttentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder).Butoftenanabbreviationwillhavemultiplemeanings,noneofwhichisaprimarytopic—inthatcaseadisambiguationpageshouldbecreatedratherthanaredirect. Alternateformsofanameasfoundinreliablesourcesandcommondatabases.Forexample,CellularandMolecularLifeSciences :CMLSredirectstoCellularandMolecularLifeSciences,basedonitsPUBMEDentry. Alternativespellingsorpunctuation.Forexample,ColourredirectstoColor,andAl-JazeeraredirectstoAlJazeera. Punctuationissues—sometitlescontainingdashesshouldhaveredirectsusinghyphens,andviceversa.Thepropertitledependsonofficialspelling(inthecaseofaname,suchasOliviaNewton-John),orestablishedWikipediapolicyandnamingconventions(suchasSpanish–AmericanWar). RepresentationsusingASCIIcharacters,thatis,commontransliterations(forexample,PelealsoredirectstoPeléwhileKurtGoedelandKurtGodelredirecttoKurtGödel). Likelymisspellings(forexample,CondoleezaRiceredirectstoCondoleezzaRice).Note:thiscriteriontypicallydoesnotapplytoredirectsfromtyposintemplatespace;consensusisthatsuchtypos,unlesstheyareverycommon,shouldremainasredlinksuntiltheyarefixed. Likelyalternativecapitalizations(forexample,NaturalSelectionredirectstoNaturalselection).ThisisnotnecessaryforusersearchesmadeviaWikipedia'ssearchengine,butmayaidlinkingfromotherarticlesandexternalsites,aswellasdirectURLentry. Tocomplywiththemaintenanceofnontrivialedithistory,pursuanttoWikipedia:Merging#PROMERGEforcopyrightlicensingrequirements. Sub-topicsorothertopicswhicharedescribedorlistedwithinawiderarticle.(Suchredirectsareoftentargetedtoaparticularsectionofthearticle.) Redirectstodisambiguationpagesthatdonotcontain"(disambiguation)"inthetitle(forexample,Durham(disambiguation)redirectstoDurham).Thesehelpmaintenancebyallowingdeliberatelinkstodisambiguationpagestobedistinguishedfromlinksthatneedtobedisambiguated.SeeWP:INTDABforafullerexplanation. Shortcuts(forexample,WP:VandWikipedia:VredirecttoWikipedia:Verifiability).Thisiscommonlydoneinprojectspace,butnotinarticlespace. Old-styleCamelCaselinks(ifalreadyinexistence)(AnnaKournikovaredirectstoAnnaKournikova). Linksauto-generatedfromExchangeableimagefileformatinformation(AdobePhotoshopCSWindowsredirectstoAdobePhotoshop). Findingwhatlinkstoasection,whenlinksaremadetotheredirectratherthanthesection. Thereareredirecttemplatestoexplainthereasonforaredirect. NotethatredirectstootherWikimediaprojects,otherwebsites,orspecialpagesdonotwork.Theseshouldbeavoidedorreplacedwitha{{softredirect}}template.Softredirectsarealsousedincategoryspace(usingthe{{categoryredirect}}template).Redirectsfromlisttitlestocategories(e.g.aredirectfrom[[Listofthings]]to[[Category:Things]])arehighlydiscouraged.[1] Howtomakearedirect Mainpages:Help:RedirectandWikipedia:Howtomakearedirect Editingthesourcedirectly Tocreateabasicredirectusingthesourceeditor,type#REDIRECT [[targetpagenamehere]]astheonlytextonthepage.ThecapitalizationofthewordREDIRECTdoesn'tmatter.Forinstance,ifyouwereredirectingfrom"UK"to"UnitedKingdom",thiswouldbetheentirebodyofthe"UK"page: #REDIRECT [[UnitedKingdom]] UsingVisualEditor TocreatearedirectusingtheVisualEditor: Openthe"pageoptions"menu(iconwiththreeparallelhorizontalbars)atthetoprightoftheeditor Select"Pagesettings" Checktheboxmarked"Redirectthispageto" Enterthenameofthetargetpageinthetextboxbelowthecheckbox Clickontheblue"Applychanges"button Savethepage.Youmayenteraneditsummary,oranautomaticsummarywillbegenerated. Whenmovingapage Redirectscanalsobeautomaticallycreatedwhenyoumove(rename)anexistingpage. Howtoeditaredirectorconvertitintoanarticle ShortcutsWP:EDREDWP:RTOA Sometimesanexistingredirectshouldreallybehandledbyafullarticle,perCategory:Redirectswithpossibilities.Forexample,thenameofanotablemusician(whodoesnotyethaveanarticle)mayinsteadbearedirecttoanexistingarticleaboutabandofwhichthemusicianisamember.Inthiscase,youcanedittheredirecttomakeitintoanarticle.Also,ifanexistingredirectpointstothewrongpage,youcanedittheredirecttopointtoadifferentpage. Ifyouwanttoeditaredirectpageyoumustuseaspecialtechniqueinordertogettotheredirectpageitself.Thisisbecausewhenyoutrytogostraighttotheredirectpageandeditit,theredirectpagewillautomaticallyredirectyoutoitstargetpage(becausethisiswhataredirectpageismeanttodo).Belowisanexampleofwhyyoumightneedtogotoaredirectpageitself(todoasmalledit)andhowtoactuallygetthere. Forexample,sayTrygveHalvdanLiedidnothavehisownarticle,andsothislinkwasaredirecttothepageSecretary-GeneraloftheUnitedNations.If,lateron,thepageTrygveLiewascreatedasabiography,thepageTrygveHalvdanLieshouldbechangedtoredirecttoTrygveLieperWP:COMMONNAME.Todothis,gototheredirectpagebyclickingtheexistingredirectnoteonthetargetpage,whichinthiscasewouldread"(RedirectedfromTrygveHalvdanLie)".Oncethere,youmayclickthe"Edit"tab,andchangethepagefrom #REDIRECT [[Secretary-GeneraloftheUnitedNations]] to #REDIRECT [[TrygveLie]] Whenaddingorchangingaredirect,alwaysverifythelinksthatalreadypointthere.Forinstance,ifanotherpersonnamedTrygveLiebecomesverywellknown,itwouldmakesensetomakeTrygveLiearedirecttohispage(afterrenamingtheexistingTrygveLiepage).SuchachangecannotbemadewithoutchangingallthepreexistinglinkstoTrygveLie;theselinkscanbefoundbyclickingonWhatlinkshereinthelefthandmenu. Targetedanduntargetedredirects ShortcutsWP:TARGETWP:RSECT Seealso:MOS:LINK2SECT Mostredirectsareuntargeted,i.e.theyleadsimplytoapage,nottoanyspecificsectionofthepage.Thisisusuallydonewhenthereismorethanonepossiblenameunderwhichanarticlemightbesought(forexample,CellphoneredirectstothearticleMobilephone).Fordecidingwhichshouldbetheactualtitleofthearticle,seeArticletitles. Itisalsopossibletocreateatargetedredirect,i.e.aredirecttoaparticularpointonthetargetpage—eitherasectionheaderorananchor.Forexample,thepageMaliaObamacontainsthecode#REDIRECT [[FamilyofBarackObama#MaliaandSashaObama]],whichredirectstotheMaliaandSashaObamasectioninthearticleFamilyofBarackObama.Therefore,entering"MaliaObama"willbringthesearcherstraighttothecontentthatdealswith"MaliaandSashaObama". Considerthatwhenthetargetpageisdisplayed,itislikelythatthetopofthepagewillnotbeshown,sotheusermaynotseethehelpful"(redirectedfrom...)"textunlesstheyknowtoscrollbacktothetop.Thisislesslikelytocauseconfusioniftheredirectistoaheadingwiththesamenameastheredirect. Thetextgiveninthelinkonatargetedredirectpagemustexactlymatchthetargetsectionheadingoranchortext,includingcapitalizationandpunctuation.(WhilespacesandunderscoresareinterchangeableinthecurrentimplementationoftheWikimediasoftware,itisgenerallygoodpracticeandaidsmaintenancetouseexactlythesamespellinginlinksasisusedinthecorrespondingtargetsalsoforthesecharacters.)(Intheabsenceofamatch,thereaderwillsimplybetakentothetopofthetargetpage.)Itisoftenhelpfultoleaveahiddencommentinthetargettext,toinformothereditorsthatasectiontitleislinked,sothatifthetitleisaltered,theredirectcanbechanged.Forexample: ==Vaccineoverload== Toensurethataredirectwillnotbreakifasectiontitlegetsaltered,ortocreatearedirecttoapointonthepageotherthanasectionheading,createanexplicittargetanchorinthepage,e.g.,byusingthe{{anchor}}template.Alternativeanchorsforsectionheadingsareideallyplaceddirectlyinfrontofthenameoftheheading(butaftertheequalssigns): =={{subst:Anchor|anchorname}}Sectiontitle== {{subst:Anchor}}ispreferabletosimplyusing{{Anchor}}becauseotherwise,whenthesectioniseditedviaitsown"[edit]"link,theanchormarkupandalternativesectiontitle(s)willappearasundesirableclutteratthebeginningofrevisionhistoryentries.PleaseseeMOS:RENAMESECTIONforfurtherdiscussionofthis. Theanchortextwillnotbevisibleonthepage,butitwillserveasapermanentmarkerofthatplaceonthepage.Editorsshouldgenerallynotremoveoraltersuchanchorswithoutcheckingallincominglinksandredirects.Ifseverallogicallyindependentaspectsofatopicarediscussedunderasinglesectionheaderandshouldbelinkedto,itissometimesusefultodefineseparateanchorsforthem,ifthecurrentamountofinformationdoesn'tjustifyadivisionintomultiplesectionsalready.Thismakesiteasiertorearrangecontentsonapageasitdevelopssincethoseanchorscanbemovedwiththeircorrespondingcontentswithoutaneedtofixupincominglinks. Forexample,intheGoogleSearcharticle,thetext{{Anchor|calculator}}isplacedatthepointwhereGoogleCalculatorisdiscussed.ThetitleGoogleCalculatorcanthenberedirectedtoGoogleSearch#calculator. Whenasectiontitleisknowntobethetargetofincominglinks,theWikipediaManualofStylesuggestscreatingaredundantanchorwiththesamenameasthesectiontitle,sothatsuchlinkswillcontinuetoworkevenifsomeonerenamesthesectionwithoutcreatingananchorwiththeoldname.Technically,theredundantsectionandanchornamesresultininvalidHTML.[2]However,whenadocumentcontainsmultipletagswiththesameidvalue,browsersarerequiredtoreturnthefirstone,soinpractice,thisisnotaproblem.[3] Becarefulwithanchorcapitalization,asredirectsarecase-sensitiveinstandards-compliantbrowsers.[3] Doubleredirects Mainpage:Wikipedia:Doubleredirects Thesoftwarewillnotfollowchainsofmorethanoneredirect—thisiscalledadoubleredirect.Aredirectshouldnotbeleftpointingtoanotherredirectpage. Doubleredirectsoftenariseafterapageismoved(renamed)—aftermovingapage,checkwhetherthereareanyredirectstotheoldtitle(usingthelinkonthemoveresultpage,orusing"Whatlinkshere"),andchangethemtoredirectstraighttothenewtitle.Doubleredirectsareusuallyfixedbyabotinafewdays;however,aneditorshouldnotleavebehindanyself-createddoubleredirects. Linkingtoaredirect Mainpage:MoSlinkingredirects Youcanlinktoaredirectpagejustasyoucanlinktoanarticlepagebyplacingtheredirectpagenamewithinasetofdoublebrackets,suchas:[[Redirectpagename]]replacingRedirectpagenamewiththenameoftheredirectpagetolink. Tolinktoaredirectpagewithoutfollowingtheunderlyingredirect,use:{{Noredirect|Redirectpagename}}replacingRedirectpagenamewiththenameoftheredirectpagetolink.Clickingonano-redirectlinkwillsendthereadertotheredirectpageratherthanthefinalredirectdestination. Categorizingredirectpages Mainpage:Wikipedia:Categorizingredirects Mostredirectpagesarenotplacedinarticlecategories.Therearethreetypesofredirectcategorizationthatarehelpfulanduseful: Maintenancecategoriesareinuseforparticulartypesofredirects,suchasCategory:Redirectsfrominitialisms,inwhicharedirectpagemaybesortedusingthe{{Rfrominitialism}}template.OnemajoruseofthesecategoriesistodeterminewhichredirectsarefitforinclusioninaprintedsubsetofWikipedia.SeeWikipedia:Templatemessages/Redirectpagesforfunctionalandalphabeticallistsofthesetemplates.Abrieffunctionallistofredirectcategory(rcat)templatesisalsofoundinthe{{Rtemplateindex}}navbar. Sometimesaredirectisplacedinanarticlecategorybecausetheformoftheredirectedtitleismoreappropriatetothecontextofthatcategory,e.g.HoneyLantree.(Redirectsappearinitalicsincategorylistings.) Discussionpages.Ifadiscussion/talkpageexistsforaredirect,pleaseensure(1)thatthetalkpage'sWikiProjectbannersaretaggedwiththe"class=Redirect"parameterand(2)thatthetalkpageistaggedattheTOPwiththe{{Talkpageofredirect}}template.Ifthediscussionpageisaredirect,thenitmaybetaggedwithappropriateredirectcategorizationtemplates(rcats). Redirectsfrommoves Whenapageisrenamed/moved,aredirectthatistitledwiththereplacedpagenameiscreatedandisautomaticallytaggedwiththe{{Rfrommove}}template.ThissortstheredirectintoCategory:Redirectsfrommoves. Whenshouldwedeletearedirect? ShortcutWP:R#CRD Todeletearedirectwithoutreplacingitwithanewarticle,listitonredirectsfordiscussion.Seethedeletionpolicyfordetailsonhowtonominatepagesfordeletion. Listingisnotnecessaryifyoujustwanttoreplacearedirectwithanarticle,orchangewhereitpoints:seetheseinstructionsforhelpdoingthis.Ifyouwanttoswaparedirectandanarticle,butarenotabletomovethearticletothelocationoftheredirect,pleaseuseWikipedia:Requestedmovestorequesthelpfromanadminindoingthat. ShortcutWP:R#HARMFUL Furtherinformation:Wikipedia:Redirectsfordiscussion/Commonoutcomes Furtherinformation:Wikipedia:Movingapage§ Movingoveraredirect Themajorreasonswhydeletionofredirectsisharmfulare: aredirectmaycontainnon-trivialedithistory; ifaredirectisreasonablyold(oristheresultofmovingapagethathasbeenthereforquitesometime),thenitispossiblethatitsdeletionwillbreakincominglinks(suchlinkscomingfromolderrevisionsofWikipediapages,fromeditsummaries,fromotherWikimediaprojectsorfromelsewhereontheinternet,donotshowupin"Whatlinkshere"). Thereforeconsiderthedeletiononlyofeitherharmfulredirectsorofrecentones. Reasonsfordeleting ShortcutWP:R#DELETE Seealso:Wikipedia:Criteriaforspeedydeletion§ Redirects "WP:RDELETE"redirectshere.Forrevisiondeletion,seeWikipedia:Revisiondeletion.Fordeletionreview,seeWikipedia:Deletionreview. Youmightwanttodeletearedirectifoneormoreofthefollowingconditionsismet(butnotealsotheexceptionslistedbelowthislist): Theredirectpagemakesitunreasonablydifficultforuserstolocatesimilarlynamedarticlesviathesearchengine.Forexample,iftheusersearchesfor"NewArticles",andisredirectedtoadisambiguationpagefor"Articles",itwouldtakemuchlongertogettothenewlyaddedarticlesonWikipedia. Theredirectmightcauseconfusion.Forexample,if"AdamB.Smith"wasredirectedto"AndrewB.Smith",becauseAndrewwasaccidentallycalledAdaminonesource,thiscouldcauseconfusionwiththearticleonAdamSmith,sotheredirectshouldbedeleted. Theredirectisoffensiveorabusive,suchasredirecting"JoeBloggsisaLoser"to"JoeBloggs"(unless"JoeBloggsisaLoser"islegitimatelydiscussedinthearticle),or"JoeBloggs"to"Loser".(SpeedydeletioncriterionG10andG3mayapply.)Seealso§ Neutralityofredirects. Theredirectconstitutesself-promotionorspam.(SpeedydeletioncriterionG11mayapply.) Theredirectmakesnosense,suchasredirecting"Apple"to"Orange".(SpeedydeletioncriterionG1mayapply.) Itisacross-namespaceredirectoutofarticlespace,suchasonepointingintotheUserorWikipedianamespace.Themajorexceptiontothisrulearethepseudo-namespaceshortcutredirects,whichtechnicallyareinthemainarticlespace.Somelong-standingcross-namespaceredirectsarealsokeptbecauseoftheirlong-standinghistoryandpotentialusefulness."MOS:"redirects,forexample,areanexceptiontothisrule.(NotealsotheexistenceofnamespacealiasessuchasWP:.SpeedydeletioncriterionR2mayapplyifthetargetnamespaceissomethingotherthanCategory:,Template:,Wikipedia:,Help:,orPortal:.) Iftheredirectisbroken,meaningitredirectstoanarticlethatdoesnotexist,itcanbeimmediatelydeletedunderspeedydeletioncriterionG8,thoughyoushouldcheckthatthereisnotanalternativeplaceitcouldbeappropriatelyredirectedtofirst. Iftheredirectisanovelorveryobscuresynonymforanarticlename,itisunlikelytobeuseful.Inparticular,redirectsinalanguageotherthanEnglishtoapagewhosesubjectisunrelatedtothatlanguage(oraculturethatspeaksthatlanguage)shouldgenerallynotbecreated.(ImplausibletyposormisnomersarecandidatesforspeedydeletioncriterionR3,ifrecentlycreated.) Ifthetargetarticleneedstobemovedtotheredirecttitle,buttheredirecthasbeeneditedbeforeandhasahistoryofitsown,thenthetitleneedstobefreeduptomakewayforthemove.Ifthemoveisuncontroversial,tagtheredirectforG6speedydeletion,oralternatively(withthesuppressredirectuserright;availabletopagemoversandadmins),performaround-robinmove.Ifnot,takethearticletoRequestedmoves. Iftheredirectcouldplausiblybeexpandedintoanarticle,andthetargetarticlecontainsvirtuallynoinformationonthesubject. Reasonsfornotdeleting ShortcutWP:R#KEEP However,avoiddeletingsuchredirectsif: Theyhaveapotentiallyusefulpagehistory,oranedithistorythatshouldbekepttocomplywiththelicensingrequirementsforamerge(seeWikipedia:Mergeanddelete).Ontheotherhand,iftheredirectwascreatedbyrenamingapagewiththatname,andthepagehistoryjustmentionstherenaming,andforoneofthereasonsaboveyouwanttodeletethepage,copythepagehistorytotheTalkpageofthearticleitredirectsto.Theactofrenamingisusefulpagehistory,andevenmoresoiftherehasbeendiscussiononthepagename. Theywouldaidaccidentallinkingandmakethecreationofduplicatearticleslesslikely,whetherbyredirectingapluraltoasingular,byredirectingafrequentmisspellingtoacorrectspelling,byredirectingamisnomertoacorrectterm,byredirectingtoasynonym,etc.Inotherwords,redirectswithnoincominglinksarenotcandidatesfordeletiononthosegroundsbecausetheyareofbenefittothebrowsinguser.Someextravigilancebyeditorswillberequiredtominimizetheoccurrenceofthosefrequentmisspellingsinthearticletextsbecausethelinkifiedmisspellingswillnotappearasbrokenlinks;considertaggingtheredirectwiththe{{Rfrommisspelling}}templatetoassisteditorsinmonitoringthesemisspellings. Theyaidsearchesoncertainterms.Forexample,userswhomightseethe"KeystoneState"mentionedsomewherebutdonotknowwhatthatreferstowillbeabletofindoutatthePennsylvania(target)article. Deletingredirectsrunstheriskofbreakingincomingorinternallinks.Forexample,redirectsresultingfrompagemovesshouldnotnormallybedeletedwithoutgoodreason.Linksthathaveexistedforasignificantlengthoftime,includingCamelCaselinksandoldsubpagelinks,shouldbeleftaloneincasethereareanyexistinglinksonexternalpagespointingtothem.SeealsoWikipedia:Linkrot§ Linkrotonnon-Wikimediasites. Someonefindsthemuseful.Hint:Ifsomeonesaystheyfindaredirectuseful,theyprobablydo.Youmightnotfindituseful—thisisnotbecausetheotherpersonisbeinguntruthful,butbecauseyoubrowseWikipediaindifferentways.Evidenceofusagecanbegaugedbyusingthewikisharkorpageviewstoolontheredirecttoseethenumberofviewsitgets. Theredirectistoacloselyrelatedwordform,suchasapluralformtoasingularform. Neutralityofredirects ShortcutWP:RNEUTRAL Justasarticletitlesusingnon-neutrallanguagearepermittedinsomecircumstances,soaresuchredirects.Becauseredirectsarelessvisibletoreaders,morelatitudeisallowedintheirnames,thereforeperceivedlackofneutralityinredirectnamesisnotasufficientreasonfortheirdeletion.Inmostcases,non-neutralbutverifiableredirectsshouldpointtoneutrallytitledarticlesaboutthesubjectoftheterm.Non-neutralredirectsmaybetaggedwith{{Rfromnon-neutralname}}. Non-neutralredirectsarecommonlycreatedforthreereasons: Articlesthatarecreatedusingnon-neutraltitlesareroutinelymovedtoanewneutraltitle,whichleavesbehindtheoldnon-neutraltitleasaworkingredirect(e.g.Climategate→ClimaticResearchUnitemailcontroversy). ArticlescreatedasPOVforksmaybedeletedandreplacedbyaredirectpointingtowardsthearticlefromwhichtheforkoriginated(e.g.BarackObamaMuslimrumor→deletedandnowredirectedtoBarackObamareligionconspiracytheories). ThesubjectmatterofarticlesmayberepresentedbysomesourcesoutsideWikipediainnon-neutralterms.SuchtermsaregenerallyavoidedinWikipediaarticletitles,perthewordstoavoidguidelinesandthegeneralneutralpointofviewpolicy.Forinstancethenon-neutralexpression"Attorneygate"isusedtoredirecttotheneutrallytitledDismissalofU.S.attorneyscontroversy.Thearticleinquestionhasneverusedthattitle,buttheredirectwascreatedtoprovideanalternativemeansofreachingitbecauseanumberofpressreportsusetheterm. Theexceptionstothisrulewouldberedirectsthatarenotestablishedtermsandareunlikelytobeuseful,andthereforemaybenominatedfordeletion,perhapsunderdeletionreason#3.However,ifaredirectrepresentsanestablishedtermthatisusedinmultiplemainstreamreliablesources,itshouldbekeptevenifnon-neutral,asitwillfacilitatesearchesonsuchterms.PleasekeepinmindthatRfDisnottheplacetoresolvemosteditorialdisputes. Whatneedstobedoneonpagesthataretargetsofredirects? ShortcutsWP:R#PLAWP:R#ASTONISH Furtherinformation:Wikipedia:ManualofStyle/Textformatting§ Otheruses,andWikipedia:ManualofStyle/Leadsection§ Alternativenames Wikipediafollowsthe"principleofleastastonishment";afterfollowingaredirect,thereader'sfirstquestionislikelytobe:"Hangon...Iwantedtoreadaboutthis.Whyhasthelinktakenmetothat?"Makeitcleartothereaderthattheyhavearrivedintherightplace. Normally,wetrytomakesurethatall"inboundredirects"otherthanmisspellingsorotherobviousclosevariantsofthearticletitlearementionedinthefirstcoupleofparagraphsofthearticleorsectiontowhichtheredirectgoes.Itwilloftenbeappropriatetoboldtheredirectedterm.Forexample: AliceBradleySheldon(August24,1915–May19,1987)wasanAmericansciencefictionauthorbetterknownasJamesTiptreeJr.... JamesTiptreeJr.,redirectsfromAliceSheldon Butinsignificantorminorredirectscanskipthis: DensityofwaterredirectstoPropertiesofwater.Thereisnoneedtoinsertaboldeddensityofwatersentenceintheleadsection;itisaminorsubtopicofthearticle. Iftheredirectedtermcouldhaveothermeanings,ahatnote(examples)shouldbeplacedatthetopofthetargetarticleortargetedsectionthatwilldirectreaderstotheothermeaningsortoarelevantdisambiguationpage.Thisisusuallydoneusingoneoftheredirectdisambiguationtemplates(examples). ItmayalsobehelpfultosearchtheListofCategoriesforrelatedterms. Redirectsthatreplacepreviousarticles ShortcutsWP:BLANKANDREDIRECTWP:BLAR Seealso:Wikipedia:Deletionpolicy§ Redirection Removingallcontentinaproblematicarticleandreplacingitwitharedirectiscommonpractice,knownasblank-and-redirect.Ifothereditorsdisagreewiththisblanking,itscontentscanberecoveredfrompagehistory,asthearticlehasnotbeendeleted.Ifeditorscannotagree,thecontentissuesshouldbediscussedattherelevanttalkpage,andothermethodsofdisputeresolutionshouldbeused,suchasrestoringthearticleandnominatingthearticleforWikipedia:Articlesfordeletion[4] Tomakeiteasierforothereditorstofindthehistoryoftheblankedarticle,it'sgoodpracticetoaddashortnoticeatthetalkpageofthetargetarticle,evenifnocontenthasbeenmergedthere.Thisisespeciallyusefuliftheblankedarticlehadfewvisitsandinfrequentedits.Iftheredirectreplacesanarticlethathasbeendeletedbyanadministrator,thisnoticeistheonlywayforeditorstoknowthatapreviousversionofthearticleexistedatall. Contentofthereplacedarticle Thetemplate{{Rwithhistory}}shouldbeaddedtotheresultingredirect.Ifthetopicofthearticlecanbereasonablythoughttodescribeanotabletopic,marktheredirectwiththetemplate{{Redirectwithpossibilities}}toindicatethatitcouldbeexpandedinthefuture.Youmayalsoconsiderturningthearticleintoastubbyremovingallunsourcedcontentandkeepingthevalidreferences,insteadofblankingit. Notethatcertainformsofblankingarenotallowed.Illegitimateblankingofvalidcontentwithoutreasonisconsideredvandalism,aformofdisruptiveediting.Otherformsofblank-and-redirect,althoughnotvandalism,arestillundesirable.Ifyouwanttorenamethearticlebycuttingandpastingtexttoanewarticlewithadifferenttitle,youshouldinsteadmovethepagewiththeMoveoption.Ifyouwanttokeepsomecontentfromtheblankedarticleandaddittothetargetarticle,youshouldfollowtheinstructionsatWikipedia:Merging§ Howtomerge.Bothprocesseswillcreateproperlinkstotheedithistory,whichisrequiredbytheWikipedialicenseforlegalreasonstopreserveattributionofcontenttoitsauthors. Donot"fix"linkstoredirectsthatarenotbroken ShortcutsWP:NOTBROKENWP:DONOTFIXIT "WP:NOTBROKEN"redirectshere.YoumaybelookingforWikipedia:TypoTeam§ SometyposdonotneedtobecorrectedorWikipedia:Ifitain'tbroke,don'tfixit. Furtherinformation:Wikipedia:ManualofStyle/Linking§ MOS:NOPIPE Thereisusuallynothingwrongwithlinkingtoredirectstoarticles.Someeditorsaretempted,uponfindingalinktoaredirectpage,tobypasstheredirectandpointthelinkdirectlyatthetargetpage.However,changingtoapipedlinkisbeneficialonlyinafewcases.Pipinglinkssolelytoavoidredirectsisgenerallyatime-wastingexercisethatcanactuallybedetrimental.Itisalmostneverhelpfultoreplace[[redirect]]with[[target|redirect]]. Thatis,editorsshouldnotchange,forinstance,[[FranklinRoosevelt]]to[[FranklinD.Roosevelt]]or[[FranklinD.Roosevelt|FranklinRoosevelt]]justto"fixaredirect".However,itisperfectlyacceptabletochangeitto[[FranklinD.Roosevelt]]ifforsomereasonitispreferredthat"FranklinD.Roosevelt"actuallyappearinthevisibletext.Editorsshouldalsonotchangeredirectswithpossibilitieslike[[JournaloftheFranklinInstitute]]to[[FranklinInstitute#JournaloftheFranklinInstitute|JournaloftheFranklinInstitute]],sothatreadersarriveatthemorepertinentarticleintheeventualitythatitiscreated. Reasonsnottobypassredirectsinclude: Redirectscanindicatepossiblefuturearticles(see{{Rwithpossibilities}}). Introducingunnecessaryinvisibletextmakesthearticlemoredifficulttoreadinpagesourceform. Non-pipedlinksmakebetteruseofthe"whatlinkshere"tool,makingiteasiertotrackhowarticlesarelinkedandhelpingwithlarge-scalechangestolinks. ShortcutsorredirectstoembeddedanchorsorsectionsofarticlesorofWikipedia'sadvicepagesshouldneverbebypassed,astheanchorsorsectionheadingsonthepagemaychangeovertime.Updatingoneredirectisfarmoreefficientthanupdatingdozensofpipedlinks.(TheRdchecktoolisextremelyusefulinsuchcasesforfindingwhichredirectsneedtobechangedafteranarticleisupdated.) Intentionallinkstodisambiguationpagesalwaysusethetitlewith"(disambiguation)",evenifthatisaredirect. Ifeditorspersistentlyusearedirectinsteadofanarticletitle,itmaybethatthearticleneedstobemovedratherthantheredirectchanged.Assuchthesystematic"fixingofredirects"mayeradicateusefulinformationwhichcanbeusedtohelpdecideonthe"best"articletitle. Goodreasonstobypassredirectsinclude:ShortcutsWP:BYPASSREDIRECTWP:NAVNOREDIRECTWP:BRINTWP:MPNOREDIRECTWP:DOFIXIT Itisusuallypreferablenottouseredirectedlinksinnavigationaltemplates,suchasthosefoundatthebottomofmanyarticles(e.g.,{{USPresidents}}attheendofGeorgeWashington).Whenthetemplateisplacedonanarticleandcontainsadirectlinktothesamearticle(ratherthanaredirect),thedirectlinkwilldisplayinbold(andnotasalink),makingiteasiertonavigatethroughaseriesofarticlesusingthetemplate.Thereareexceptionstothisexception:wherearedirectrepresentsadistinctsub-topicwithinalargerarticleandisnotmerelyavariantname,itispreferabletoleavetheredirectinthetemplate. Itmaybeappropriatetomakethiskindofchangeifthehintthatappearswhenauserhoversoverthelinkismisleading(seePrincipleofleastastonishment). Spellingerrorsandothermistakesshouldbecorrected.Don'tlinktoamisspelledredirect.Thisdoesnotnecessarilymeanthatthemisspelledredirectshouldbedeleted(see{{Rfrommisspelling}}). Linksondisambiguationpages.SeeWikipedia:ManualofStyle/Disambiguationpages§ Pipingandredirectsforrationaleandexceptions. RadioandTVstationcallletters,sincecalllettersgivenupbyonestationcanbeusedlaterbyadifferentstation. Inothernamespaces,particularlythetemplateandportalnamespacesinwhichsubpagesarecommon,anylinkortransclusiontoaformerpagetitlethathasbecomearedirectfollowingapagemoveormergeshouldbeupdatedtothenewtitlefornamingconsistency. LinksontheMainPage,toavoidstealthyvandalismbyretargetingredirects.(Butnote,asabove,thatredirectstoarticlesectionsshouldneverbebypassed.) Self-redirects ShortcutWP:SELFRED Seealso:Help:Selflink Avoidlinkingtotitlesthatredirectstraightbacktothepageonwhichthelinkisfound.Thissituationmayariseifaredirectiscreatedfromaredlinkonthepage,orifthetitlewasonceaseparatepagebutwasmerged. However,linkingtoatitlethatredirectstoasectionoranchorwithinthearticle(redirectswith{{Rtosection}}or{{Rtoanchor}})isacceptable,asitfacilitatesnavigationinparticularonlongarticlesthatcannotbeviewedallatonceonanaverage-sizedcomputerscreen.Inadditiontoreadabilitybenefits,whensuchredirectsaremarkedwith{{Rwithpossibilities}},theyhavethepotentialtobecomeindependentarticlesinthefuture.However,considerusingsectionlinksinstead,whensuchredirectsdonotalreadyexist. Templateredirects Atemplatecanberedirectedtoanothertemplateinthesameway,e.g.,byenteringthefollowingmarkupatthetopofatemplateT2: #REDIRECT[[Template:T1]] ThisallowsthetemplatenameT2tobeusedinsteadoftheactualtemplatenameT1.AlltheparametersofT1willberespectedbyT2. Aredirectcategorisation(rcat)templatesuchas{{Rfrommove}}maybeaddedtoT2(onthethirdlinebelowthe#REDIRECTline)asfollows: #REDIRECT[[Template:T1]] {{Redirectcategoryshell| {{Rfrommove}} }} Whiletemplateshortcut/aliasredirectsarecommon,theymayinfrequentlycauseconfusionandmakeupdatingtemplatecallsmorecomplicated.Forexample,ifcallstoT1aretobechangedtosomenewtemplateNT1,articlesmustbesearchedfor{{T1}}andaseparatesearchmustalsobemadeforeachofitsaliases(includingT2inthisexample).Moreover,changestosyntax,corrections,scansandotherprocesses(forexampletagdating)musttakeintoaccountallapplicableredirects. Redirectprotection ShortcutsWP:REDIRECTPROTECTIONWP:RPROTECTION Sometimes,aredirecttoanarticlepertainingtoaverycontroversialtopicwillbefullyor,morerarely,semi-protectedindefinitely.Thisisdonewhenanyofthefollowingcriteriaaremet: Thereisnoreasonforittobeedited Itisfrequentlyexpandedintowholearticles Itisanobviousvandalismtarget Itredirectsand/orreferstoaverycontroversialtopic RedirectsthatareprotectedincludeObama,Hitler,and9/11.Softredirectsthatareprotectedincludeobviousvandalismtargetslikedumbassandfatass. Redirectsinothernamespacesmaybeprotectedfortechnicalreasonsorareprotectedunderexistingguidelines.Forexample,atemplateredirect(shorthand)usedthousandsoftimesqualifiesitasahighlyvisibletemplate,eligiblefortemplateprotection. Categoryredirects ShortcutWP:R#CATEGORY Thissectionisabouttechnicalissueoncategoryredirects.Formaking"soft"categoryredirects,seeWikipedia:Categoriesfordiscussion§ Redirectingcategories. Donotcreateinter-categoryredirects,byaddingaline#REDIRECT[[:Category:targetcategory]]toacategorypage.Articlesaddedtoa"redirected"categorydonotshowupinthetargetcategory,preventingpropercategorization.What'sworse,sinceredirectedcategoriesdonotbecome"redlinks",editorswon'tbeawareevenwhentheyaddanarticletoaredirectedcategory. ForanattempttofixthisissueinMediaWiki,seeT5311. Instead,"soft"redirectsareused.Itcanbecreatedbyplacing{{Categoryredirect|target}}inthecategorypage.SeeWikipedia:Categoriesfordiscussion#Redirectingcategories. Suppressingredirects ShortcutWP:R#SUPPRESS Whenapageismoved,aredirectisautomaticallyleftbehind.Somegroupsofusers(thosewhopossessasuppressredirectright)havetheabilitytopreventtheredirectbeingcreated,byuncheckingtheboxlabelled"Leavearedirectbehind."Currentlythesegroupsareadministrators,bots,pagemovers,andglobalrollbackers.Insomecircumstances,apageshouldbemoved,butaredirectfromitscurrentnameisinappropriate,suchasrevertingpage-movevandalism.Suppressingtheredirectcanavoidanextraaction(pageremoval)andsavetimeinthesecases. However,ingeneral,theredirectwillbeausefulentryinthehistory,anditisbesttoleaveitbehind,unlessthereisagoodreasontosuppresstheredirect,suchasvandalism,userfyingrecentlycreatedmalplaceditemsorfreeingatitletobeoccupiedimmediatelybyanotherpage(e.g.,movingtermtoaccuratetermandterm(disambiguation)toterm).Redirectsleaveatrailtohelpreadersfindtheoldarticle,incaseanewarticleiscreatedatitspreviouslocation,andtopreventlinkrot.Therefore,weusuallyneithersuppressnordeleteredirects.AsBrionVibbersaid,"Notbreakinglinkshelpseveryone,especiallyusfirstandforemost".Healsosaidthattheremovalof(file)redirectsis"extremelyuser-hostileandmakestheprojectlessuseful". Technicalnotes AWikipediaredirectisnotthesameasanHTTPredirect—itdoesnotgenerateanHTTP302(orother30x)response.Instead,apagewithalmostthesamecontentasthetargetoftheredirectisgeneratedbytheMediaWikisoftware,differinginthatasmall-textnoteappearsbelowthetitleofthepage,identifyingthenameoftheredirectusedtogetthere(andlinkingtoitinsuchawaythatitcanbeaccessedwithouttheredirect,e.g.soitcanbechanged).Whenauserclicksonaredirectsuchashousecat,thepageURLinitiallywillbehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housecat,buttheURLshownbythebrowserwillchangetohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catafterthepageloads. Ononehand,thisallowslinkslikehousecat#Anatomytoworkasexpected,butitalsorequiresredirectstoanchorstobeimplementedasapieceofJavaScriptthatjumpstoanappropriatesectionafterthepagehasloaded.Forexample,second-stagebootloader,whichisrenderedastheURLhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-stage_boot_loader,isapagedefinedasa#REDIRECTtoBooting#SECOND-STAGE."SECOND-STAGE",inthiscase,isamanuallydefinedanchor(usingthemarkup"==={{anchor|SECOND-STAGE}}Second-stagebootloader===")whichwillpersistevenifthesectionisrenamed.However,whetheraredirectpointstoamanuallydefinedanchor,orananchordefinedimplicitlyviaasectionname,thebehaviorwillbethesame:thepagewillautomaticallybescrolleddowntothepointed-toanchoronlyafterthepagefinishesloading(atwhichpointtheURLbarwillalsochangetoreflecttheredirected-toURL,including"#anchor"portion,ratherthantheredirected-fromURL). Seealso ThispageisreferencedintheWikipediaGlossary. WikimediaCommonshasmediarelatedtoMediaWikiredirects. Category:Redirecttemplates Category:Wikipediaredirects Wikipedia:Movingapage Help:Redirect RedirecttechnicalhelpatMeta-Wiki Special:ListRedirects Special:BrokenRedirects Special:DoubleRedirects Template:Redirect Template:Noredirect Template:Isredirect Wikipedia:Articlesforcreation/Redirectsandcategories,tosuggestamissingredirect Wikipedia:Hatnote(seeabove) Wikipedia:Redirectsfordiscussion Wikipedia:Softredirect Wikipedia:WikiProjectRedirect Wikipedia:WikiProjectRedirect/Styleguide Wikipedia:Databasereports/Pagecountbynamespaceandbynon-redirects/redirects Wikipedia:Deletionbyredirection Capricorn,aWikipediagadgetforcategorizingredirects Wikipedia:Redirectsarecheap Wikipedia:Redirectsarecostly References ^Discouragedaftera2019discussion. ^[1] ^[2] ^AnRfCclosedin2021foundMostusersbelievethatAfDshouldbeusedtosettlecontroversialorcontestedcasesofblankingandredirecting. 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