User:NapoliRoma/Repaired dab pages

(NOTE: This page is kind of pointless -- the prefatory material is now summed up more effectively by WP:DDD, I don't keep the below list of pages up to date any more, and what really was its purpose anyhow?)

Dab page detangling in a nutshell, as I read WP:MOSDAB:

A dab page is not an article; it's really more like a multi-destination redirect. Content goes in articles, not dab pages.
No external links.
- "Disambiguation pages disambiguate Wikipedia articles, not the World-Wide Web."
Each entry will usually link to an article with a similar name to the ambiguous term, but the disambiguated term can sometimes be a redlink or can even not itself be a link at all:
- Redlink: WP:MOSDAB says only if the redlink also appears on another WP page. I'm flexible here: if the link has possibilities, I'll leave it in.
- Unlinked: if it's a reasonable synonym for an existing page or section of a page. Think of this type of entry as a substitute for the redirect that would exist if this weren't an ambiguous term.
In any case, the line should have exactly one navigable link, which in order of preference should be to:
- the article about the term;
- an article that mentions the redlinked/unlinked term; or,
- an article that could reasonably be expected to someday mention the redlinked/unlinked term.
  - "Reasonable": Joe Doaks, a Tuvan throat singer
    - It's a pretty specific topic, and one of some potential interest to the person looking for that particular Joe Doaks.
  - "Unreasonable": Joe Doaks, a Canadian singer
    - How likely is it that the main article on Canada will list all its singers? Will the person looking for info on Joe Doaks really be interested in reading about Canada instead?

If I can't find any of the above, I'll usually comment out the line rather than deleting it outright, and include a note that the link's notability is in question and there's no reasonable WP target link. (The Right Thing to do in the "reasonable" case would be to also add the term to the target article, but I do have a day job that they pay me for and everything.)

Include the minimum material necessary; dab pages aren't for learning, they're for routing. Again, a dab page is not an article.
- Duplicating material found elsewhere makes it harder to maintain.
- Hint: the content for an entry can be and probably should be the tersest possible condensation of the target article's lede. Some entries don't even need that: "Free" (Chicago song) says everything that needs to be said.
No pipes, especially not "pipe tricks" (hiding the parenthesized disambiguating term).
- Exception: if the navigable link for a redlink or an unlinked term is to an article section, then you should use a pipe to hide the section name.
- Exception: formatting. Titles of works, ships, etc. may need to have portions be appropriately quoted or italicized, but the text of the printed result should be identical to the article title.
  - Example: USS Enterprise (1775) is the appropriately formatted pipe for USS Enterprise (1775)
Don't bold or italicize entry words (except as appropriate for titles, as above).
Entries should be clauses, not entire sentences, and should not end in periods.

Even pithier:

Make the page short, simple and useful; help the user move on to the right page.

The pages[edit]