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 Wikipedia: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:
|
'''John Foo''' may refer to: *[[John Foo (politician)]], Australian Prime Minister {{disambig}} |
- When saved, will look like:
|
John Foo may refer to:
 |
- Wikipedia: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)