User:Andrewa/the Search Wikipedia box
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: There's a box on most pages labelled Search Wikipedia which I use for finding the article I want when I don't know its exact name.
However some editors object to what this does being called a search, etc.. I try not to clutter talk pages with such discussions. |
In that all pages belong to the whole project, any user may edit this one. But it's generally more helpful (and polite) to discuss the proposed change on its talk page first.
I used to refer to the box labelled "Search Wikipedia" (see here) as the "Search Wikipedia box" or just the "search box" for short. It makes sense to me to call it that. I use it regularly for searching for an article I want, it's by far the most common way for me to find an article in fact.
But some Wikipedians find this confusing. They say it's not really a "search" box but a "go to" box or something like that. They point out, correctly, that it can also be used when I do know the exact name, and seem to somehow conclude that this is its proper use, so it's not really a Search box despite its label.
Like Quine on what "exists", I can't be bothered arguing. It generally has absolutely no bearing on what is being discussed, but is a pure distraction.
Watch this space.
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- On purists and purism for an off-this-wiki essay by the same author