Talk:Wiaa

Do we really want this deleted?

This shortcut was deleted earlier this month. While I agree that there shouldn't be any cross-namespace redirects, I think legacy shortcuts such as this one should be kept (while discouraging their future use; a relevant discussion is here), because they may have accumulated a lot of incoming links in their lifetime. This one currently has 247, which are easy to replace in editing space, but what about countless past edit summaries linking it? Vidimian (talk) 01:57, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

I would support its deletion, but I don't think a speedy was the right port of call. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 02:00, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

@LPfi: See above. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 04:49, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

I don't support deletion, as this redirect was created in 2007, is useful, and couldn't possibly be confusing, as far as I can tell, or be a destination article. Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:07, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

@Ikan Kekek: It wouldn't be confusing for us, but cross-namespace redirects can confuse bots and other pagetools. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 05:07, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

What are the bad effects of that? Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:27, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

WP:CNR has a summary of both the positives and negatives of cross-namespace redirects (CNRs). The main argument against CNRs is this:

CNRs are bad because they result in a person (reader) walking around a museum (encyclopedia) and falling through a trapdoor into a staff-only area (project space) because the curators (editors) thought secret doors and false floors would be useful for them to get around.

Replace encyclopedia with travel guide and the same concept applies here. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 06:50, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

If that's all, I continue to oppose deletion for the reasons I stated before. Someone who types "wiaa" in the search window and accidentally gets to a page is not thereby victimized. Ikan Kekek (talk) 07:45, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

I have sympathy with the well-established argument and I agree that an unlocked staff door isn't the end of the world. Deleting them all would be the clean way, but pragmatism is often sometimes better. If bots get confused, then those bots should be fixed; it's not that this is the only wiki where such redirects exist. I have no strong opinion on this one as of now. –LPfi (talk) 07:53, 28 March 2024 (UTC)