Disambiguation pages with links

Shortcut:
WP:DPL

A disambiguation page should not have many pages linking to it. These pages are not articles. They are there to clarify and help readers in cases where there are two or more topics with a similar name. For example, if two or more famous people have the same name, a disambiguation page helps the reader find the article they want. Ideally, article pages should not link to disambiguation pages, except when the ambiguity (many meanings) of a term is being described. Instead, links should go directly to the right article. Where an article links to a disambiguation page on purpose, that link should be through a [[Foo (disambiguation)]] redirect, to make it clear that the link is on purpose. Links from namespaces other than articles are allowed, but still may need to be disambiguated. Redirects to disambiguation pages are not considered to be within the article namespace for purposes of this guideline.

How to help

  1. First, please read over Wikipedia:Disambiguation, which tells you how and when to disambiguate. It might also be a good idea to look at the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style for disambiguation pages. The guidelines are mostly the same on this wiki.
  2. Next, choose a disambiguation page to fix from the list on this page. Visit the disambiguation page you have chosen. Take a look at all the pages listed on it to see what they describe.
  3. Click on the What links here link in the "toolbox" on the left side of the screen.
  4. Visit each page that is listed. The most important pages to fix are article and template pages. User pages and "Wikipedia:" pages probably do not need to be fixed. Please do not change comments on talk pages—this is usually not allowed by the talk page guidelines. It's okay for redirects to point to a disambiguation page, but articles linking to those redirects need to be fixed.
  5. Change the link that goes to the disambiguation page so that it links to the right meaning listed on the disambiguation page.
  6. To help people find this page (so that they might help), consider using a change summary like:
    Fixing links to disambiguation pages - [[Wikipedia:Disambiguation pages with links|You can help!]]
  7. Please remember: it is more important to disambiguate correctly than to disambiguate quickly. Make sure you make the best choice; if you're not sure, leave a note on the talk page and let someone else who knows the subject better fix it.
  8. Sometimes, links can just be removed. Usually, a word should not be linked more than once in a single article or section. When the link refers to a meaning of the word for which there is no relevant article, make a red link to a possible title. If the meaning is not likely to be an enyclopedic subject, you might want to remove it or replace it with a link to [[:|Wiktionary]], using the shortcut [[]].

Tools and reports

Several automated tools can be used to make disambiguation easier. The English Wikipedia also has a guide to help you fix links more efficiently. All of the following tools work on Simple Wikipedia:

Toolforge reports:

Other statistics and lists: