Talk:Pallas (disambiguation)

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I don't understand the assertion that numbers are more useful than bullets in this disambiguation page. What is the useful meaning of the fact that an obscure British rock band is numbered "4" whereas an asteroid discovered two centuries ago is numbered "5"? What useful information does "4" give us? I've changed them so that they may be closer to chronological, but even now, someone my insert another meaning of the word Pallas between the 4th and 5th, so that the one that was 5th becomes 6th. What useful information comes from knowing that it's 5th in the list, when next week it could become 6th as a result of some unrelated topic getting listed there? Michael Hardy 17:52, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I find it interesting to know, when I read a disambiguation page, how many definitions there are, and see know reason I (or anyone else) should have to count them when we have this handy Wiki shorthand for creating ordered lists. It's not critical information, I'd agree, but it's interesting to know, it's trivial to do, and it impacts readability of the page not in the slightest.

Moreover, I think the items should be listed in order of significance (or popularity, or something similar), rather than chronology - this is how most disambiguation lists are ordered. That said, I have no specific objection to the current order in this article. -mhr 00:15, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)

In some cases, order of significance may be the best way, especially when the different meanings of the word are unrelated (in some cases -- lot's of cases, actually -- people have written about very much related meanings of a word while apparently thinking they were altogether unrelated; convention, for example, and many others). In other cases, the earlier meanings can explain the later one, so chronology is edifying.

No argument there. In many cases, chronology and significance may be the same, or nearly so. -mhr 01:51, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)