Talk:Yale (disambiguation)

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This page previously redirected to Yale, which was set up as a disambiguation page. I have now made Yale a redirect page for Yale University, as the vast majority of links to it seem to be for the university; it also seems likely that the greatest part of people typing "Yale" in the search box would be wanting to see the article on the university. The contents of Yale have now been copied and pasted to here. (Silverhelm 18:47, 24 August 2005 (UTC))

Yale is a name that could refer to many places or other schools... Yale should thus redirect here (much like Princeton redirects to a disambiguation page), as any other decision would bias Yale University above the other worthy Wikipedia destinations. In the future, users will no longer have a difficult time finding their "Yale" destination of choice.

It's hardly difficult to follow the disambig link atop the "Yale University" article. PRRfan 12:32, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree that it's fairest to just have it link to the disambiguation page. It's hardly difficult to find Yale University in that list. We should not prejudice Wikipedia in favor of the university over articles on locations and other schools solely because Yale has well-off alumni. Wikipedia is a democratic encyclopedia. NYC5

I'm not sure how pointing "Yale" to the university article is "prejudicing" Wikipedia. If most people who search for "Yale", are, in fact, seeking the university article, then we clearly reduce the total amount of work done by pointing "Yale" to the university article (because more than half the searchers are relieved of the burden of clicking from the disambig page, while less than half incur the additional work of clicking to the disambig page, then away from it). This, of course, begs the question of whether more than half are indeed looking for the university page. Anyone know whether that's knowable? PRRfan 06:11, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

We should err on the side of fairness and logic. Princeton also redirects to a disambiguation page, even though it is likely most people searching for Princeton are indeed searching for that internationally-renowned university. NYC5

No one has yet demonstrated that pointing Yale away from the university page serves either fairness or logic. The arguments advanced so far -- that it is somehow difficult to find a disambig page, that Yale's "well-off alumni" have something to do with Wikipedia links -- fall rather short. Let's try this: given an ambiguous search term, under what circumstances would you condone a redirect? PRRfan 08:37, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Is there a way to see how many hits each of the pages listed on the disambig page actually gets? I am somehow pretty sure that the university page gets the vast majority. If that is the case, there is no reason why a search for Yale should take one to the disambiguation page instead of the university page. If one followed this policy, there would be far too many disambiguation pages coming up as search results. Quite honestly, if somebody types in "Vienna," chances are, he is looking for information about the Austrian capital, not about a town in Virginia. Levan 17:34, 07 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Need to Maximize Efficiency and Fairness

Certainly, many people who simply enter "Yale" into Wikipedia are searching for Yale University, but just as many are looking for Princeton University when they type "Princeton". It is trivial for those people looking for Yale University to select the correct option from the Yale disambiguation page, but it is unfair to claim that the countless others who are looking for the other pages containing Yale should have to first wade through information on the university. Yale refers to numerous locations, corporations (including Yale Lock Company), and organizations, and it is unfair for us to claim that all of these should have to deal with the inconvenience of using a directory when searchers are too lazy to type full names into Wikipedia, whereas the lazy seekers of Yale University who type merely "Yale" should have it any easier.

Just take a look at what links here for Yale. What you will find it that nearly all of the references are for the University. While you may have some opinion about such readers being too lazy to type in the full name, that is really not relevant. If the most common referrent for Yale is the University, that is where the redirect should go. older ≠ wiser 03:41, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Bkonrad, you have missed the fundamental tenet of the argument of Allison983 above and taken issue with a side point.

As of now, there has been no verification offered that Yale University is the most common referrent of "Yale" for users of Wikipedia. All arguments for linking directly to Yale University are premised on this, but until someone offers specific verifiable evidence we cannot simply make this assumption. Just as in case of "Princeton" there are many other articles that individuals might be seeking when they enter "Yale" into a Wikipedia search box other than the University. Until clear statistical evidence of the unverfied claims is offered, Wikipedia should continue to link to the disambiguation page. NYC5 29 October 2006

I offered a method, look at what links here. Count up how many are for the university and how many are for other purposes. It's not perfect, but it will give you a rough idea. Another rough indicator is Google. Out of the first fifty results for "Yale" only five were not directly or indirectly associated with the university. That's about 10%, which is not insignificant. I'm not adamant that Yale has to redirect to the University. But if the university is not the primary topic for "Yale", then standard practice dictates that Yale (disambiguation) should be moved to Yale rather than having Yale redirect to the disambiguation. I suggest putting this on Wikipedia:Requested moves and allow for more community input. older ≠ wiser 12:32, 29 October 2006 (UTC)