User talk:Certes/misdirected links

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Mononymic taxonomists

 – Certes (talk) 14:11, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Do you think it's worth rerunning our exercise of last year? I've fixed a dozen or so links to DAB pages since then, and I suspect that links to surname pages will also have accumulated. Narky Blert (talk) 16:39, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Narky Blert: Funnily enough, I was just thinking of you as I rounded up a couple of stray tetrahedra today. My rule of thumb is that I usually go fixing unless the errors are drowned in false positives. Maybe we should run a sample and see how many of the suspicious links we find actually require attention, then decide. Alternatively, we could look for surname links in other fields that have not yet been, er, harvested. I'm sure the likes of Murphy must have a long and varied career. Certes (talk) 17:09, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
...and while you're here: User talk:Certes/sandbox deserves to be at a more discoverable title. Certes (talk) 17:24, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The first 10% of surnames raised suspicions about 24 taxa, of which the genuine errors are:
I didn't include redirects to surnames, which are more tedious to analyse, so we could probably expect to check 400+ cases to catch 40+ errors if it's worth continuing. Certes (talk) 19:16, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
...nor did I check articles at the base name X where X (surname) exists, such as Abbey, or the other patterns we discussed last year. Certes (talk) 19:38, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: I've fixed the four above. As none of the links related to biologists (or any sort of person), I doubt that checking taxonomy articles for surnames would be more productive than performing similar checks on articles in general. Perhaps we should change tack and devise heuristics for identifying pages which have valid links to surnames, and investigate links from pages not in that category. A naive search isn't going to work: the first 79 surnames (0.1%) have over 13,000 incoming links, and I expect the vast majority to be false positives. Is it worth trying to devise something cleverer, or is our job done as well as it can be without excessive effort?
It's also highlighting a few dodgy redirects. For example, Acers should probably take the reader to dab Acer rather than to a chess player. I'd even consider retargetting to Maple, but the American Ceramic Society might justify diversion to the dab. Certes (talk) 13:54, 24 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Another unstructured thought: limiting to {{Surname}} rather than Category:Surnames shows far fewer links. Again I've worked through the first 0.1% (54 this time) and fixed ten errors. Legitimate links tend to be from other surname pages and dabs; excluding those might give us very few false positives. I checked redirects to other surnames but not redirects to individuals. I'm not sure how easy it would be to distinguish the two automatically. I don't think PetScan has any facility to say "follow the redirect and filter by characteristics of the target". We may have to ignore all redirects, at least for a first pass. Certes (talk) 17:16, 24 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Update for anyone watching: I still think that a general check for suspicious links to surnames would be productive and am keen to try it. However, the only efficient method I can think of requires PetScan, which is currently broken. Certes (talk) 20:10, 2 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: I've tried checking a few surnames manually but noticed a problem. A series of templates like {{Anthony}} appeared recently, each of which generates incoming links to surnames from hundreds of pages. That produces enough chaff to hide the wheat, and filtering it out seems difficult. I fear that this exercise may now be impractical even with PetScan. I can't quite do the job with Quarry either. Perhaps it's time to bite the bullet by downloading the relevant database tables and setting up a server at home, where I can create the extra tables and indices to make the query efficient, but it's a lot of traffic for data which will soon become outdated. Certes (talk) 12:14, 3 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Ha-hm, I have been thinking from time to time about User talk:Certes/sandbox and have been putting off doing anything about it.
I assume {{Anthony}} is related to {{Charles}} and the like, which I've recently been kicking off DAB pages over the long grass and into Row Z per MOS:DABICON.
IMO Acers should stay as it is, because it populates Category:Surnames. I'll worry about wikt:acer later, and those who think that 'acers' is the plural of 'maple' little at all; though some gnoming and hatnoting might be useful to get round possible confusion.
The mononym problem may be one for the too difficult box (a remarkable redirect; I've known about, and used, the too difficult pile since the 1980s). One possibility might be preliminary hydraulic analysis for mononymic footballers, just to see how bad the problem might be.
I floated an idea some time ago for a simple wrapper template around legitimate links to name pages, which could help with winnowing. I could dust it off if you're interested. Narky Blert (talk) 12:58, 3 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Charles and Anthony share an author. I'm not sure how many more there are but Category:Pages using sidebar with the child parameter suggests that they are prolific. I'm not sure how to mark legitimate links to name pages, or even how I would define "name page" rigorously. Certes (talk) 13:19, 3 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: I downloaded relevant database dumps and hacked them around. (I tried loading a replica database on my PC but that would have taken several days, plus more time to extract results, so I wrote a Perl script which runs in two hours.) I created User:Certes/Surname links listing about 1% of suspicious links. The full list is too long but I'll start working through it manually to get a feel for what further refinement is needed. Suggestions welcome. Certes (talk) 10:09, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Please forgive the monologue; it gets some thoughts straight and may be a useful reminder when repeating this task another year. Many of the links come via templates such as {{Settlements in Chikkamagaluru district}}, which I visited because Aadigere links to surname Hebbe rather than the redlinked settlement near Hebbe Falls. Its first line is a neat row of villages; the rest of the template seems to be an alternative to Special:Random. I've come across a lot of templates like that and I'm sure you have too. I think we need a preliminary step of identifying templates which link to surnames. Many of these will be relatives of {{Anthony}} or hybrids like {{Ulaid}}; the rest ought to be fixed. Then I think I need to enhance the search to identify templates which still do (and should) link to surnames, and eliminate articles which use those templates from our enquiries, leaving direct links only. That should filter out articles such as Áed Dub mac Suibni and reduce the to-do list considerably. I'm also finding a few targets like Costain where the surname's status as primary topic is debatable, and I can fix links intended for Costain Group in a single JWB pass. I'm also wondering whether there is any way to weed out correct statements such as Haughty Manor is the ancestral seat of the Rich family. We can probably ignore links to Foo (surname) or Foo (name) as intentional, but many surname pages are not so named. The surrounding text is not easily available to my search program. Certes (talk) 11:39, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Of the 3380 links from template to surname, about 95% are correct, such as {{Anthony}} → Toni. I'm fixing the rest (templates A–M done), several of which had many other mislinks. Eliminating articles which linked to those templates and using a few other heuristic filters leaves 22,000 suspicious links from articles to 11,000 surnames. Top surnames are Zunz 122, Orsini 101, Rothmans 100, Schoenberg 88, Rockefeller 76, Paintal 75, Pirandello 70, Rothschild 63 Cherubini 58, Patel 57. Some of these are quick bulk fixes: Leopold Zunz, Paintal (comedian), etc. I'll try to reduce the count to a manageable four figures so it can be worked on while I fix templates N–Z. Certes (talk) 11:31, 8 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've split off 433 articles with 2260 links to multiple surnames. These are a mixture of legitimate lists (The main surnames in Ruritania are...) and articles requiring detailed attention. The top 100 surnames, fixable in bulk, account for another 3,000 links. That still leaves 17,000 individual links. Judging from a small sample, most of those are actual errors. That list will be either a long-term project or, as suggested above, one for the too difficult box. Certes (talk) 21:43, 8 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: PetScan has reappeared, enabling me to split off the taxonomy section into User:Certes/Surname links. There are 100 of them. This is just links to articles and redirects marked as {{surname}}; there will be other cases.
There are indeed other cases; see e.g. Daeodon (one link to a DAB page, and two others screaming off the page as silly; I've bookmarked Cope and Marsh for attention).
A colleague, fellow programmer and occasional bridge partner, Graham Marsh, once got a flyer for one of those books of people with your surname. He replied that he was interested, but only if it contained information about his long-lost cousins Hackney and Romney. He never heard back. Narky Blert (talk) 15:58, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Last time round, I repeated the exercise with the qualifiers removed from the likes of Marsh (surname). Most results should now be the flora and fauna of actual marshes. The other main search I didn't repeat was links to redirects which are surnames. Again, these will mostly be false positives from genuine mononyms such as Linnaeus.
Print-on-demand books can be fun. One of my favourite ads was for "Rugby Line", with a cover picture of H-shaped goalposts and boasting "High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles!". It consisted of a printout of this article. Certes (talk) 16:38, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Cope had the verb (3, unlinked), a palaeontologist (3), a radio station (2) and a band (1). Marsh yielded only an insurance broker (1), but increased my knowledge of Scarce chaser, Unexpected cotton rat and Rubber frog. Narky Blert (talk) 13:58, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses In Between. Narky Blert (talk) 23:36, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: I finally got round to templates N–Z. Edits like this make me wonder how much value some of them have. (Wabo wasn't our best dab, but why link to a place thousands of miles away that doesn't even have an article?) I've left the Category:Karnataka district templates and several of maps like {{Syrian and Iraqi insurgency detailed map}} (18 surnames), which look like a gazetteer with square brackets added indiscriminately and might require WP:TNT. (Some of them don't exactly invite help.) Next, I think, are the wannabe mononyms such as Leopold Zunz. Certes (talk) 15:13, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Progress on commonly linked surnames such as Zunz has moved to User:Certes/misdirected links#Surnames. There may be some overlap with the taxonomy list at User:Certes/Surname links. Certes (talk) 16:20, 10 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Dara

 – Certes (talk) 14:05, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Dara looks like a potential mislinksink. Narky Blert (talk) 06:48, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Good new word! So far I have only looked at SIAs, including surname lists, and haven't considered Given names. Dara was an uneasy blend of name page and dab. I've removed the part that duplicates Dara (disambiguation), so readers who miss the hatnote don't think this is the dab. The bullets are a mixture of trivia, Wiktionary entries (In Telugu, Dara means "come") and name etymology which an anthroponymist should prune. Most mislinks were for Dara (Mesopotamia). Dara (Parthian city) was probably the same place, judging from ref 10 (written by Michael Weiskopf – any relation to the character you removed from eswiki?) Certes (talk) 10:08, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

And I wouldn't be surprised if every link to Kunsthalle could be made more specific. Narky Blert (talk) 10:00, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and I'm sure there are plenty more examples. I'm not sure how best to find them or where we draw the line. The Zoo opened in 1844 is a valid statement (ignoring the capitalisation quibble) even when it's obvious from the context that it was Berlin Zoo. Certes (talk) 10:08, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
IMO Kunsthalle should be a DAB page. If any explanation be needed, it could be dealt with inline, linking art gallery.
I've bookmarked Berlin Zoo and Berliner Tiergarten (nb different targets) for attention; people are more likely to reside in Tiergarten, Berlin. Narky Blert (talk) 16:39, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Berlin Zoo linked to 3 articles which used a wrong preposition, and to 1 where it was just wrong. Berliner Tiergarten was empty when I looked; I've retargetted it to Tiergarten, with the justification that de:Berliner Tiergarten is a DAB page. Narky Blert (talk) 07:21, 14 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I offer Menzies for your delectation. It had more placenames than the DAB page (which was among the see-alsos rather than as an {{other uses}} hatnote); I moved them out. (I'm just tripping over them today.) Talking of given names, have you looked at David? (Weiskopf/Weißkopf = Whitehead (or for the former, possibly Wiseman), and is a thoroughly respectable surname.) Narky Blert (talk) 11:31, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've not found any bad Davids. Do you have any examples to help me guess what to search for? There are 1,561 direct wikilinks, so checking them all is impractical. Certes (talk) 16:47, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A composer and a painter, knowing from experience that they're sometimes referred to by surname alone: Ferdinand David (musician) and Jacques-Louis David. Narky Blert (talk) 19:59, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
No obvious errors found. I hope someone is watching the page and got there before me. Certes (talk) 23:18, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Menzies is a SIA which I got around to last month: two for Robert Menzies and three for Menzies, Western Australia. I've now fixed all surnames with 6+ suspicious links; Menzies had 11, of which six were correct. (50% false positives is typical.) Certes (talk) 23:28, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Pinto had 5 bad links. Narky Blert (talk) 08:09, 16 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's odd: Pinto wasn't on my to-do list as I found no suspicious links. The errors you fixed, such as the link from List of Cercanías Madrid stations, should have appeared. Fixing everything is impractical and my aim was always to fix a decent proportion quickly, but perhaps I missed more than I thought. Certes (talk) 11:54, 16 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've just fixed a very recent bad link to Florida ({{dablinks}} was put on only this morning). I didn't have the stamina to look further. Narky Blert (talk) 08:18, 16 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There will be more but they may be hard to find. 1,680 articles link to Florida and mention Chile but a random sample of 20 are either clearly correct or plausible. I covered the reverse problem, fixing 150 links to the likes of Panama City, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida. South America will have other bad links, though I would expect fewer as local residents are more likely to make this sort of error and few South Americans edit enwp. I'll add Chile to the list, prime candidates being Caldera, Casablanca, Diego de Almagro, El Salvador, Freire, Gorbea, Hospital, La Laja, Lautaro, María Elena, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Quintero, Salamanca, San Antonio, San Clemente, Santo Domingo, Tierra Amarilla and Vicuña. Certes (talk) 11:54, 16 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Chile done: 20 articles, some with multiple links, but none for Florida. Certes (talk) 15:59, 16 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
South America now done: about 200 fixes, including a few for Florida, Uruguay. Certes (talk) 10:34, 18 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've just found a bus route in Queensland which terminates at Ipswich. Narky Blert (talk) 07:45, 18 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear. I fixed 63 of those but it seems that they are creeping back. Beware that the correct target may be Ipswich, Queensland; City of Ipswich or Ipswich (suburb), Queensland. In general, I am conscious that we are bailing out a ship without plugging its leaks. Certes (talk) 10:34, 18 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

At least the hole doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. On the DABfixing front, old hand NN has returned and is doing mighty deeds of valour: TDD Table 1 Column 2 is down almost 4,000 this month.

Have you tried this idea? Look for articles such as FizBuz categorised as {{given name}}/{{surname}} where there is a corresponding FizBuz (disambiguation) page which isn't a redirect. Narky Blert (talk) 14:28, 18 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Mansur Ali Khan is a versatile corpse - Lance Gibbs snaffled him in 1975, and he's currently playing for Karnataka. Narky Blert (talk) 09:49, 21 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. There are just 560 dabs with a given name at the basename and 461 for surnames (minus 10 also with given names and 82 I already checked), so that problem should be surmountable. Certes (talk) 18:58, 22 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I just worked through a few of the given names and it's proving productive. Abdul Malik alone had 20 bad links. I'll leave surnames until last, as I suspect I've already fixed most of the worst cases. Certes (talk) 20:42, 22 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A smaller number than I feared it might be, then; and looking attackable without getting ahold of the structs and pointers which bind them all together. Narky Blert (talk) 20:46, 22 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Not too many pages, but some are lots of work. Abdul Qadir and variants had 52 bad links, including the governor of Mascara. Certes (talk) 19:09, 24 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'm also finding quite a few links of the form [[Alexander|Suvorov]], possibly made in the hope that a pipe trick might be performed. This particular mistake is probably specific to given names. (Alexander the Great now has 38 more links.) Certes (talk) 00:27, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen several of those mispiped links when the target is a DAB page, including a couple I could make neither head nor tail of.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Category:Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles contains a number of horrors. At first glance, some of them should never have been converted. Narky Blert (talk) 13:53, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's a useful category, though not entirely accurate. It also highlights a few pages such as Chief of Army Staff which still seem to be in two minds. Certes (talk) 14:04, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've started working through those and am making some progress. A few such as Battle of Ypres are old sparring partners and I've already done what I can; the remainder refer to the battles as a group or need an expert. Bollworm also needs expert help, as does blackfish (anything dark and wet, even a dolphin, with few clues to the exact species). Update at User:Certes/misdirected links#Current and future work. Certes (talk) 15:19, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I wouldn't be surprised if bollworm is sometimes a mistake for boll weevil. Few if any cotton pickers had the education, time or inclination to study entomology.
Battle of Ypres should never be an SIA. There were five completely separate horrific assaults over five years over the same patch of mud. It should be a DAB page or an article; compare Battles of the Isonzo, Italy's calvary in WWI. Narky Blert (talk) 18:30, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've posted at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history#Battle of Ypres. Narky Blert (talk) 18:28, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proton may be worth a look. I fell by chance across a man who drives one, and on looking at the last 500 what-links-here (now clean) found another. Very few of the links need opening. Narky Blert (talk) 06:34, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is Arsenal on your list? Clean now, but I found two links relating to the football club (one of which was vandalism). Narky Blert (talk) 08:49, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proton done: 24 fixes. Arsenal is on the list but will accumulate more errors; one fixed today. The dab to SIA category is going well: two thirds done; 400 fixes so far. Thanks again for the ideas. Certes (talk) 12:42, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I imagine that Coventry, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and the like have collected bad links, where either one man has beaten a whole city, or a whole city has unloaded on eleven men. Those, like any instances where a skillful batsman scored a century even though a whole county was occupying the outfield, are probably of tertiary importance at best. They're not actively misleading.
Two that do worry me (though to the smallest possible extent) are City and Wednesday. In football-related articles, they're almost always going to be no more than mildly misleading MOS:OVERLINKs.
Links to days and months are more likely to be MOS:DATELINK violations - irritating, but basically harmless. This edit, in which I made a change-one-letter DABfix followed by -136 bytes removing 34 links to dates, is on the high side but by no means unprecedented. Narky Blert (talk) 20:29, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I thought about Liverpool a while ago and realised there would be others, but I think they would be almost impossible to find due to the habit of writing that each match was played at Anfield, Liverpool with the city linked as well as the ground. I've rechecked Wednesday and it still has no bad links. I just did a quick check for the EPL and Championship "X City" clubs but only found prose such as the City of Manchester rather than any footballers. Certes (talk) 21:53, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Among the elements, Krypton (planet), Lithium (pharmaceutical, song) and Neon (colour, fish, lighting) may be worth a look. Narky Blert (talk) 08:02, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks; I got about 150 fixes out of those. "Neon sign" isn't actually wrong but I think "neon sign" is an uncontroversial improvement. Did you know that Microsoft Edge is made of Chromium? Next stop is acts who played the Palladium. Who knows where other elements may lead? Certes (talk) 21:16, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A useful haul. Zero-length fixes which just involve moving brackets are both satisfying and annoying (that link was easier to get right than wrong...). Lead is often a misprint for led (IMO LED is fine, though probably worth checking; but led should point to the DAB page).
If you nicked a copper, you might get nicked by a copper. Silver and gold may also be worth of look - plenty of albums, songs and films. Nickel may have collected some small change. Some people unwisely inhabit Radium (do they decay?). Oganesson is unlikely to have attracted bad links, as yet. Narky Blert (talk) 09:02, 28 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Dollar has potential for dolour (to which I've just added the Wiktionary link). Narky Blert (talk) 09:10, 28 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Some good ideas there could be extended. There was a bot extending links (neon sign → neon sign, etc.) but it was stopped for producing false positives. I helped the typo team deal with lead/led a while ago, not limited to wikilinks. Copper is difficult and I did what I could with gold a while ago; I'll check silver. I fixed the most common errors in films etc. such as Avatar in my general "popular usage ≠ primary topic" check but there will be plenty I missed and some new ones. They may be attackable via capitalisation and punctuation: ''[[Gold]]'' may refer to a film, album or book rather than the element, and "[[Gold]]" to a song or TV episode. Certes (talk) 12:27, 28 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've cleaned and retargetted led. Mostly LEDs, but two links to a Yugoslav film (possibly NN). Narky Blert (talk) 21:26, 9 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A lowercase-f fiat will be either (a) a capitalisation error or (b) unlikely. Narky Blert (talk) 05:29, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I found just the four of those, compared with 60 ancient villages built by a ford. I've also driven Fiat out of our Index of law articles. Certes (talk) 11:23, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Capital-s Seat might turn up some unexpected links. Narky Blert (talk) 15:29, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Good spot: 10 fixed plus a Seat (Buttermere). There are many more howlers out there: currently fixing Dacia. Certes (talk) 16:30, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Inspired by fiat/ford supra. uc/lc looks like an easy-to-search productive technique for placenames, trademarks, creative works and more, in both directions. The rate-limiting step is waiting for a possibility to bubble up through the imagination.
Slightly to my disappointment, Camargue is clean. There was a letter in The Times when the car was launched - "Sir - I am disappointed that RR have named their new model after a French wetland. Could they not have instead patriotically chosen some British bog? Yrs, &c." Narky Blert (talk) 20:08, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Another one just did - capital-l Love. Narky Blert (talk) 20:13, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Also, Peace and Understanding, and Hate and War. Narky Blert (talk) 20:28, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Errors marked lowercase here are easy to fix: ford is always an error of some sort. Those marked uppercase are harder work: Apple may be an wayward iThing but is often a correctly linked fruit beginning a sentence or list item. Love falls into the second group: 187 appearances, of which the first 20 are all correct. Attacking Ford-like cases (where a proper noun at the base name has a widely used common noun homograph) should be productive, but I can't think of a systematic way to list them. Certes (talk) 21:37, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Faith and Hope, but not Charity. Two more which are likely to be correctly capitalised, but may be mislinked. Narky Blert (talk) 21:49, 29 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Capital-h Hook might catch something. Narky Blert (talk) 07:41, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Done: eight hooks of various types, including a template with 51 transclusions. I looked at Hope with my trawl of Flintshire (along with Flint and Mold). Certes (talk) 10:48, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Capital-b Bold might be worth the risk. Lowercased door, fence, gate and wall look impassible, but the uppercased versions might offer an opening. Narky Blert (talk) 11:59, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Uppercased Deer and Stag. Narky Blert (talk) 13:01, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The months (last 500 only) threw up two albums and a film, all redlinked; the expected collection of gnome-ready MOS:DATELINKs, MOS:DATEFORMATs and MOS:OVERLINKs; some redirect categorisation; and the observation that a truly remarkable number of editors link to months on their talk pages.

Cosmos had a TV series, a film, a town, a satellite, a DJ, a Transformers character, and a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine; but no footballers. All the false positives were lc; it might be worth running a uc check for what I've missed.

Another field of candidates for uc checks is biological common nouns such as (from the Felidae) Cat, Cats, Cougar, Leopard, Lion, Tiger and Wildcat. Narky Blert (talk) 16:21, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

And their plurals, for people who've played for the Lions, Tigers, Wildcats and so on. Narky Blert (talk) 07:15, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I already looked at Lions, Tigers (and Bears, oh my!). Singular Cat and Cougar have hundreds of mainly correct links but other suggestions above are done; about 70 fixes altogether. We drove away several Jaguars earlier. Certes (talk) 11:11, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Bulldogs, Wolves.
Many US sporting nicknames point to DAB pages. Some don't, and a few may be difficult.
NHL - Penguins, Avalanche, Lightning, Ducks, Flames, Hurricanes, Stars, Blues (St. Louis Blues itself is a perennial problem)
MLB - Twins, Angels, Braves (the reverse problem), Mets (also the reverse problem, and difficult-looking; possible typo for Metz, and vice versa), Phillies (probably not worth the effort), Pirates, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Dodgers (cf. Phillies), Padres (cf. Phillies)
NBA - Cavaliers, Hawks, Hornets, Heat, Thunder, Jazz (looks like too much hard work, editors are always capitalising the genre), Warriors, Rockets, Pelicans
NFL - Dolphins, Steelers (too difficult?), Titans, Broncos, Chargers, Eagles, Packers (probably not worth it), Vikings, Falcons, Saints (ouch), Buccaneers, Seahawks (I wouldn't be surprised if some aeroplanes have played for them)
Some of those could also pick up US college teams, and teams on other continents. Narky Blert (talk) 12:25, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
When I compiled this list, I looked through other candidates including the rest of the big four US sport leagues and did what I could. I just did a spot check for few names I don't recall checking; all I found was text like Hicksville High athletes are known as the Hornets which can safely be left alone. I may have missed some, especially if it's a nickname not contained in the team's article title but I'll take another look once the rugby's finished. Certes (talk) 12:38, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Mention of hornets (I was stung by one once, not recommended) reminded me of Hornussen. English-speakers need the voiceover; German-speakers need subtitles. It could be a fun Olympics demonstration sport. Narky Blert (talk) 18:49, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Cows turned up three instances of the band; but, disappointingly, no anchorage for the royal yacht.

In 2020, it's about time many of these longstanding {{R from plural}}s to PTOPICs were retargetted to the relevant DAB pages. Their aid to navigation is minimal; their potential to collect bad links is unlimited. Narky Blert (talk) 18:35, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. There have been a few debates about plurals such as Ospreys, for which 70% of incoming links were for the rugby club. When not busy with cows and cougars, Thick Records‎ also dealt with Catholic prelate Tom Daily, a redirect with an interesting history. Certes (talk) 18:53, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Well, yes. On a lighter note, when I first looked at Bishop Brennan, it was a redirect. Narky Blert (talk) 20:44, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Suitably dealt with, though the character may well be what 90% of readers are looking for. Certes (talk) 20:48, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I would dread one of those "but the pageviews!" PTOPIC debates. Episode now added to the DAB page; and Thick Records tagged for {{unreferenced}} and {{notability}}. Narky Blert (talk) 21:03, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Has anyone acted in Fudge? Narky Blert (talk) 13:47, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No, though Low Rider is allegedly covered by Fudge. I don't think it's The Fudge. I did fix a Hot Fudge. Certes (talk) 14:09, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Deleted as NN. How about Milk? Among other possibilities, people may have played or computer programs been written in it. Narky Blert (talk) 14:43, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A dozen fixed, mainly Milk (2008 American film). No programmers. See also #Italic links below. Certes (talk) 18:01, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There may be some miscasting in Opera. Narky Blert (talk) 11:42, 2 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Terrier/Terriers might be worth a sniff around. Narky Blert (talk) 10:20, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed a few dogs of war. Thanks for putting me onto the lead. Certes (talk) 10:57, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Greyhound/Grayhound might drive you round the bend. Narky Blert (talk) 13:05, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Hunting Deer, Fawn and Stag might yield a supply of Venison. Narky Blert (talk) 14:11, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Greyhound done, with many false positives as many teams with that mascot have a coach. The others had just one to turn into a redlink. Deer looks familiar. Certes (talk) 14:45, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Amen will have false positives. Narky Blert (talk) 15:10, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Done yesterday: just the one for Amen (Meek Mill song), which ranked 35th on my "italic A" mislink list. Avatar (2009 film) came top but I'd already done that one. Alpha Flight (comic book) required the most actual fixes (82). Certes (talk) 15:39, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Owl may be a hoot. (OWL points to the DAB page, and isn't an issue.) Narky Blert (talk) 15:44, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any sign of an infestation of Rat/Rats? Narky Blert (talk) 17:17, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

PH with that capitalisation might be worth a look. (I've just fixed a Ph, which redirects to the DAB page.)

Sabres for many years redirected to the weapon, but in 2018 an IP retargetted it to a hockey team. After discovering that several C19 military units had used the latter in combat, and that more recently an airforce had flown them, I decided that the DAB page was the best bet. Narky Blert (talk) 08:08, 4 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed several trivial typos for pH and a couple of PH domains. Anything with a {{lowercase title}} may be worth a look, especially if not followed by more lowercase text. For example, I restored Cisco IOS on a couple of routers which were running iOS, and retrieved a few apps from a Greek island. I need to look at the less famous dGH, nCUBE, p16, p21 and p53 which may have similar problems. Certes (talk) 13:01, 4 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
You might be able to get a couple from DISPLAYTITLE with a leading lc letter too.
Pagan isn't a proper noun, and shouldn't be capitalised - except, of course, in those instances on the DAB page where it is a proper noun. Narky Blert (talk) 13:44, 4 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've hatnoted eBay; intitle says there's no other likely source of confusion. Narky Blert (talk) 13:51, 4 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've sent several Pagans to Bagan or Pagan (island). Nothing on eBay going for a song, and very few {{lowercase title}} errors (one g-LOC, one iDEAL). Back to the italics next time I'm on here. Certes (talk) 15:01, 4 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I can be Paranoid about correct capitalisation. Narky Blert (talk) 12:29, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
All four capitalised links look correct, so our fears were unjustified.
That's what they want you to think. Narky Blert (talk) 13:43, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Italic and quoted links are a major task but I've completed those beginning with A having 150+ incoming links, which seems to be where returns start to diminish. I fixed about 480 articles, some with multiple links. That number would be higher had I not already checked most of the "A" given names, fixing overlap such as Amy → Amy (2015 film). I think it's time to move on to B next session, so I have set its database query running.
Great work! A stroke isn't always a seizure; that one could be very messy. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some unfortunate boating incidents. Narky Blert (talk) 13:37, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks but stroke is on my main list and errors usually refer to Stroke (engine). I was pleased to see only two new songs rated using a billboard since my last cull. Billboard (magazine) is linked from 71,282 articles, which may be a record for a target with an unrelated primary topic at the base name. Certes (talk) 13:43, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Hole/Holes may have openings. Narky Blert (talk) 13:58, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Just the one Hole, Norway (not to be confused with Hell, Norway). The most promising B italics are now cleared, with 270 fixes. That exercise seems to be going well and should fix close to 10,000 links in a month or so. Certes (talk) 22:03, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Monday turned up a remarkable amount of MOS:DATELINK and MOS:OVERLINK silliness, much of it related to Algerian football during WWII, but no bad links. I'll report back once I've looked at days 3-7 and 1.

I trust that you know that Dull is twinned with Boring? and the (possibly, but possibly not, apocryphal) story that in the 1980s, ICE successfully complained to Yellow Pages about the entry "Boring - see Civil Engineers"? Narky Blert (talk) 21:21, 6 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently it's true: [1]. Fortunately, Dull, Boring and Bland are dabs. Sadly, there are more italic errors than I thought: I'd missed cases like Black Magic meaning Black Magic (1944 film) where the former is a redirect. This is going to be productive but it's a long-term job. Certes (talk) 01:26, 7 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
uc Mallard/Mallards might reveal some unexpected proficiencies of these versatile birds, as might Crow/Crows and Gull/Gulls. Narky Blert (talk) 11:30, 7 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The crow is an intelligent creature. It traded wisely with early Americans, and made sophisticated weapons when attacked. Certes (talk) 13:05, 7 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It looks too much work to look for the sound which crows don't make.
Even non-supernatural crows can be tool users.
Another trickster was Coyote. Narky Blert (talk) 14:16, 7 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Chain/Chains may have some bad links. Narky Blert (talk) 08:55, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
And lc spock some illogical ones. Narky Blert (talk) 14:01, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I fixed a few Chain links. No spocks found. Certes (talk) 14:30, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Narky Blert: What would you do with Ave Maria? The links are mainly about the classical song which gets a brief mention at the end of the prayer article. I don't see any for Beyoncé's. Leave alone as not actually wrong? Certes (talk) 14:41, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'll have a look, and probably do some {{dn}}-tagging. The Bach/Gounod and the Schubert are equally famous. Narky Blert (talk) 14:47, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've done all I'm going to do today, because of the risk of permanent psychological damage from listening to some of the YouTube clips. I should be able to clear the lot either that way or by {{efn}}s; {{dn}}s are the WP version of Hail Marys. One article had a link to Ellens Gesang III by Charles Gounod; I edited WP:BOLDly.
Unfortunately, I can't find the clip. When Barry Manilow came out, it was a filler item on PM. It was immediately followed by a brief report from a North American wildlife expert about bears, and another by the BBC's Vatican correspondent about the Pope. Narky Blert (talk) 18:14, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
All done. 3 were correct; the rest were roughly 2:1 Schubert:B/G, with a smattering of oddities.
This recording of B/G is a historical document. It's thought to be the only recording by one of the Papal castrati (who was getting on a bit, and may never have been among the best).
I came across "Granada" and "Lolita" in my travels; they and "Valencia" might be worth a look. "Lolita" isn't solve-at-sight, and may require aural comparisons. Narky Blert (talk) 10:52, 9 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I looked at two of those last month. Valencia, Carabobo gained 33 links. Granada had 48 errors, mainly for ITV Granada but a few for Granada, Nicaragua and Grenada. Red palm mite could do with another pair of eyes. I'm not sure we can do much with Lolita short of checking all 400+ links. Certes (talk) 01:40, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Lolita turned up a handful of adaptations, another NN song (twice), a record label, and a mention of the name as-such. The Granada I found was the song. Are you sure you meant red palm mite? Narky Blert (talk) 11:08, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Red palm mite has a link to Granada which clearly should lead somewhere else, probably Grenada, but the source says Granada. I've worked through Lolita in full and made a few fixes. There remain a few links for the general concept of a girl wooed by a man, notably redirect Nymphette, but I can't find better place to target them. Certes (talk) 11:44, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've boldly amended the location in red palm mite, with a supporting footnote.
There's also Lolita (term), though as written it's somewhat prepubescent. If you want to check for places where that target might be appropriate, search for Lolita without italics.
Wiktionary gives wikt:nymphet as a more common variant of wikt:nymphette, and nymphet redirects to Lolita (term). IMO nymphette should redirect there as well. Narky Blert (talk) 15:00, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Landscape may have collected some blots; it lacked the {{other uses}} hatnote. Narky Blert (talk) 16:00, 8 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Rainbow may need some light attention. Narky Blert (talk) 10:34, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

By George, you're right. I zipped through the links with a telltale capital but only found one bungle. Certes (talk) 12:49, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Rain, Frost, Hail, Snow and Ice all consist of Water, and are often associated with Storms. (Sleet is a DAB page.) Narky Blert (talk) 11:12, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done, including a few orchids rescued from frost. Redirect Frosts is interesting: probably this place. Certes (talk) 16:59, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I couldn't find any indication of Frosts, CA on any map; it's halfway down an unnamed cul-de-sac; it surely fails WP:NGEO. I cleaned up the 5 inlinks, and retargetted to the DAB page. Narky Blert (talk) 18:17, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Have you checked Reading since that misguided move in 2018? Narky Blert (talk) 16:41, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reminder. Berks caused another 57 bad links since my last visit in August. Certes (talk) 17:33, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It must be hard living in Granite. Narky Blert (talk) 17:49, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All seem correct, though I fixed a couple of links to SIA Granite Peak. Returning to the section heading, Dara and related pages have been on the move. Certes (talk) 12:47, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A selective search on Eve +music/rap/hip hop/album/etc. might bear fruit; cf. Sporty Thievz. Narky Blert (talk) 12:53, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Links to Quartz may not as transparent as they should be. Narky Blert (talk) 07:11, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You can tick Cherenkov off on your surname list (4 links). Narky Blert (talk) 13:40, 26 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I had those four down as the only suspicious links. (I generally only got around to fixing surnames with >5 suspicious links.) Certes (talk) 13:58, 26 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The main problem with Cherenkov was adding two missing FTMs and a pile of PTMs, which made fixing the links easy. Looking for slates of candidates doesn't look worth the effort, but Slate might have some markings to be erased. Narky Blert (talk) 13:17, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I fixed links to Slate (magazine) a while ago, but several mobiles now come with retro surfacing (chalks not included). Certes (talk) 13:57, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There might be something obscured by Smoke. Narky Blert (talk) 14:58, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt there'll be much (other than miscapitalisation of the common noun), but I've just picked up a bad link to Hyena by eyeball. Narky Blert (talk) 07:03, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Links to Stingray may be fishy (or not). Narky Blert (talk) 11:56, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sword of Honour had 5 obviously bad links-in, 3 of them implausible military awards. Narky Blert (talk) 16:41, 2 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Smoke, Hyena and Stingray done; thanks. Sword: seven fixed for the 2001 film (based on the trilogy). David Case (British officer) and William Nott received awards on which we have no article: unlink? Certes (talk) 17:19, 2 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Case bluelinked (new redirect, my 2nd on that DAB page) and referenced. I found 2 others like Nott, and {{dn}}ned them; I think the military section could be expanded into a WP:BCA. Narky Blert (talk) 10:12, 3 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can a Hero crack a Smile? Narky Blert (talk) 09:46, 3 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Will Acorn drive you nuts? Narky Blert (talk) 08:27, 5 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Some links to Gazette might need to be gazetted as The Gazette. Narky Blert (talk) 11:43, 5 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All done. There were several Gazettes. I missed that one on my newspaper trawl, as the link magnet refers to gazettes in general rather than being an SIA. Certes (talk) 12:37, 6 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
SIAs on random things which happen accidentally to share the same name are a really bad idea. See e.g. Democratic Party and Category:Set indices on populated places in Russia. Narky Blert (talk) 19:47, 6 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes; I seem to recall that we already have a type of page for things which happen accidentally to share the same name, and we refrain from linking to it. Certes (talk) 20:09, 6 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

While spleen-venting at Talk:Whitehorse, Yukon#Requested move 3 December 2020, I looked briefly at white horse. As well as Whitehorse, Australia, I quickly found White Horse and The White Horse... It's getting towards the end of my shift, and I've still got ten "Whi-"s to look at. Narky Blert (talk) 16:30, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

At least Whitehorse no longer redirects to White horse, as it did until August (history). Certes (talk) 13:30, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

TELEGRAM POSSIBLESOURCE BADLINKS STOP Narky Blert (talk) 11:12, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

29 fixed. Apparently Telegram (software) is a thing. Certes (talk) 13:30, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Dark may cause more problems than Light, and Darkness and Lightness may not have been properly separated. Narky Blert (talk) 14:13, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed Dark this very day, having found it in a rich vein of qualified titles amongst our most viewed articles. (Dark (TV series) ranked 97th in August). I made a few other edits but the main problem here is overlinking: few readers would be surprised to learn that Ludlam's Beach Light produces light. Certes (talk) 15:29, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
MOS:OVERLINK contains sage advice for editors who think that the more bluelinks, the better. Narky Blert (talk) 22:04, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Some articles may contain links which are Bull. I've just found an {{infobox musical artist}} with |genre= metal. Narky Blert (talk) 09:24, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Vatican clearly played a major role in bovine husbandry, and I found several more musical(?) metallurgists. I wonder if terms such as Industrial metal should have a hatnote to somewhere: Metalworking, perhaps? Certes (talk) 22:42, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think industrial metal is a term of art(?); but we have ESL readers, so I've added a hatnote. Narky Blert (talk) 04:51, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Victor is a DAB page, but Victory isn't. Narky Blert (talk) 08:46, 26 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Some people may have caught Anthrax at a gig. Narky Blert (talk) 13:25, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Articles may contain Grave errors, though the LC ones may be tedious to find. (If I'd spotted this two days ago, I could've quoted 1 Cor 15:55.) Narky Blert (talk) 14:49, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No Anthrax but I found a few mentions of Grave, Netherlands. Certes (talk) 18:24, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Anthrax gets patrolled via User:GoingBatty/misdirected links. (See also User:GoingBatty/Backlinks.) Certes (talk) 18:26, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021

HNY. Raphael has had a very varied posthumous career; searching wouldn't be easy, but looking for articles which also mention ninja or song might throw up something. Narky Blert (talk) 10:40, 3 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Done, including his prenatal career as an archangel. The singers were tricky; as well as the obvious Spaniard there's a Japanese band and a Frenchman. Certes (talk) 13:45, 3 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I found the Spaniard singing a duet with a DABlink, and also fixed the two DABlinks in eswiki.
A Chrysalis may not always contain a pupa. Narky Blert (talk) 09:19, 4 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Quoting the Duchess - Pig! Narky Blert (talk) 17:44, 7 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Welcome back! Just one of each, but I'll add Chrysalis with a capital to the daily watchlist. Certes (talk) 18:49, 7 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Now back with a fully-functional keyboard, few cookies (hurrah!), and few booklinks (it looks a better idea to rebuild than to import 6yrs-worth of junk, easy though that would be).

Stream may be a problem - wet music and videos, and so on. Narky Blert (talk) 11:40, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Having just fallen across [[Córdoba|Cordoba]] [[House]] and corrected it to Cordoba House, it might be worth checking other links to house - some may moonlight as DJs. Narky Blert (talk) 20:39, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Stream, and Victory which I'd overlooked (many winged figures; no ships). There are a few Houses but most lack articles or even plausible redirects for the specific building. Smith lived at Humdrum House is WP:OVERLINKed but there's no better target. House (TV series) and the United States House of Representatives are also popular targets. It may be worth keeping an eye on. Certes (talk) 21:45, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

About 450 of the 750 mainspace links to Commonwealth referred to the Commonwealth of Nations. That's disappointing, as I fixed another 200 in October 2018. I'm working through them (done A–F and about to retire for the day). The other 300 are split across the concept of commonwealth, local shorthand for Commonwealth of Australia, Commonwealth of Massachusetts etc. (which I've not changed) and occasionally Commonwealth of England or the Commonwealth Games. I wonder if the dab should move to the base name. Certes (talk) 23:26, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The pageviews say wrong WP:PTOPIC - though I personally would prefer to see the DAB at the basename. The Commonwealth might be worth a quick look. Narky Blert (talk) 08:36, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The argument would have to be no WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT, though it doesn't always win. Arguments in WP:RM debates are often poorly based, and weighed. Narky Blert (talk) 08:40, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Half of the 750 were for the Commonwealth, about 10% for Commonwealth (U.S. state) and 10% for sundry articles. Commonwealth is now down to 184 links, for either the concept or topics such as Commonwealth of Australia which might not make a better target. A handful are cryptic and would get a {{dn}} if the target were a dab. I've just raised an RM to put the dab at the base name, as this is a less disruptive change and I'm not sure there's a primary topic. Certes (talk) 01:06, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Complacency is all I ask." Narky Blert (talk) 22:16, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've just found an actress portraying the role of Lydia in an Indian TV series. Narky Blert (talk) 11:50, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Done; a dozen fixes for different targets. Certes (talk) 01:06, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Have you looked at Eagle? Narky Blert (talk) 12:16, 13 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The plural is on my list due to the Philadelphia Eagles, and I fixed one for Eagles (band) this very morning. The singular is usually "their mascot is the Eagle" or similar (with an Important Capital) but there were a few for Eagle (British comics), EAGLE (program) and non-notable uses. Certes (talk) 13:17, 13 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Eli Cohen checked (after I found him managing a football team post mortem). Narky Blert (talk) 09:01, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just one film appearance and one engineer. Shared full names are a whole new can of hornets. Certes (talk) 11:23, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Enemy may be another nest of worms. Narky Blert (talk) 13:35, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
It was. I've also repatriated several dozen secular icons to the cultural, pop and computing fields as part of a final trawl through known losers. Once I reach Z, the daily report should catch new errors. Certes (talk) 22:27, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Did you know that in Queensland, Harps play Gaelic football? Narky Blert (talk) 12:09, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I think you got them all. Nothing for Harps GAA either, just a redlinked association football team in the Hong Kong FA Cup. Certes (talk) 15:37, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The latest horror was knots, where almost 100 of the 108 links to tied rope referred to ship speed. I've boldly retargeted it to the dab. Certes (talk) 15:37, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No waders? Narky Blert (talk) 08:48, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
No; nor any timber imperfections. Obscure uses are doubly rare; not only are there fewer links but editors are more likely to realise that they are not a PT. (I'm also watching Duck, but mainly for cricketing failures.) Certes (talk) 12:54, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Have you watched any broadcasts on Fox? Narky Blert (talk) 08:48, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Plenty, and the labyrinth of past and current media companies using that name can be confusing. I think Fox is the only target on both my daily check list and GoingBatty's. For repeat offenders, I've occasionally resorted to pointy edit summaries such as "unlink furry animal". Certes (talk) 12:54, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by." IMO the plural should target the DAB page. Capitalised Gentleman may also be worth a look.

I think it was Jonathan Miller who asked whether "Gentlemen lift the seat" was a definition or an instruction. Narky Blert (talk) 08:56, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The singular had several links for Gentleman (musician) and the perennial Indian films. If there's no comma then I reckon it's a definition. Certes (talk) 14:28, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Did you know... that Asia, Barman and Tuna are villages in Aurangabad district, Bihar? Certes (talk) 01:10, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Those are new to me, but I did know that Batman is in Turkey. Finding those three was a Virtuoso performance. Narky Blert (talk) 14:59, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

An anecdote, which I have every reason to believe to be true; it seems too specialised to have been made up. It was once the tradition that a retiring colourist in a dye works - a highly skilled working-class professional - would sell his recipe book to his successor or his employer; as a sort of freelance pension fund, in the same way as a partner in a firm of lawyers might sell his share in the partnership. So it was this old boy's last Friday, and the directors explained to him that it didn't work that way any more, and that his book was the property of the company. "Ah well, I don't suppose you'll be needing these then", gave the book over, and emptied his desk drawer out of the window.

Come Monday, a new order for a batch of cloth dyed Red 42 came in. Recipe, by weight - "2 large grey stones of this, 4 blue stones of that, 1 small grey stone of the other". Men in bespoke suits were scrabbling on their hands and knees in the flowerbed. Narky Blert (talk) 16:59, 24 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thinking around the subject, I was idly wondering if perhaps a TV series has been set in Stone; and then I thought of Stones, which strikes me as a wildly bad redirect which should instead target Stone (disambiguation). (The Stones is already a DAB page.) Narky Blert (talk) 20:58, 24 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Does that make Stone (unit) ambiguous? All links to stones look good, and I found none to Stones, but it is an error waiting to happen. Certes (talk) 21:44, 24 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've added lead to User:Narky Blert/Wikipedia:WikiProject Bad bluelinks#New investigations as a test case. There's a draft Archive at User:Narky Blert/Wikipedia:WikiProject Bluelink patrol/Archive. Comments/tweaks welcome. Narky Blert (talk) 06:36, 26 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Italic links

 – Certes (talk) 16:55, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've embarked on a lengthy exercise of identifying bad links to films, etc. It won't catch them all but should systematically identify certain types of error. The method is as follows:

  1. List titles with many incoming links which might be expected to be in italics and do not have a dab or italicised title at the base name, e.g. Abraham Lincoln (1930 film) (the base name being occupied by the obvious topic). A SQL query does this one initial at a time.
  2. Search for links to the page at the base name which are in italics and may be intended for the qualified name, e.g. linksto:"Abraham Lincoln" insource:/[^']''\[\[Abraham Lincoln\]/ (the [^'] preventing bold text from matching).
  3. Fix the errors with AWB or manually.

This technique seems to be going well. I'm limiting to articles with many incoming links (a threshhold of 200 feels right) to make the task finite. It can also be applied to songs etc. with "quotes" instead of apostrophes. Certes (talk) 18:01, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I thought this looked a really good idea as soon as you suggested it. You might be able to catch a few more by looking for curly quotes and apostrophes as well. Some editors mistakenly think that „“, “”, „”, ‘, ′ and so on format properly. ProTip: they don't. There's also «» for European imports. Narky Blert (talk) 18:58, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
You may also encounter, cases where editors have seen fit to employ, italics or other methods of distinction, in something of an 18th Century manner. It is also alas! frequent that such editors are very fond of the comma, whether or not, its use be justified.
(My hypothesis is, that one of the earliest English settlers in North America desired to establish a press with moveable type, and ordered supplies from Britain. Unfortunately, the "u"s had been cast of poor metal, the barrel which contained them was insecurely stowed for the transatlantic passage, and they shattered. Thriftily, he omitted "u" from every word where it could be left out, and used the broken fragments as extra commas.) Narky Blert (talk) 19:31, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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