ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:Hatnote

For hatting an unproductive discussion, see Template:Hat.

Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article (hence the name "hat"), normally to help readers locate a different article they might be looking for when they arrived at the article in which the hatnote is placed (this may happen because of redirects, because the article they are looking for uses a more specific, disambiguated title, or because its name is otherwise similar to that of the article with a hatnote). They accomplish this by providing links to the article in question or to a disambiguation page.

For more information about methods of disambiguating articles, see Wikipedia:Disambiguation.

Format

In most cases, hatnotes should be created using a standard disambiguation template (as illustrated below). This permits the form and structure to change uniformly over time. Currently, each note should be italicized and indented, without a bullet before the item. A horizontal dividing line should not be placed under a note, nor after the final item in a list.

Summarize or not?

Some hatnote disambiguation templates include a brief summary of the present article's topic; others do not. For instance, in the article Honey, one might use the template {{about|the insect-produced fluid}} to produce:

This article is about the insect-produced fluid. For other uses of the term, see Honey (disambiguation).

Alternatively, one might use {{other uses}} to produce:

For other uses, see Honey (disambiguation).

Either of these two styles is acceptable. The choice of style in a given article is based on editors' preference, and what is likely to be clearer and easier for the reader. Where an article already has a hatnote in one of these styles, editors should not change it to the other style without good reason or broad consensus.

Placement

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lead section) § Elements of the lead

Hatnotes are placed at the very top of the article, before any other items such as images, navigational templates and maintenance templates (like the "cleanup", "unreferenced", and "POV" templates). Text-only browsers and screen readers present the page sequentially. If a reader has reached the wrong page, they typically want to know that first.

Examples of proper use

Two articles with similar titles

This article is about the village in England. For H. P. Lovecraft's fictional town, see Dunwich (Lovecraft).

Dunwich (pronounced Dun-Itch) is a town in the county of Suffolk in England, the remnant of what was once a prosperous seaport and centre of the wool trade during the early middle ages, with a natural harbour formed by the mouths of the River Blyth...

When two articles share the same title, except that one is disambiguated and the other not, the undisambiguated article should include a hatnote with a link to the other article. It is not necessary to create a separate disambiguation page. {{about}} may be used for this. In this case the parameterization was {{about|the village in England|H. P. Lovecraft's fictional town|Dunwich (Lovecraft)}}.

Linking to a disambiguation page

For other uses, see Monolith (disambiguation).

A monolith is a monument or natural feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Erosion usually exposes these formations...

When a term has a primary meaning and two or more additional meanings, the hatnote on the primary topic page should link to a disambiguation page. {{other uses}} may be used for this.

In many cases the hatnote also includes a brief description of the subject of the present article, for readers' convenience:

This article is about the maze-like labyrinth from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate maze-like structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur...

The template {{about}} may be used for this. In this case the parameterization was {{about|the mazelike labyrinth from Greek mythology}}.

Ambiguous term that redirects to an unambiguously named article

{{redirect}} or a related template can be used when an unambiguous article name is redirected to from an ambiguous term:

Johann Sebastian Bach

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from ଛାଞ୍ଚ:Querylink)

"Bach" redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).

Johann Sebastian Bach (ଛାଞ୍ଚ:Pronounced) (March 21, 1685 O.S. – July 28, 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer...

Examples of improper use

Trivial information, dictionary definitions, and slang

When notes feature a trivial detail or use of a term, or links to overly specific and tendentious material, they are unwarranted.

During a siege, to invest a town or fortress means to surround it with a contravallation and a circumvallation.

Investment is a term with several closely related meanings in finance and economics. It refers to the accumulation of some kind of asset in hopes of getting a future return from it...

In this case, there is no direct disambiguation, and the note listed is bound to be uninteresting to most readers. The proper disambiguation simply links to a separate Invest (disambiguation) page.

Legitimate information about the topic

A previous version of the Aisha article showed:

Ayesha is sometimes used as a woman's name. Once popular only among Muslims, it was briefly popular among English-speakers after it appeared in the book She by Rider Haggard.

Aisha or Ayesha (Arabic عائشه `ā'isha = "she who lives") was a wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...

This is a typical and highly improper misuse of disambiguating hatnotes. Instead, the information belongs in the body of the article, or in the articles about the book, or in a separate article about names, or all three places. Hatnotes are meant to reduce confusion and direct readers to another article they might have been looking for, not for information about the subject of the article itself.

Linking to articles that are highly related to the topic

This article is about the scientific study of extraterrestrial life; for treatment in popular culture, see Extraterrestrial life in popular culture.

Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. Its existence is currently hypothetical: there is as yet no evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been widely accepted by scientists...

Instead of using a hatnote, it is better to summarize Extraterrestrial life in popular culture under a subsection of Extraterrestrial life in conjunction with the {{main}} template. Alternatively, it could be linked to in the See also section.

Disambiguating article names that are not ambiguous

Tree (set theory)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Tree (disambiguation).

In set theory, a tree is a partially ordered set (poset) in which there is a single unique minimal element (called the root) and in which the set of elements less than a given element is well ordered...

Here, the hatnote is inappropriate because a reader following links within Wikipedia or using Wikipedia's own search engine would not have ended up at tree (set theory) if they were looking for other types of trees, as tree does not redirect there.

However, a hatnote may still be appropriate when even a more specific name is still ambiguous. For example, Matt Smith (comics) might still be confused for the comics illustrator Matt Smith (illustrator).

A hatnote may also be appropriate in an unambiguously named article when an ambiguous term redirects to it, as explained in the "Proper uses" section above.

Extraneous links

One should not link terms other than the desired target in the hatnote. For example:

For the New Orleans, Louisiana, United States radio station known as WTIX from 1953 to 2005, see WIST (AM).

WTIX (980 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio format.

In this case, the link to New Orleans, Louisiana in the hatnote is inappropriate. Only the possible other destination (WIST (AM)) should be linked.

External links

A previous version of the Hurricane Katrina article contained:

If you are trying to locate someone missing in Hurricane Katrina, or register yourself as found, you can use the site www.disastersearch.org [୧]

Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, was one of the most destructive and expensive tropical cyclones to hit the United States...

The use of external help links in Wikipedia, though noble, cannot reasonably be maintained. In special cases, a link to an "External links" section with several links may be appropriate, but POV favoritism can be obstructive. In this case, the hatnote was removed entirely.

Non-existent articles

Hatnotes should not be used for articles that do not exist since the notes are intended to point the user to another article they may have intended to find. The exception is if one intends to create the linked article immediately. In that case, consider creating the new article first, before saving the addition of the hatnote.

General hatnote templates documentation

• Hatnotes templates documentation