Wiktionary:Votes/2020-04/Changes to Alternative form headers

Changes to Alternative form headers

 * Proposal: Depreciate L4 header =====Alternative forms==== and add =====Alternative form notes====


 * Rationale:
 * The below the definition L4 header =====Alternative forms==== was added as an alternative to the above the definition L3 header ====Alternative forms=== with the rationale that it would be closer to =====Synonyms====.
 * Since =====Synonyms==== is being generally phased out in favor of synonyms, combined with the creation of the inline template alter, its usage has been relegated to that of personal preference, resulting in inconsistencies and fodder for edit wars.
 * Restoring the placement of =====Alternative forms==== to above the definition better directs readers to important alternate forms, such as differences between UK and US spellings, and adding a new =====Alternative form notes==== header would still allow for lengthy notative forms, like found on color and Muhammad.

Schedule:
 * Vote starts: 00:00, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Vote ends: 23:59, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Vote created:  22:13, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Discussions:
 * [[Image:Wikt rei-artur3.svg|20px]] Beer parlour/2012/April
 * [[Image:Wikt rei-artur3.svg|20px]] Beer parlour/2015/December
 * [[Image:Wikt rei-artur3.svg|20px]] Beer parlour/2016/February

Past votes:
 * [[Image:Wikt rei-artur3.svg|20px]] Votes/2016-02/Placement of "Alternative forms"
 * [[Image:Wikt rei-artur3.svg|20px]] Votes/pl-2016-09/Placement of "Alternative forms" 2 (weaker proposal)

Support

 * 1)  --  01:54, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1) . I disagree, I think there may be a place for both L3 and L4 headers depending on circumstance, but I favour L4 and use it in preference to L3. With synonyms there is also still a place for the L4 header; syn tends to be used in entries with multiple senses when a synonym may apply to one sense only. DonnanZ (talk) 23:33, 4 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 2) . This sounds like the current, multi-standard situation, except adding yet another standard to keep track of. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 23:27, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Well if you look at my example with color, you'll see it under Usage notes, but that's not really a proper header for what it's being used for there. Then on Muhammad, the header is called Alternative forms, which is also not quite right either. For the distinction between Usage notes and Alternative form notes, see the similar discussion at Beer_parlour/2019/November. -- 00:20, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 1)  ←₰-→  Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk)  10:57, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 2)  Seems completely unnecessary. —Rua (mew) 07:44, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 3) . There is nothing in the title "Alternative forms" that excludes explanatory content. It just indicates that "here's some information about alternative forms." Andrew Sheedy (talk) 03:54, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
 * , unnecessary. —Mahāgaja · talk 12:41, 2 June 2020 (UTC)
 * 1)  more headers = bad. – Jberkel 16:11, 2 June 2020 (UTC)
 * 2)  Imetsia (talk) 22:58, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Abstain

 * 1)  I agree in principal it may be useful to put alternative forms before a definition, however in my mental, hypothetical model it would be the first subsection header. In that case it would make sense to aggrandize L4 to L3, but as it's being proposed here, I don't support it. While there's always room for improvement I still don't see a necessary need to change the organization of entries, and the significance of distinguishing L3 and L4 is entirely based on the positioning of the section in the grand scheme. So while I do not cast support for this due to the sequence it proposes, I likewise do not oppose it as its principle is still meritting a further, separate consideration. NativeNames (talk) 18:38, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 2)  Never noticed L4 Alternative forms and didn't find it in WT:ELE either. --Droigheann (talk) 09:29, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Decision

 * Obviously forgotten about, and obviously failed. DonnanZ (talk) 09:22, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
 * More formally, fails 1–8–2. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 05:15, 14 June 2020 (UTC)