Help:Authors With Same Name

There are authors with the same name, although we have just come across a couple so far. We have a listing of such authors at category:Authors - Same Name. To differentiate between authors with the same name, there is one page with that name where there is a listing of all the authors with that name (called a "disambiguation page"). See Kathryn Blair. Please use the following recommendations. You can copy the syntax from any box to help you.

Finding Authors With Same Name

You may discover authors with the same name in different ways:

Author's Page Already Exists

• When you add a link to your new author's page the name shows up as a link in blue. When this occurs be sure to click on that blue link and see if the individual author page already exists. It may be a page for an author with the same name, not the author you intended. In that case follow the instructions below for changing the existing page for that author name to a disambiguation page.

• When you go to the main Authors page and navigate to the appropriate letter of the alphabet you find that the author already is listed but it is a different author. Follow the instructions for creating a page below.

You Create Individual Author Page, But Disambiguation Page Is Needed

• You have created an author page and then find that there is another author link to your page, for example, in a list from a numbered series page. (This can be discovered by choosing the What Links Here tool on the left side of the wiki.) In this case, again, follow the instructions below for changing the existing page for that author name to a disambiguation page.

Moving Old Page and Correcting Links

If a page for the author already exists but refers to a different author, you will have to create new pages for the individual authors and make the general name page a disambiguation page as follows:

Note: This is easiest done with two (or more) windows or tabs open at the same time so that you can switch back and forth. Open a page with a link to the author, e.g., the books page, and then open that author's page in a new tab.

1. Move the current page by renaming it to refer to one of the individual authors:

[[Kathryn Blair - 1]]

In the "reason" box, please note that the reason for the move is "Disambugation Page Creation" or "Authors same name" or something similar.

This will take you to the "Move page:"

Move page

Page "Author Name" has been moved to "Author Name - 1"".

2. Click the old page's link, which will automatically redirect you to the new page. At the top you will see a (Redirected from Author Name) note. Click that blue link to be taken back to the original page. There the page will look like

Author Name

with an arrow and a link to Author Name - 1.

Note: When you moved the page in step one a redirect was created so that someone clicking on the old page will automatically be taken to the new page. Following the redirect link is the only way to go back to the old [[Author Name]] page.

3. Using the Edit tab at the top of this page, you will see #REDIRECT [[Author Name - 1]]. Delete this redirection information. Then, substitute the Disambiguation Page content as noted below.

• Save this page, and this will result in links to the pages for the individual authors that you'll need next. The numbers in front of the authors will appear in red type, if they are are not already created. The original page you moved will be in blue, as it has already been created.
• Click on the number in front of the individual author, e.g., 1 which will take you to your newly created blank page for the individual author. This is usually the new author page you have been trying to create all along.

5. Back at the new Disambiguation Page, check for out of date links via the What Links Here tool on the left side of the wiki. There may be several or no links to other pages. On each of those pages, find the link to the [[Author Name]] and correct to the appropriate author page link by using the following:

[[Author Name - 1|Author Name]]

The | allows the book title to display cleanly but still link to the specific page for the author in question.

• Note: If #5 seems daunting please add {{Whatlinkshere Correction}} to the top of the disambiguation page.

Disambiguation Page Syntax (Fill In Page)

The content of the author disambiguation page (see Example Page) is as follows:

[[category:Authors - Same Name]][[category:Disambiguation]]
There is more than one author with the name of '''Kathryn Blair''':

1 - [[Kathryn Blair - 1|Kathryn Blair]] [info] 
2 - [[Kathryn Blair - 2|Kathryn Blair]] [info] 

For each author include enough information to distinguish this author, e.g.:

1 - Kathryn Blair was also known as Rosalind Brett, Lilian Warren and Celine Conway. Under the Blair name, she published 26 novels for Harlequin Romance in the 1960s.

2 - Kathryn Blair was an author for Harlequin American Romance in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

You can continue that listing for as many authors as you know by that name. Ideally, please list the authors by when they were writing.

Each Author Page

Please use [[First Lastname - 1]] as the format for each author's page. Fill in the content for the author's page as you would for any other author using the Author Template.

Creating A Disambiguation Page From The Authors Pages

In most cases you will create a disambiguation author page by moving an existing author page. If you start out knowing that you need a disambiguation page with a listing of all the authors with that name, you will first need to create a link to that page somewhere -- usually you will:

Main Authors Page (Create Link)

• Go the main Authors page -- navigate to the appropriate letter of the alphabet. If the author already is listed (usually for a different author), see Moving old Page and Correcting Links above.
• Open the list by clicking on the "edit" button to add the author to the list.
  • Find the correct place to list the name alphabetically by the last name.
  • Insert the author's name and listings for all of the authors with that same name as follows:

* ''[[Firstname Last|Last, Firstname]]'' 
** [[Firstname Last - 1|Last, Firstname (1)]]
** [[Firstname Last - 2|Last, Firstname (2)]] 

• The | (called a "pipe") allows the author name to display cleanly but still link to the specific author in question.
• If possible, list the earlier author first as 1, later author as 2, etc.
• Please note the format for the title of the author's page should be Kathryn Blair - 1.

• Save the list and the links to the author pages will be in red type.

• Click on the Last, Firstname which will take you to your newly created disambiguation page.