Template talk:Authority control

A more descriptive name?

I have little understanding of what the purpose of this template is, and seeing it at the bottom of a bunch of pages without any information or highlight descriptions is rather confusing. The name is especially confusing. The term "Authority control" implies that the template was added by some admin as a way to control the article in some sense. I suggest renaming it to something more descriptive that better illustrates what the use is. Looking at the talk history this has been suggested a number of times with no objections. Maybe something like "Wikipedia-external database links". Ergzay (talk) 12:13, 1 September 2024 (UTC)

Yes, we have had a few discussions about this, but no agreement on what to change it to. Authority control is the correct term, and we added "databases" on to this recently. I think the word "identifiers" should be in there somewhere — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 18:48, 1 September 2024 (UTC)

Name proposal: Authority control identifiers. Grimes2 (talk) 19:22, 1 September 2024 (UTC)

"Authoritative identifiers" might be more accurate as a description. It is unrelated to the use of authority to control anybody else and so it is natural that the correct term for this data confuses and alarms some readers. —David Eppstein (talk) 19:45, 1 September 2024 (UTC)

Could support either of those — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:07, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Category:Articles with faulty authority control information

I regularly tag empty categories CSD C1 which typically happens when an article that was the solitary member of a category is deleted. But tonight, all of these categories became empty all at once and I'm wondering if this is due to a template change. Before I tag all 140 for speedy deletion, I thought I'd inquire here to see if anyone knew what was up. Thanks for any help you can provide. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 02:05, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

Hi Liz, thanks for checking but this is deliberate. The categories can safely be tagged for deletion — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 06:43, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

Okay, I'll get to tagging! Thanks for the response. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 06:47, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. Please note there are a few still in use, but you tagged all of them — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:13, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

Well, I just tagged the categories that were empty, I'm not sure how else to see which ones were "in use". There were a few that had empty category tags on them but I got from your message above that they were all good to go. After tagging over a hundred of them as CSD C1 empty categories, they were quickly deleted as CSD C4s, a criteria I was unfamiliar with, but should have known about after so many years here and work I do with categories. But it doesn't show up as an option on Twinkle which I depend on for page tagging so lesson learned. ABL, always be learnin'. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 22:44, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

It's a very new one (Wikipedia talk:Criteria for speedy deletion#C4 – unused maintenance categories) so you can be forgiven for not knowing about it. I was also unaware. I assume that categories tagged with {{Possibly empty category}} should be ineligible but that doesn't seem to be explicit — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:08, 3 September 2024 (UTC)

Data structure

The config data is currently structured like this:

{
	property = 227,
	section = 2,
	patterns = {'1[0123]?%d%d%d%d%d%d%d[0-9X]', '[47]%d%d%d%d%d%d%-%d', '[1-9]%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%-[0-9X]', '3%d%d%d%d%d%d%d[0-9X]'},
	link = 'https://d-nb.info/gnd/$1',
	label = 'Germany',
	remark = 'Authority data on people, corporations and subjects from the [[German National Library]] (DNB)'
}

I am thinking that the following might be more logical:

[227] = {
	section = 2,
	patterns = {'1[0123]?%d%d%d%d%d%d%d[0-9X]', '[47]%d%d%d%d%d%d%-%d', '[1-9]%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%d?%-[0-9X]', '3%d%d%d%d%d%d%d[0-9X]'},
	link = 'https://d-nb.info/gnd/$1',
	label = 'Germany',
	remark = 'Authority data on people, corporations and subjects from the [[German National Library]] (DNB)'
}

This would allow direct access of the configuration of a particular property (i.e. 227 means GND ID (P227)) rather than iterating through the entire list — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:06, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Open Sanctions

Is it possible to edit the Authority Control structure to display the "Open Sanctions ID". This solution is implemented in "вс" Template in Russian wikipedia (Шаблон:Внешние ссылки). It is missing in English version.[1]

The solution is to add "* OpenSanctions Entity "

Look here Template:International sanctions Nbarchaeo (talk) 18:57, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

I have added this to the sandbox and there is an example below. Can you explain what this identifier is, and why it would be useful for the English Wikipedia? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:56, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

@Nbarchaeo — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 19:31, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

"OpenSanctions is an international database of persons and companies of political, criminal, or economic interest." Given that it suggests a cloud of suspicion about its listed people which might not be supported by a conviction, wouldn't it violate WP:BLPCRIME to list it here? It says "editors must seriously consider not including material—in any article—that suggests the person has committed or is accused of having committed a crime, unless a conviction has been secured for that crime". —David Eppstein (talk) 19:43, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Hell no. Grossly contrary to WP:BLPCRIME policy. And even if it wasn't, it cites Wikipedia & Wikidata as a source.[1] AndyTheGrump (talk) 20:05, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

"OpenSanctions is a resource for journalists, activists, and financial service providers." https://demoweek.prototypefund.de/projects/23-open-sanctions.html Grimes2 (talk) 20:12, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

 Not done. Seems we should not add this — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 12:52, 25 September 2024 (UTC)