Template talk:WikiProject Richard Wagner

Template: MAIN_ARTICLE

The latest edit to this template did rather more than the edit summary said: it also introduced an additional phrase into the parameter MAIN_ARTICLE; viz:

MAIN_ARTICLE = the [[Richard Wagner|composer]] and his [[List of compositions by Richard Wagner|operas]]

This is curious for the contradiction between the visible text and its wikilink: "operas" vs "list of compositions".

It is also unfortunate, because it generates a "What links here" entry for every article which carries this banner to the article List of compositions by Richard Wagner, which seems to me unwarranted given the state of that article.

I suggest to change the parameter MAIN_ARTICLE to "the [[Richard Wagner|composer]]" -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 14:08, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

I've simply reverted to the last stable version. We've had this problem in one form or another with many project banners. In each case changes are made without consulting the projects involved and there are unintended consequences. Is there anything else we need to do? --Kleinzach 00:19, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

If you would like to keep the banner text exactly as it was previously, the WPBannerMEta template has that option by using the MAIN_TEXT parameter.

|MAIN_TEXT = This article falls within the scope of the '''[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Richard Wagner|Richard Wagner WikiProject]]''',  a collaboration to develop articles on the composer and his operas. The [[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Richard Wagner|project talk page]] is a place to discuss issues and exchange ideas. New members are welcome!

There's no need to revert to the previous banner, just adding MAIN_TEXT will fix it. -- WOSlinker (talk) 06:52, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

But what would be the advantages of doing that? The banner was fine as it was - or am I missing something here? I'm open to any reasonable ideas about this. --Kleinzach 07:43, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

The WPBannerMeta template provides a framework for all project banners so that things can be more consistent between banners while still providing options to allow each project to customise their banner. Yes, there shouldn't be any visible differences between the 2 versions and the only reason there was a difference is because I added some links to the text when I converted the banner over, and those extra links can be reverted without reverting all the changes. Using WPBannerMeta also makes it easier to expand feature of the banner later on, for example if a note or taskforce needs to be added, it's simpler to do with WPBannerMeta for people who don't do a lot of template coding. -- WOSlinker (talk) 11:30, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

OK. Your last point is noted. I've no objection if you want to implement it — avoiding the problem identified above. However please always ask the project concerned when you do this elsewhere. It's a pain having to deal with these problems! --Kleinzach 22:22, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Right, I've changed it back to WPBannerMeta with the text as in the old banner. -- WOSlinker (talk) 07:00, 22 April 2009 (UTC)