Wikilinks are an essential part of Wikipedia. However, if the linking system is to work well, editors need to exercise skill and judgement in their choice and manner of linking. WP:LINK sets out the guidelines for doing this.
This page is for users to nominate astonishingly irrelevant, unfocused, redundant or poorly piped internal links that they wish to be considered for the award. Although there is an element of humour in the forum, it has its serious side: promoting the need for good linking practice among editors.
The award
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This user is the proud winner of a Silliest wikilink of the month award. |
As usual for Wikipedia, there is no physical award. The winner for each quarterly period is judged by Ceoil, and announced beneath each monthly table.
Nominations
editPrizes will be awarded on the basis of whole articles, not individual links or groups of links. The scope is limited to (non-disambiguation) mainspace articles.
December 2012
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| man, history, book, film, poet, author | Love Letters of Great Men | Eisfbnore (会話) 21:29, 29 December 2012 (UTC) |
April–June 2012
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| dog, motorcycle, pickup truck | Seamus incident | I did a double take. So articles linked like this still exist!!! | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 01:37, 8 May 2012 (UTC) |
April 2012
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| 'glasses', 'opinion', 'thank' | Abdus Salam | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 03:58, 2 April 2012 (UTC) |
May 2011
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| [1]: [[Pebbles]] x11 | Perri "Pebbles" Reid | BelovedFreak 21:08, 10 May 2011 (UTC) |
March 2011
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| excerpt: "The native [[forest]] is filled with paths for walking. The Botanic [[Museum]] attracts researchers from all over the [[world]]. There is a space for exhibitions, [[library]] and a [[theatre]]." | Curitiba | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 07:56, 2 March 2011 (UTC) |
February 2011
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| Bye, , (yes, an actual comma), a, silent | Abdulhussain Abdulredha | BelovedFreak 14:44, 6 February 2011 (UTC) | |
| World, second word in lead | World Trade Organization | Moni3 13:48, 8 February 2011 (UTC) | |
| Snow, ice, rain, thunderstorm, "windiest" (to "wind") | Climate of Minnesota | Featured article | Mkativerata (talk) 11:04, 16 February 2011 (UTC) |
January 2011
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| Local climate | Passive solar building design | Insert your comments | Kayau HAPI B-DAY WP 14:39, 15 January 2011 (UTC) |
| ferry, cinema, gym, riot, trade, country | Amsterdam | Tony (talk) 08:37, 27 January 2011 (UTC) |
December 2010
editPrizes will be awarded on the basis of whole articles, not individual links or groups of links.
| Up to six of the worst unlinked items | Article name | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| marriage, trumpet, film, song, dance... | Ray Anthony | "Cold December comes and then.. Bloody January again!" Flanders and Swann | Rich Farmbrough 17:35, 2 December 2010 (UTC). |
| 1972, photographer, magic, plot, the | Hot Dogs for Gauguin | Easter egg - year in film, over-linked "photographer", "plot" overlinked to a dab page, "magic" overlinked to a dab page with 71 meanings, none of them the one that is meant... and "the" - an overlink to a redirect, which is not appropriate (if it should link to anything, which it shouldn't, it should pipe to unique). And all in two lines! | Rich Farmbrough 19:39, 2 December 2010 (UTC). |
| published, 1609 | Sonnet 116 | Ucucha 20:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC) | |
| television series, tortured, nanny, nightmare, pregnant, revenge | Adam Carter | And I didn't even mention "Car bomb" and "protagonist".... | Trebor (talk) 04:33, 28 December 2010 (UTC) |
November 2010
editPrizes will be awarded on the basis of whole articles, not individual links or groups of links.
| Up to six of the worst unlinked items | Article name | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| The letter "s" (srsly), zero, randompopular, author | Infinite monkey theorem | This is an FA no less. Tbh I think I have this month's comp. wrapped up, no one's topping wikilinking the the letter s imho. | AaronY (talk) 22:40, 29 November 2010 (UTC) |
| book, name, society, newspaper, magazine | Books and publishing in Pakistan | A shocker; dictionary terms all over the place; repeats | Tony (talk) 08:31, 18 November 2010 (UTC) |
| alcoholic beverage, sunglasses, vomiting, plea | Ronnie Lee Gardner | Suggested during FA review. Would it set a precedent to receive both honors at the same time? | KimChee (talk) 02:00, 12 November 2010 (UTC) |
| book, name, society, newspaper, magazine | Books and publishing in Pakistan | A shocker; dictionary terms all over the place; repeats | Tony (talk) 08:31, 18 November 2010 (UTC) |
| The [[drama]] [[Education|program]] [[presents]] several [[theatrical|productions]] each [[year]], with [[auditions]] open to all [[students]]. | Littleton High School (Colorado) | "Extreme" | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 07:43, 19 November 2010 (UTC) |
October 2010
editFrom October onwards, prizes will be awarded on the basis of whole articles, not individual links or groups of links.
| Up to six of the worst unlinked items | Article name | Comments | Nominator (signature) |
| 'sea', 'of', 'port', 'name', 'people' | Ho Chi Minh City | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 05:51, 24 September 2010 (UTC) | |
| 'week', 'hour', 'party', 'ladder' | Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 04:34, 5 October 2010 (UTC) | |
| palace aisle pottery hospital tram | Timeline of Edinburgh history | Conservative unlinking; a few bad pipes; some items unlinked but might have gone to specific historical targets (after researching it). | Tony (talk) 14:50, 7 October 2010 (UTC) |
| peninsula, emigration, democracy, refugees, Europe | History of Portugal (1974–1986) | Dictionary terms, commonly known countries (especially in this context), and some likely misleading links, e.g., to "communist", which had a specific meaning to the rebels here. | Tony (talk) 07:15, 12 October 2010 (UTC) |
| 'Execution (legal), gas, abortion, meeting, heckle | Nicolae Ceauşescu | among the country names, repeated links and everyday words, '[[Execution (legal)|execution]]' is the worst one - it is also an incorrect pipe | Ohconfucius ¡digame!09:08, 14 October 2010 (UTC) |
| '[[graduation]] [[ceremonies]]', 'Sign (display device)', 'parking lot', 'swimming pool' and 'stationery' | Chattahoochee Technical College | many dicdef words including phrases like 'marketing management' and 'graduation ceremony' where individual words were linked separately | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 15:07, 19 October 2010 (UTC) |
| 'Brazilian President [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]] signed a new [[law]] on [[Domestic]] and [[Family]] [[Violence]] against [[Women]] on 7 August 2006 in [[Brasília]]. ' | Human rights in Brazil | [[[Women]] have the [[Equality|same legal rights]] as [[men]]. A cabinet-level office, the [[Secretariat]] for [[Women]]'s [[Policy]], oversees a special entity charged with ensuring the legal rights of women. Although the [[law]] [[prohibit]]s [[discrimination]] based on [[gender]] in [[employment]] and [[wage]]s, there were significant wage disparities between men and women.] | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 03:41, 21 October 2010 (UTC) |
| wife chair dog coins water number | Session 9 | The phrase "[[illuminated]] [[restraint]] [[chair]]" got my attention; then I saw the linking of "[[wife]]"; then a "[[pot]] of [[boiling]] [[water]]". The word ''sessions'' was piped to [[interviews]]. The clincher was the appearance of the [[number]] 44. | Xanthoxyl < 04:54, 30 October 2010 (UTC) |
September 2010
editThis is the last month in which the criterion is individual wikilinks.
| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| wall | Allen Stanford | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 15:54, 6 September 2010 (UTC) |
| purple, nipple | List of school pranks | Rich Farmbrough, 21:35, 7 September 2010 (UTC). |
| game, gossip (twice), educational | Chinese whispers | Tony (talk) 03:07, 8 September 2010 (UTC) |
| important literary novel author | Josaphat-Robert Large | Tony (talk) 09:00, 13 September 2010 (UTC) |
| Everyday life, art, history, education (and many others) | Multicultural improvisation | Rich Farmbrough, 01:59, 15 September 2010 (UTC). |
| white (but curiously not black), water (twice), knife, drown, heart, pony | Kelpie | Malleus Fatuorum 17:42, 17 September 2010 (UTC) |
| coin, meaning, derivation, government | Israeli pruta | Tony (talk) 07:41, 18 September 2010 (UTC) |
| world | Hans Gildemeister | Jenks24 (talk) 16:04, 22 September 2010 (UTC) |
| 6, pasta, song, day | Zirve | Rich Farmbrough, 16:58, 22 September 2010 (UTC). |
August 2010
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| female, governor | United States gubernatorial elections, 2010 | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 16:07, 5 August 2010 (UTC) |
| Sir | Chartered Institute of Linguists | Kayau Voting IS evil 05:03, 13 August 2010 (UTC) |
| there are plenty, but the one that sticks out most to me is 'world' | Pakistan Steel Mills | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 04:23, 21 August 2010 (UTC) |
| 'highest' | Hamlet Isakhanli[1] | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 08:02, 27 August 2010 (UTC) |
| Wikipedia (you need to see the context for this one) | Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia | Alzarian16 (talk) 10:28, 28 August 2010 (UTC) |
Winner for August 2010:
- Kayau for Sir. That the word was linked in an article on linguists is frightening to me. Well spotted. Ceoil (talk) 22:26, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
Notes
edit- ^ one of the most grotesque examples of overlinking I have come across. Its major contributors are WP:SPA, and the tone suggests WP:COI,
July 2010
editWinner for July 2010:
- Would be User:A. di M. Anybody with an email address gets four or five Viagra offers a day; if they dont they are not doing it correctly. Honourable mention to the link to girl. Ceoil (talk) 04:38, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
June 2010
editWinner for June 2010: Oh so thats what the words father, brother mean. Ohconfucius for showing us why we cant have nice things around here. Honorable mention for and grace they surpass[2]. Ceoil (talk) 23:41, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
May 2010
editWinner for May 2010
- Has to be World from Ohconfucius. It's were you are. Seeing internet is similarly amusing when I see it in blue. Ceoil (talk) 04:29, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
April 2010
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| 'for' | Paul Bérenger | Kayau Voting IS evil 11:04, 9 April 2010 (UTC) |
| 'to' | Tadd Dameron | Kayau Voting IS evil 09:06, 10 April 2010 (UTC) |
| 'to' | Oncorhynchus rastrosus | Kayau Voting IS evil 09:10, 10 April 2010 (UTC) |
| Principia (you have to see the immediately preceding context to understand why it's silly) | Isaac Newton | ― ___A._di_M. (formerly Army1987) 11:04, 11 April 2010 (UTC) |
| dawn | The Last Song (film) | Tony (talk) 06:52, 12 April 2010 (UTC) |
| celery, fixed-wing aircraft | Chelsea F.C. | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 06:57, 13 April 2010 (UTC) |
| coffee, potato, frozen food | Operation Sandblast | Brad (talk) 12:30, 13 April 2010 (UTC) |
| book, "copyright" piped to "copywriter" | The Three Stooges | Tony (talk) 13:27, 18 April 2010 (UTC) |
| carrot, citizen | Alanis Morissette | Tony (talk) 08:12, 24 April 2010 (UTC) |
| joke | Lloyd Blankfein | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 02:52, 27 April 2010 (UTC) |
| fear | BP | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 14:08, 28 April 2010 (UTC) |
Winner for April 2010: Goes to Ohconfucius for joke, because of the irony, and because the edit removes a pet dislike of mine - infoboxes are bad enough but intolerable if terms like America and New York are linked within. Ug. I think Kayau's three entries are very grand, but again too strange for me to believe that the reason they were linked in the first place did not involve an element of conscious devilment by a 9 year old. Ceoil (talk) 22:32, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
March 2010
editWinner for March 2010: This was a hard one to choose; I was leaning towards Certes's 1, 3, 6, 8, 8, 9, is, a, from, the, which I may yet print in colour and frame. But I think it is surely too surreal not to be slow vandalism. The winner then is the removal from Tarja Halonen of the blue linked - tree. Also by Certes. Its overlinking like that that makes me question my fellow man.
Note to the runner ups: although Tony asked me to cover for His Grace while he deals with trouble from overseas, I have none of thoes two men's morals and am highly corruptible. Ceoil (talk) 22:01, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
February 2010
editWinner for February 2010: There were many bizarre links (although fewer than in January), and I liked many of them, but the award goes to one with a great educational value, which illustrates one of the greatest mistakes an editor can make when linking. The article in question is Marvin Gaye, and in it could be found the following gem, nominated by Belovedfreak: "Martin Lawrence". See how hard it is to tell that they are two links? After some dithering, I decided that the first link—"Martin"—was more ridiculous (the disambiguation page was longer), and so this shall be the silliest link of February 2010.
My second choice for this month was another confusing link: A. di M.'s Large Hadron Collider was a delightful false tautology with a great potential for throwing readers off track.
I do enjoy what I do, but make no mistake: entertainment value aside, if I could wish out of existence all links like the ones seen above, I'd do so. However, in the knowledge that there will be such links for a long time to come, I can only hope that they will be found, eliminated, and placed here for all to see and learn from. Waltham, The Duke of 06:04, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
January 2010
edit
Winner for January 2010: With 82 entries, January 2010 broke all records of participation. I am certainly very happy to see so many new faces. Unfortunately, this also means that my choice is made harder, and that I've had to pass over many excellent candidates. Now, the winner... From the article Civil confinement, an unexpected bit of linguistic meta-commentary in the form of the link [[Litotes|not without]]. Nominated by Robofish, it is a type of Easter egg that we should never, ever have to see in articles, and for this reason it wins this busy month's award.
- Two honourable mentions. First, SuperFlash101's "3", from Phineas Flynn. Not only was it entirely unnecessary but, as most Wikipedians know, it leads to the article for a year—specifically, the year when the rule of emperor Augustus was renewed for a ten-year period, and Wang Mang foiled a plot by his son, his brother-in-law and the Wei clan to oust him. Interesting stuff. Second, Majorly's "linked" from Rubber duck. I actually found "spoke" funnier, but one has to appreciate the self-referential nature of redundantly linking the word "link". Waltham, The Duke of 17:07, 11 March 2010 (UTC)
The 2009 prize
editWinner for the year: From the shortlist of "window", "disaster", "head", "dog" and "Wikipedia", the silliest wikilink of 2009 is ... "window"! Congratulations, Ohconfucius; you get to hold the cup for one year. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)
December 2009
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| bicycle, yawning, sneezing | Orgasm | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 04:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC) |
| bus | Paul Potts | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 05:46, 14 December 2009 (UTC) |
| cup | Los Angeles Galaxy | SkotyWATalk|Contribs 08:20, 29 December 2009 (UTC) |
| Wikipedia | Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) | Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 14:45, 29 December 2009 (UTC) |
| computer-generated cartoon elephant | Something, Something, Something, Dark Side | Bradley0110 (talk) 19:14, 30 December 2009 (UTC) |
| naked | Rage Against the Machine | Tony (talk) 01:30, 31 December 2009 (UTC) |
| person with birth & death tied for close 2nd | Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) | Sssoul (talk) 09:09, 31 December 2009 (UTC) |
Winner for December 2009: December 2009 was another month with worthy nominations, including the first two from non-mainspace pages. But the award can only go to one contender, and I have decided to bestow it upon Adrian J. Hunter for "Wikipedia" from Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies). The assumption that anyone would be reading a Wikipedia project page (in the Manual of Style of all places!) without knowing what Wikipedia is simply cannot go unrecognised. "Computer-generated cartoon elephant" initially seemed to be a strong contender on pure-silliness grounds, but I could not accept it because it was actually a group of links. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)
November 2009
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| genetics, hybridity | Hebrew language | ___A. di M. 14:22, 6 November 2009 (UTC) |
| dog | Characters of Final Fantasy VI | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 11:11, 8 November 2009 (UTC) |
| toilet attendant | Cheryl Cole | Tony (talk) 14:07, 20 November 2009 (UTC) |
| history | Sirindhorn | Dabomb87 (talk) 17:28, 23 November 2009 (UTC) |
Winner for November 2009: As tempting as "toilet attendant" may have been for its comedy value, one cannot ignore the fact that pretty much every person in the world old enough to read knows what a dog is. And even if they don't remember that one of the most prized qualities in a dog is loyalty, the reader was helpfully reminded of this in the text. The canine was mentioned (and linked) in passing in Characters of Final Fantasy VI and the winner for November 2009 is (again) Ohconfucius. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)
October 2009
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| minor, parka, opera | Kim Jong-il | Ohconfucius (talk) 13:21, 4 October 2009 (UTC) |
| land | Celestial Heights | Ohconfucius (talk) 07:44, 6 October 2009 (UTC) |
| wife, milkshake | Hong Kong Parkview | Ohconfucius (talk) 10:07, 6 October 2009 (UTC) |
| wind, apples, sheep, captivity, hotel, train | Tasmania | Tony (talk) 08:26, 13 October 2009 (UTC) |
| book (um ....?) | Bryce Courtenay (novelist) | Tony (talk) 15:08, 18 October 2009 (UTC) |
| food | Hong Kong | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 07:58, 19 October 2009 (UTC) |
| lorry, arm, leg, head, knee, thigh | John Martin Scripps | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 05:49, 23 October 2009 (UTC) |
| draw, advantage | Spring (television soap) | Ohconfucius ¡digame! 05:49, 23 October 2009 (UTC) |
Winner for October 2009: Many ridiculous links were nominated in October, but the difference in John Martin Scripps is that we have an entire collection of them. Nominated by Ohconfucius, who is this month's winner, the anatomy-themed links include such unknown concepts as "arms", "knees" and "torso". As only one link can actually be chosen, however, I have elected "head" to represent the group. Make of that what you will. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)
September 2009
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| electric | Goodwood Cricket Club | Ohconfucius (talk) 08:09, 11 September 2009 (UTC) |
| vomit | AC/DC | Tony (talk) 15:24, 11 September 2009 (UTC) |
| bread, salad, cheese, fruits, nuts, sandals, footwear, stool, table and... spoon! | Roman Empire | Steve T • C 20:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC) |
| woman | Carol Ann Duffy | Malleus Fatuorum 09:17, 12 September 2009 (UTC) |
| apple | Alan Turing | Malleus Fatuorum 09:50, 12 September 2009 (UTC) |
| disaster | Elton John | Tony (talk) 07:44, 13 September 2009 (UTC) |
| novels, continent, human | A Song of Ice and Fire | Dabomb87 (talk) 21:51, 14 September 2009 (UTC) |
| coffin, roses, tulips, hairclip, lid | Yuri Andropov | Ohconfucius (talk) 13:25, 22 September 2009 (UTC) |
| pregnancy, gambling | Brian Epstein | Tony (talk) 16:19, 24 September 2009 (UTC) |
| telephone | Russell Crowe | Tony (talk) 13:40, 25 September 2009 (UTC) |
| mother, father, telephone | Eddie Murphy | Tony (talk) 16:43, 26 September 2009 (UTC) |
Winner for September 2009: Tony1 for "disaster" from Elton John. ("Human" and "lid" came close.) The link is pretty much self-describing; "utterly redundant" and "completely irrelevant" are the first characterisations to spring to mind, but this one also happens to grace a quotation. One almost expects an Easter egg there, explaining the exact nature of the disaster. This would be fine for the Daily Mail, but it is hardly appropriate for an encyclopaedia. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)
August 2009
edit| Linked item: | Article: | Nominator (signature) |
| rabbits | Fixation (visual) | Tony (talk) 09:28, 6 August 2009 (UTC) |
| alcohol | Ice fishing | Ohconfucius (talk) 10:10, 6 August 2009 (UTC) |
| windows, Fire, smoke | 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks | Ohconfucius (talk) 10:22, 6 August 2009 (UTC) |
| tram | Technocracy (bureaucratic) | Ohconfucius (talk) 17:24, 6 August 2009 (UTC) |
| scientist, modern times | Visual perception | Tony (talk) 08:53, 7 August 2009 (UTC) |
Winner for August 2009: Ohconfucius for his August nomination of "windows", from 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks. There was a hard fight between it and "alcohol" (not in a bar, though), for they were equally useless; in the end, the Microsoft association that pops up in one's head on second reading won the day for the transparent-opening-in-a-wall camp. (His Grace the Duke of Waltham)