Wikipedia talk:Short description: Difference between revisions
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:::Probably a side issue, but isn't your last point regarding dates also true for the number of produced units (which you insist on keeping in the SD, e.g., {{diff2|1233134665|here}}, {{diff2|1233134640|here}}, or {{diff2|1233134632|here}}, where you reverted the change from "Class of ''[number]'' South African electric locomotives" to "Class of South African electric locomotives")? The number is entirely superfluous for the purposes of SDs (and less helpful for the reader or useful for disambiguation than dates, I would argue). It's certainly not worth the characters in a short description that's already >40 characters. While I agree that "Design of steam locomotive" is not really an improvement, something like "Class of South African steam locomotives" instead of "Class of 55 South African 4-6-0 locomotives" (or instead "Class of 55 South African steam locomotives") certainly is. [[User:Felida97|<b style="color:black">Felida</b><sup style="color:black">97</sup>]] ([[User talk:Felida97#top|talk]]) 16:07, 7 July 2024 (UTC)
:::To claim that, to the average reader or the general audience, "4-6-0" means just as much as "president" is not really helping your argument... However, leaving that aside, if {{tq|{{'}}4-6-0{{'}} is ''extremely'' common terminology|quotes=yes}}, wouldn't the people to whom that does mean something (as you say, {{tq|anyone with any interest in railway matters|quotes=yes}}) also recognize it in the title? So, the people to whom this addition {{tq|conveys ... rough ideas of the size, purpose and era of the locomotive, and obviously that it's a steam locomotive|quotes=yes}} would already know that from the title, right? Meanwhile, for the people to whom "4-6-0" means nothing, this part wouldn't be very useful, begging the question who benefits from this addition then. [[User:Felida97|<b style="color:black">Felida</b><sup style="color:black">97</sup>]] ([[User talk:Felida97#top|talk]]) 16:37, 7 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Just because a description is under or close to 40 characters does not mean that [[WP:SDDUPLICATE]] does not apply, since other useful information could be added instead.
:::The primary purpose of SDs is to indicate the general category that an articles falls into, which in our case only necessitates including "locomotive" somewhere in the SD. If there is room, the secondary purposes of SD include disambiguation, for which we normally include helpful information such as date, nationality, genre/medium (for artistic works), etc.
:::The average reader they are just as likely to know what a "president" is versus a "4-6-0" locomotive wheel configuration is not a serious argument. While including field specific terms can be helpful in the SD, it should not come at the cost of the primary purpose or needlessly duplicate words that are already in the title. -- [[User:Patar knight|Patar knight]] - <sup>[[User talk:Patar knight|chat]]</sup>/<sub>[[Special:Contributions/Patar knight|contributions]]</sub> 22:03, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
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