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Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:12:28 -0400
From: Piotr Konieczny <piokon@post.pl>
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	Content preview:  For a long time I found the Gdanzig vote
	(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gdansk/Vote) both useful (it did put
	an end to quite a few edit wars) and unfair (why is Polish-German
	naming a special case and a partial exception to WP:NCGN
	(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names))
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Subject: [WPM]  Request for discussion comments in a NCGN issue
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	Content preview:  For a long time I found the Gdanzig vote
	(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gdansk/Vote) both useful (it did put
	an end to quite a few edit wars) and unfair (why is Polish-German naming
	a special case and a partial exception to WP:NCGN
	(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names))
	? [...] 
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For a long time I found the Gdanzig vote 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gdansk/Vote) both useful (it did put 
an end to quite a few edit wars) and unfair (why is Polish-German naming 
a special case and a partial exception to WP:NCGN 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names)) 
?

I have taken two steps to change it, steps with implications beyond just 
Polish issues. First, I've proposed slight rewriting of WP:NCGN to 
accommodate the Gdanzig vote and make it a precedent for similar cases. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names)#Talk:Gdansk.2FVote
I am not contending the first part of the guideline: "If the article 
deals only with a place in a period when it held a different name, the 
widely accepted historical English name should be used." but the second: 
instead of

"If there is no such name in English, use the historical name that is 
now used locally"

The changed guideline should read:

"If there is no such name in English or if there are several plausible 
alternatives, use the historical name that was used locally for a given 
time period the article (or relevant part of it) covers"

In other words, I think that in cases where a historical region (town, 
etc.) has had different names in the past, those different names should 
be used. It doesn't make sense to apply modern names to historical 
entities (battle of Volgograd, anyone?).

Second, I've initatied a discussion aiming at produce a set of 
guidelines similar to Gdanzig vote to end the steady edit wars in 
Polish-Lithuanian issues (Vilnius/Wilno) at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names)#Wilno.2FVilnius
Unfortunately, Lithuanian nationalists are not making it easy, mostly 
throwing spurious arguments. Some neutral comments, hopefully 
outweighing them significantly in number, and presenting some logical 
non-nationalistic arguments, would help push this discussion along.

Thanks,

-- 
Piotr Konieczny

"The problem about Wikipedia is, that it just works in reality, not in 
theory."

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