Forum:Disambiguation: Omegas

Tybort has asked on my talk page:
 * Is referring to the Time Lord founder as simply Omega a break from dab when there's a humanised Dalek by that name?


 * Relatedly, is dabing someone (Dalek) (namely, Alpha, Beta and Omega needless confusion with the Rob Shearman episode? -- Tybort (talk page) 13:06, April 3, 2012 (UTC)

The truth is that I'm of two minds and therefore think it deserves greater attention. On the face of it, dab policy would indeed have a problem with all this. It should be Omega (The Three Doctors) and Omega (The Evil of the Daleks). But I really am inclined to believe that the Time Lord's name has nothing to do with the Greek letter. Thus I think it's actually Omega and Ω. I mean the Dalek is actually branded with the Greek symbol. There's no doubt about it. The Time Lord's name isn't even pronounced like the Greek letter — though I'm not sure if that's my American ears. (But I could swear there's some little factoid swirling in my mind that they deliberately didn't pronounce it like the Greek letter.) So a part of me says it may be better to go with what's visually and aurally there. The other part of me says that a lot of people won't know how to render Ω, even though we provide a handy way to enter all Greek letters. So let's throw the issue up for broader discussion. 19:42: Tue 03 Apr 2012

The current policy seems to be that when two or more pages share the same name, they are all subject to longer names. Thus, the page for Omega becomes "Omega(something that makes it unique)" and the other one becomes "Omega (something else that makes it unique)" and a simple "Omega" links to the Disambiguation page. As my work here is 99% editing, this means I get to type two open brackets, "Omega (something that makes it unique)|Omega" and two closed brackets, and then I get to do this three more times because it is case sensitive or I have forgotten that a space either belongs there or doesn't belong there. Oh, modified rapture!

What's that, you say? The system automatically puts up a series of choices? Well, not always on my machine. And while it may simply be the addition easily learned bit of technique to those who already know how to operate the system, to someone who is trying to edit while learning the system, it is a thorough clusterfuck. Because the Omega who appears in The Three Doctors is the same Omega who appears in, say the audioplay called Omega, which may not be apparent to someone trying to edit some page, the name of which, in part, is Omega.

The issue of the relation of any of the pages which may have in the past been referred to as "Omega" to the Greek letter sometimes pronounced in approximately the same way is a small part of a vast and complicated kludge that  is falling apart. To worry about it is like worrying if you can get ecologically friendly suntan lotion when you're staked out naked on an anthill on a hot, bright summer day.Boblipton talk to me 23:19, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * Bob, you just venting, or was there an actual, practical suggestion in there somewhere?  00:13: Wed 04 Apr 2012

My suggestion is to stop rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Admittedly, when you've just hit an iceberg, t's not particularly practical, but then nothing is. You may call this venting if you wish. Boblipton talk to me 00:26, April 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Bob, I'm looking for concrete suggestions and plain language, not metaphor. I've put up two alternatives.  Which do you prefer?  Or do you have an alternative that I've not considered?  Whether you like it or not, there are two articles for individuals named "Omega".  The question before us is how do we differentiate between the two, not whether the system of disamambiguation necessitated by software that requires unique names for pages is plunging us all towards a watery grave.   01:10: Wed 04 Apr 2012