Redirects from other capitalisations

This page serves as a comprehensive guide to Wikipedia’s handling of redirects resulting from alternative capitalisations of article titles. It specifically addresses the protocol for directing readers from variably capitalised titles to their correctly formatted counterparts under the Wikipedia naming conventions for capitalisation .

Purpose and function

Redirects from other capitalisations ensure consistency across Wikipedia’s vast repository of articles by resolving discrepancies in letter casing. For instance, the entry for Phaistos Disc (the standard capitalisation) might receive traffic from users searching for “phaistos disk,” “Phaistos disk,” or other variants. Such redirects enhance discoverability while maintaining editorial integrity.

When to use this redirect type

This mechanism applies exclusively when the target article’s title follows Wikipedia’s established capitalisation guidelines, and the redirect title represents a legitimate alternative spelling with differing letter cases. Common scenarios include:

Correcting capitalisation in scientific terminology (e.g., “Fourier transform” → Fourier Transform )
Standardising proper nouns with multiple common capitalisations (e.g., “MacOS” → macOS )
Resolving historical name variations (e.g., “Medieval period” → Middle Ages )

Implementation guidelines

Correct capitalisation vs. miscapitalisation

Correct capitalisation redirects: Use {{R from other capitalisation}} when the redirect title adheres to a valid—but non-standard—capitalisation form. For example, “Labour Party (UK)” redirecting to Labour Party (UK) despite “Labor” being an accepted variant in some regions.
Miscapitalisations: If the redirect title constitutes an outright error (e.g., “Phastos Disc” for Phaistos Disc ), employ {{R from miscapitalisation}} instead. Editors should update any links pointing to such miscapitalised redirects to target the correct article directly.

Namespace considerations

Mainspace redirects: Apply the Category:Redirects from other capitalisations tag only to redirects within the mainspace . This ensures consistency in Wikipedia’s core content areas.
Non-mainspace redirects: For redirects in other namespaces (e.g., User namespace or Talk namespace ), use {{R from modification}} to indicate changes beyond mere capitalisation adjustments.

Technical and editorial workflow

Detection: Editors identify improperly capitalised links—either through manual review or tools like WP:CHECKWIKI .
Redirect creation: A new redirect page is established (e.g., Phaistos disk → Phaistos Disc ).
Tagging: The redirect is categorized under Category:Redirects from other capitalisations and tagged with the appropriate template (e.g., {{R from other capitalisation}}).
Link repair: Any articles linking to the redirect are updated to point directly to the correctly capitalised target, reducing unnecessary server hops.

Impact on search and accessibility

Properly configured capitalisation redirects significantly improve Wikipedia’s usability:

Search engine optimization: Variant capitalisations enhance article visibility on external search engines .
Internal navigation: Users following wikilinks from sister projects or older articles seamlessly reach the intended content.
Multilingual coordination: Capitalisation redirects aid in disambiguating terms across language editions where casing rules may differ (e.g., German nouns’ mandatory capitalisation).

Common pitfalls and solutions

Over-redirecting: Avoid creating redundant redirects for improbable capitalisations (e.g., “pHaiStoS dIsC”). Focus on variants with attested usage.
Template misuse: Confusing {{R from modification}} with {{R from miscapitalisation}} can fragment maintenance categories. Consult the template documentation for clarification.
Link decay: Periodically audit redirects using Special:WhatLinksHere to ensure they remain relevant and update inbound links as needed.

This redirect-related documentation draws upon Wikipedia’s Manual of Style and content policies . For disputes regarding capitalisation norms, refer to the Naming conventions (capitalization) arbitration page.