Template talk:Archives

Slash in template.

Currently, {{archives}} says “This page has an /Archive.” Linking to “/Archive”. Is it possible for us to remove the slash such that it only says, “This page has an Archive.” or “This page has an archive.”

Actually, in this vein, I might also add in the {{talk archive}} (lnk) {{archives}} (lnk) (as {{archivePage}} or something) {{discussion top}} (lnk) and {{discussion bottom}} (lnk) templates from Wikipedia when I get a chance.

Well sure, just to check, is this simply a stylistic preference not to have "/Archive" in otherwise plain English text, or is your reasoning something more technical? I can see benefits both ways. (Aesthetics for "archive", technical clarity and greater information for "/Archive".) -- Djonni (talk) 19:56, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Purely aesthetic, mainly because the average user won’t need to know it’s at “/Archive” as it’s linked anyway. So long as we document this (and the fact that it is at /Archive), I really don’t see a loss of information. All that would change is “|archive” would be added to the link.

My problem with it is that “/Archive” is being treated as a noun in that sentence and is used as though it’s “archive”. It’s really just a tiny thing, but, most of my semantic edits are motivated by the desire to make editing/browsing easier for users that aren’t experienced with wiki markup or coding in general. Ie: to make a more inviting reading/editing environment. Even if the chance is very small, for an inexperienced editor, they might be confused seeing the slash+an uppercase A. I just want to remove that chance, no matter how small it is.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that users/editors have no clue what they’re doing, or that they’re idiots or something; I just want make it as painless as possible for them to read/edit. For that reason, I feel, “This page has an archive.” would be a better wording.

But, I can see counterarguments (including the one you brought up), which is why I opted to discuss it first. Sorry, I should have posted more about my reasoning in my initial post. My bad. — Emptysora (talk) 20:15, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

To be honest I see value for the non-technical user in the explicit locative "/Archive". I doubt there are many humans alive on Earth today who could misunderstand that. However, I do take your point, so perhaps the solution is switching them around?

This page has an archive
Old and/or inactive discussions have been moved to the /Archive subpage.

Since "/Archive subpage" is actually more descriptive than simply "/Archive" anyway, and dispels any chance at confusion. How's that? -- Djonni (talk) 04:15, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

That works for me. — Emptysora (talk) 05:28, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Done 😊 -- Djonni (talk) 07:57, 25 November 2019 (UTC)