Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers/Archive 43

message: Edit of "Fibonacci" article (edit summary: "formatting, fixed deadlinks, unlinked lone years per Wikipedia: Manual of Style")
The only useful part of that edit was IMHO the checking of external links, and adding some new ones instead of one old one that had gone dead.
:Update: after a closer look, I removed both new links:
:* "The Fibonacci Association" contains no biographical information, is about Fibonacci numbers, and already listed in the external links section of that page.
:* "The Fibonacci Numbers" also exclusively about the *Fibonacci numbers*. Despite this being a rather old webpage (1996), among 15-odd more recent websites linked at the Fibonacci numbers page, I added it to the list there, for completeness, but afaik it may be removed there per WP:NOT web directory.
Not useful formatting (really, I object to Wikipedia's resources being used for such edits):
* Leonardo Pisano (Pisa, c. 1170 - Pisa, 1250), also known as Fibonacci,... → Leonardo Pisano (1170 - 1250), also known as Fibonacci,...
* In 1202, at age 32, he published what he had learned in Liber Abaci,... → In 1202, at age 32, he published what he had learned in Liber Abaci,...
* In 1240 the Republic of Pisa honoured Leonardo,... → In 1240 the Republic of Pisa honoured Leonardo,...
Especially the first two of these are deteriorating the article IMHO. If the Liber Abaci is not mentioned in the 1202 article, then that's no fault of the Fibonacci article, but a failure of the 1202 article. One doesn't solve faults by denying their existence.
The first alteration is also obnoxious while removing place of birth and death contrary to the MoS (biographies). It *might* seem obvious that he was born and died in Pisa, while named "of Pisa"/"Pisano"/"da Pisa". It becomes less so when acquainted with the fact (as mentioned in the article) that in Pisa he was rather known under the nickname "bigollo" ("traveller", actually a better translation would be: "vagrant" or "tramp").
Further pedantic and useless changes from the same edit:
* changing subtitles from == References == to ==References== (is there a rule about leaving out the spaces? The section title button doesn't: here's what you get when you click it: 
== Headline text ==
*Adding a redundant category sort key to all categories: (e.g. Category:1170 births → Fibonacci)
I don't know whether this was "bot", "semi-bot", or simply a wikipedian thinking (s)he should outwit all others, but I reverted some of it (not the pedantry) --Francis Schonken 09:19, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: See updates above: in sum the only benificial effect of an edit that changed the Fibonacci article in 20-odd places, was the removal of a deadlink... We should definitely make the MoS pages thus that they discourage changes that appear to serve no other goal than their own. --Francis Schonken 14:01, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Example

message: Hey - I just wanted to make a note of something in case you didn't use it already.  I often use the as of 2006 syntax in articles where it's useful.  These links redirect to 2006, but the use is that if you backtrack to the "as of 2006" redirect page and click "What links here", then there's a big list of articles containing statistics that were valid in 2006 but will need to be updated later.  In 2016 some editor team may choose to rip through and update all those statistics as of 2016.  And then in 2026, and 2036, etc.
You probably already knew about this, but I wanted to make sure your laudable effort to get rid of the "useless sea of blue" didn't extend to the "as of" date links.  Thanks - Tempshill 02:39, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't see any difference here: readers are quite able to type "as of 2006" into the search box on the left on the rare occasions when that article is required; takes five seconds. Same for all other trivial links. Tony 00:43, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The point is that the 'as of 2006' link implies there is information that will need to be updated. With the link in place it is easy to find the data that needs to be updated with the 'what links here' option. Givben the huge task of updating this type of informtion I assume this type of data is used sparingly. 19:50, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  As of 2006