Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)/Archive D4

message: Currently this page has instructions about "how" to link, but not "when" to link. I tried adding some information from one of the other guidelines, but was just immediately reverted as "controversial."  Personally, I don't care what the guideline is, but I think it's important that something be said.  This is what I had added:
  	===When to link===  	 
 	* Because of the date preference formatting, dates which include a month and day should be linked, so that
          they will display properly: [[April 22]] or [[22 April]] will display in the same way, depending on a user's settings. 	
 	* Standalone months and days of the week should generally not be linked. 	 
 	* Standalone years do not need to be linked but some users prefer it. 	 
 	* Dates in section headers should generally not be linked.
Where exactly is the controversy here?  My own feeling is that only those dates that are significant should be linked, rather than linking every single date on a page.  But I'll go with whatever the consensus is. --Elonka 23:40, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There is already a lot of guidance about when to link. See the sections "Dates containing a month and a day" and "Partial dates". This text is the result of several long debates and any attempt to change it or add to it is likely to upset one side or the other. Stephen Turner (Talk) 06:15, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Should I make a link to a date with a day, month, year even if it will create a red link?  Lmielke359 21:53, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Please provide an example, as I have never seen such a link. Is it the day (February 43), the month (Bloctober), or the year (2741) that makes the red link? Chris the speller 23:50, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Here is a date I have in my article Hill City, South Dakota - it is August 12, 1990.  I am new to Wikipedia should I link the month and day separate from the year? like this August 12,1990 or what should I do?  Thanks for your help.  Lmielke359 21:44, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Link the day and month separately from the year; in your example, depending on how the users' preferences are set, the date will appear as August 12, 1990 or 12 August 1990 or 1990-08-12, -- Arwel (talk) 21:51, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The most desirable format is August 12, 1990. Note the space after the comma. For articles where the British form is being used, it should be 12 August 1990. Note that no comma is used in this format. Chris the speller 03:39, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Desireable by whom?  I see the August 12, 1990 vs. 12 August 1990 thing as being rather akin to the spelling question: in articles connected to specific (English-speaking) regions (or contexts) use the style used there, otherwise follow the style established in the article but where there is dispute fall back on the style of the first major contributer.  Neither day-month-year nor month-day-year is more desireable than the other. Jɪmp 17:23, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: In fairness, the article being talked about was some city in South Dakota. So I think Chris's advice was correct in this instance. Stephen Turner (Talk) 08:46, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Although I think it's funny that a settlement of 780 people can call itself a city. In England, we wouldn't even call that a town — it would be a village. Anyway, that's all off-topic... Stephen Turner (Talk) 08:49, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, yeah, good point.  In that article, of course.  Do forgive my ranting. Jɪmp 14:40, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: When to link