Wikipedia:WikiProject Ireland Collaboration/Poll on Ireland article names

WikiProject Ireland Collaboration – Poll on Ireland article names

Preamble

The name "Ireland" is considered to be ambiguous with respect to a number of meanings, but primarily between two entities: the island named "Ireland", and the state that occupies about 83% of it, also named "Ireland". (Northern Ireland, which comprises the remaining portion of the island, is part of the United Kingdom.) Currently, the state is located at "Republic of Ireland" while the island is located at "Ireland" (there is also an Ireland disambiguation page). Both uses of the name "Ireland" are considered equally valid and neither can be selected as the most common per standard naming convention rules, which has led to long debates (and edit wars) about the issues. Other naming conflicts that involve countries do not provide consistent advice for resolution of this issue (compare, for example, Luxembourg, Georgia (country), Tasmania, and People's Republic of China).

As there is a stalemate in achieving consensus on the issue, it has been decided to use the results of a poll of all Wikipedia editors to resolve the matter. The six most likely options, based on solutions used for other country names, from the Ireland Collaboration Project are listed below. They are presented in no particular or preferential order, along with links to essays from its participants which voters are strongly encouraged to read before making their choice.

Regardless of the solution, appropriate hatnotes will be used to guide readers to the appropriate articles. Further discussion at the Ireland Collaboration Project will also take place before renaming to resolve other issues such as how the state will be referred to in the text of other articles.

Statements by individual members of the project

Position statements by some of the Ireland Collaboration Project's editors can be viewed on the position statements page.

Ballot options

Option A: Merge Ireland and Republic of Ireland into one article at Ireland. More info?
Option B: The state at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). More info?
Option C: A general "all-Ireland" topic at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state). More info?
Option D: The island at Ireland. The state at Ireland (state). More info?
Option E: A disambiguation page at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state). More info?
Option F: The island at Ireland. The state at Republic of Ireland. More info?

Please read through the detailed information below, which makes precise what ramification each option will have, for instance in the first sentence of the different articles. The place for actual ballotting follows that section.

Detailed information about the ballot options

A: Merge Ireland and Republic of Ireland into one article at Ireland.

(Ireland + Republic of Ireland) → Ireland
Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is a European island and an independent state of the same name. (The text here was based on the article on Tasmania.)
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

Back up.

B: The state at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island).

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

Back up.

C: A general "all-Ireland" topic at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state).

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...
Ireland	Ireland is a modern independent state, a geographic entity, an historic nation, and a cultural identity, all based on the island of Ireland. (The text here was based loosely on the article on China.)

Back up.

D: The island at Ireland. The state at Ireland (state).

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

Back up.

E: A disambiguation page at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state).

Name of Page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

Back up.

F: The island at Ireland. The state at Republic of Ireland.

Ireland → no change
Republic of Ireland → no change
Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Republic of Ireland	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

Back up.

Procedure for voting

Please vote using PRSTV (i.e. rank your preferences in order e.g. "A, B, C, D, E, F")
To do this you may use the template * {{stv-ballot|A=0|B=0|C=0|D=0|E=0|F=0|sign=~~~~}} — Select it from the asterisk * to the last curly bracket } and Copy, then Paste when you go down to the Balloting Area below. To make your vote, simply put the number with the appropriate letter (X=1 is your most favourite, Y=6 is your least favourite, Z=0 gives no support at all to an option).
You are not obliged to express a preference for any of the options that you do not wish to support (or have no preference about); it is easiest to leave the number as zero, i.e. Z=0, rather than deleting the letter.
Sign and date your vote but do not append any comments to your vote; they will be removed.

Notes:

Before voting please familiarise yourself with policy on naming convention and guidelines for disambiguation.
Closing date/adjudication:

Voting will end at 21:00 (UTC) of the evening of 13 September 2009 (that is 22:00 IST and BST)
A member of the ArbCom committee will adjudicate the result of the vote
Results of the vote are final and binding for a period of two years

Procedures for dealing with fraud:

Unregistered users may not vote (to prevent fraud) but may contribute comments on the Talk page
Users who registered after 1 June 2009 may not vote (per Project consensus) but may contribute comments on the Talk page
Non-trivial sanctions will be imposed for canvassing, forum shopping, ballot stuffing, sock puppetry, meat puppetry or otherwise manipulating the ballot (or attempting to do so)
Votes by sock puppets or meat puppets (and their masters) or similar will be removed from the balloting area

Voting area

B A E D -- Evertype·✆ 15:14, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E B D F GoodDay (talk) 15:22, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B E C D TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 15:24, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C E Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 15:28, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C B Valenciano (talk) 15:30, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B E C The Red Hat of Pat Ferrick (talk) 15:34, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C B A Timrollpickering (talk) 15:35, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C Guliolopez (talk) 15:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C A E B rannṗáirtí anaiṫnid (coṁrá) 15:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F E D Keith D (talk) 15:43, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E C D B F mazca ^talk 15:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E D F B A Iridescent 15:49, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A B F D C E Nelson50^T 15:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B A E Laurent (talk) 15:54, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A F D Scolaire (talk) 16:01, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C B Derek Ross (Talk) 16:08, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E C D B Pfainuk talk 18:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F E D C Boson (talk) 16:23, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E B D Jack forbes (talk) 16:24, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D B C E A h2g2bob (talk) 16:27, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C E B A Kittybrewster ☎ 16:58, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E F D B A Kwekubo (talk) 17:01, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E B C A older ≠ wiser 17:10, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C A Bonewah (talk) 17:15, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E john k (talk) 17:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F C E D Sceptre ^(talk) 17:55, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F BritishWatcher (talk) 18:06, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F Djegan (talk) 18:15, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A D B --Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 18:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F A Skinsmoke (talk) 18:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C A B D E Sarah777 (talk) 18:43, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C A E B Srnec (talk) 18:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E D C B A F Darkfrog24 (talk) 18:57, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E B hippo43 (talk) 19:22, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
D A F Deacon of Pndapetzim (Talk) 19:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A D B Tfz 19:50, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F B A Fmph (talk) 20:01, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F MTC (talk) 20:08, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E D C B A HighKing (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E F C B D A The Tom (talk) 20:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D C A Angus McLellan (Talk) 20:57, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E D F B A SnowFire (talk) 21:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E D B F A Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:07, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E B D A FlowerpotmaN·(t) 22:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E D B A --Snowded ^TALK 22:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E D B A // BL \\ (talk) 23:47, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C D E F A B SarekOfVulcan (talk) 00:03, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
E D F Guest9999 (talk) 00:15, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B A C Sswonk (talk) 16:25, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C A B D E Daicaregos (talk) 07:24, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A D C BigDunc 09:45, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D Mooretwin (talk) 09:53, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B A E F Joowwww (talk) 10:53, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E A B Red King --Red King (talk) 11:30, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
D B C A F E Sam Blacketer (talk) 12:52, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B SQRT5P1D2 (talk) 12:57, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C D F MickMacNee (talk) 13:16, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F C D A E B — Blue-Haired Lawyer 13:55, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C A B D E Autodidactyl (talk) 14:07, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 16:07, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
D F A C E B Cavrdg (talk) 17:38, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
B E C D A Redking7 (talk) 17:54, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C E B D Ben Mac Dui 18:03, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
C F E — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 18:45, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
D F E B C A jnestorius^(talk) 19:12, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F Malcolm XIV (talk) 20:09, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C B Peter cohen (talk) 22:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F Nanonic (talk) 22:09, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
F D E C Gerry Lynch (talk) 22:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(Do not make comments in this area—only your vote)

Comments

Tip - If it's giving you a warning even though you've signed, try putting your "plain" signature instead of your embellished one. The Red Hat of Pat Ferrick^t 16:12, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed The template now handles fancy fonts etc. in signatures. Use the new "sign" parameter if your sig contains fancy fonts, etc. (like this: {{stv-ballot|A=0|B=0|C=0|D=0|E=0|F=0|sign=~~~~}}). --rannṗáirtí anaiṫnid (coṁrá) 19:28, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Since there is only going to be one winner, the voting system is not "PRSTV" (or PR anything else) but rather instant-runoff voting. The Talk page shows non-RoI voters already confused because they are unfamiliar with the complexity of PRSTV; IRV is simpler and hence easier to understand. If "instant-runoff voting" is, as the article claims, an American term, it also avoids accusations of pro-Irish pro-British bias. Please change the ballot paper accordingly. jnestorius^(talk) 19:12, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry but calling it "instant-runoff voting" will confuse even more. STV is a term used and understood in both Britain and Ireland (both the island and the state) and the confusion is not with the name but with the mechanics and there is no bias either way. Introducing "IRV", a term not used at all in the island and its neighbours, or for that matter in most jurisdictions that actually use the system, is not going to be an improvement.

As for whether this is PRSTV or not, if a Brit may quote the Constitution of Ireland, Article 12.2.3 says:

The voting [for the President, with one person to be elected] shall be by secret ballot and on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

Whatever the technicalities this is how the system is referred to in practice. Timrollpickering (talk) 19:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not change anything once the voting has started. Fmph (talk) 21:22, 3 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject Ireland Collaboration – Poll on Ireland article names

Preamble

Statements by individual members of the project

See also

Ballot options

Detailed information about the ballot options

Procedure for voting

Voting area

Comments