User:DPL bot/Dablink notification FAQ

About dablink notification

Why did I receive this message?: This message is intended as a service to editors. It's very easy to accidentally create a disambiguation link, and we've found that editors often appreciate knowing what needs to be fixed without having to test each and every link they create.

What's wrong with links to disambiguation pages?: Links to disambiguation pages are almost always incorrect, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "did you mean..." article titles. The few exceptions are mostly in hatnotes and See also sections; this is covered by WP:INTDABLINK, mentioned further below.

How do I fix dablinks?: Links to disambiguation pages are usually resolved using piped links. For example, where an editor writes "Captain [[John Smith]] is remembered for his role in establishing the English settlement of Jamestown", he doesn't intend to create a link to the disambiguation page John Smith, but to the article John Smith (explorer). Here's the fix: "Captain [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]] is remembered for his role in establishing the English settlement of Jamestown"

Am I required to fix dablinks?: No. Dablink cleanup is voluntary, not required.

Are there any tools I can use to make fixing dablinks easier?

Dab solver, the "fix" link in your notification message, is an excellent tool that helps you find and fix dablinks in a given article. This is your best option. Works best in Firefox.
Dablinks gives you a list of what disambiguation pages are linked by your article.
Link Classifier is a script that color-codes certain types of wikilinks in an article, such as redirects, disambiguation links, articles up for deletion, etc. You can also toggle it on or off with a tab next to the "watch" button.
Navigation popups with the popupFixDabs flag set to true makes it easier to fix disambiguation links in a Wikipedia article. Once you've enabled popups in Special:Preferences, go to your javascript config file and add the following line (but without any leading space). Then, when you mouse over a dablink, the popup will show your options. Pick the correct article from the list of links in green at the bottom of the popup.

popupFixDabs=true;

What if there's no article to link to?: Let's say your article links to John Smith, but should really link to an article about John Smith, the ballet dancer. But there's no such article. To solve this, simply create the redlink John Smith (dancer). (See WP:PRECISION in Article titles for how to best name a redlink.)

But that link is supposed to go to the disambig!: With very few exceptions, a link should always go to an article instead of a disambiguation page. Most exceptions are in the case of See also sections and hatnotes such as {{otheruses}}. But in rare cases, an in-article disambiguation link is correct. (See WP:INTDABLINK.) For example: "Captain John Smith is one of many people named [[John Smith]]." In this case, the link to the John Smith disambiguation page is intentional, so we mark it as such by making use of the (disambiguation) redirect: "Captain John Smith is one of many people named [[John Smith (disambiguation)|John Smith]]." This would no longer come up in the reports for the DPL project as needing to be fixed.

Can I get DPL bot to stop putting these messages on my talk page?: Yes. DPL bot is fully exclusion compliant, meaning you can tell it not to edit your talk page. If you place this template anywhere on your talk page:

you will never receive another notice from DPL bot. Also, by specifying the bot name in the deny field you guarantee that other bots will not be blocked. You can learn more at the {{bots}} template page.

I still have questions about this. Where can I leave a comment?: If the bot has left a message on your page in error, please notify JaGa, the bot's operator. If you have a question or comment about disambiguation, you can visit the Disambiguation pages with links project.