Wikipedia talk:Database reports/Short descriptions containing possibly invalid characters

On the character U+2261

Many short descriptions of chemicals include a depiction of the chemical's structure; for example, acrylonitrile's short description is currently "Organic compound (CH2=CH−C≡N)". These use an en-dash for a single bond and an equals sign for a double bond, and the Unicode character U+2261, ≡, for a triple bond. This latter character is currently not accepted by this report. I propose amending the report to treat it as valid. — LucasBrown 02:36, 11 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Additionally, I would like ≥, ≤, ±, ±, √, ∞, °, ·, ¿, ¥, and all of those IPA symbols to be regarded as valid. — LucasBrown 02:51, 11 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The guidance at the top of this page says to ask questions at Wikipedia talk:Short description. I probably should have redirected this page when I created the report.

I recommend removing the chemical formula instead. Likewise, most of the descriptions that include ≥ appear to be definitions rather than following the guidance at WP:SDEXAMPLES. Like this short description, for example. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:08, 11 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Going off at a tangent I know but I feel I must. I suggest that your revision to that SD has made it uselessly trivial, saying essentially that a geometric theorem is a theorem in geometry. How does that help anyone identify which of the many theorems it is?

Please appreciate that by far the highest visibility of an SD is when the article is included in a ==See also== list and the SD is shown using {{annotated link}}. There it provides a clue to readers as to which of the articles listed are likely to be of interest. I accept that the SD should not be a definition, but it should be sufficiently informative as to be worth having. Otherwise just put SD=none.

In the case of Acrylonitrile, I agree that the chemical formula is not appropriate and certainly not scaleable to complex organic chemistry. so I have changed it to

Acrylonitrile – Organic compound used in plastics manufacture

which [shock, horror, outrage] is 45 characters but all are needed for it to be of any use to anyone. The alternative

Acrylonitrile – Organic compound

is essentially useless in the vast field of organic chemistry. It the equivalent of

Wikipedia – website.

Pointless. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 11:07, 4 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You assert that annotated links are the highest and most visible use of SDs, an assertion which needs data to back it up. The MediaWiki developers created SDs to show in search results and under article links at the bottom of mobile pages. {{annotated link}} is an English Wikipedia invention, as far as I know, and requires scrolling to the bottom of an individual article and reading a See also section that contains annotated links, something that I expect is done much less often than searching.

As for changing the SD for Four-vertex theorem from the impenetrable "Closed curves have ≥4 extremes of curvature" to the much better "Theorem in geometry", I would do that every time. It follows the instructions at WP:SDPURPOSE. I am not going to engage with your Acrylonitrile straw man, as I see nothing wrong with an SD of 45 characters if it complies with the guidance. You might want to subst your annotated link template above, since if someone changes the SD, your point will be muddled. – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:56, 5 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]