 | Thisguideline documents an English Wikipedianaming convention. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this pageshould reflect consensus. |
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The following guidelines apply toWikipedia article titles for events and incidents, such as military and political conflicts, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, transportation and industrial accidents, health outbreaks, and the like.
This guideline complements theWP:Article titles policy and should be read and understood that way. In the case of any contradictions the policy page takes precedence.
If there is an established, common name for an event (such as theGreat Depression orCuban Missile Crisis), use that name. In themajority of cases, the title of the article should contain the following three descriptors:
Examples of "when", "where", and "what" titles
Some articles do not need a year fordisambiguation when, in historic perspective, the event is easily described without it. As this is a judgement call, please discuss it with other editors if there is disagreement.
The month or days should not be used in the title unless other descriptors are insufficient to establish the identity of the incident, for example,May 1996 Kentucky tornado outbreak. The date is not needed when the article pertains to events that are unlikely to recur, such asRescue of Giuliana Sgrena, or murder or death articles that can only happen once (such asKilling of Neda Agha-Soltan orAssassination of Boris Nemtsov).
Examples of some events that are so immediately identifiable that the date is not needed in the article title:
Only "where" and "what"
Only "when" and "what"
Only "where"
For the "what" part of the name, try to be specific butneutral. "Accident" is not a neutral word, because it implies the event was trulyaccidental, and not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of willful or negligent actions. Only use the term "accident" if a competent authority has concluded the event was accidental after a thorough investigation, and this finding is not controversial or contradicted by another authority, such as a court of law.
Try to avoid the wordsdisaster,tragedy, andcrisis because this characterization is too subjective. It is preferable to use specific event names, such as collision, collapse, explosion, outbreak, pandemic, sinking, oil spill, and the like. The word "disaster" implies a certain level of destruction; only use the word if an incident was more destructive than most other accidents,and non-local reliable sources consistently characterize it as such over a significant period of history. Only use the word crisis when it meets the definition, such as aconstitutional crisis. Per the established guidelines inWP:NCCAPS, do not capitalize the second or subsequent words in an article title except for proper names.
Aviation accidents and incidents should generally be titled according to theair carrier and flight number for commercial air transport–related events. In aviation, the terms "accident" and "incident" are defined in theConvention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13, and these standards should be followed in naming aviation-related events. If there were two or more aircraft involved, or if the flight did not have a flight number assigned, use the "where and what" convention stated above. Avoid using the informal terms "plane" or "plane crash".
Maritime incidents should be titled according to the ship name; add a descriptor to differentiate from a separate article about the ship. Use theTemplate:DISPLAYTITLE to italicize ship names. Examples:
Bridge collapses andtrain wrecks should be named according to the "where and what" convention. Article titles can contain the year if needed for disambiguation. The default name should contain the term "train wreck", unless a more specific description such as "derailment" or "collision" is supported by the facts alone without interpretation. "Train collision" includes incidents where a train collided with another vehicle, such as a bus. If an event is commonly known by another name historically, such as a "Great Train Wreck," use that name.
Health incidents should also be titled according to the "where and what", with year added for disambiguation. If an outbreak stems from a specific company, use the company name. Use theTemplate:DISPLAYTITLE to italicize disease names if needed. Capitalize disease titles only if the disease itself is a proper noun. Examples:
Industrial accidents and incidents should generally be titled according to the year, the location and a description of what occurred. The year may be added to be helpful. Capitalize proper names of buildings, places and companies, but do not capitalize generic terms such as fire, explosion or disaster. Use theTemplate:DISPLAYTITLE to italicize ship and oil rig names. Examples:
Tornado andtornado outbreak events should follow the earliest applicable style below:
Article names for current and historical events are often controversial. In particular, the use of strong words such as "massacre" can be a focus of heated debate. The use of particular strong words is neither universally encouraged nor discouraged. The spirit of these guidelines is to favourfamiliar terms used to identify the event. Rules to select a name should be applied in the following sequence:
Acommon name orstanding expression exists if most English speakers who are aware of the topic call it the same thing. Slight variations on the name, such as changes in word order, count as the same common name. For example,World War II is often called the Second World War; they are close enough to be considered variations of the same common name.
Agenerally accepted word is a word for which there is consensus, among scholars in the real world, on its applicability to the event. The use of a strong word may still be controversial among politicians, Wikipedia editors, or the general public.
Regardless of which rule applies, there may still be differentpoints of view on how to characterize the event, and some of these points of view may be contrary to the title. These points of view should be discussed in the article. However, the title may contain a word of questionable neutrality, such as "massacre" or "terrorism," if this word is part of the common name. Also,redirects may be used to direct biased titles to a more neutral title.