Talk:Big Bang Theory

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This page was nominated at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion on 2022 May 30. The result of the discussion was move DAB to title.

Proper target?

Administrator note: Copied from previous version of this talkpage, when it was the talkpage for a redirect rather than for a DAB. -- Tamzin^{[cetacean needed]} (she/they) 04:16, 13 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I see from the history that there has been a mild edit war over the proper target for this redirect.

My thinking is that since it is "Big Bang Theory" and not "Big Bang theory" - i.e. a title, and not the name of a theory - that it should go to either directly to the TV show, or to Big Bang Theory (disambiguation) (in part because of the theory espoused in User:Jnc/Disambiguation). Most people don't know that the name of the show is "The Big Bang Theory", and I think most people looking for the show come to this title (which is how I wound up here), whereas people looking for the theory would go to "Big Bang" or "Big bang" or "Big Bang theory" or something like that. (And yes, the theory is more important, but given the popularity of the show, we probably have as many people coming here for that as we do for the theory - and it's working well for our readers we should be thinking of.) Noel (talk) 12:35, 10 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: The User:Jnc/Disambiguation essay contradicts to official Wikipedia guidelines, such as WP: Disambiguation, in several points. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 14:40, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If to the disambiguation, it would be a move request to move the disambiguation to the base name -- otherwise you've got a WP:MALPLACED disambiguation page. If to the TV show, a consensus in this discussion will suffice. Thanks for initiating the discussion! -- JHunterJ (talk) 13:20, 10 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I don't see any other comments? So how about we point it to the TV show (given that many people will be coming to Wikipedia to look that up)?

PS: I hadn't read about WP:MALPLACED, but I still think the reasoning in User:Jnc/Disambiguation is correct. But I've given up on getting people to accept that that is a better mousetrap. Noel (talk) 19:32, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think the tv show option is the best plan.Beefcake6412 (talk) 19:51, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I made the primary topic change. -- JHunterJ (talk) 21:19, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If anything the "Big Bang Theory" disambig page should be merged into the "Big Bang" disambig page as the latter already includes the 3 entries in the former. If this is done then I see no problem with Big Bang Theory leading to the TV show. If you merge the two disambig pages, I would then suggest on the real big bang page you can then remove the double disambig from the top and have a link directly to the tv show as that's probably the most popular search topic after the actual theory.Flygongengar (talk) 02:33, 28 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Except for the theory, the topics ambiguous with "Big Bang" and the topics ambiguous with "Big Bang Theory" are distinct. No need to force a merger of the pages when separate pages will help the readers better. -- JHunterJ (talk) 03:18, 28 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Agree, there should be no merger with an overcrowded Big Bang (disambiguation). Shorter pages will be more convenient. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 14:40, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Why does this link to a moderately popular american TV show as opposed to the international scientific theory from which the show stole it's name? This is wikipedia, not TV guide. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.73.128.172 (talk) 09:49, 31 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for joining the conversation. I've reverted your edit. The link goes to the moderately popular American TV show as opposed to the international scientific theory because that appears to best serve the readership, who apparently look for the theory as "Big Bang", "Big bang", or "Big Bang theory", but look for the TV show as "Big Bang Theory". -- JHunterJ (talk) 12:38, 31 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I fail to see why a disambiguation page is selecting one use of the phrase as primary, and the others as secondary. There are five possible referents listed, and more than one of them is very widely used. Furthermore, there's obviously some difference of opinion about which is primary, which makes it even more problematic to choose one. Obviously they have to be put in some order, but why aren't the five possibilities simply listed, rather than presuming the one people are looking for? Such as:

Big Bang Theory may refer to:

The Big Bang Theory, an American TV sitcom first broadcast in 2007
Big Bang Theory, a cosmological model of the universe
Big Bang Theory (Styx album) (2005)
Big Bang Theory (Harem Scarem album) (1998)
"The Big Bang Theory" (Family Guy), an episode of Family Guy

-Jason A. Quest (talk) 00:48, 26 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Even though several are very widely used, the current consensus is that one of them is the primary topic. (The editors selected that, the page didn't). And it wasn't presumption, but rather an observation of the traffic of the articles. In order to change from a primary topic to no primary topic, the disambiguation page would need to be moved (through the usual WP:RM process) to the base name -- JHunterJ (talk) 01:57, 26 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The consensus of whom? Please, give the link to a discussion. It is obvious to me what is the primary meaning of "Big Band T/theory", maybe because I reside on a wrong side of Atlantic. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 13:28, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The consensus above, per Jnc (aka Noel) & User:Beefcake6412 on one side and no one on the other in October 2011. No need to make this a side-of-the-Atlantic issue; I was reverting it to the theory prior to the consensus, and reverting it to the TV show afterwards. -- JHunterJ (talk) 13:52, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's all, really? Then, there is no consensus by now. Let us to start it again. My opinion is that, because all other referents bore their names from Big Bang theory and none was named from The Big Bang Theory, it is the theory what is the primary meaning, not the sitcom. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 14:40, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Really. Consensus can change, but no evidence of that yet -- so far the disagreement has been on the supposed slighting of the theory on the disambiguation page. Word origins and derivations are not criteria for primary topic. The hatnotes and capitalization differences appear to best serve the readership at large, at the expense of misplaced umbrage from editors who may not have noticed that the theory is the primary topic for Big bang, Big Bang, and Big Bang theory, but since people rarely capitalize "Theory" when referring to the theory, the TV show base on the readership usage and without discounting the educational value of the differently-capitalized theory is the primary topic for Big Bang Theory (and The Big Bang Theory). -- JHunterJ (talk) 14:57, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that we should have similar redirects pointing to different places based on trivial things like capitalization or the word "the". All combinations of capitalization and the word "the" that do not have an article on them should point to the same place, be it the primary topic or the disambiguation page. —Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 23:02, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]