Talk:Uropeltidae

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Common names

Regarding the use of common names in the text, there are good reasons to avoid this practice. First, articles like these are monographs: the entire text is dedicated to a single subject. Therefore, it's unnecessary to repeat the (common) name of the subject in the text -- the reader already knows that's what it's about already. Second, which common name do you use? In this case it could be shield-tailed snakes or pipe snakes. Or perhaps earth snakes. If you alternate, there's the danger that some readers will become confused. If you stick with one, some readers may take offense and want another name be used instead. This often leads to pointless edit wars. It is therefore a better strategy to stay neutral (politically correct) by not using any common names in the text. However, while unnecessary, if you must start off every other a sentence with a noun, there are many neutral terms that can be used here instead, such as uropeltids, serpents, snakes, squamatids, reptiles, and animals. --Jwinius 22:11, 6 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]