- The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the dispute resolution noticeboard's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Have you discussed this on a talk page?
Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.
Location of dispute
Users involved
Dispute overview
Refusal to follow the Gdansk rule precedent, condoning ethnic cleansing, and general antipolinism.
It appears that there is one rule in Wikipedia for using the historical name of present day Polish cities which had been German before WWII, and another rule for the cities of Second Polish Republic from which Poles were ethnically cleansed by Stalin and other antipolinist nationalists. Rather than following the Gdansk rule precedent which has been used in Gdansk, and Wroclaw, there is hostility by other editors to the Gdansk rule in Wiki: NAME It is not seriously disputed that from 1340 to 1944 the city had a a majority population of Polish speakers comprised of a plurality of ethnic Poles combined with large numbers of Polish Jews, but certain editors object to usage of the Polish name Lwów during this long history prior to forced Soviet deportations and annexation.
Edit to note that the action of the named editors also violated Wiki Reasonability Rule:
"Consensus occurs only when the community as a whole agree that a particular action or presentation is reasonable in nature... Similarly, it would be unreasonable for an apparent consensus to form that would be contrary to Wikipedia policies (for example, insisting that a material fact is contrary to that presented in reliable sources)."
http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Reasonability_Rule
Here these editors have unreasonably decided to have a separate rule for cities of the Second Polish Republic from which ethnic Poles were deported to pre-WWII German lands than in the formerly German cities to which they were sent. This is unreasonable. It is also discriminatory. Lwów, Wilno, and other formerly Polish cities are the opposite side of the same coin as the formerly German cities which are now Gdansk, Wroclaw, and Szczecin. There is no objective reason given for the different treatment.
Per Wiki:NAME, Treatment of alternative names, "There is also no reason why alternative names cannot be used in article text, in contexts where they are more appropriate than the name used as the title of the article.":
http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Treatment_of_alternative_names
Yet these authors, who do not contest that the Polish name of Lwów is more appropriate than other names during times of Polish sovereignty, or perhaps other names at other times. (Edits using the German name of "Lemberg were also deleted.) They simply refuse to follow the rule, and want to edit war because I invoked it.
Also, the discussion to which they wish to rely is a reactionary statement from Taivo that "This is a Ukrainian city and its Ukrainian name is the title of the article. Its Ukrainian name should be preserved throughout the article." Some, including a Ukrainian nationalist contributor who prefers to refer to the Eastern lands of pre-war Poland as "occupied Western Ukraine", agreed with Taivo. The rationalizations for not following the Gdansk rule is that it is too messy or confusing to use other more appropriate names.
In fact, there is nothing messy or confusing about the postwar history of Lwów. Over 100,000 ethnic Poles were forcibly deported Westward from Lwów after the city was annexed without their consent or their government's while thousands more who served in the Polish military were unable to return to their homeland. It would be difficult to find a clearer case of mass anti-polinism than this. In the modern world we call the forced deportation of a civilian population a crime against humanity. and it is against the Geneva conventions. (I didn't use the term genocide, although the Ukrainian nationalists in the larger area did participate in genocide against Jews and ethnic Poles.) These editors are using their subjective judgment of "messy" and "confusing" to actually obscure a crime against humanity. It is unreasonable, and unacceptable.
[Edit to note that I have no issues with Xx236, who appears to be on my side in this dispute.]
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.116.54.47 (talk) 05:27, 6 September 2014 (UTC)
Have you tried to resolve this previously?
Talk page.
How do you think we can help?
Uniform application of the Gdansk rule and precedent, and the involvement of more neutral editors.
Summary of dispute by Taivo
There is no "Gdansk rule", there is only a "Gdansk option". Naming in any individual article is not based on an invariable rule, but upon local consensus. The existing consensus for naming Lviv through history is to use the current name "Lviv". The anonymous IP who is pushing to use the older, Polish name for the Polish era (but inexplicably ignores the Russian name for the Soviet era and the German name for the Austro-Hungarian era), has done nothing whatsoever to build a consensus on the Talk Page, but has resorted to falsely calling the Gdansk option an invariable "rule". --Taivo (talk) 16:57, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
It is also worth noting that other formerly Polish cities in western Ukraine follow Lviv's example. Rivne, for example, is "Rivne" throughout and doesn't switch between Równe and Rovno. Lutsk is also "Lutsk" throughout and doesn't alternate with Łuck. Even more to the point, Uzhhorod is known as "Uzhhorod" throughout and not "Uzhgorod" or "Ungvár", despite the fact that until WWII up to 80% of the city's population was Hungarian. The suggestion that this amounts to genocide is rather extraordinary, to say the least. --Taivo (talk) 01:55, 6 September 2014 (UTC)
Summary of dispute by Xx236
- I understand that I have to start 500 votes regarding names of former Polish places and institutions and it's quite probable that I'll loose all of them because Polish editors aren't active here.
- There exists the problem of nationalistic (including Polish) content in this Wikipedia in general and in this article specifically.
- If such perfect consens exists since one year why doesn't the article apply it?
Xx236 (talk) 06:56, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
Summary of dispute by Pichpich
Editors of the article on Gdansk were locked in a bitter dispute for quite some time which was resolved by a fairly simple rule: use Gdańsk in the title and in the rest of the article except in the history sections where the German name Danzig makes more sense (Danzig is also used in the lead sentence). This case is cited as an example in the policy WP:NAME but it is not prescribed as a rule despite claims to the contrary. It merely notes (very wisely, I think) that "There is also no reason why alternative names cannot be used in article text, in contexts where they are more appropriate than the name used as the title of the article". Discussions about the use of Lviv vs. Lvov vs. Lwow has been discussed many times on the talk page and in particular during a one-year old compromise that reads as follows:
- Reduce the number of times the city is named in the history section
- Use Lviv throughout when the city must be named
- In the first sentence, whenever the name changes due to a change in ownership, the form of the name in the ruling power's language (Lviv > Lwów > Lemberg [1795] > Lwów [1919] > Lvov [1939] > Lviv [1991]) is noted in a parenthetical note after "Lviv"
This is different from the solution used in Gdańsk but it does follow the spirit of WP:NAME's suggestion to use alternative names in the article. I prefer this consensus as I think it avoids any confusion and increases readability.
Let me finally note that it's absurd to equate this choice with an anti-Polish slant or as condoning ethnic cleansing. Pichpich (talk) 20:03, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
Lviv discussion
Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.
Hello. I am a volunteer here at the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard. Before beginning the discussion, there are a couple of things to note. Firstly, volunteers here have no special powers and abilities to enforce a particular course of action. Secondly, please respect all parties involved and assume good faith. Thirdly, the DR/N is not a place to discuss user conduct. Issues concerning user conduct, including accusations of pushing a particular POV, should be taken elsewhere.
With that, let us move onto the dispute. It is my understanding that the issue being discussed is the usage of alternative names in the history section. I'm assuming that there are no disputes concerning the usage of 'Lviv' for the title or any other section (e.g. Government). It is also my understanding that the city has had different names throughout history, which includes Lwów. Is this correct? Please respond below. KJ Discuss? 10:45, 9 September 2014 (UTC)
- Lviv has had four relevant historical names, three of which are simply linguistic variants of the same name: Lviv (Ukrainian, the modern name), Lvov (Russian, during the Soviet period, Lwów (Polish, during the centuries when Poland controlled the city), and Lemberg (German, during the Austro-Hungarian period before WWI). These names have had differing amounts of international usage in English. Ultimately, the issue is all about usage in English, particularly contemporary English. Many, many articles in Wikipedia use a single modern English name throughout the article for clarity to our modern readers. I haven't done a count, but I daresay that the vast majority of articles on cities follow that practice. But of particular relevance to Lviv are the articles that cover western Ukrainian cities such as Rivne, Uzhhorod, Lutsk, which have changed hands one or more times in the last two centuries. Uzhhorod, for example, started the 20th century in Austro-Hungarian hands, then became (in succession) Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Soviet, and finally Ukrainian. During most of that period it had a majority Hungarian population (Ungvár is its Hungarian name). Yet rather than changing its reference name in the History section to match the owner at the time of the event being described, or using Ungvár for the long period where the majority of the population was Hungarian, Wikipedia uses "Uzhhorod" throughout for ease of reference to ease the job on the reader. The "Gdansk option" (it is not a rule as the anon IP would like you to think) has not been used in any other article on a Ukrainian city (that I can find) for that reason--keeping things simple for the reader. --Taivo (talk) 17:04, 9 September 2014 (UTC)
- @Kkj11210 I think you're aware of this but just in case, let me point out that the current dispute (insofar as I understand it) is only about the use in the history section. However, both the title and the use of alternative names in the lead section have been discussed periodically on the talk page starting in 2004 (!!!) and as recently as April 2014. The current use in the history section follows the conclusion of a fairly civil discussion in August 2013. Pichpich (talk) 18:21, 9 September 2014 (UTC)
- As a followup to my comment about changing names in Ukrainian city histories, I looked at Dnipropetrovsk. This is a case of a city that has remained under Russian/Soviet/Ukrainian control since it was founded as Yekaterinoslav in the 18th century. In the history writeup, the original Russian name "Yekaterinoslav" is used until the city was renamed "Dnepropetrovsk" after the Soviets took control of Ukraine. However, that original name is always shown in italics. After the city was renamed, only "Dnipropetrovsk" (the Ukrainian form) is used, never the Russian form. --Taivo (talk) 18:50, 9 September 2014 (UTC)
- keeping things simple for the reader is a speculation, we don't know why.Xx236 (talk) 06:27, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
- Dnipropetrovsk uses the formula The city that is now called Dnipropetrovsk. The article follows the Gdańs/Danzig logic.
- Vilnius: The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323 but we don't know under which name. Xx236 (talk) 06:34, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
- Xx236, I mentioned Dnipropetrovsk because it varies the "Gdansk option" by italicizing one of the historical names and not including all historical variants. At Gdańsk, that is not the case. However, the great majority of city articles still do not follow the Gdansk option--whether italicizing the name or not--and that goes for Ukrainian cities as well. "Dnipropetrovsk" is not "Dnepropetrovsk" during the writeup of the Soviet era. Indeed, the reason why Yekaterinoslav is used at all in the Dnipropetrovsk writeup is because it is not simply a linguistic variant of the same name (as Lviv, Lvov, and Lwów are), but a different name entirely. Keeping things simple for the reader is one of the fundamental principles that always have to guide writing in Wikipedia. Using one name for a city, or, at the least, marking alternate names somehow (as italics does at Dnipropetrovsk), is our job. --Taivo (talk) 08:53, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
OK, I think the focus of the debate is pretty clear. I think that we all agree on the facts presented above. @76.116.54.47: Some questions for you. Is it your belief that the article should use alternative names throughout the history only to conform to the Gdansk vote? Please note that the apparent consensus on the talk page, mentions alternative names in the first sentence in each part of history when ownership has been changed, and is maintaining this practice as far as I can see. Do you believe only the alternative names should be used for the corresponding time period? KJ Discuss? 9:25, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
- The point is not to enforce the Gdansk precedent because it is the rule. The relevant distinction is that the change in names throughout the cities history is reflective of the changing political and/or cultural forces which shaped the cities history. The discussion starts with a conclusion, which is supported by editors who think that following the Gdansk rule is pushing a Polish POV, and then (some of them) come to the subjective conclusion that the Gdansk rule is too messy and confusing for the reader. Nowhere was there a discussion about using the best name "in contexts where they are more appropriate than the name used as the title of the article" relevant to the dominant political powers and ethnic groups. This group just decided to short circuit that process, and based upon the subjective views of a small number of editors, now claim that the discussion has closed.
- Furthermore, there are no special Wiki rules for Ukraine and present day Ukrainian cities. If our Ukrainian editors want to create their own online Ukrainian reference, they can call all of the cities in Modern Ukraine by Ukrainian names. The status quo to which Taivo refers is the result of these pages being dominated by editors, intentionally of subconsciously, with a Ukrainian POV. If there is confusion about the cultural changes in many cities of present day Western, it is because the editors of those pages have failed to address the post-war forced population deportations. (Read the comments on the cited Uzhhorod/Ungvár page about what happened to the Hungarian population of that city which before WWI was over 80% Hungarian.) The editors have an obligation to respect the dominant cultures which shaped these cities, as had been done in Gdansk, Wroclaw, and Szczecin by using the appropriate name for the city. The inconvenient truth is that before Stalin's crimes against humanity, Ukrainian culture was not dominate in the cities of the region. There is a connection here, and by refusing to follow the Gdansk rule precedent, this inconvenient truth is obscured.2601:B:8F00:7B3:993A:8D8:FB98:2697 (talk) 14:41, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
- Your comments might be a nice nod to Polish history, but they ignore the fundamental problem that readers have in identifying what is being talked about when the name of a city changes paragraph by paragraph. It has nothing whatsoever to do with genocide or deportations--that is irrelevant to the issue of what to call a city in Wikipedia's narrative. It has everything to do with the ease with which readers can use our encyclopedia. Today the city is called "Lviv". It is called "Lviv" through the majority of the text. Switching the name from Lviv to Lwów to Lemberg back to Lwów to Lvov and finally back to Lviv makes no sense and makes comprehensibility to the reader difficult. --Taivo (talk) 15:07, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
- The Gdansk Rule precedent is very clear. There is no reason not to use the most appropriate name for the city. Despite the clear wording of the rule, our Ukrainian editors have invented a reason to do otherwise. Whether or not these editors agree with the Gdansk rule is irrelevant. It remains the rule and it needs to be administered fairly, and without discrimination. It is unlikely that those not pushing a Ukrainian POV will agree with this novel loophole. I don't know if it is completely necessary to include Lvov or Lemberg too much if creating confusion was the issue, but there was never the appropriate discussion about this topic. (Undoubtedly, those who object to using Lwów over Lemberg for the Hapsburg era may not want to compare the treatment of Slavic cities elsewhere in Hapsburg lands on WP with regard to German vs. Slavic names. (cf. Brno, Ostrava, České Budějovice, etc.)) Avoiding reference to the city as Lwów, when the old city was built during Polish rule and during the Second Polish republic is completely unreasonable. 2601:B:8F00:7B3:74E7:17E1:E1C5:69E6 (talk) 03:06, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- (Please learn how to edit without disrupting the formatting of the page.)
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- There is no such thing as the "Gdansk Rule". It is not a rule. That has been the fundamental flaw in your argument all along. You want to simply push an option on us by calling it an invariable rule. It is no such thing. It was the solution in one specific article that editors may employ in other pages, but are not required to employ. I've said this multiple times on the Talk Page, but you continue to ignore the simple fact that there is no rule, there is only an option. The fundamental issue is, and always will be, readability and usability. --Taivo (talk) 03:35, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- @2601:B:8F00:7B3:74E7:17E1:E1C5:69E6: As the DRN volunteer, I must agree with Tavio concerning the interpretation of the Gdansk Vote. The Gdansk Vote is not a rule (i.e. neither policy or guideline) and is not intended to enforced in any other pages besides the page currently known as Gdańsk. Furthermore, Rules and policies are not supposed to be blindly enforced but efficiently adopted with the appropriate level of consensus, which is what we're here for. There also has been a previous discussion and consensus concerning the name to be used in the article, but consensus can change. Do you have any other arguments besides the Gdansk vote? KJ Discuss? 05:05, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- You are not correct. The Gdansk rule applies on all other pages that share a common Polish-German history: 'For Gdansk and other locations that share a history between Germany and Poland, the first reference of one name in an article should also include a reference to other names, e.g. Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) or Gdańsk (Danzig). An English language reference that primarily uses this name should be provided on the talk page if a dispute arises.' http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Talk:Wroc%C5%82aw This includes other cities, e.g., Szczecin, Wroclaw, Poznan, etc., and also biographies. The rule is there and the precedent has been set for places with changing political or cultural dominance. Even if we assume that the rule is not binding in itself in former Polish cities in the East, there is still the issue of reasonableness of having separate rules for Ukraine and discriminatory treatment of Polish history. (Poland is distinguishable from Hungary, or Romania in that Poland never allied itself with the Nazis, unlike the Soviets and Ukrainian Nationalists.) The relevant consensus is the larger Wiki community and not the ability of those with a certain nationalistic bias on individual pages to create local exceptions simply because they are dominating certain pages.2601:B:8F00:7B3:406C:E72A:7029:86B2 (talk) 15:37, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- How does Lwów not share a common Polish-German history? The Poles fought the German who occupied the area in WWII, along with the Nazi allied Ukrainian nationalists. The Gdansk rule clearly applies in Lwów. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:B:8F00:7B3:789D:5BB8:66D2:62D (talk) 17:41, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
I too must stress that there is no such thing as a Gdańsk rule. I also feel that people are way too sensitive about the whole matter. I don't understand how one can seriously suggest that changing half a dozen Lwów into Lviv is akin to " obscuring the inconvenient truth [of Stalin's crimes against humanity]" and that supporting the current naming can only be the result of (at best) a subconscious Ukrainian POV. If the objective is to stress the Soviet-forced Polish emigration after WWII, the solution is simple: add good solid material in the relevant section. The actual name used has little to with it. Pichpich ( talk) 18:46, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- @2601:B:8F00:7B3:74E7:17E1:E1C5:69E6: Let me clarify. What I meant was that the sections of the vote clearly only referencing the Gdansk article does not generalize into other articles (e.g. 'For Gdańsk, use the name Danzig between 1308 and 1945' would not be a general statement to be applied to other articles). As for the section you have mentioned, 'the first reference of one name in an article' does 'include a reference to other names.' See both the introductory sentence as well as Lviv#Names. Can we all agree that the Gdansk vote is followed on the Lviv article? KJ Discuss? 22:43, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- I'm confused by what you just wrote. Lviv does not follow the Gdansk Option since it doesn't switch between Lwów and Lviv in the History section. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your comment. --Taivo (talk) 22:54, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- I'm talking about referring to other names with the first reference in the article. That appears to be the only general rule in the vote. Can we agree that that is the case for this article? KJ Discuss? 00:27, 12 September 2014 (UTC)
A note: the IP prefaces his comment with an inaccuracy: " It is not seriously disputed that from 1340 to 1944 the city had a a majority population of Polish speakers comprised of a plurality of ethnic Poles combined with large numbers of Polish Jews" I doubt that when Poles took the town in 1349 (not 1340) it instantly became majority Polish. The original Eastern Slavic inhabitants always lived there even after they were eventually outnumbered. But this is irrelvant anyways - English usage is what counts. The city was referred to by its Latin name (Leopolis) in English documents prior to Austrian rule, then Lemberg, then Lwow, then Lvov and now Lviv. It seems confusing indeed to keep switching the terminology. A single sentence at the beginning of the section ("Called Lwow during this period) should be sufficient, without referring to different names throughout.Faustian (talk) 23:07, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
- I agree. Start the various sections with a comment that "It was called Lwów/Lemberg/Lvov during this period" and then continue to use Lviv for ease of reference and consistency. --Taivo (talk) 00:12, 12 September 2014 (UTC)
- Considering that Faustian prefers to refer to this area as "occupied Western Ukraine" in the Bandera page, it is not surprising that he continues to make incorrect factual assertions without a reliable source about the ethnic history of a city which at its earliest period as a fortified settlement had a majority ethnic German population. (This page is about the history of city, not the peasants in the countryside.) It is also not surprising that he will dispute that a Polish Piast prince of Mazovia, Boleslaw Yuri II, ruled Galicia and Lviv from 1323 until his death in 1340. While he considers the rich historical cultural diversity of the city irrelevant, English usage only applies to the name of the article. The issue here is what name is most appropriate for corresponding time periods. It is good to note the name of city at the beginning of each historical period. Distraction for the reader can be reduced by limiting the number of times that the formal name is used. However, whenever the city is named it needs to refer to the appropriate name for the city during that time period, as with the Gdansk/Danzig precedent. This emphasizes the cultural diversity of the city and gives fair credit to the dominant cultures that created it. 85.154.245.172 (talk) 02:12, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
- The IP claimed about me:"Faustian prefers to refer to this area as "occupied Western Ukraine" in the Bandera page." My statement on the Bandera talk page: "Well, Poland captured East Galicia from the West Ukrainian People's Republic in a war, not democratic referendum, and census data indicate that this region was majority Ukrainian (over 60%, per Snyder) so occupied might be technically correct. However I removed the word because it's not essential to the article or lead and there's no reason for distracting conflict." I suspect the IP, who rather than address the point attacks me for presenting it (by skewing my actual position, no less) is trying to battleground this issue.Faustian (talk) 03:07, 17 September 2014 (UTC)
- Readability and comprehensibility are far more important than "fair credit" when that "fair credit" is unnecessary and diminishes readability. The principle of mentioning the appropriate historical name (Lemberg, Lvov, Lwów) in the first sentence after switching ownership and then continuing to use one reference name for the remainder of the discussion in that time period is far superior to confusing the reader by a plethora of historical names meandering through the text. There are more articles (not just in Ukraine but throughout Wikipedia) that use one name throughout rather than switching names when a new owner took over. --Taivo (talk) 02:22, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
- Danzig/Gdańsk vote result diminished readability. Xx236 (talk) 06:16, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
24 hour closing notice Given that it's been 5 days since a user last commented on this discussion, I am inclined to close this discussion with a general close. @76.116.54.47:, @Taivo:, @Xx236:, @Pichpich: Do you have any comments or wish to continue the discussion? KJ Discuss? 22:25, 21 September 2014 (UTC)
- The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the dispute resolution noticeboard's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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