User talk:Max34

Contents

1. Thanks alot!

2. Moderator elections

3. Capitalizing all-lowercase template names

Thanks alot!

I have received your advice and I will correct them right away! Thank you very much indeed!

However, there are too many pages with the same problem ({{Lang}}), most of which are syntactically incorrect from the original English version (use / instead |), so that other translations have such errors. The same problem exists with the path of the page. I have tried to fix some of my own and other people’s pages as much as possible, but this is too many, all kinds of language is wrong D:
— Hl2awpp (talk) 10:10, 26 Dec 2022 (UTC)

Unfortunately, this is the only way to switch to proper usage. The most important thing is that after changing the {{Lang}} template, such things did not break.

A similar situation was with the {{Otherlang2}} template when it was used on all pages, but when {{Lang}} became the template that was supposed to replace it, a very long way began to replace this template. I have been sitting on this site for a long time and sometimes noticed that there were people who set themselves the goal of replacing {{Otherlang2}} with {{Lang}} completely (even I have sometimes worked on replacing this template). Most of them have given up at some point, but more recently another person has appeared who was able to complete the remaining task. I think it will be the same in this situation. Sooner or later, all pages will be fixed!
— Max34 (talk) 19:10, 26 Dec 2022 (UTC)

Moderator elections

Hi: You have been denied moderator in elections; there is clear consensus against making you a moderator.
— PabloS (talk) 21:17, 17 June 2024 (PDT)

Well, that was expected. I’m even glad about this, because those who were against my candidacy can breathe a sigh of relief. It makes me happy to know that it will make someone happier. In fact, I was going to withdraw my candidacy, but I didn’t have time, you were faster)
— Max34 (talk) 21:37, 17 June 2024 (PDT)

Capitalizing all-lowercase template names

From {{cow}} history:

it's designed to be lowercase; there's zero reason to capitalize it besides wasting keystrokes

I'm afraid I have to disagree. The template name can be written in either way, but the best and most accurate way is to start with a capital letter; it's less likely to cause confusion and looks much cleaner. There is no strict requirement to always write with a capital letter, this can always be corrected later, but intentionally changing the final form to a format that is quick to write is bad. If you're ready to continue the discussion, let's head over to my talk page.

First off, I strongly disagree that it looks cleaner; I think it looks messier. It's an abbreviation of Combine OverWiki, so why would only the C be capitalized? The only reason it's allowed to is because of MediaWiki limitations.

Additionally, until a few years ago, it was the de facto standard on this wiki for most templates to be all lowercase; that's why it's {{cow}} and not {{COW}}. Template names with multiple words used spaces, not PascalCase.
— SirYodaJedi (talk) 10:34, 8 January 2026 (PST)

The best approach would be to convert all templates to their full readable names (the site has already partially begun to transition to this format; take the "Software" game templates as an example), and all abbreviations and simplified names would remain as redirects. If you don't want to bother with writing out the full name, you can use these simplified names without capitalizing them. Others will then replace the short versions with the full ones to make text cleaner and more readable.

It is also important to understand that MediaWiki code is not a programming language (We don't even have strict limits on article size and strings), it is text and it should be easy to read for everyone, at least on regular articles. Personally, I always capitalize names because it's convenient for me. If I had my way, I'd already start renaming templates to their full names, but I'm afraid many people won't appreciate such drastic changes.
— Max34 (talk) 11:15, 8 January 2026 (PST)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the latter. Is it really worth renaming templates to their full names and leaving the abbreviations as redirects? This would be a big plus for self-documentation and full readability of the cleaned-up articles.
— Max34 (talk) 05:27, 10 January 2026 (PST)

Depends on which templates as it would be useless for many. I am against making pointless abbreviations. If template is to be used through abbreviation all the time there is no need for the template to have full name. Templates used often and meant for formatting like for example KV, O, I, Ent, Cmd, L etc. have no need to have full name. You get easily used to what they mean as they are used often. The icons like l4d, l4d2, hl2 etc. already have both and I guess it's good to have them written out whole when they are part of the text in a paragraph, but have them as abbreviated when listing just icons in the parameter {{{only}}} of some templates for example. Example where I changed a name to be descriptive is 'Template:intent' -> 'Internal entity note' which is far more understandable to read in wikitext.
—Nescius (talk) 08:27, 10 January 2026 (PST)

I agree that some templates should be kept shortened when used, but it's much better if the actual template itself has a full name. For example, someone visiting the template's page will immediately see its full name, making it much easier to understand. It's like "self-documenting code". I'm not saying to write, say, the "HTML" template in full, it's a well-established term, but "cow" should definitely be called in full, and if desired, use the abbreviation in articles/documentation.

If we want to clean up the site, we need to adhere to at least some rules. The point is, the current format is too vague; there are no clear boundaries, so this is more of a complication: I'll create a template with a full name, and then someone will create a redirect to it with a simplified name, and it'll start being used en masse. Does this mean I need to move the entire template code to its redirect? But if not, then this template will be out of this format. I understand this is a rather radical idea, but it won't harm the site in any way; we're not getting rid of the abbreviated names after all.

Instead, I'd suggest introducing labels for templates. The MediaWiki documentation has a small line before the parameters table, something like "This template prefers inline formatting of parameters". We could add something similar just for template name writing, like "This template prefers the shorthand <insert shorthand>".
— Max34 (talk) 00:47, 12 January 2026 (PST)

I disagree that there is need for all templates to have full name. Documentation is right there and the meaning of the template should be in first sentence. The icon templates all have a good reason to be full name + having alias too. The full name is utilized by 'Template:This is a' and because the name of the template may be part of the content it's helpful for wikitext to write it out fully in those cases as if you were writing a regular link. Like if the content has sentence saying "such as those in the Half-Life series" it makes sense for wikitext to be written fully as "such as those in the {{Half-Life|1}} series". But there should be no aliases that exist just because someone felt like writing the name differently and now there are 5 different ways to write it. For most readable wikitext it's best to have consistent single name for templates unless there are some specific good reasons why not. For example currently Template:KeyValue has 2 alias that are KV and kv. kv is used for GoldSrc keyvalues while KV is for Source 1 and the reason Template:KeyValue is full name page was that there was an issue with how language is determined and kv was a language shortcut (not sure if currently the issue is still there).

As a general rule of thumb I would start with

1. if the template includes content it should have no abbreviation and have full easily understandable name (internal entity note, AABBwarning, KV Targetname)

2. if the template takes parameter into which you put content (that means this is most likely a formatting template) then:

- if used only once per page then it might be good idea to use full name

- if to be used multiple times per page go with short name and no abbreviation (I, O, cmd, L, ent)

- if the template name is part of the content then it's good idea to go with full name even if used many times (Warning, Bug, Note, PlacementTip)

--Nescius (talk) 08:03, 12 January 2026 (PST)