QBWiki:Naming conventions

Here a summary of how pages seem to currently be named. Please discuss if they are logical and how they could be improved on the talk page.

These are all suggestions at this point.

Number of names

The number of names something should have is one. Maggie Walker should only have links involving its name be "Maggie Walker", not "Governor's School," "Gov's School," or "MLWGSGIS," or anything else. Redirects, however, should be created for these alternate names.

Schools

• If it's a high school or university, drop any part of the name that indicates it's a school (examples: Seven Lakes, not Seven Lakes High School; Cistercian, not Cistercian Preparatory School; West Virginia Wesleyan, not West Virginia Wesleyan College
• If it's a name that is shared by multiple high schools or by multiple colleges, name the page so that it lists both the school (per the above) and the postal abbreviation for the state the school is in. Example: Thomas Jefferson (VA) and Thomas Jefferson (MO).
• If the name is shared by multiple schools in the same state, list the school name, city, and then state's postal abbreviation. Inaccurate example: Thomas Jefferson (Alexandria, VA)
• If it's a name that is shared by at least one high school and one college, give priority to the college and list the high school as a high school in its name. Example: George Mason for the University and then George Mason High School for the high school in the same city in Virginia.

People

• List them by their most common name
• If a name is shared by two different quiz bowlers, list their most notable affiliation in parentheses after their name?

Tournaments

• If a tournament name is shared by two different tournaments, list the hosting school after the tournament name in parentheses.

When to Use Acronyms

Only use acronyms if it is commonly used as the name of the thing in question. This will cause less confusion for people who are not as knowledgeable about quizbowl.

• Examples of commonly used acronyms that would meet this criteria for teams: MIT, UCLA, LASA.
• Examples of commonly used acronyms for non-team things that would meet this criteria: NAQT, PACE, ACF, GSAC
• Examples of acronyms that would NOT meet this criteria for teams: "WKU" (use Western Kentucky instead); "MLWGSGIS" (use Maggie Walker instead)

I would also advise against using overly simplistic acronyms that could easily cause confusion; for example, there are multiple schools known as "Thomas Jefferson"; using "TJ" to refer to the Virginia powerhouse could lead to confusion to someone who is not aware of the national scene and is from Missouri.

In general, I think we should side with not using acronyms if it's a close case. One example would be "HFT" vs. "Harvard Fall Tournament." It would probably be most beneficial to use "Harvard Fall Tournament" as the title, since that's probably easier to understand in general.