Wikipedia:Disambiguation dos and don'ts

This is an information page.

It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some aspect(s) of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Disambiguation pages. It may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts

Disambiguation pages are not encyclopedia articles – they are navigation aids!

Users arrive at these pages with a specific article in mind. So when you edit these pages:

DO:
Limit descriptions to what's necessary.
Put the link at the start of each entry.^[a]
Sort entries; group by subject if necessary.
Put the primary topic at the top, if one exists.
Use {{Wiktionary}} for dictionary definitions.^[b]
Fix incoming links to target the intended page.
Tag pages that need work with {{dab cleanup}}.

DON'T:
Don't include entries without a blue link.
Don't include red links unless used in articles.^[c]
Don't include multiple blue links in an entry.
Don't include references or external links.
Don't list dictionary definitions.^[b]
Don't list every article containing the title.
Don't pipe links except to format.^[a]

Also:

Do consider joining WikiProject Disambiguation.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Unless the linked article is not the ambiguous item itself, but part of the description.
^ ^a ^b Put the wiktionary template at the top of the page to provide a link to dictionary definitions.
^ To see if a link is used in existing articles, click it, then click the "What links here" tool. An entry with a red link must include a blue link mentioning the term.

v t e Wikipedia dos and don'ts
Encyclopedia content	Accessibility Biographies Biographies (living) Categorization Disambiguation Long dabs Images Leads Links Lists References Tables Titles (of articles)
Collaboration	Consensus Talk

Notes

See also