Talk:Obama (disambiguation)

Redirect Obama to Barack Obama?

Using his full name is unnecessary for a disambig page. Use the name he is most often referred to as. Italiavivi 00:44, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Use the disambiguation. Redirecting Obama to Mr. Obama article is wrong because Mr. Obama is not a known person outside of the U.S.A. Wikipedia also says this is wrong. See here "Disambiguation in Wikipedia is the process of resolving conflicts in article titles that occur when a single term can be associated with more than one topic" The Obama city article was started a year BEFORE the Mr. Obama article. I have redirected Obama to Obama disambiguation.

When you look for Clinton, it is not redirected to Mr. Clinton or Mrs. Clinton. It is directed to Clinton (disambiguation) where you can see listings for many small towns called Clinton. Obama, Japan in Fukui is a big city.SRMach5B 02:51, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, come on. I will bet you that 99% of people who type in Obama are looking for Barack Obama, and not some village in Japan (32,000 is not a "big city"). There are hundreds of wiki links that link to the Barack Obama article, and only a handful (and mostly obscure ones) that link to Obama in Fukui. And while it is true that Obama, Japan existed before Barack Obama, that does not make it more important or give it precedence on Wikipedia. The reason that the towns called Clinton pop up is not because they are just as important as Bill and Hillary, but because it is not clear which of those two is more important. And to suggest that Mr. Obama is unknown outside the US is nonsense, especially in comparison to how well known Obama, Japan is outside of Japan, or outside of Fukui, for that matter --Ivan 01:34, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Wikipedia policy favors redirection when one usage is overwhelmingly more common. Ivan has already explained above why this situation differs from the Clinton example. Redirect done, and the Template:Redirect template added to Barack Obama page so that users can easily find the disambiguation page. —Lowellian (reply) 09:57, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Also agree. Wikicharts lists the Barack Obama article among the 300 most viewed Wikipedia articles for 6 of the past 7 months. In February 2007, it was ranked number 16, getting an estimated 21,429 views per day. There is no other "Obama" article listed among the top 1000 articles tracked by Wikicharts. If we are primarily interested in making Wikipedia more accessible to its users, the sensible answer seems clear. --HailFire 12:38, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Mr. Barack Obama is a minor politician who is little known except in the USA. Wikipedia is an international website, not a tool of the USA. A neutral administrator has already reached a concensus that Obama would be a disambiguation page. This happened in June 2007. Wikipedia policy demands neutrality and disambiguation in case of disputes. SNPBrown 06:35, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

"A neutral administrator has already reached a concensus [sic] that Obama would be a disambiguation page." Where is this supposed consensus? Show us a link to the discussion where this consensus was established. Certainly, no such consensus exists on this talk page. —Lowellian (reply) 20:21, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Barack Obama is not a minor politician - he is one of the front runners for the Presidency, and I suspect he's rather more well-known than any of the other Obamas listed on the dab page, and is the one who is most likely being searched for when someone types in Obama. Save your criticism of the USA - if someone types in Chirac or Yeltsin, they are likely looking for Jacques or Boris. Neither one is a tool of the USA, and both go directly to these individuals' pages with the disambiguation page listed on top for other uses of the name. I don't see where consensus was reached on this page about this change - I favor going back to the same approach as Chirac. Tvoz |talk 06:13, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeltsin and Chirac are both former heads of state. The Obama disambiguation is similar to Perot, and Nader in that respect; although, I would also not oppose a move of Chirac to a DAB page. Also, the DABs of Yeltsin are all related to him, so it is not the same issue as we have here (a sitting prime minister, a historic clan and a city, and a potential nominee for president) by any stretch of the imagination. Quite a mixed bag. Neier 09:13, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

All we need to consider here is whether one particular usage of "Obama" is overwhelmingly more used than other usages. And one particular usage is. Obama, Japan, is a small, small city, and all other people named Obama are far less well-known than Barack. —Lowellian (reply) 20:21, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Couldn't agree more, Lowellian. Let's not kid ourselves with false analogies and shoddy comparisons, either. Comparing the name "Edwards" with the name "Obama" is decidedly apples to oranges. "Obama (disambig)" is perfectly adequate and appropriate, with "Obama" piping straight to Barack Obama. Italiavivi 23:22, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

To move Obama to Obama (disambiguation) should go through the normal WP:RM procedure. The original content of Obama was the disambiguation. The wider audience would help reach a concensus as to whether or not a particular usage deserves the redirect in Wikipedia. Neier 00:40, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I came here to find out about Prime Minister Mangue Obama. I was curious to see what kind of discussion someone would find in the disambiguation page. For the sake of comparison, look at Edwards (disambiguation). John Edwards is certainly the most famous Edwards that I see in the disambiguation but he is just a fad and a politician known in his home country, the United States. There are less famous Edwards people and many cities of Edwards listed in the disambiguation page. If Edwards leads to disambiguation, so should Obama. Someone mentioned wikipedia policy is for disambiguation if there is a dispute. The question of what to do is straightforward in this case.

By the way, Mangue Obama is the Prime Minister. That is more senior than senator. (I'm not saying Obama should be directed to Mangue Obama but he currently has a higher priority than Senator Obama) Also note that Equatorial Guinea is no longer a dictatorship but a democracy. US Secretary of State Rice recently met with that government.Midemer 22:39, 11 August 2007 (UTC)