Help:Naming Background Articles

All articles and case studies on AquaPedia must have unique names. Therefore, it is important to name new background articles with descriptive titles that accurately represent the features, projects, and agreements discussed.

Water Features and Water Projects

It is always appropriate to include a modifier such as "river", "lake", "sea" etc with a water feature or one such as "dam" , "desalination project" , etc, for built infrastructure water projects. Water projects that represent initiatives or commissions should just use the proper title of the group.

Avoid using an article, such as "the" in the title of your water feature section. Features that have multiple-names should use the most common name Features that have multiple instances should use a location qualifier in parentheses to better identify/differentiate the feature.

Selecting a Name

Some rivers and lakes are referred to by different names. This is sometimes due to the river flowing through several countries or due to different cultures residing within the river basin. Please use these guidelines for selecting which name of a river or lake to use when creating an article.

Guidance for Rivers

• If the river is particularly famous or most commonly mentioned under one name, then choose that name.
• If the section of the river that uses a particular name is much longer than other sections, then use that as the name.
• If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the section of the river closest to the river's mouth, since generally that is where the river is widest.

Guidance for Lakes

• If the lake is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
• If the portion of the lake that uses a particular name is much more distinct than other sections, then use that as the article's name.
• If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the largest portion of the lake.

Selecting a Location Modifer for Water Features and Water Projects

If multiple features of the same type have the same name, please follow this general advice:

• The most well-known feature does not require a location qualifier. E.g.: Jordan River vs. Jordan River (Utah, United States) . Litani River vs. Litani River (South America)
• If using a place name as the qualifier, the location should begin the smallest relevant geographic (physical or political) element E.g.: Jordan River (Canada) vs. Jordan River (Utah, United States) vs. Jordan River (Virginia, United States)
• the fewest number of place names should be used. For instance: state and country, or county and state, but not both.
• Using a geographic location might not make sense for rivers that flow through multiple jurisdictions. In this case, it makes more sense to identify the river is a tributary of another river. E.g.: New River (Kanawha River).
• A river may also be identified by the outlet, if it drains directly to a well known basin or sea. E.g: Churchill River (Hudson Bay)

Naming Agreements

Use the full name of the agreement or, in the case of especially long agreement names, feel free to use a title that reflects the common reference name for an agreement.

Technical Limitations

Do to mediawiki software limitations certain titles are not permitted

• Titles must begin with an upper case letter
• Titles must be less than ~256 characters
• Titles cannot use the following symbols:

# < > [ ] | { }

• Some characters are allowed in titles, but we ask you avoid using them, due to potential software conflicts or errors

; : / \ . ~ %

• Avoid using special characters in titles, as they may not display accurately in all browsers. Stick to alpha-numeric, parentheses, and commas, if at all possible.

Examples of Background Article Names

Examples of Good Background Article Names

• "Bay of Bengal"
• "Hudson Bay"
• "Lake Vostok"
• "Great Salt Lake"
• "Nile River"
• "The Bay of Fundy"
• "Colorado River" -- to refer to the river in the western United States
• "Colorado River (Argentina)"
• "Carlsbad Desalination Project"

Examples of Inappropriate Background Article Names

• "Corrib" -- does it refer to the lake or the river of the same name?
• "New River (United States)" -- there are several New Rivers in the U.S.
• "Nile River (Africa)" -- there is only one major river called "Nile" and therefore doesn't need a qualifier