Talk:Linux (disambiguation)

Disambiguation page?

OK it was brought to my attention by User:Dustin_Meany over dinner (we're both deployed to Baghdad, Iraq) that maybe having Linux go directly to a disambig page isn't the best way to explain to someone what Linux is. (I'm the guy who set that up).

What is the policy here on Citizendium? More importantly, what's the "right thing" to do here? Should going to the Linux article redirect you to Linux (operating system), which is probably what someone was expecting, and having a little note at the top saying "Hey this isn't the only meaning of 'Linux.' Click here for the disambig page"

Any comments on this? --Eric M Gearhart 13:20, 3 April 2007 (CDT)

Some disambiguation pages are inevitable. However, we want to make sure they are not ones we simply import from WP. See CZ:CZ4WP#On_stubs_and_lists. - Stephen Ewen 17:37, 3 April 2007 (CDT)

I believe Linux should redirect to Linux kernel, for that is what is generally implied, as the mere word "Linux" does not imply any distinct distribution. Linux itself is a kernel, after all. Joshua David Williams 13:57, 4 April 2007 (CDT)

Very specifically Linux is just a kernel. I agree with you there. But, are we setting up disambig pages based on what people "probably meant to see," or on raw truth? Because I'm about 90% sure that if Joe Schmoe came to an encyclopedia website and typed in citizendium.org/wiki/Linux, he's not expecting to see something about a kernel, he wants to know "what this newfangled Linux thing is." That's the point of the little tag at the top... --Eric M Gearhart

At first I thought this page might not be needed, but now that I see the list assembled there, I think it's good to have it. I think people do mean all kinds of different things by just saying "Linux". Good work. Eric and Jushua, please forgive all my re-edits; I am learning a lot from you guys. I hope I'm doing your knowledge justice when I try to repackage it.Pat Palmer 22:27, 9 April 2007 (CDT)

Eh just roll with the punches Pat :) --Eric M Gearhart 10:49, 10 April 2007 (CDT)