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Just a heads up to all those editors out there who don’t know our Merge Policy very well. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been noticing titles popping in there that aren’t mergeable. While it’s better to take the second or third look (and a couple times I had to backtrack and reread to make sure I wasn’t missing something in the Policy itself), I need to mention that we will only merge articles when the titles are fully (or completely) interchangeable both between A to B AND B to A. I don’t know just how many non-interchangable titles I’ve had to remove the templates from (one even went as far as to be only non-interchangable in the eyes of the beholder) and thought I’d pass along this notice.

We only merge articles that have differences in titles based on:

  1. Excessive/subjective description
  2. Different way of saying the same thing
  3. Matters of degree (one degree off)
  4. Aimed at age (with exceptions being at special ages)

Titles we will not merge are touched upon at wikiHow:Merge Policy - wikiHow .

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While I agree we shouldn’t merge titles that are obviously not interchangeable, the Merge Policy has wiggle room for alternative interpretations. I’ve seen a lot of articles (particularly on “kid topics” like online games or school stuff, but they exist in other areas too) where people make titles that are technically distinct but the content will virtually be the same no matter what you’re writing, or they’re just not likely to be high-quality for whatever reason - the first example I can think of is various articles on Animal Jam roleplaying, but I know I’ve seen it elsewhere. I’ve also seen the policy applied more sweepingly for tech topics, like merging “Install iOS 6” to “Install iOS” because it’s too old to be relevant anymore, and there are undoubtedly more areas where there isn’t always a clear answer. So while the Merge Policy is a good place to start, it’s good to allow some looser interpretations of it as well. I’d rather undo a bad NFD or redirect now and again than follow the policy so strictly that it starts coming to the detriment of readers (or boosters going through NAB, for that matter).

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Hello, I agree with you @anon74718567

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I try to allow for alternate interpretations too. I’m not too strict, in that sense too.

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The thing about merges as well is either the topics are the same or they are not. If the topics two titles cover are not identical (such as “Be a Popular Kid” and “Be a Popular Boy”), then the titles will generally not be merged.

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Not necessarily. Going back to my initial response: Install iOS 6 and Install iOS are not identical, but I saw them merged by Anna years ago, and she explained she did it because it’s not going to be helpful to readers if they’re looking up how to install the latest version of iOS and end up on an iOS 6 page. So while I agree that the most literal, black-and-white interpretation of the policy means “not identical, not merged”, the policy itself is not black-and-white and I feel it’s misleading to present it to everyone as though that’s the only possible way to interpret it.

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Thanks @anon74718567 for clarifying. In the future, you can edit any statements that I make that can potentially be misleading. They will “generally” but not always not be merged.:slight_smile: