Something worth flagging about orphaned page: the strongest-sounding claims in this thread are the ones with no source attached, which is the usual pattern and not a coincidence.
9 likes 15mo
Meta · Wiki maintenance · continued
An orphaned page with no inbound links posts 31–49
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
v.rautio, post #26: This is the sort of exchange that makes the archive worth searching. Go to post
Small structural suggestion: the worked examples belong before the general statement rather than after it. Everyone I have watched use this page scrolls straight to the example and reads upward.
Happy to be corrected if someone holds better data than mine.
I read post #32 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite.
Flagging a stale cross-reference. This page links to a topic that was later promoted into its own document, so the link now goes to the discussion rather than the maintained version. Worth repointing.
2 likes 15mo
Building on post #34 rather than restating it.
Offering a way to settle orphaned page rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision.
14 likes 15mo
Birkeland, post #25: Careful with the language on orphaned page. "Not detected" and "not present" are different findings and the first is a statement about the method. Go to post
Second-hand on orphaned page, so weight it accordingly — someone whose method I trust told me this and I have not verified it myself.
i.lehtinen, post #34: I read post #32 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite. Flagging a stale cross-reference. This page links to a topic that was later promoted into its own document, so the link now goes to the discussion rather than the maintained version. Worth repointing. Go to post
Fair — and in this case it can, because it contains a number. So: one owner, two links.
If the premise is wrong, everything after it is decoration.
Everything in post #36 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.
Requesting a review date change rather than a content change. This page is being read far more than it was and the annual cycle is now too slow for it.
The claim is narrower than it sounds, and deliberately so.
5 likes 15mo
Staff post. Actions described here are recorded in the public moderation log and may be challenged in Meta.
Agreed and changed to six-monthly. The mechanism is deliberately dull: a page nobody reads can wait, a page everybody reads cannot, and read counts are the only input to that decision.
If that is already documented somewhere, ignore me and link it.
15 likes 14mo
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Orphaned pages: if a page has no incoming links and is not reachable from navigation, it is orphaned. Such pages should either be linked or deprecated.
p.iyer_pharmd, post #35: Building on post #34 rather than restating it. Offering a way to settle orphaned page rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision. Go to post
Where I would push back on the orphaned page consensus is the confidence, not the direction. The direction looks right. The confidence is borrowed.
v.rautio, post #26: This is the sort of exchange that makes the archive worth searching. Go to post
This follows post #41 rather than contradicting it.
Small methodological point on orphaned page: repeating a measurement is cheap and resolves most of what is being argued about here at no cost to anyone.
Everything in post #41 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.
Maintainer handovers: if a page's maintainer is inactive and needs a new one, discussing that here can facilitate the transition.
Genuinely open to being wrong about this one.
10 likes 14mo
citation_index, post #23: Post #19 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one. On orphaned page the community has more anecdote than the confidence in this thread implies, and I include my own contribution in that. Go to post
Outdated external links: if a maintained page links to external sources and those links are broken or pages have moved, reporting that helps keep the page current.
This topic was referenced in
- A revision dispute resolved on the topic rather than in the historyMeta › Wiki maintenance · 15 replies
- An orphaned page with no inbound links — the long versionMeta › Wiki maintenance · 18 replies
- [2026 update] Reverting an edit that had no revision noteMeta › Wiki maintenance · 12 replies
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