Talk:Slice (TV channel)

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Having 1 random show listed under the "Programming" heading is pointless, create a formal heading with more info. The artile looks like a mess like it was. Also its already mentioned several times throughout the artile that it was formally called Life Network. Enough time has passed that removing that first little bit can happen. Having that bit of info listed forever is pointless, at some point it has to be removed. 72.142.251.81 18:25, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

The purpose of an encyclopedia article is to inform people about things they don't know. Not everyone who reads this article will know that Slice used to be Life Network. Wikipedia has an international readership, not just a Canadian one. The introduction to an article include phrases that are redirected to the article. Life Network redirects here. The station was know as Life for 12 years, and has been known as Slice for four months. Someone who is searching for info on Life and is redirected here should find out quickly why this has happened. Ground Zero | t 22:26, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

It is already mentioned 3 times throughoput the article,. That little phrase cannot be there forever, all other channels that have rebranded have removed that little phrase. Enough time has passed that it can be removed. Case in point. The TV Guide Channel, it was formally named Prevue Channel, it does not say in the first sentence that it was named that. It mentions it throught the article. It cannot stay forever, at some point it just becomes redundant. 72.142.251.81 00:41, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Citing one (or more) example does not make the case. There are thousands of examples in Wikipedia of former names appearing in the intro. Because Life Network redirects to Slice, that name should appear in the first line so that readers know that they are reading the right article. It was Life for 36 times longer than it has been Slice. This is relevant information. Ground Zero | t 02:26, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

I've checked out the TV Guide Channel article. It was full of spelling errors and not consistent with the Wikipedia Manual of Style. I can only guess that it was written by relatively inexperienced editors. While I'm happy to see new editors join the Wikipedia project, i don't think that this is a good article to cite as a standard to meet. Ground Zero | t 02:42, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

And I have finaly found the place in the Manual of Style that directs us to include the former name: see Wikipedia:Redirect#What_needs_to_be_done_on_pages_that_are_targets_of_redirects.3F, which says:

We follow the "principle of least astonishment" — after following a redirect, the reader's first question is likely to be: "hang on ... I wanted to read about this. Why has the link taken me to that?". Make it clear to the reader that they have arrived in the right place.

Normally, we try to make sure that all "inbound redirects" are mentioned in the first couple of paragraphs of the article. For example:

• James Tiptree, Jr. (August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was the pen name of American science fiction author Alice Bradley Sheldon ...
  • James Tiptree, Jr., redirect from Alice Sheldon
• Water (H2O, HOH) is the most abundant molecule ...
  • Water (molecule), redirect from H2O

I think this is clear. Ground Zero | t 02:47, 9 July 2007 (UTC)