Wikipedia:WikiProject Ireland Collaboration/Poll on Ireland article names/Ballot paper

Poll on Ireland article names

This is a vote on whether to move the current Ireland and/or Republic of Ireland articles to a new location. In one of the options the location of the Ireland (disambiguation) page is affected; another option involves the merging of the two articles; and another involves the creation of a new article. The order that the choices appear in the list has NOT YET been generated randomly. In the presentation below, the choices are listed A through F; after each option there is a box which will show what the change implies, in terms how how the first sentence of the articles (taken from the articles as current today) would look if that option is applied.

A rehearsal of every argument for and against each of the choices in this poll would take many pages indeed. In fact all of the sides have all been argued vociferously for years. The following summary, given in no particular order, offers a brief overview, intended to be as neutral as possible. A more comprehensive list of arguments (varying in quality and POV) can be found at this page of argument summaries.

• Name of the article on the political entity

• Ireland

• In favour: The primary meaning of the word "Ireland" is the sovereign entity, per the 1937 Constitution of Ireland: "The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland".
• Against: Either the primary meaning of the word "Ireland" is the island as a whole, for example, as shown in the statement "Lough Neagh is in Ireland" (The lake is in Northern Ireland); or the word "Ireland" can be ambiguous and can refer to more than one entity with none of them having verifiable primacy.

• Ireland (state)

• In favour: The article title needs a disambiguator because "Ireland" can be ambiguous. "Ireland (state)" works as a disambiguation term because its use is formal and precise; from the 1937 Constitution of Ireland: "The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland". See also Sovereign state.
• Against: The word state could confuse some readers, because the United States and Australia use the term for administrative divisions.

• Republic of Ireland

• In favour: "Republic of Ireland" is a valid alternative name for the article on the political entity, per the 1948 Republic of Ireland Act: "It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland.".
• Against: The intent of the Republic of Ireland Act was specifically to give a description, not a name; the only name of the political entity is specified in the Constitution of Ireland: "The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland".

• Name of the article on the island

• Ireland

• In favour: The primary meaning of the word "Ireland" is the island as a whole, for example, as shown in the statement "Lough Neagh is in Ireland" (The lake is in Northern Ireland.)
• Against: Either the primary meaning of the word "Ireland" is the sovereign entity, per the 1937 Constitution of Ireland: "The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland". or the word "Ireland" is ambiguous and can refer to more than one entity with none of them having verifiable primacy.

• Ireland (island)

• In favour: The article title needs a disambiguator because "Ireland" is ambiguous. "Ireland (island)" works as a disambiguation term because it is neutral and factual.
• Against: The term is not unambiguous. See Ireland Island, Bermuda and New Ireland (island).

• A single article for both island and political entity

• In favour:
• Against:

• A third article separate from the 'island' and 'political entity' articles

• In favour: The term "Ireland" does not have a primary meaning. An article is needed that covers all meanings of the term. The existing articles should deal only with their specific subjects.
• Against: A disambiguation page is adequate where a term has more than one meaning.

Ballot

• A: Merge Ireland and Republic of Ireland into one article at Ireland.

• (Ireland + Republic of Ireland) → Ireland
• Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is a European island and an independent state of the same name. (The text here was based on the article on Tasmania.)
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

• B: The state at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island).

• Ireland → Ireland (island)
• Republic of Ireland → Ireland
• Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

• C: A general "all-Ireland" topic at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state).

• Ireland → Ireland (island)
• Republic of Ireland → Ireland (state)
• Ireland (disambiguation) → no change
• new article → Ireland

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...
Ireland	Ireland is a modern independent state, a geographic entity, an historic nation, and a cultural identity, all based on the island of Ireland. (The text here was based loosely on the article on China.)

• D: The island at Ireland. The state at Ireland (state).

• Ireland → no change
• Republic of Ireland → Ireland (state)
• Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

• E: A disambiguation page at Ireland. The island at Ireland (island). The state at Ireland (state).

• Ireland → Ireland (island)
• Republic of Ireland → Ireland (state)
• Ireland (disambiguation) → Ireland

Name of Page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland (island)	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Ireland (state)	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

• F: The island at Ireland. The state at Republic of Ireland.

• Ireland → no change
• Republic of Ireland → no change
• Ireland (disambiguation) → no change

Name of page	Initial text (the first sentence in the article)
Ireland	Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world.
Republic of Ireland	Ireland is an independent state in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921.
Ireland (disambiguation)	Ireland commonly refers to: ...

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Procedure for voting

• Please vote using PRSTV (i.e. rank your preferences in order e.g. "A, B, C, D, E, F")
• To do this you may use the template * {{stv-ballot|A=0|B=0|C=0|D=0|E=0|F=0|~~~~}} — Select it from the asterisk * to the last curly bracket } and Copy, then Paste when you go down to the Balloting Area below. To make your vote, simply put the number with the appropriate letter (X=1 is your most favourite, Y=6 is your least favourite, Z=0 gives no support at all to an option).
• You are not obliged to express a preference for any of the options that you do not wish to support (or have no preference about); it is easiest to leave the number as zero, i.e. Z=0, rather than deleting the letter.
• Sign and date your vote but do not append any comments to your vote; they will be removed.

Notes:

• Before voting please familiarise yourself with policy on naming convention and guidelines for disambiguation.
• Closing date/adjudication:

• Voting will end at 21:00 (UTC) of the evening of 31 July 2009 (that is 22:00 IST and BST).
• A member of the ArbCom committee will adjudicate the result of the vote
• Results of the vote are final and binding for a period of two years

• Procedures for dealing with fraud:

• Unregistered users may not vote (to prevent fraud) but may contribute comments on the Talk page
• Users who registered after 1 June 2009 may not vote (per Project consensus) but may contribute comments on the Talk page
• Non-trivial sanctions will be imposed for canvassing, forum shopping, ballot stuffing, sock puppetry, meat puppetry or otherwise manipulating the ballot (or attempting to do so)
• Votes by sock puppets or meat puppets (and their masters) or similar will be removed from the balloting area

Balloting area

(No comments in this area)

• A B C D E F  -- Evertype·✆ 12:05, 3 July 2009 (UTC) TESTING, TESTING. THIS IS NOT A VOTE.

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