Wikipedia talk:Hatnote#Hatnotes in articles with unambiguous titles

File:Symbol watching blue lashes high contrast.svg You are invited to join the discussion at Template talk:Main § UI improvement requested (30 September 2024). --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 17:28, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

I would have expected that there'd be a rule or description at this page which instructs editors not to use hatnotes to link articles which have no mention of the title. For example, at Major Payne, there's a hatnote that says {{template link expanded|for|the webcomic character named Major Payne|VG Cats}}. However, there's no content at VG Cats about such a topic. I was inclined to remove the hatnote, and was going to explanatorily link to the section of this guideline that prohibits hatnote links that don't have related content, but I didn't find such a prohibition. Am I missing it? Am I misunderstanding the purpose of a hatnote in this instance? — Fourthords | =Λ= | 02:03, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

:When a hatnote is used for disambiguation, the rules applicable for WP:disambiguation and WP:MOSDAB apply. In particular for this situation, WP:DABNOMENTION. older ≠ wiser 11:12, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

:: I considered that, but that page specifically says, {{blockquote|text=Note that these style guidelines do {{em|not}} apply to article pages containing such sentence- or paragraph-level disambiguation techniques as having a hatnote at the top of an article pointing to a related subject. These guidelines only apply to pages correctly tagged with a disambiguation template.}}That's why I scoured this page for advice. — Fourthords | =Λ= | 11:43, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

:It should be clear to someone following the link why they have been taken to the destination article. That doesn't necessarily mean the term always has to be mentioned, but the combination of link text and destination article shouldn't leave anyone, surprised, puzzled or frustrated. In most cases this means the topic needs to be included on the destination page but there could be exceptions.

:If you come across something where you aren't able to find relevant content, check whether it has been moved elsewhere (e.g. the article has been split or moved) and updating the hatnote before just deleting it. Thryduulf (talk) 12:57, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

If a file metadata link goes to an unrelated article, should that article have a hatnote linking to the correct page? For example, :File:"Beware Ducks Crossing" sign 2025-05-08.jpg's camera model is listed as "A001" (the internal model name for the CMF Phone 2 Pro), which redirects to A-001 (an Apollo abort test). I imagine not, since it's not the most likely way to get to an article, but I'm not sure. Suntooooth, it/he (talk/contribs) 21:12, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

:I'd say that there should be a hatnote for the exact reason we have redirects from file metadata titles in the first place - to enable people to find out information about the make/model of the equipment used. It's not the most likely way to get to an article, but that just means it's unlikely to be the primary topic in the event of a clash, not that nobody uses it. Thryduulf (talk) 22:12, 8 May 2025 (UTC)