Help:Orphan
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An orphan is defined as "an article with no links from other pages in the main article namespace." These pages can still be found by searching USApedia, but it is preferable that they can also be reachable by links from related pages; it is therefore helpful to add links from other suitable pages with similar and/or related information. De-orphaning articles is an important aspect of building the web.
See Lonely Pages for the current list.
What is an orphan?
There are several factors that can classify an article as an orphan:
- Orphan: An article with no incoming links which meet the criteria for linking below
- Isolated article: An article that cannot be reached via a series of links from the Main Page
- Walled garden: A group of articles that link to each other, but have few or no links to them from any other USApedia articles. In effect the entire group is orphaned. Theoretically, a walled garden could have numerous articles if they all link to each other but no others link to them.
- Orphaned image: An image not used on USApedia
What is the problem with an orphaned article?
Orphaned articles, since they have no links to them from other pages, are difficult to find, and are most likely to be found only by chance. Because of this, few people know they exist, and therefore, they get less readership and improvement from those who would be able to improve them.
In particular, if the topic is more obscure, this may make it difficult for many to locate. If not for links to a page, the only way such an article can be found is by a person who knows the topic entering it into USApedia, browsing a category in which it is contained, looking at the edit history of a contributor to the page, or having it show up as a random article.
Fixing orphaned articles
To fix an orphaned article, review the list of Orphaned pages and select an article. Read through the article, then find other articles or pages on USApedia containing related subjects or information. Create at least one link to the orphaned article on a related article page. The article will no longer be orphaned.
Criteria
An article is orphaned if no other articles link to it. Although a single, relevant incoming link is sufficient to remove the tag, three or more is ideal and will help ensure the article is reachable by readers.
The following pages do not count toward the one incoming link:
- Disambiguation pages
- Redirects (but the incoming links to the redirects DO count)
- Soft redirects - a very short page that essentially tells users to look at another site to obtain the information they were seeking.
- Discussion pages of articles
Templates
{{Orphan}}{{Orphan file}}