Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Archive 179

Initial discussion

It seems that some sports writers like to use pet words like "winningest" which are not familiar to many readers, even American English readers. (I have lots of athlete friends from college and I have never heard them use that word. I am also a photographer who has worked for student newspapers at the University of Virginia.) To me, it's apparent that they should be redacted to standard form along the lines of "best-performing coach/team/etc. by [number of] wins" especially since winningest is often used for both absolute number of wins and winning percentage. For that matter, I note we have placed a filler boilerplate on the wikilink winningest, and that we do not use the word "winningest" in the titles of any articles. I would like to solicit consensus on the use of this word. Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 02:26, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Note: Even the University of Virginia student newspaper for which you worked commonly uses the word. E.g., here, here, and here. Cbl62 (talk) 04:00, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

It's a perfectly cromulent word.oknazevad (talk) 02:45, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• "Winningest" is a well-established word in the American English language recognized by such sources as Merriam Webster (here), Los Angeles Times (e.g., here), The New York Times (e.g., here), The Wall Street Journal (e.g., here), Newsweek (e.g., here), Associated Press (e.g., here), Reuters (here), Chicago Tribune (e.g., here), The Boston Globe (e.g., here), The Washington Post (here), USA Today (here), The Dallas Morning News (here), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (e.g., here), The Philadelphia Inquirer (e.g., here), and Newsday (e.g., here). IMO, the word is appropriately used in articles about America sports topics, where the word is commonly recognized and used by dictionaries of American English and by the nation's most prestigious media outlets. Cbl62 (talk) 03:23, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• It's a perfectly legitimate word in formal American English. One person's personal lack of knowledge of a subject is not the grounds for rewriting the entire English language. As noted by Cbl, all major dictionaries and and reliable sources use it without any indication that it's anything except perfectly acceptable formal English. I have no reason to why the OP has never heard it until recently, but that's why we don't base Wikipedia guidelines on one person's personal experience. We base it on reliable sources. As noted by the sources cited above, it's a fine word and thus is perfectly acceptable in any article. --Jayron32 03:29, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Your claim of universal acceptance of this as "formal English" is flatly untrue. The American Heritage Dictionary , Oxford dictionaries , and dictionary.com all show "winningest" as "informal". WP articles should be written in a formal WP:TONE.

"Winningest", like many informal words, is also potentially imprecise and ambiguous. Is the "winningest" coach or team the one with the highest average number of wins per season? Or the most lifetime wins, period? The "winningest" pro golfer or race driver could be the one with the most games or races won, or the highest total earnings won in a year's tour (or lifetime), or etc. This is another reason for avoiding it. Jeh (talk) 05:12, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

There is no ambiguity. It means "having the greatest number of wins" (see here), not having the highest winning percentage. This is how it is used on Wikipedia. The fact that it can also be used in other ways (e.g., "winningest smile") doesn't mean it must be stricken. Many words have alternate definitions. Cbl62 (talk) 05:18, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Winningest?!? I've never heard the word before and I can think of no situation in which it is not possible to convey the intended meaning with widely (and internationally) understood vocabulary. Remember the principle of least astonishment. Dondervogel 2 (talk) 06:01, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

"Most wins" when? Per season? Per career? (A strange and even meaningless way to compare people, since different people have different length careers.) Note that dictionary.com doesn't define it as "most wins" but rather "winning most often"; AHD says "more successful or winning most often"; Oxford simply says "Having achieved the most success", which again is vague (how do you define "success"?) Just because you haven't encountered uses other than the one you think of doesn't mean the other uses aren't prevalent. A sports commentary column in a newspaper is one thing, but an encyclopedia should always use the most precise, unambiguous wording possible, and "winningest" is very far from that. Nor have you answered the "informal" point. Jeh (talk) 07:20, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• Without even looking it up (to see what it means), I'd judged it to be too informal for normal use in WP articles. Also has a cheap ring about it. Tony (talk) 08:05, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

That's a good approach. Let's just ban words "without even looking it up", because to one's ear, it has a "cheap ring about it." Forget about the fact that Encyclopedia Britannica and The New York Times use it, it sounds "cheap" to me. Brilliant analysis, Tony! Cbl62 (talk) 20:51, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

I generally try to avoid sarcasm and apologize if my comment appeared pointy, Tony. I actually felt that the term had a dissonant quality when I first began encountering it on Wikipedia, but when I learned that the word had gained widespread acceptance in virtually every major American media outlet, I concluded that the term is appropriate, at least when used in the context of American sporting topics where its usage has become common and accepted. Cbl62 (talk) 23:57, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Tony1: I agree completely. Jeh (talk) 08:48, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• It is clearly a valid word in American English, but per WP:COMMONALITY alternatives that work in all varieties of English should be used in place of it where possible (which I imagine would be most situations). Jenks24 (talk) 13:11, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• The word is used in an informal context in the US (where I live) but no way is it encyclopedic enough to use in Wikipedia articles - even sports articles. I support the removal of the term and replacement with more formal wording in all articles. Perhaps someday in the future it will be considered formal, but that's certainly not the case as of now. Rockypedia (talk) 15:53, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• I particularly appreciate the arguments and evidence provided by Cbl62 and Jeh and it would be helpful if others could provide similarly substantive contributions to support opinions on this topic. Thanks! ElKevbo (talk) 16:11, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• Encyclopedic/unencyclopedic is too ill-defined be of any use. It's another way of saying "I like it/don't like it". The closest policy we have is Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, which contains nothing suggesting we can't use words like "winningest". There is no policy or guideline saying formal English is mandatory. WP:FORMAL/WP:TONE is from a mere essay, that is, advice or opinion "for which consensus has not been established." We have citations saying this is standard or informal American English, not slang or a neologism. H.W. Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, p. 146, says winningest is "without stylistic taint." The New York Times has used the word hundreds of times for the last ~100 years. The Columbia Encyclopedia uses "winningest" in its entries for Tony La Russa, Greg Maddux, Eddie Robinson Lenny Wilkens and Bill Belichick. Encyclopædia Britannica uses "winningest" on Bobby Bowden, Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils, and sixteen other articles. Encyclopedia Americana uses the word in its Michael Phelps article. Surely actual encyclopedias can tell us what is encyclopedic, rather than mere opinion? For some six+ years (until this issue became a few editors' pet peeve) the Featured Articles 2005 ACC Championship Game, 2008 Orange Bowl, Roberto Luongo, plus 3 Featured Lists and 9 Good Articles used the word, with nobody complaining on the talk pages, "I don't understand what winningest means!" The meaning is unmistakable even if you've never seen it before (unlike petrol, lorry, or other UK English we use frequently). A couple talk pages have comments from UK editors who erroneously claim it's "not a word", but the suggestion it is ambiguous is not supported by any facts. Every proposed alternative is more wordy without offering any more precision. Words like "successful" and "victorious" have the same ambiguity as winningest, none of them telling us if it is best win/loss ratio, or most absolute wins. Successful also can imply commercial or other success, while winningest at least is about contest wins. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:47, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Some editors are continuing their campaign to excise the word from Wikipedia. This edit from today is an example that belies the professed concern over ambiguity, as the word "winningest" (a word with a clear meaning: having the most wins) is replaced with "most successful" (a word that is utterly unclear and completely muddies the meaning). I realize that many individuals "don't like" the word (especially Brits, where the word is not widely recognized), but it is a word that has wide acceptance in American media sources and is applied with clear meaning in sports context by the country's leading media outlets. I don't advocate trying to impose the word on other parts of the encyclopedia, but in the context of American sports, but it has a clear meaning there, and efforts to excise a perfectly valid and widely-used word from our Wikipedia vocabulary is simply a case of 'I don't like it'. Cbl62 (talk) 20:36, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

I want to add that we don't need an entry in Wikipedia:Manual of Style saying "You are allowed to say winningest". But when you note the fact that the encyclopedia that uses the word more than any other is the more British than British Brittanica itself, it underscores how much we need to ignore, and hopefully stop posting, mere opinion about what is a "proper word". Even if you're from the UK, I think Brittanica is a WP:RS, not some random editor. So we should be drafting language for the MOS which says that the tone and level of formality, and word choice, we use is guided by sources, like dictionaries, and style guides, and examples, like real encyclopedias and respectable media. A similar discussion at Talk:Volkswagen emissions scandal agreed that while the NYT, BBC, CNN, WSJ, etc are highly reliable for facts, many editors thought the actual words found in our best sources, "cheated", "caught" were mere "tabloid" and "slang". Why? Because they said so. The MOS should give respect to sources when it comes to word choice. Similarly, FAs and GAs carry some weight, since they represent consensus, far more than a mere essay. WP:OSE is releant to low-ranked articles, not Wikipeda's best content as judged by many editors, and this should be reflected in the MOS as well. At the very least, it should say we aren't going to toss a word under the bus because an editor with no reliable sources doesn't like it. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:50, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Just FYI, the Encyclopædia Britannica, despite its name, hasn't been a British publication, but an American one, since 1901 (or 1911, depending on whether you want the date of ownership change or the date of the first American edition).  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  05:34, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

• As this word is most commonly used in American sporting articles, we ought to notify the relevant American sporting projects so that they can provide any input they may have. I left a neutrally-worded note on two talk pages here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject College Basketball#"winningest" and Wikipedia talk:WikiProject College football#"winningest. Other relevant pages should probably be notified as well. Cbl62 (talk) 20:45, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• "Winningest" is an abhorrence of a word. But if we accept that its usage can be limited to American sports articles, then we can probably cope. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:54, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Entirely reasonable. We Yanks have always been a little rough around the edges, and nobody is trying to impose the word outside of its accepted context (i.e., we shall not reference Tony Blair as the "winningest" Prime Minister). Cbl62 (talk) 21:00, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

I agree that it's a reasonable compromise if we can be assured that it is indeed a word whose use is limited to the U.S. context outside of Wikipedia. ElKevbo (talk) 21:40, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• • "Winningest", while perfectly cromulent, is informal in usage.

    Wikipedia articles, and other encyclopedic content, should be written in a formal tone. Standards for formal tone vary depending upon the subject matter, but should follow the style used by reliable sources, while remaining clear and understandable. Formal tone means that the article should not be written using argot, slang, colloquialisms, doublespeak, legalese, or jargon that is unintelligible to an average reader; it means that the English language should be used in a businesslike manner.

    This may change for this particular word, but as we see from comments in various locations, attracts a lot of negativity right now. "Most successful" is too vague to be a good replacement, but "most victorious" is exactly right. There can be no complaints about usage or meaning. --Pete (talk) 20:59, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• As a count of victories potentially includes moral victories, you proposed phrase has a different meaning than the word you are attempting to replace. --Allen3 ^talk 04:28, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Come on, now. It is not too informal for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Nor is it too informal for serious reporting (not just opinion pieces) in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and every other major American newspaper -- I didn't realize that Britannica and every major American newspaper were verbal ruffians. Cbl62 (talk) 21:06, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Also, Pete, the essay you quote concedes that we "should follow the style used by reliable sources". America's most reliable and respected media outlets use "winningest" (not "most victorious") in American sporting contexts. Cbl62 (talk) 21:10, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

If we look to specialist writing areas, we also encounter jargon. Sports articles are full of terms which are incomprehensible to an outsider. We should aim for clarity overall. --Pete (talk) 21:15, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Understandability is not the issue. Nobody has ever seriously asserted that they don't know what it means. The fact that everyone who dislikes the word was able to rewrite it, without having to ask what the original author meant, is proof that nobody has misunderstood the word. The real objection is that it "sounds wrong" based on a prescriptivist English point of view. We should look to style guides, like Fowler, and models like Brittanica and the NYT, to tell us what is an isn't "proper English".

I would be persuaded to change my mind if anyone could show evidene that this word is any harder to understand than the rest of Wikipedia. This isn't Simple English Wikipedia, after all, and even if it were, "winningest" would probably be the preferred word to achieve clarity for readers with smaller vocabularies. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:36, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict)"Winningest" only recently attracted attention as a sideshow to an unrelated conflict among editors. Prior to that, where is the evidence among these many, many articles that it attracts "a lot of negativity"? I've seen poorly written Wikipedia content that drew many questions from readers, but not this word. And while everyone is entitled to their opinion that Wikipedia should be formal, are you aware that no policy or guideline says formal English is required? No matter how much you quote WP:FORMAL, it still lacks widespread consensus. If it had such support, it would be a guideline.

And as Cbl62 suggests, what constitutes a proper tone has to come from somewhere, and I would think Brittanica, NYT, Columbia Encyclopedia, H.W. Fowler, etc are the reliable soruces we have always looked to to settle everything. Not opinion, not voting. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:12, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

That's what bothers me most: I don't know how much of this is (the edits, not the discussion here) is driven by a sincere objection to the word and how much is driven by a petty desire to foment conflict among editors who dislike one another. The fact that the word was recently raised in several ANI discussions between and about editors who apparently dislike one another and the fact that the word has been used in FAs and GAs for many years now without objection makes me suspicious and wary. ElKevbo (talk) 21:39, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm quite concerned at how many veteran editors are willing to argue with total confidence that we can't use a word (whether it's winningest, or cheated, or caught) based on totally unsourced, and demonstrably false opinions. I've edited for years grounded by the basic idea of verifiablity, "verifiabilty not truth" etc. Yet here none of these editors will cite a single thing, and they casually toss aside our most serious, most respected sources. Leaving us nothing to base our decisions on. That's why it matters, not this one word.

Ground your arguments in reliable sources and I will happily change my mind. I've been proven wrong many times before and I'm grateful to anyone who shows me evidence of my errors. But not to those who do nothing but cling to opinion and expect that to carry weight. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:51, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Lewis Carroll used "curiouser" (s:Alice's Adventures Under Ground/Chapter 1), but "more curious" is correct in standard English. Likewise, "most victorious" is correct in standard English.

—Wavelength (talk) 21:27, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Curiouser is a neologism -- nonstandard English, in isolated usage after being coined by one author. Winningest dates to 1804, over 200 years, according to our sources, and is in widespread use in serious writing. If you had sources saying winningest was a neologism like curiouser, you'd have a strong point. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:44, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

See "curiouser" (1865) at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=curiouser.

—Wavelength (talk) 22:10, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes, Lewis Carroll playfully made it up. The word is used almost exclusively in playful references to Carroll's work and ideas. Winningest is nothing like that. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:22, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• "... we do not use the word "winningest" in any articles": Contrary to Yanping Nora Soong's claim, a search on Wikipedia shows usage of winningest in American sports articles. WP:PROPOSAL suggests that guidelines "documents existing practices, rather than proposing a change to them". While winningest is American English, it is acceptable per MOS:ENGVAR. Moreover, the term is specific to the sports domain, which seems too much of a niche for MOS to get involved. Instead of banning words, something like "Wile E. Coyote was the winningest coach in Acme history with 550 career wins" could help bridge any gap that might exist.—Bagumba (talk) 22:08, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

In the example you give, why not substitute 'most successful', which is universally understood. Am I being pedantic to point out that coaches, trainers, managers etc., don't actually have ANY wins, their teams/athletes do. Pincrete (talk) 19:21, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

• Sorry, I meant that we do not use it in the titles of any articles -- namely, any article or list "winningest" in the title always redirects to a more formal name. Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 22:12, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• User:Reyk is on a mass campaign today, during the pendency of this discussion, to remove the word from as many American sporting articles as he/she can find. The status quo ante should be maintained until this discussion has reached a conclusion. Accordingly, I intend to revert Reyk's mass edits pending the outcome here. Cbl62 (talk) 22:19, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
  • User:Skyring is doing the same thing. I wouldn't recommend to edit warring with these guys. It seems like bait for a 3RR trap. But if this has a clear resolution, we can probably return to the stable versions of these articles. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:26, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
    • I've notified Reyk and Skyring about this discussion.—Bagumba (talk) 22:33, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. It would be totally uncool for any editor who knows of this discussion to continue making edits that may or may not have consensus on such a non-time-sensitive issue. ElKevbo (talk) 22:57, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

I think some may have accidentally tacked their manhood to this word. It's almost painful to hear the yelps when someone has a contrary opinion. I agree. Discussion is far better than edit-warring, and a lot more fun. Perhaps we should look at an RfC: hard to find a consensus in what this is turning into: a rough tangle of short and curly posts. --Pete (talk) 23:33, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

You have made what, two hundred edits in the last week or so, on 30 or 40 different pages, all related to "winningest"? You claim it's WP:LAME, yet it's almost all you do now. But it's other editors who have a problem? Not you? Seems like quite a personal attack and violation of WP:AGF to (repeatedly) post that "some may have accidentally tacked their manhood to this word". Is that supposed to be helpful in this discussion?

Creating an RfC -- a whole NEW discussion of the same topic -- would be forum shopping. We're resolving this right here. We don't need to start over. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 23:46, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Ah, but I'm enjoying the discussion. What I mean - and you should understand, after all you've been around since Wikipedia was in short pants - is that an RfC is a more structured mechanism than a discussion such as this. The way it's going, there are a range of intertwangled opinions, regrettably a few short fuses and bruised egos, and it's hard, very hard, to come up with a good result mutually satisfactory to all parties. An RfC has the advantage of a well-phrased question, structured responses, and a closing admin. Even if we don't all like the result, it's a bed we can all lie in. --Pete (talk) 23:58, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

At an appropriate time, someone can request closure. If the admin says there's no consensus, then perhaps an RfC is the next step. But first see if this reaches a good consensus, before shifting to a new forum. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 00:07, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

• I've been following this discussion for the last couple of days, and doing my best to avoid the massive time-sink that this discussion is sure to become before it concludes with more heat than light. Having made that disclaimer, I've got to say that I believe that the word "winningest" is awkward, inelegant and imprecise, and its exact meaning is ambiguous without further elaboration. It is a colorful Americanism that no doubt originated in American sports-writing, a genre well known for its often creative use of Shakespeare's English. Personally, I try to write my way around the word whenever possible because I know in my writer's heart of hearts that the good Professor Strunk would not approve. That said, the word is sometimes almost unavoidable in describing the win-loss history of career coaches and the like, and it is often part of the most concise wording available to express the intended meaning. Yeah, I know, that sounds like gibberish, but it's the truth. I've reconciled myself to using it only when absolutely necessary, and then only in sports articles. To my mind, it's a bit like the malapropism "normalcy," the use of which once led to a U.S. President being mocked in the mainstream media of the 1920s, but is now used more frequently in every day writing than the "correct" word "normality". That's the nature of the evolving language. I'm not particularly fond of the word, but I see no reason why MOS should try to micromanage its use by banning or restricting it, nor should individual editors make it a quest to purge it from Wikipeda. Our volunteer editing time is better spent elsewhere. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 22:58, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
• I don't follow sports, but I'm perfectly familiar with the word and its well-established use in North America. The MoS should avoid this micromanagement of the language. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:25, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

• Since Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Contested vocabulary says "Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality", we could say that the MOS already has this covered, along with WP:ENGVAR. Perhaps the real problem is the essay WP:FORMAL needs to be changed to bring it in line with the real guidelines. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 00:01, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

• At this point is it even about the validity of winningest or witch word better informs and educates the reader. Just like the fact that the word encyclopedia comes from the greeks. How do they express wining victory as in the greek goddess of victory nike. And are they not the first creators of sport as in the olympics. They also did not name a shoe after winning its nike victory . So how is winningest a better choice over victorious. 72bikers (talk) 04:58, 15 January 2016 (UTC)
• I've long been of the opinion that "winningest" is bad English, an annoying affectation, and too informal for an encyclopedia, and jarring for non North American readers. It's frequently vague. I have never yet come across a use where it could not be replaced by more elegant and precise English. I see it a lot in articles on college sports coaches, some of whom have even, or even losing, records overall and only have managed a lot of wins because they were there for a long time. Describing someone who loses more often than he wins as "winningest" is downright stupid and borderline misleading. This silly gimmicky thing should be taken out of articles and replaced with better language. Reyk _YO! 07:48, 15 January 2016 (UTC)
• I agree with much of what's been said already. Even supposing that the word "winningest" is a perfectly cromulent word, take it out and replace it with its synonym, "most victorious," and what you have is a subjective and vague statement. I can't imagine a situation where either is the most appropriate:

By taking the fifth and sixth races at Woodbine, Emma-Jayne moved ahead of Villeneuve as Canada's all-time most victorious female jockey

By taking the fifth and sixth races at Woodbine, Emma-Jayne moved ahead of Villeneuve as Canada's all-time winningest female jockey

By taking the fifth and sixth races at Woodbine, Emma-Jayne moved ahead of Villenueve to hold the record for the most career victories of any Canadian female jockey.

The last one may not be the best wording possible, but it is at least clear why she is considered to be "the winningest." If someone wants to describe her that way, fine, but isn't that what we're about and why we're required to cite sources? Because we're not telling you what's true, but why it's believed to be true: the sources said X. J^♯m (talk | contribs) 14:46, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

• On the question of WP:ENGVAR and WP:TIES. H. L. Mencken discuses the special use of -er and -est adjectives as a peculiarly US American language pattern in The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. A.A. Knopf, 1921 Chapter: The Common Speech pages 308-309. This, along with the many dictionaries that say it's US English, is more evidence that this word winningist is part of the national variety of English of the US, and should be respected as such according to WP:RETAIN and WP:TIES.

Gauging consensus

The above discussion has many tangles and opinion, but perhaps we might find some small parcels of common ground:

1. "Winningest" is a perfectly cromulent word with some decades of use in American sportswriting.
2. It is seen as awkward and informal by many. Some regard it as a nonsense word, slang at best.
3. "Most successful" is a vague and ambiguous alternate wording.
4. "Most victorious" is a precise and formal alternate wording, albeit five characters longer.

If I can ask editors to refrain from commenting on the motives of others, but to restrict their contributions to the word(s) and usage in Wikipedia articles in general, please. --Pete (talk) 00:51, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

My preferred alternative to "winningest X in Y" is "best-performing X in Y by [number of] wins" Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 08:43, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

However, "best-performing" is subjective, but winningest is objective i.e. most wins.—Bagumba (talk) 09:34, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

That's why it's "best-performing .... by wins". Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 09:53, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

I've seen it used in terms of most championships, best winning percentage, and winning frequency (per week or per month or whatever). Reyk _YO! 10:16, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

• I favor precision, such as "highest win percentage" but it's a real word, and "most victorious" is actually vague - you can be "victorious" if you are valiant in defeat, for example. Montanabw^(talk) 23:13, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Summarizing issues raised

In an effort to make progress, I suggest that we itemize what the issues are, putting aside for the moment whether you personally believe they are relevant. Once the talking points are finalized, we should limit our discussion to these points when considering winningest or its alternatives. Here is an initial attempt to summarize the key guidelines and essays cited to date, with relevant quotes from each:

Wikipedia:Manual of Style guideline

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Contested vocabulary:
  • "Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality, that are unnecessarily regional, or that are not widely accepted."
• MOS:ENGVAR
  • "The English Wikipedia prefers no major national variety of the language over any other."
• MOS:COMMONALITY
  • "Wikipedia tries to find words that are common to all varieties of English.""
  • "Terms that differ between varieties of English, or that have divergent meanings, may be glossed to prevent confusion, for example, the trunk (American English) or boot (British English) of a car"
• MOS:TIES
  • "An article on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation should use the English of that nation."
• WP:RETAIN
  • "When an English variety's consistent usage has been established in an article, maintain it in the absence of consensus to the contrary."
• MOS:JARGON:
  • "Some topics are intrinsically technical, but editors should try to make them understandable to as many readers as possible."
  • "Do not introduce new and specialized words simply to teach them to the reader when more common alternatives will do."
• WP:W2W
  • "There are no forbidden words or expressions on Wikipedia, but certain expressions should be used with caution, because they may introduce bias."
  • "For example, some words have specific technical meanings in some contexts and are acceptable in those contexts (e.g. "claim" in law). "
  • "What matters is that articles should be well-written and consistent with the core content policies—Neutral point of view, No original research, and Verifiability."
• WP:COMMONSENSE
  • "Instead of following every rule, it is acceptable to use common sense as you go about editing."
• External style guides: "Wikipedians are encouraged to familiarize themselves with other guides to style and usage, which may cover details not included in this Manual of Style."

Wikipedia:Writing better articles essay

• WP:FORMAL
  • "Wikipedia articles, and other encyclopedic content, should be written in a formal tone."
• WP:AUDIENCE:
  • "Make your article accessible and understandable for as many readers as possible. Assume readers are reading the article to learn."

Wikipedia:Consensus policy

• "Consensus on Wikipedia does not mean unanimity (which, although an ideal result, is not always achievable); nor is it the result of a vote. Decision-making involves an effort to incorporate all editors' legitimate concerns, while respecting Wikipedia's policies and guidelines."
• WP:TALKDONTREVERT:
  • "The arguments 'I just don't like it' and 'I just like it' usually carry no weight whatsoever."

Wikipedia:Closing discussions information page

• "Consensus is not determined by counting heads, but neither is it determined by the closer's own views about what is the most appropriate policy. The closer is there to judge the consensus of the community, after discarding irrelevant arguments: those that flatly contradict established policy, those based on personal opinion only, those that are logically fallacious, those that show no understanding of the matter of issue."

Feel free to identify any remaining quotes from a policy, guideline, or essay that you wish to be considered. Thanks.—Bagumba (talk) 09:02, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

These talking points seem adequate to me. Yanping Nora Soong (talk) 09:06, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

A few of those points contradict each other, but it's a fair representation. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 09:25, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I added a couple relevant points about personal opinion, vs. arguments based on policy and sources. Several editors have been asked to explain what we should base the MOS on, and what 'encyclopedic' means, if they are unwilling to be guided by the models of Featured Articles, major encyclopedias and prestigious media, and reputable style and usage guides. These are the vital questions, far more critical than this one word winningest, and the answer so far has been *crickets*. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 17:26, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

For reference, here are Dennis' points he added above to my comments. I don't strongly object to his points for consideration, so I'll ignore the restrictions on editing other's comments in this case to make it simpler to build the list. Yanping Nora Soong or Spacecowboy420 can feel free to WP:REFACTOR if they prefer those comments are not commingled.—Bagumba (talk) 19:27, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

The community of editors decides the style. There is no outside agency or supervising committee. It is all done by consensus of those editors interested enough in the topic of style. It is therefore appropriate to build any lists of policy references etc. in a coöperative fashion —no one editor has the final say. --Pete (talk) 08:47, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Analysis of issues

Analysis by User:Reyk

Let's go through these one by one.

More information Statement, Summary ...

Statement	Summary	Verdict
"Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality, that are unnecessarily regional, or that are not widely accepted."	"Winningest" is a regional (North America) term, and is clearly not widely accepted. Alternatives exist that do not "strain for formality"	Do not use "winningest"
"The English Wikipedia prefers no major national variety of the language over any other."	American English does not take precedence over e.g., UK English, and vice versa	neutral
"Wikipedia tries to find words that are common to all varieties of English."	Alternatives exist that are common to all English speakers	Do not use "winningest"
Terms that differ between varieties of English, or that have divergent meanings, may be glossed to prevent confusion, for example, the trunk (American English) or boot (British English) of a car	N/A. "Winningest" does not appear outside North America	neutral
An article on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation should use the English of that nation.	"Winningest" is American, but so are most of the alternatives	neutral
When an English variety's consistent usage has been established in an article, maintain it in the absence of consensus to the contrary.	The point of this conversation is to establish consensus	neutral
Some topics are intrinsically technical, but editors should try to make them understandable to as many readers as possible.	The alternatives to "winningest" are universally understood	Do not use "winningest"
Do not introduce new and specialized words simply to teach them to the reader when more common alternatives will do.	"Winningest" is far less common than, say, "most career victories" or variations.	Do not use "winningest"
There are no forbidden words or expressions on Wikipedia, but certain expressions should be used with caution, because they may introduce bias.	See my point about people with overall losing records being misleadingly described as "winningest"	Do not use "winningest"
For example, some words have specific technical meanings in some contexts and are acceptable in those contexts (e.g. "claim" in law).	Not really relevant	neutral
"What matters is that articles should be well-written and consistent with the core content policies—Neutral point of view, No original research, and Verifiability."	While there exist a scant handful of featured articles that use "winningest", many more could have but didn't. It detracts from the quality of articles.	Do not use "winningest"
Instead of following every rule, it is acceptable to use common sense as you go about editing.	This is actually what we're here to discuss	neutral
External style guides: "Wikipedians are encouraged to familiarize themselves with other guides to style and usage, which may cover details not included in this Manual of Style."	Most style guides, dictionaries, thesauruses, etc I've seen either don't recognize it at all, or disapprove of it. Back in 2007, Wikipedia acknowledged that it is just a made-up word: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Winningest football coach	Do not use "winningest"
Wikipedia articles, and other encyclopedic content, should be written in a formal tone.	"Winningest" is predominantly described as "informal"	Do not use "winningest"
Make your article accessible and understandable for as many readers as possible. Assume readers are reading the article to learn.	Our readers should be assumed to be potentially from anywhere on Earth and expecting to find an encyclopedia article- rather than necessarily a North American reader expecting to find a newspaper sports editorial	Do not use "winningest"

Close

This is all very clear. "Winningest" should not be used in encyclopedia articles. All the relevant guidelines are either silent on the issue, or recommend more formal, non-regional, and professional terminology. (I've skipped the last three sections as they pertain to editor behaviour and how to close debates, rather than giving guidance on the issue. ) Reyk _YO! 18:06, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I ask that we hold off on analysis of the issues until others have a chance to first agree on the actual issues we should be discussing at #Summarizing issues raised above. Until then, it's premature to offer a conclusion. Additionally, I've capped your above analysis because the format is not conducive for others to easily respond. I respect if "This is all very clear" to you, but please allow others to continue to discuss and reach their own conclusions. In the event you have already made up your mind, you can restate your opinion when we have reached the final !voting stage. Thank for your understanding,—Bagumba (talk) 19:07, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Well now, you've dictated to me what articles I can and cannot edit, and now you're telling me what I can and cannot say, and how I'm allowed to say it. If you want to police this debate, then I'm going to have to ask you to police both sides of it. So far I've been accused of setting 3RR traps, of being a "pseudo-intellectual" and "anti-American", of edit-warring and disruption, and essentially of lying- without a shred of justification for any of it. Where were you to refactor and redact when I objected? It's no good to allow people to make personal attacks on me, and then hat me and shut me down when I state my opinion civilly. I think I've put up with the ad hominems with more grace than my attackers have dealt with mere disagreement, yet only my actions are under scrutiny. Please don't play favourites. Reyk _YO! 19:34, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I have no issue if you choose to offer the same analysis after #Summarizing issues raised is finalized. I honestly think it is premature right now, and other editors before you have commented on the issue list without offering their analysis. Is there a reason your case should be an exception? I'm a volunteer, and I am not capable, nor do I choose, to police everything. If you feel others have been uncivil, Wikipedia:Civility#Dealing_with_incivility offers guidance.—Bagumba (talk) 19:57, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

have dealt with mere disagreement—says the editor who has explicitly refused to stop making disputed edits until a consensus is reached. Your behaviour has been reprehensible and deserves to stay under the microscope. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:15, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

How often do I need to explain that I'm not going to be baited? You haven't been able to provide a single instance of me actually edit warring or disrupting anything, despite your inaccurate interpretation of my talk page (and if you did, WP:ANI would be the place to take it). Please stop with the insults and false accusations. You've been attacking several people in this discussion who disagree with you, and you need to drop the bad attitude. Reyk _YO! 06:45, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

@Curly Turkey: I am agreeing with Reyk. There haven't been any recent winning reverts from them. I suggest that we stay on-topic here, and deal with any warring accusations on the appropriate noticeboards. Thanks.—Bagumba (talk) 07:10, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

I intend to keep him under the microscope to make sure it continues not to happen. The aggression and contempt he brought to this discussion (before I ever joined in) has not abated—can "have dealt with mere disagreement" or accusations of "baiting" be somehow interpreted as AGF or a reflection of the facts? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 08:39, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Its funny you say this because you continually bait me with personal attacks contempt and aggression interesting. 72bikers (talk) 19:11, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

You continue to label calling you out as baiting. It would be "interesting" to see you engage with the facts that have been presented. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:05, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Let's focus on content, please. Reyk's table is very useful in its format and should be visible to all. Attempting to muzzle other editors is not helpful.--Pete (talk) 08:41, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

No, we'll be keeping the behaviour of editors in the spotlight so we know what biases they're bringing to their analyses. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 09:18, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

No. We'll focus on content here, if you don't mind. --Pete (talk) 11:24, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

The behaviour problems have tainted the entire discussion, and you won't be burying the evidence. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:41, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Here's some more of that reprehensible behaviour, distorting the evidence in a fantastic manner. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:43, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes you might want to take a look at this deplorable behavior as well it seem to speak to a lack of character.If you think that "winningest" is in the same register as "kicked their ass" then perhaps you should put a few more hours into your ESL classes. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:21, 15 January 2016 (UTC)You apparently think that "spaces" jibe makes you look the more intelligent. Then you follow up calling the NYT and Encylcopaedia Britannica "tabloids". I think we've heard enough from you. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:59, 15 January 2016 (UTC)You are clearly to emotionally involved—if only you could see how hysterically grasping your wall of text looks to others. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:19, 20 January 2016 (UTC)You don't appear to comprehend the words you use. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 03:36, 21 January 2016 (UTC)If you're going to spout utter nonsense, like denying the reality of links to books scanned at Google Books, then you're going to have to get used to having your ass handed to you. There's a limit to how gentle and diplomatic anyone can be when you force them to point out that your claims fly in the face of verifiable fact. Competence is required. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:49, 21 January 2016The crap needing cutting is all in your yard. Are you going to take back this "could have used "winningest", but chose not to" horseshit? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:19, 17 January 2016 (UTC) The fact is (again) you're pulling shit out of a hat (that "contempt for evidence" thing that you're doing nothing to dispel) and are willing to editwar over it. You are a disruption. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:16, 18 January 2016 (UTC) No one's "baiting" you. If you don't like being called out on your horseshit, then cut it out. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:04, 18 January 2016 (UTC)pushing hopelessly misguided falsehoods and mangled logic that they need to step back and defer to those who have a grasp of the facts and sound reasoning behind them. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:37, 20 January 2016 (UTC) shameful 72bikers (talk) 04:16, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Here is a good one you should be proud of They don't even rise to "unique theory" status—they are incoherent babbling at this point, padding with endlessly repeated bold spam. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 04:59, 23 January 2016 (UTC) If this does not speak to your character or the lack there of I don't know what does. It seem like you are only here to make personal attacks in some lame effort to bait someone into some verbal battle. But what your idiocy fails to grasp is why would I care what you think? 72bikers (talk) 06:13, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

So why do you care, then? The comment I responded to was indeed incoherent, and "your idiocy" is an unambiguous personal attack. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:39, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe when you fail to comprehend something instead of trying to lay blame with others you should look inward. Because what is clear is your repeated personal attacks in a attempted to belittle others does not speak to you having a very high intellect. 72bikers (talk) 03:41, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

You hurt my feelings.

... do it again! This time, in bold! Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 05:11, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

We can source "winningest" to various publications, some quite respected. But so what? We can source cartoons and comic verse to respected publications as well. That does not mean that Wikitext is written in the limerick form, nor that we illustrate our articles with stick figures and word bubbles. It would be amusing, but hardly encyclopaedic. Shakespeare wrote in blank verse, but despite the awesome contributions to the English language of our most respected dramatist, Wikipedia is not written in iambic pentameters. We can source all manner of amusing, inventive, and whimsical words to respected sources, but these sorts of things are best confined to quotations, not our actual text. So I find that listing sources for "winningest" carries little weight. It is misleading and false logic. What counts is the style of Wikipedia, as determined by the editors interested in such things. So far, Wikipedia is written in a serious and formal tone, not the sort of bright and breezy style favored by headline writers and jargon-using niche writers. --Pete (talk) 12:14, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

We can source "winningest" to various publications, some quite respected. But so what?—the key is context, and there's plenty of context in the sources cited. You've had Britannica articles quoted at you too many times for you to feign ignorance or to claim anything about a "bright and breezy style favored by headline writers and jargon-using niche writers", so how about you drop this charade? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:39, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure of your point about context. Are you saying that because EB uses the word in a couple of articles, we should use it in hundreds? My point is that we right here determine the style we use, not some external body. --Pete (talk) 04:01, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I was responding to your "bright and breezy style" non sequitur. Its usage is established in contexts that match ours—either you didn't bother to examine the evidence or you ignored both. Whichever it is, it doesn't make you look good.

Are you saying ... we should use it in hundreds?—I don't use the word myself and probably never will. I've said no more than that the word is legit and the purge has to stop.

we right here determine the style we use—"we" (as you "you") believe we decide which words our fellow editors are permitted to use based on our personal peeves? The word's legit—get over it. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 05:09, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

So you're not talking about newspapers and other mass media, which comprise the bulk of the cites listed. Fair enough. Just a handful, then. When I say we right here determine the style we use, not some external body, I mean the community of editors here on WP:MoS. Cheers. --Pete (talk) 10:11, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

CTRL+Fing will show just how many times I've made it explicit I've been talking about encyclopaedias, so I'm at a loss as to where any confusion came from.

When I say we right here determine the style we use ... I mean the community of editors here on WP:MoS—and the community has rejected this sort of micromanaging of the language. A large portion of the editing community despises the MoS because of these non-issues. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 10:50, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm not sure you get the point being made. We (the community of editors) here on the Manual of Style determine the style. You agree on this?

Merely listing places where a word has been used does not mean that we must use it on Wikipedia. I previously used the examples of the popular limerick verse form, and Shakespeare's contribution to the English language. However, we do not choose to use either style of expression, regardless of how many excellent sources we can find. You do appreciate this? --Pete (talk) 10:59, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

The default is not exclude—those who would have the word excluded must demonstrate the case to convince the community. In the case of WP:NOCONSENSUS, the default is to allow it continued use of the word and to disallow mass deletion of it. Thus the onus is heavily on your side to make your case. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:04, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I take it that you agree with me. Thanks. As discussion continues, we'll find a solution. Not necessarily on this forum, but I think you should have more faith in the community of editors, of which you are one. Cheers. --Pete (talk) 11:09, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I hope to God that nobody in their right mind entertains for one second the daft notion that any editors continue this discussion in any other forum. We have expended an un-fucking-believable amount of time and effort on winningest. We have researched it to the nth degree. This discussion has been advertised on every conceivable noticeboard, and linked to from 140 article talk pages. Everybody had their say, and then had it again, and again and again. This has been hashed out.

The closing admin must concluded this in a definitive way, so that we never speak of it again. Nobody wants to see another discussion of winningest anywhere on Wikipedia. Nobody needs it. It has to stop here.

Any closing admin thinking of tossing this aside with a lazy "no consensus" should just keep walking until an admin with the balls to make a decision comes along. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 18:00, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Dennis, you need to review WP:CONSENSUS, particularly the part about "consensus can change". It is simply not within the purview of a closing admin to say "we will never speak of this again". Jeh (talk) 19:40, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes, if you interpret my words that literally, then you are correct. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:45, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Jeh, I don't think there will be any "closing admin". So far we are just chatting. There is no RfC to close. If there is any consensus, it is that using MoS to define behaviour over one particular word is inappropriate. As the word is only used in a few mainly sports articles, perhaps appropriate sports-related projects might be found to determine its use in particular areas. Otherwise we are going to have to hold the same debate over and over at each individual article. --Pete (talk) 19:56, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Under construction essay

See Wikipedia:Winningest. --Francis Schonken (talk) 11:50, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Don't want to wait until this is resolved right here, so you decide to take the matter elsewhere and see if you can get an outcome more to your liking. We call that forum shopping. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 16:33, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

The talk page of the tentative essay redirects here, as, as I indicated on the essay page, this is the place to discuss it. --Francis Schonken (talk) 16:52, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

A better use of your time might be to propose answers to the questions we have asked. What is the basis for 'encyclopedic'? Should we emulate featured articles? Are the examples in Encyclopedia Brittanica, Americana, Columbia, Grolier, etc., 'encyclopedic'? If encyclopedias are not encyclopedic, then what is? Should we pay any attention to prestigious media like the NYT, Reuters, BBC, The Economist, and so on? If we don't consider these examples, then what can we use? If we ignore the major style guides and dictionaries and encyclopedias, like the AP Stylebook and Fowler's and Garner's and so on, then how are editors supposed to decide questions like this? Nobody has given us any answer. You've written an essay with zero facts; you spout opinions, and link to more opinions. How would your essay look if you included some of the 200 years of examples of usage, and style guides saying the word is acceptable? Why doesn't your essay cite a single reliable source saying there's a problem with the word? Not even one?

Hardly anybody really cares whether we use 'winningest' or not. It's a lame debate. But it matters a great deal to everyone whether we base editorial decisions on verifiability and reliable sources, or on mere opinion. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 17:09, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Pretending there is no distinction between discretionary style and verifiability-required substance is the genesis of the majority, maybe even a supermajority, of MoS-related disputes (and many WP:AT-related ones), and is why the failed "source the MoS" campaigning was so pointless and disruptive (well, part of why; the tendentiousness was clearly a factor, too). If we're more mindful of making this distinction clearer in these discussions, especially when someone comes here to raise a presentation matter as if it were a content dispute, the fewer pointless threads we'll have generating heat but no light.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  05:00, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't believe it. I think it's utterly disingenuous to make any such claims. The fact is, if the likes of H.W. Fowler, H.L. Mencken, Patricia T. O'Conner, etc. had been going around saying "winningest is rubbish!" you can bet your ass every one of these editors would be shouting it from the rooftops. If there were zero instances of winningest in Brittanica, they'd be saying "Brittanica never uses the word, ergo, unencyclopedic". If any dictionary said it was slang, they'd be trumpeting that. The problem is, these guys picked the wrong word. They picked a word that is in fact not slang, not a neologism, and not poor English by any reasonable standard. Instead of simply admitting that they're wrong by any objective measure, they're spewing pernicious rhetoric about the MOS having no external basis. The notation about using well-known stylebooks disproves that nonsense, and the fact that the MOS links to Plain English in the lead. List of plain English words and phrases is well-defined; it's based on sources. Even though many of the same eidtors who hate winningest are busy replacing saw with witnessed and arrest with apprehend, in spite of the MOS. The MOS does not say what you think it says.

The truth is, prescriptive English is pseudoscience. The whole reason prescriptivism has been tossed in the bin by modern linguistics is the same reason we study astronomy, not astrology. Folk belief is no substitute for fact. All this "discretion" and "common sense" is just hand waving used to cover up the embarrassing "I don't like it" anti-intellectual, anti-reasoning. There's no reason we have to put up with that kind of anarchy. We can and should use verifiable facts, especially in such clear-cut cases as this, where our sources have virtually no dissent. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 05:13, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

The truth is, prescriptive English is pseudoscience—sorry, but while there is plenty of pseudo-thought in English prescription (so-called "split infinitives", et al), language prescription is not fundamentally supposed to be scientific at all, but best practices. Prescriptive English has unfortunately been infested with a lot of horeshit not aimed at improving clarity and communicativeness. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 05:23, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Well said.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  07:50, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Dennis, I wasn't trying to change your beliefs. I'm addressing the entire MoS editorial community (which is why I outdented and didn't respond point-by-point to your last post, and won't to this one either). Your beliefs about how sourcing and consensus operate on Wikipedia are not consistent with actual policy, in a pattern we've seen before here, and that pattern is what I'm concerned about, not your personal argument details in this round of it. There doesn't appear to be any actual dispute that the word "winningest" exists in various reliable sources. So you re-re-re-asserting that point endlessly isn't doing anything useful. There are a number of fallacies inherent in what you just posted, aside from the issue I actually care about, but I basically WP:DGAF to outline them in detail. It's clear that there will be no consensus to have MoS say anything pro or con about "winningest", so there's no real point in continuing to argue about it.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  07:50, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

If that were the case, why does the MOS say "Wikipedians are encouraged to familiarize themselves with other guides to style and usage, which may cover details not included in this Manual of Style"? Why does it say "Plain English works best" and then actually links to Plain English? Plain English is not some arbitrary, contingent thing -- it is an objectively real, distinct form of English which has characteristics that many experts agree on. Not some set of random choices by whatever group of self-selected Wikipedia editors decide they like. List of plain English words and phrases is well-defined; it's based on sources. Even though many of the same editors who despise winningest are busy replacing saw with witnessed and arrest with apprehend, in spite of the MOS.

This is about power -- as Skyring just posted above "we right here determine the style we use, not some external body" -- people like him want to hold all the power to decide to remove "winningest" from any article they find it in, with no respect for the previous consensus established in WP:FA nominations, nor in encyclopedic sources like Britannica, nor style guides. These editors want it to be entirely arbitrary, or "because I say so", or "I like it/don't like it." I've already linked to several policies that show that sources do matter even in style questions. Those of you who want to pretend that in fact you are free do disregard sources and simply vote on whichever words they want to strike from Wikipedia without caring that the claims that it's "slang" or "not a real word" are true or false, fail again and again to do to one thing: Cite any policy or guideline which says what you want it to say. No policy or guideline says we should make MOS decisions without giving due consideration to external sources. Several policies and guidelines do indicate that we should give them consideration. This is why I don't buy your argument. I might believe you if you showed me a policy that said so. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 04:21, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I'm pretty sure you meant some other term than cognitive dissonance to refer to separation of concerns (distinguishing content and presentation). An example of "cognitive dissonance" is continuing to believe "winningest" to be an unsuitable word in an encyclopaedic context in the face of multiple examples of the word's actual use in encyclopaedic contexts. More to your above point—yes, but the existence of alternative wordings does not invalidate the original wording—can does not imply should. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 05:16, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I agree with your last point, of course. However, I meant exactly what I said. Cognitive dissonance referred to mental confusion between conflicting priorities/assumptions, resulting in inability to keep it straight that our content policies apply to content, not to consensus discussions at guideline talk pages, nor to the wording of WP:POLICY pages, nor to editorial discretion about which of 100 different neutral and accurate ways to phrase a sentence might be the most useful. This dissonance is a result of the intellectual conflation of content and its presentation, and thus of our different actual rulesets for dealing with them, and the different policy domains into which they fit, and the rationales behind these domains, etc. It's regressive, and this accounts for the intensity of the angst it generates, as well as the conversion-like fervour and proselytism it inspires. This conflation (across all of these irrational "source the MoS" things) occurs through fixating exclusively and unduly on the notion that "everything must be sourced in Wikipedia" or "sources trump all other concerns" and applying it outside of mainspace content (the actual place in which sourcing is actually required and among the most important factors, though not the only one; WP:CCPOL is tripartite). The mistake treats the WP:CCPOL policies as they if were the only policies, with no tie to mainspace, and as if other policies like WP:CONSENSUS, WP:EDITING, and WP:NOT, which govern our internal decision-making processes outside of as well as within content editing, did not exist or were simply guidelines.

In particular, the issue this time is the absurd notion that because a word can be sourced to exist with a particular meaning that it must be permitted for someone to use it if they want to. Consensus does not work that way. I.e., your "can does not imply should" observation applies both ways. Dennis has repeatedly advanced the view that we have to use the same terms the sources do, simply because sources use them, even if they're determined by consensus to be biased or otherwise unsuitable. He's posted several long rants about this on this page and elsewhere, and insists that it's simply impermissible for us to determine by consensus that a usage isn't suitable in a WP article if external sources have used it. (Note how closely this mirrors various other "style must follow sources" activism efforts here, all of which have been dismal failures, and the most recent of which just got someone indefinitely topic-banned yesterday from the style focus of their advocacy.) This is a fundamental "Does not compute!" problem, and the cause of it is self-evidently the same in all these cases.

I'm not sure I agree that considering winningest to be unsuitable (at all? on wikipedia? outside of its conventional topical context? not sure what you mean) could qualify as cognitive dissonance; I think that would just be disagreement, since it doesn't evidence any internal mental conflict, e.g. between faulty understanding of two scopes of policy about it. Regardless, that is not the cognitive dissonance to which I was referring.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  07:50, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps we're employing different definitions of "unsuitable". An example of cognitive dissonance is in the claim that a word is slang in the face of reams of examples that it is frequently used in formal contexts—CTRL+F for the argument that "winningest" resides in the same register as "kicked their ass", long after evidence to the contrary was presented. It requires enormous cognitive dissonance to maintain such a belief. Confusing content and presentation is not cognitive dissonance—it's confusion.

Dennis has repeatedly advanced the view that we have to use the same terms the sources do—I haven't read that into Dennis's remarks. Quotes, please? If it's true, then he's wrong, but that has no bearing on the appropriateness of the word. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:51, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Just because "winningest" isn't crude slang doesn't auto-make it encyclopedic in every context. The principle argument advanced is that it's regional and topically-specific jargon, even if (like much jargon) occasionally used outside its home context, often for effect. As I already said clearly, confusing content and presentation is not the cognitive dissonance to which I refer, but the cause of it. Repeat: "Cognitive dissonance referred to mental confusion between conflicting priorities/assumptions .... This dissonance is a result of the intellectual conflation of content and its presentation". An effect cannot be its own cause. I shouldn't need to explain it a fourth time; I wrote quite clearly. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not making the case that "winningest" is unsuitable on Wikipedia. I think it is suitable in the context of American sports articles for one, but remain skeptical about broader usage, because there are vociferous objections to it. It doesn't matter why consensus might conclude it is unsuitable for broader usage; the point is that its permissible for WP consensus to determine that (or to determine anything else about what will be done on WP, short of the small number of external legal requirements imposed on us by WP:OFFICE. No amount of shouting about how it turned up in this or that source outside of a sports context will ever trump that; the best it can do is cause a consensus against the broader usage to not form or to change later if it does. There a distinction between external sources being used to inform consensus and being used to attempt to thwart its formation. The loss of this distinction in the minds of a few people around here of late has resulted in a large number of MoS discussion being remarkably circular, pointless, frustrating and ridiculous.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  16:06, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Just because "winningest" isn't crude slang doesn't auto-make it encyclopedic in every context ... No amount of shouting about how it turned up in this or that source outside of a sports context—no amount of shouting has been expended on trying to get "winningest" into Wikipedia outside of sports articles. I can't imagine what's driving you too keep banging away in this echo chamber.

You can stop quoting what you think "cognitive dissonance" is. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is and I'm not going to waste any more of my time arguing with you about such things. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 21:51, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

I've only advanced the view that we must give due consideration to our sources. The examples of Good Articles and especially Featured Articles must be given some weight. Our understanding of "encyclopedic" must be based on something. The obvious thing to base it on is actual encyclopedias. Our understanding of a "formal tone" must be based on something. We have experts, style guides, and prestigious media to guide us. If sources were contradictory or unclear, then we'd have to find our own way. But in cases like this, when there's nearly zero dissent and several experts saying a word is acceptable, then arguments that the word is "nonsense", "childish", "unencyclopedic" and so on must be rejected as uninformed opinion. We are not required to use a word, but any editors who go out of their way to ban a word without any sources -- when they are flatly contradicting our most prestigious sources -- are using Wikipedia as their personal soapbox to advance their peeves and proclivities, not building an encyclopedia. Any time our sources are unanimous and give us clear guidance, we should rejoice that there's no need to debate opinions; we have a functional verifiablity and identifying reliable sources process that we can use to resolve the question and move on. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 15:52, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Given that you've injected the same sources and/or your arguments about them into pretty much every spot in two threads into which they can be put, they clearly have been given due consideration and then some. Just because not everyone is agreeing with you doesn't mean they have not seen the evidence you repeatedly bring up without adding more (if it wasn't convincing the first time, it won't be the fourth, either). It is not required that everyone approach the matter in precisely the way you want them to. You're also mix-and-matching "evidence" but treating it all as if it's the same. Use of the word in a US sports newspaper article is evidence of just that usage. Entries for the word in dictionaries is simply evidence that the word exists, which no one seems to be disputing now, and much of the detail in that evidence doesn't support anything but the view that this is informal N. Am. sports jargon (and once existed with a different meaning in Br. Eng., ca. a century ago), because these sources mostly label the word "informal", and it mostly only appears in American publications (both as to usage and as to being defined in an entry), and labeled N. Am. when it appears in non-N.Am. dictionaries at all. You're basically helping to source the argument that the term is regional, contextual jargon, but that didn't seem to be your intent, so I'm not sure what to tell you. GA/FA isn't a source, it's an internal consensus process, one geared primarily to WP:CCPOL compliance. It's frequently observed here that GAN and FAC do not actually "enforce" MoS compliance much; they simply don't have much time or concern for style matters.

MoS says nothing about this word, but does indicate that matters not covered by MoS are subject to editorial consensus at the articles. So, it's natural and reasonable that GAN and FAC have nothing at all to say about usage of "winningest", any more than they do about whether you describe an event as "the conference, attended by 2,500, was held in March" or "the conference was held in March, with 2,500 attendees". There doesn't seem to be an current move "to ban a word without any sources"; the only consensus that's emerged from these two threads is that MoS will not be changed to "ban" this word, and "word-banning" isn't its purpose, and even those advocating the idea had sources against the word, as being "informal". There are no "experts" who can say a word is acceptable on Wikipedia. That's the crux of the matter. No one makes that determination but Wikipedians, via consensus formation. Two threads of polarized debate (on this page alone; there were others earlier) is clear proof – if you want to talk about evidence – that "there's nearly zero dissent" is not an accurate claim. There is no unanimity in the sources; the closest they come to that is "North American, colloquial, sports".

Let's actually look at the external source evidence, starting at the top of the thread: 3 from Cbl62: North American sports (hereafter "NAS"); 15 from Cbl92: all American, 1 dictionary (not labelled colloquial, but examples are all sports), all 14 others are NAS; 3 from Jeh, all dictionaries, all three say informal, one says N.Am. only, two give sports examples only; 1 from Cbl92, but it's a repeat; 2 from you (both are repeats); 1 from you, a dict. showing 1804 date; 1 WP search from Bagumba, showing it's used almost exclusively in NAS articles (I didn't even see a case that wasn't, but I didn't look at every entry; maybe there's a couple of exceptions); 1 from you to The American Language: It undercuts your own argument, since it shows that such constructions are not "the standard language" but the colloquial speech of "the American vulgate" (I don't think "encyclopedic tone" and "vulgar tone" are the same thing) – you've totally misunderstood Mencken, who is not saying that this is standard American English, but mocking American abuse of the language, and this patently obviously from Mencken's own writing, which does not use any such constructions. Reaching the "Gauging consensus" section: 1 from Bagumba: NAS; 1 from Bagumba: a repeat dict. cite; 4 from Spacecowboy420: all dicts, 2 repeats, 2 new ones that say "N.Am." and "informal"; post by you mentioning but not directly citing 199 Britannica, 6 Columbia & 1 Americana encyc. articles "all modern, North American sports topics" but your own statement; 5 from Skyring (Pete): 4 webboards and blog concluding it's NAS and/or informal, but 2 real articles saying it's both and is jarring to non-North Americans – key quote: "it took the focus away from the achievement ... good language should never get in the way of what is being communicated"; 5 from Curly Turkey who purports to be disagreeing with Pete, but all 5 are also NAS; 1 from 72bikers, Britannica claiming 1972 date (which is wrong, but who cares?).; 5 from you, 3 showing that it was historically attested in British English in two spellings (but who cares?, and the modern editions of Fowler no longer give the advice you rely on, and we know from other sources that the word is now a disliked Americanism in BrEng), 1 NAM, 1 N-gram showing increase in use of the word (which no one had disputed anyway); 2 from 72bikers, repeat dicts.; 2 from CT showing use in book titles, 1 NAM, the other NA card gaming, which competitively is treated as a sport (whether we think that's silly or not...); 2 from you, again undermining your own argument: they show that the word in old BrEng meant "most attractive"; so they're not the same word, they're homophones with completely different meaning.

Conclusion: That's ZERO current non-North American sources, ZERO sources showing the word ever had this meaning outside N.Am. English, and only ONE source even in N.Am. English suggesting non-sport usage. Meanwhile, you've been name-dropping "the likes of H.W. Fowler, H.L. Mencken, Patricia T. O'Conner" as if they supported the position that "winningest" has broad application when they don't support that view at all. I rest my case: It's North American sports jargon, and acceptable in that context, and non-encyclopedic otherwise. I wasn't even certain that was the case until you proved it to me. The only good thing that has come of this mega-WP:LAME terminological dispute across 2 threads is that clarity, and the identification of some sources on the earlier origins, spelling, and meaning of the word/homophone, which can be used at the article about it.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  16:06, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

You keep burning down this straw man that someone wants to "enforce" using winningest. If I've been saying that WP:TIES means the word belongs on US sports articles, then obviously you'd be unlikely to see it on non-US articles, especially not those related to sports. To make the word -- any word -- "mandatory"? Absurd. As far as repetition, would you really like to see a count of how many times you've re-posted the same argument? Should we tally them up? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 17:16, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

There is one easy test to see whether a word is regarded as mandatory in an article by an editor. Simply remove it from an article, replace it with something that means exactly the same, and see what efforts are taken to restore it, and what arguments are put forward in support. Looking at this article it is clear that one editor views the word "winningest" as mandatory and will go to extraordinary lengths to see it included. Including edit-warring while discussion is ongoing in three different places. --Pete (talk) 18:16, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

That's a remarkably dishonest way of interpretation of events. Would you resort to the same argument if someone were to go around systematically unsplitting infinitives and then, when people objected, declare split infitives "mandatory"? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 21:43, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict)I know, right? Let me tell you how bad it got -- you won't believe this -- this one editor he got so carried away with winningest he went on a spree across like, what? Thirty-seven articles? Whatever it was it was a lot. They told him to cool it but he couldn't stop himself and earned himself a harsh 60-hour block at 3RRN. Folks, you don't wanna be "that guy", am I right? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:47, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Losingest

Can we wrap this up?

This above debate and the one that forked off of it are just rambling on and on, and into various MoS-irrelevant ratholes. WP:ANRFC is totally swamped, so we need to close this (both threads of it) ourselves. Otherwise, it's simply going to eventually expire into the archive, unresolved.

I propose that we have in fact arrived at consensus on a few things (notes in small text). The first three of these are consensus of MoS editors about MoS itself, based primarily on internal WP common sense. The last two are advisory consensus of MoS editors about content disputes at articles, in which sourcing is an important factor.

0. As a matter of policy, the status quo holds, if consensus doesn't change on something. The status quo is that a) the guideline is as it is, and b) editorial discretion and (if a discussion arises) editorial consensus at the article level are what determine the wording of articles, within the bounds of site-wide standards that constrain inappropriate results.
   This is just an overarching fact, not a potential consensus to evaluate. A side principle of the status quo rule is WP:COSMETICBOT – we do not use automated editing to make potentially disruptive changes for trivial reasons, and this applies to word choices when both choices are acceptable.

1. There is consensus against the request that MoS include a rule explicitly against [or for] "winningest".
   Can there be any question about that?
2. There is consensus that MoS and its talk page are not venues for lobbying to get specific terms either "banned" or declared "always-okay", more generally. This happens frequently, and is unproductive.
   These are contextual matters of WP:LOCALCONSENSUS (in the positive sense), for narrow content discussions, usually in article talk, though they could be raised here about particular articles or topics. Exception: When a term raises WP:Neutral point of view concerns in almost every case of its use, we do have MOS:WTW ("words to watch"), which is entirely a WP:NPOV supplementary guideline, not based on usage frequency and other NPOV-unrelated questions, but even it doesn't "ban" things, it just advises caution and rewording.
3. There is no consensus to import any of the WP:TONE essay wording into MoS.
   There is some support for the idea of having MoS say a bit more on the matter, but we'll need to defer that for a discussion that drafts and proposes such an addition.
4. There is no consensus against using "winningest" for North American sports contexts (and, by extension, some quasi-sports like competitive poker or pro gaming).
   Proponents of this use have very clearly demonstrated that the word exists and is conventional sports jargon in mainstream N.Am. publications in this context.
   Note that this "no consensus against" does not equate to consensus explicitly in favor of "winningest" at WT:MOS (see point 1 and 2 above).
   Sources also demonstrate that it is mostly found in American dictionaries or, in others, labelled [North] American. Whether consensus at particular articles accepts it will be the result of discussions there as necessary (or, often, at the wikiproject level for consistency across a topic), but our own search engine proves that it already has widespread editorial acceptance in that topical space, so there's clearly WP-wide consensus that it may be used in that topic, though it can always be rewritten in alternative form except when it occurs in a proper name (article title, award, etc.) or quotation. No compelling reason MoS should override that local consensus has been presented (e.g. PoV concerns). It is sensible to create either an article on this word, or an American sports journalism glossary with a linkable entry for this word, so that it can be linked at first occurrence for the term, for the benefit of non-N.Am. readers. Enough sources have been provided here already for either/both, and (as usual) the time spent trying to source style fights in projectspace should have been spent sourcing actual encyclopedia content.
5. There is no consensus for using "winningest" more broadly, either in North Am. topics not related to competition, or non-N.Am. topics even if they're sport-related.
   Proponents of the expanded use have not demonstrated that the term is used regularly outside the N.Am. sports context.
   There is, furthermore, a notable level of resistance, including by American editors, against the idea of broadening the usage.
   The principal objection is that it is not widely recognized outside N.Am. sports. Potential examples of such broadening might include to American political and legal articles, or to South African football articles. This doesn't quite rise to the level of "consensus against", but it need not, because editors regularly revert any attempts to insert the word into articles outside N.Am. sports, almost uniformly, so there's already evidence of a general WP consensus against it – WT:MOS need not arrive at one here.

Some might feel that point #5 should be is consensus against, but I remain skeptical, based on the discussions above and below, and because the usage of word in the real world appears to be spreading. We don't want to be here five years from now with "winningest" a global buzzword and people still citing "this MoS consensus against it"; always be mindful of future effects of decisions in a project like this. A more-negative-than-neutral is no consensus for is sufficient, and is advisory to local consensus.

None of these would result in any changes to guideline wording [without some additional proposal, anyway]. Point #2 suggests a MOS:FAQ entry, however.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  08:05, 27 January 2016 (UTC) Notes update to account for points in WP:WINNINGEST; the do not affect the text of the proposed consensuses.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  17:55, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Poll: Should MOS include the wording from WP:TONE regarding "formal tone"?

WP:TONE begins as follows:

Wikipedia articles, and other encyclopedic content, should be written in a formal tone. Standards for formal tone vary depending upon the subject matter, but should follow the style used by reliable sources, while remaining clear and understandable. Formal tone means that the article should not be written using argot, slang, colloquialisms, doublespeak, legalese, or jargon that is unintelligible to an average reader; it means that the English language should be used in a businesslike manner.

In the preceding discussion over "winningest" it has been argued that WP:TONE is only an essay. Should this or similar language appear in MOS and hence have the status of "Guideline"?

Support - MOS should state unambiguously that Wikipedia articles should be written in a formal tone

• Support as proposer. Language tone is an important part of credibility. "It's only an essay" should not be usable as an argument for admitting informal language to Wikipedia. Jeh (talk) 06:03, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
  • Alert: this is begging the question that "winningest" is informal. The majority of the supporters above are not arguing for "admitting informal language to Wikipedia". They have provided a flood of evedence that "winningest" is commonly used in formal writing, including professional encyclopaedias. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 06:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
• Support. I am not all that interested in the "winningest" dispute per se. I do note in passing that almost all the dictionary refs that were found for "winningest" marked it as informal or colloquial, and I would expect that to be taken into account once we establish that we generally do not want to use informal or colloquial words — but that discussion should take place article-by-article; there is no need for a centralized decision on a single word. What's important here is the general principle that we do in fact desire a formal tone. --Trovatore (talk) 21:00, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
• Support I'm generally in favor of anything that makes the rules easier to find, such as putting as many on the same page as is reasonably practical. However, I'd also support adding "Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality" to that passage. Darkfrog24 (talk) 21:46, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

  +1. --Trovatore (talk) 21:54, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

• Support- It's obvious that we should prefer professional English to colloquial and informal language. As well as being a matter of tone, we need to ensure intelligibility. Colloquialisms, slang, and specialised jargon are not always understandable to someone who's not from the correct geographical area, or an expert in the right field, so we should aim to use alternatives that are correct and universally understood by all English speakers. Reyk _YO! 22:19, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

• Support - There is a place for breezy, chatty, informal language, but not in Wikivoice in the most used encyclopaedia in the world. Our writing may be flat and lifeless, but we seem to have been amazingly successful with this approach. If we begin "emoting" we lose an essential part of our success. Leave slang and informal language to direct quotes of colourful people, please! --Pete (talk) 09:04, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Oppose - Guideline changes for "formal tone" are not needed in MOS

• Oppose – The current recommendation to use formal tone is adequate. I see no case to work on making it more adamant. Dicklyon (talk) 06:48, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose – The encyclopaedic tone Wikipedia strives for is a given. It is implied throughout the MoS and has not been seriously challenged, nor is it likely to be. Despite protests to the contrary, this is all about "winningest". Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:29, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose — The real problem is WP:FORMAL which should be changed to reflect that MOS is not adamant in requiring formality, but rather sees formal tone as one goal among others, including avoiding, "straining for formality". Per the MOS, Plain English is valued above Formal English, narrowly defined. The dictionary word classification system "formal, informal, colloquial" is orthogonal to the idea of a "formal tone", i.e. businesslike, serious, transparent. Since Wikipedia:Writing better articles is an "explanatory supplement" to the MOS, it should stay within the bounds of the MOS itself. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 18:20, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose We need to understand the case with winningest a bit more, and be wary of the risk of a hasty reaction. MOS already states: "Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality." I don't think anyone desires WP to be generally informal, so it's questionable if we need more rules to say it should be formal. If there is interest in re-enforcing it, it needs to be tempered together with the existing MOS text that we neither want to strain for formality. Applying winningest as a test case, the word might be deemed informal, but the alternatives to date are arguably straining for formality (from an AmE perspective). The formal and informal concerns need to be balanced. (Note: The related discussion thread below at 23:12, 17 January 2016 had not been rebutted at the time of this !vote) —Bagumba (talk) 21:40, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose - Several of the "support" voters have now forced me to oppose a general statement of intent with which I generally agree because they have made it perfectly clear that they intend to use it to purge the word which began this discussion in the first instance. I have been participating in MOS discussion for over five years, and this is not the first time that I have witnessed other participants attempt to impose universally what are self-evidently their personal style choices. You have no idea how much distaste you engender for MOS by pursuing pointless personal crusades such as this one. Much good work is undone by such as this. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 10:35, 19 January 2016 (UTC)
  • It is a great shame that some have staked their ego to this word, and used so much space here. For the word, which on Wikipedia seems to be confined to sports-related articles, perhaps another forum could usefully be engaged. For the notion that Wikivoice be couched in tones of formality or informality, this is an appropriate forum. It would be a shame if Wikipedia were to be written in a way that facilitated contempt or ridicule. --Pete (talk) 11:19, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
    • "It is a great shame that some have staked their ego to this word, and used so much space here"? Good lord, man, review your own word count and take a look at the man in the mirror. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 11:29, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
      • Well said, but my statements on forum choices remain valid. --Pete (talk) 18:02, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose -ish The use of 'formal' (alternatively 'plain' etc.) would be bedevilled with the same kinds of arguments that have plagued the above discussion. If the above discussion makes anything clear, it is that 'style' 'tone' etc. are all ultimately, and necessarily, a matter of judgement (meaning something more thoughtful than 'I like', but nevertheless, ultimately subjective - as indeed is clarity itself). It is easier for us to identify what we DON'T want than what we DO (excess formality/slang .... impenetrable jargon/simplistic writing ... obsequiessness toward the subject/disrespectful or otherwise inapt tone). I have at times wished there were clarification of 'encyclopaedic' (in AfD discussions). IF a follow-up discussion takes place about 'tone', might I suggest that rather than focussing on 'formal'/'plain' etc., some of the 'tone' advice is phrased according to our purpose, which is to communicate information as clearly, accurately and neutrally as possible to the widest possible readership. This will probably, in most instances, lead to a tone which is closer to what people are calling 'formal', however it puts the purpose before the outcome. Somewhere between grammar-fascism and 'anything goes' lies a path worth pursuing. I was unequivocally opposed to any endorsement of 'winningest' (outside of USA sports articles?), for the simple reason that it failed to communicate effectively to a non-afficianado and was easily replacable either succintly, (most successful?) or more informatively (most successful team in the XYZ league, winning ABC of their DEF games).Pincrete (talk) 18:49, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Neutral

• Support-ish: That wording has been stable long enough, and clearly reflects consensus long enough, that something like it could be merged into MoS proper, and would fit well here, but within the bounds of Dennis Bratland's concerns, above. I don't see this as related in any intimate way to "winningest" which is already its own RfC. I wouldn't see this as a change but as a reinforcement. However, I don't like copy-pasting wording verbatim from essays into guidelines. It gives the incorrect impression that one's goal as an essay writer here is to get it "promoted to guideline status" or some other form of chest-beating. That said, I don't think it's really plausible that a minor reinforcement of what formal style means to, for, and on Wikipedia would be a bad thing to work into MoS a little more clearly. I'm skeptical about any more "straining for formality" additions. Constructions that are more formal than typical journalistic writing are quite often the necessary result of particular WP:CCPOL care (especially with regard to biased implications, and/or in reference to controversial sources). MOS itself being seen as giving a green-light to alteration of carefully constructed formal expressions to sound more like news writing or student writing at the cost of treating primary sources as if secondary, or giving undue weight to one particular point of view, would not be acceptable.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  21:58, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
• Support-ish: Its already mentioned at Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable....is this motion to move the info? --Moxy (talk) 13:23, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
  • @Moxy: It does kind of open the question of why what amounts to a style guideline is listed as an editing guideline to begin with.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  19:15, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
    • You all have not cited one shred of evidence that winningest is confusing or controversial. You could cite that hopefully or tabled or various other words are problematic. Can you explain why so many UK experts, including Britannica and Columbia encyclopedias, use this word if it is "jargon" that readers fail to comprehend? If the word is jargon, why don't any dictionaries call it jargon? I find it very frustrating that you keep making bald assertions of fact and when you are asked to support those facts with evidence, you have no reply. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:35, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
      • This is a consensus discussion, not an article; it's based on editorial community judgement. No one is ever going to write a book called "Winningest" Is Too Confusing or "Winningest": Why It's Not Confusing, there will not be any source to cite, pro or con. This is a good example of why "source the MoS!" activism is irrational.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:35, 25 January 2016 (UTC)
        • Tell that to Lists of words having different meanings in American and British English. Or English usage controversies, or Common English usage misconceptions. Looks to me like if you want to assert a term in confusing, or controversial, sources either verify it, or they don't. You've never answered my questions about the MOS recommending using style books, or using Plain English. MOS:NEO requires referencing "general-interest dictionaries" to determine if their definitions are unstable or not. Sounds like sources are involved there. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 03:42, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

You keep making the same points that have already been refuted (refutations you have not rebutted, but ignored or hand-waved at), then just restating your original argument again as if it hadn't been addressed, in a new spot on the page, thumping the same sources over and over again that do not really indicate what you think they do, and not taking at face value the sources that contradict you. We had someone else around here for a long time, with whom most of us frequently agreed on most things, but who made a habit, regarding one issue they wanted to "win" on, that used the exact same combined pseudo-debate "technique", down to the last detail, that you are employing. And now we don't have that person's disruption any more, as of two days ago. If you see someone try to breathe underwater and drown as a result, this should be an inspiration to avoid attempting the feat, not to climb into the sea and succeed where the failed. WP needs no "language martyrs", thanks.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  08:05, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Discussion

• Although this proposal was obviously suggested to me by the above discussion over "winningest", the wording from WP:TONE copied above would not necessarily preclude the use of "winningest" in Wikipedia articles, as it does note that Wikipedia "should follow the style used by reliable sources". Jeh (talk) 06:03, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
• This is conflating two issues: WP:TONE as only an essay, and "winningest" as too informal for encyclopaedic writing (going so far as making the unsubstantiated claim that it is slang). As "winningest" actually is used in professional encyclopaedic writing, whether WP:TONE is merely an essay is irrelevant. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 06:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
• Informal language is already part of Wikipedia's best content. This poll question pointedly ignores the other thing the MOS says about formality: "Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality". Formality has never been the be-all and end-all of a good Wikipedia article. Moreover, there is confusion about "formality" and the hierarchy most dictionaries use to classify words: 1) formal, 2) no notation, meaning normal or standard, 3) informal, 4) colloquial (sometimes interchangeable with informal), 5) slang, 6) vulgar, 7) obscene. These terms (which vary among dictionaries) are helpful hints in making an encyclopedia have a "formal tone", but that doesn't mean we are only allowed to use words marked as "formal" in their dictionary definition. We'd delete 90% of our words if we had to remove all those lacking the "formal" label. There's no basis for saying this means we're only allowed to use words marked as "formal" and then also throw in "standard" words. There's no basis for saying everything "informal" and below is banned. In fact, many articles use words that are informal, and even slang and obscene. It really depends on the topic. Look at our featured article writing. Consensus supports using a wide range of word types, while keeping a "formal tone".

  What we're really after is a serious tone. By this, we mean, we don't use easter eggs. We don't use double entendre, hidden meanings, jokes, sarcasm, irony or other esoteric forms of instruction. "Do not introduce new and specialized words simply to teach them to the reader" -- we don't try to teach the reader through misdirection; if we want to define a word, we define it explicitly, not slip it past the reader. That is a serious tone, or a businesslike tone which is very much like formality. But calling it "formal" introduces this confusion over word choice because it is a term dictionaries use for a different purpose.

  Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Tone should be adjusted to correct this misconception and be more consistent with the MOS itself, since "it is intended to be an explanatory supplement" to the MOS. Even if we don't change WP:TONE, if you want to raise its status from a mere essay, lacking in broad consensus, to a guideline that carries the same weight as the MOS, then make the necessary WP:PROPOSAL. You can't simply pretend it is more than an essay because you wish it so. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 06:44, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

  • No one is remotely suggesting that we can use only words marked specifically as "formal" in dictionaries. I do think, however, that it is better by and large to avoid using words marked as "informal" or "colloquial". I am not proposing that that should be a rigid rule, but I think it's a good indication.
    As to your claim that "many articles use words that are informal, and even slang and obscene", I would point out that there is a distinction between using a word and mentioning it (see use–mention distinction); I suspect that a lot of article talk about such words but do not use them in Wikipedia's voice. Those that do likely ought to be changed. And again, there are probably some scattered exceptions.
    Perhaps to focus the discussion you'd like to provide one or two examples of articles using (as opposed to mentioning) such words, that you feel ought to use them? --Trovatore (talk) 21:09, 17 January 2016 (UTC) Oh, let me just add that I think, for these purposes, occurrences in direct quotes should count as mentions rather than uses. It's not exactly the same issue, but still, an occurrence in a direct quote is not a use in Wikipedia's voice. --Trovatore (talk) 21:13, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Well, here's the FAs, FLs and GAs that use "winningest", which most of our dictionaries call either colloquial or informal:

Featured Articles

• 2005 ACC Championship Game
• 2008 Orange Bowl
• Roberto Luongo

Featured Lists

• List of Tennessee Titans head coaches
• List of Appalachian State Mountaineers football seasons
• List of Maryland Terrapins football honorees

Good Articles

• Brad Stevens
• James Naismith
• Sherron Collins
• Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum (1947–1955)
• Clark Shaughnessy
• Steve Morrison (American football)
• Colt McCoy
• Bud Grant
• Mark Vlasic

You've seen the huge number of encyclopedias and prestigious publications that use the term at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/List of winningest citations? You are the one who said "we are encyclopedists". Great. Lets act like encyclopedists, e.g. Brittanica. E.g. Grolier. et. al. Encyclopedists use (not just mention) informal and colloquial English whenever they need do. The MOS is clear why: awkward language in service of formality is unhelpful. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:21, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

We are entitled to say that we do not want to use informal or colloquial words, even if Brittanica uses them. We are entitled to make this determination ourselves, based on consensus opinion. I support making that determination. Again, not as a rigid rule. --Trovatore (talk) 21:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

You are entitled to your opinions, and to your likes, and your dislikes. But when you falsely assert that "we" of Wikipedia have consensus that formal English is mandatory, or falsely claim that informal or colloquial words may never be used, or when you make demonstrably false claims such as "winningest is slang" or "winningest is not encyclopedic", don't be surprised when you are handed evidence that proves your assertions to be false. I think this is a big deal because you're attacking our foundation of verifiability, and you're not offering us anything to replace it with. If we can't trust the NYT or WSJ or The Economist, nor can we emulate Brittanica or Grolier, nor can we emulate FAs and GAs, then what does 'encyclopedic' even mean? Whatever some guy says it is? You're rejecting our basic models simply because they use one word which you simply don't like. That is unhelpful to us who wish to build an encyclopedia. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:55, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

we do not want to use informal or colloquial words, even if Brittanica uses them.—more begging the question. The evidence is that "winningest" is not restricted to "informal or colloquial" use. Brittannica is but one piece of evidence of this. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:34, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

See below. I am not talking about the word "winningest". The word "winningest" is not even under discussion in this poll. --Trovatore (talk) 22:58, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Verifiability is about content. This is not a content discussion. We are entitled to make arguments based on opinion. --Trovatore (talk) 21:57, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes, you're entitled to say things that are false, utterly lacking in sources, and which blithely contradict mountains of evidence. That is your right. Although, at the very least, the Snowball clause suggests that your fellow editors don't appreciate having to spend too much of their time reading long fact-free, citation-free, example-free screeds of peevish opinions. What if every Wikipedia guideline were made that way? It's difficult enough to learn how to edit without having all the rules so idiosyncratic and arbitrary. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:05, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Evidence? We are discussing prescriptive claims here, not descriptive ones. Prescriptive claims are supported by persuasive argument. The arguments may include factual claims, which can then be checked by citation and so on — but the main discussion is engaged at the level of persuasive argument, not factual citation. Listeners accept or reject the arguments based on whether they find them persuasive. Huge numbers of footnotes are mostly beside the point. --Trovatore (talk) 22:13, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

OK. You keep rationalizing without empirical evidence, if that's what you think will win consensus. Good luck with that. I'll keep on citing evidence, because that's how I roll. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:19, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

What evidence have you cited that we should use informal or colloquial words? You have certainly cited evidence that other publications do. I will grant you that I am surprised by that outcome, at least as regards Britannica. But I still don't see how it means we should do the same thing. --Trovatore (talk) 22:23, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

What evidence have you cited that we should use informal or colloquial words?—the argument is that it is not "informal or colloquial", as born out by the abundant evidence of its use in formal contexts. Demanding in this context "What evidence have you cited that we should use informal or colloquial words?" is a fallacy called begging the question. If you value your integrity I'd suggest you quit it. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:41, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Curly, as I've said over and over, I am really not very interested in what happens to the specific word "winningest" in sports articles. For that matter I am not very interested in sports articles. What I am interested in is the principle that we should keep a fairly formal tone, and at an even more "meta" level, the principle that these discussions are to be engaged at the level of persuasive argument.
If we adopt a guideline here that says we want a formal tone, with the specification that if a word is marked "informal" or "colloquial" in dictionaries it is usually to be avoided, and then editors who specialize in sports articles decide to keep "winningest" in particular articles, for me, that's just fine. --Trovatore (talk) 22:47, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

it's clear that the other encyclopedias don't really like using it—that's not even remotely clear, and these discussions are no place to push your fantasies. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:30, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

"There are many more articles where they could have used "winningest", but chose not to". It's all right there. Did you not read it? If "winningest" is a great word to use every time numbers of victories is talked about, then good articles in good encyclopedias would use it all the time. They don't. Reyk _YO! 22:40, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Of course I read it—your bizarre fantasy about what went in the heads of these writers you claim to have made a conscious choice not to use "winningest". Another example of your contempt for evidence. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:45, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Stop with the personal attacks. You know what's bizarre fantasy? Being accused of setting 3RR traps, of being a "pseudo-intellectual" and "anti-American", of having "contempt for evidence". Pointing out that your interpretation of what is, after all, just a bare list of articles is not the only possible one does not even come close to the bullshit that's been flung my way. So cut the crap. Reyk _YO! 22:55, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

The crap needing cutting is all in your yard. Are you going to take back this "could have used "winningest", but chose not to" horseshit? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:19, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Holy shit—I just took a peak at Reyk's talk page. He clearly has no intention of "cutting the crap" and has basically declared himself above the law with regard to editwarring (justifying it with the delerium "I think consensus favours removing "winningest" and replacing it with English words.") Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 05:06, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Drop the personal attacks. I'm not going to take the bait. The fact remains that these encyclopedias selected words other than "winningest" in almost every case, and our good and featured content uses alternatives to "winningest" in almost every case. There is an obvious anti-correlation between articles that use "winningest" and articles that don't suck. It might be possible to write feature-quality articles containing informal colloquialisms, but IMO they'd be even better without them. Reyk _YO! 07:32, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

The fact is (again) you're pulling shit out of a hat (that "contempt for evidence" thing that you're doing nothing to dispel) and are willing to editwar over it. You are a disruption. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:16, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

The place to make accusations of disruption or edit warring is WP:ANI and WP:3RR respectively. Either take this up at the appropriate venue, or drop it. Making personal attacks on me just because you disagree with me on a MOS issue is not an option available to you. I have already said that I won't take the bait. Reyk _YO! 11:30, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

No one's "baiting" you. If you don't like being called out on your horseshit, then cut it out. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 12:04, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

No, you're obviously trying to goad me into a rage and are becoming increasingly frustrated that it's not working. As I've repeatedly tried to tell you, I am not going to let you annoy me. It just isn't going to work. If you have a legitimate argument that anything I've said or done is disruptive, I've already told you the correct places to bring those up. Repeating "horseshit" over and over just because you disagree with me isn't helping your case, it's just making you look like an angry crank. Reyk _YO! 12:21, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

You clearly don't like your misbehaviour on display. Case in point: when told to stop the mass reverts until the discussion on this page wrapped up, you respond with plain "No." You might want to be careful with your "just because you disagree with me"s—people will start wondering which pronouns refer to whom. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:46, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

What misbehaviour are you accusing me of, exactly? This is not clear from your repetitious infuriated rants. If I were worried about anything I'd said or done being "on display" I wouldn't encourage you to take your grievances to ANI. Shall I start that thread for you? Reyk _YO! 23:00, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes, we know, you ignore everything that's incovenient to you. You don't need to tell us again. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 00:29, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

OK, here is the first FL I looked at, List of tallest buildings in Las Vegas: "This building, however, is currently on hold." On hold, according to the OED, is figurative English, not standard or formal. On hold is used some 4 more times. The second lead paragraph uses Manhattanization, a neologism which is actually part on an article title. The American colloquialism "condo" is also used in List of tallest buildings in Las Vegas. Do I need to go on? We could do this for almost every Featured Article. Or any article in Brittanica. The claim that informal, colloquial, and even slang, English is forbidden in encyclopedic writing is false. Yes, we lean towards formality in the sense of being serious, or businesslike, but not stilted, pompous, wordy, or erudite. The MOS says "Use Plain English", not fancy English. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 23:05, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

• The timing would be better if this was discussed after the above thread at #"winningest" in sports articles was resolved. Otherwise, this just feels like we're proposing solutions to winningest without having a fair discussion of all the issues and applicable guidelines in relation to winningest.—Bagumba (talk) 07:20, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

I have no problem delaying this or putting it on hold. There's no time limit. Darkfrog24 (talk) 23:05, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

• This is already in MOS: Avoid words and phrases that give the impression of straining for formality I suspect this is the core of the winningest debate. I'm guessing that winningest supporters generally agree that Wikipedia should be formal, but that the alternatives suggested to date are more awkward than winningest itself when it comes to North American sports-related articles.—Bagumba (talk) 23:12, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
  • Perhaps. As I say, I don't care much about the specific case of "winningest", and if local editors decide that all alternatives are worse, I'm OK with them making that decision.
    In the general case, though, I would assert that we should generally prefer, when reasonably possible, to avoid words that a substantial fraction of readers are likely to find jarring or inferior. Significant evidence has been adduced that "winningest" falls into that category.
    As a personal example, I learned only through Wikipedia that "overly" is often considered an Americanism. For myself, I have no problem with "overly", and use it freely in even the most formal contexts. But I don't use it in mainspace on Wikipedia, unless by mistake, not even in articles written in American English. It's too easily avoided, and I don't want to provoke that reaction in readers.
    Obviously this principle cannot be taken rigidly and generally; especially in political contexts, it would give a hecklers' veto to editors taking a particular POV. So it's more of a rule of thumb. --Trovatore (talk) 23:22, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
    • I agree that jarring words should be avoided, where feasible, but it's an art to balance it with words and phrases that are common and familiar to casual followers of a given domain (e.g. American sports). This isn't a simple "do this", "avoid that" case. It's even more complicated when a single word is in question, and the suggested replacement is not another single word that meets MOS:COMMONALITY, but rather a phrase that is also arguably awkward.—Bagumba (talk) 23:49, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
      • I do not object if editors who frequent those articles make that determination. I am more interested in the general case. One point that has come up about the general case but suggested by the specific one is, I think we should consider making a recommendation that words marked "informal" or "colloquial" in dictionaries should usually, preferentially be avoided. Then if sports editors decide that the specific word "winningest" is too hard to replace, even though dictionaries call it "informal" or "colloquial", that should be a determination for the local editors, not the MoS. --Trovatore (talk) 00:00, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
        • I am interest in the general case as well, but winningest provides a good test case (regardless of which side of the case anyone is on). It makes sense to avoid an informal word when there is a more formal, single-word alternative e.g. kid–child, smart–intelligent. One gray area is the case where an informal word is replaced by a phrase e.g. "high five" vs. "slapped the palms of one another's hands with their arms raised"—Bagumba (talk) 00:32, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
      • I imagine the most common phrase used is "most (career) wins", which also aligns with what would be used for other categories (hits, goals, touchdowns, and so forth). isaacl (talk) 00:05, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
        • Definitely not as grating to Americans as "most victorious" or as subjective as "most successful".—Bagumba (talk) 00:32, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

• • • I find "winningest" to be just as subjective as "most successful" - did someone win races, pole positions, or championships? Although "winningest", "most victorious/successful" are nice and succinct, maybe we should consider "The XR-750 went on to win (the most races/more races than any other bike) in the history of American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing"instead of "The XR-750 went on to become the (winningest/most victorious/most successful) race bike in the history of American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing" if we are that concerned about the ambiguity of our content. I'm really in two minds, I love seeing a single term that replaces a long sentence in articles, it's what we should be striving for, and when I put the term in, of course I'm aware of what I'm trying to convey to the reader. However, this isn't literature and the beauty of the language should come second to making clear and factual articles. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 06:44, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
      • Maybe you should do that in articles you write and leave the choice of words to the editorial judgement of those who write the others. That's generally how it works at Wikipedia. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:20, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
        • If we were all assigned articles to write and guaranteed that no one else would touch them, I would be very happy to do that. But...we aren't, so I won't. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 14:52, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
          • WP:OWN has nothing to do with it—see WP:RETAIN et al. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:34, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
          • I've been searching for usage guides to find any mention of controversy or confusion over winningest. Garner's Modern American Usage has entries for all sorts of problematic words, like hopefully and its discontents. The American Heritage Book of English Usage and Common Errors in English Usage fail to make any mention of known problems with winningest. Similarly, no books of neologisms or slang list the word, among those I could find. And in fact, the burden is on you lot who claim the word is obnoxious, confusing, strange looking, or otherwise a source of problem in any Wikipedia article. As far as I can tell, a small subset of editors have a set of unfounded, incorrect beliefs about the English language and encyclopedic writing, and they are loudly agitating to make others conform to those beliefs. But they have cited zero evidence to support these idiosyncratic beliefs. How are we supposed to collaborate on articles with editors who refuse to be influenced by empirical evidence? The attitude that we have to bend to peeves about English contradicts the Consensus policy, which says "Consensus on Wikipedia does not mean unanimity (which, although an ideal result, is not always achievable); nor is it the result of a vote. Decision-making involves an effort to incorporate all editors' legitimate concerns". Discussions are closed after "discarding irrelevant arguments: those that flatly contradict established policy, those based on personal opinion only, those that are logically fallacious, those that show no understanding of the matter of issue." If you want your personal opinions to become relevant arguments, you need to cite something. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 17:42, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

An alternative view of that data, however, is that the usage is so obscure, slangish, and neologistic, that it doesn't appear in such works yet as problematic. That most dictionaries that mention it are American and mark it colloquial, and that it appears almost nowhere in print but American sports journalism, strongly bolsters the view that this is a regional, topical slang. WP:NEO and MOS:NEO doesn't put the burden of proof where you think they do.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  21:50, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

"Almost nowhere in print" except the trash like Encyclopædia Britannica, Grolier, Encyclopedia Americana, the Columbia Encyclopedia, Encyclopaedia Judaica. Yes. That's certainly obscure. Insisting that it's a neologism, or slang (or slangish? is slangish a word?) in spite of being carpetbombed with evidence that it's not, reminds me of Abraham Lincoln's "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:03, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Having entries in works that are lists of words and their meanings (works in which it usually appears as "informal", "colloquial" etc. – i.e. slang), and appearing very occasionally in works outside of a sporting context (how much would you like to bet it was inserted by people with a history of sports journalism in most cases?) doesn't prove your case, about in-context usage much of anywhere in print outside sports journalism. You don't need to prove it to me anyway, since I didn't oppose use of "winningest", in contextually sensible places, on WP. I'm simply responding to the bogus and backasswards burden-of-proof analysis given above. There is insufficient evidence this word is known and understood out of a particular context yet to deploy it all over the place here. PS: If you don't know whether slangish is a word, or how to find out, it's hard take seriously your assertions about spelling, style, or other language usage matters. WP:LMGTFY: "slangish" -wiktionary And you're also misquoting Lincoln .  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  22:24, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) There is insufficient evidence this word is known and understood out of a particular context yet to deploy it all over the place here.—there has been no proposal to have the word used "all over the place". The context is that a particular editor was removing the word en masse from American sports articles. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:40, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Well, several of the commenters in the thread devoted to that word make it clear that they think the term is perfectly fine, period. So, just because you personally are not advocating for its use outside of American sports articles doesn't mean that such broader use isn't contemplated by some of its proponents. The strenuous comments by Dennis Bratland below appear to be making precisely the case you say no one is making. But I had alleged no actual formal proposal to use the word broadly, I simply commented that such a broadening would not be appropriate, so you are attempting to rebut an argument I didn't actually make. (That's a pattern I recognize from our last major discussion.) Anyway, I agree it should not be removed en masse from everywhere. But I'm skeptical there'll be consensus to retain it outside American sport contexts.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

There won't be, because nobody's seriously trying, not because of any decision made here—so any talk of it outside its context is a waste of bytes (as is the bogus "losingest" thread below). Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 21:20, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

You make it sound like WP:NEO puts some burden on me I failed to meet. I provided copious dictionary sources that show winningest is not a neologism, it is well-defined. We have editors claiming a word is "confusing" without citing a single source that it is confusing. What if an editor said "cat" is confusing? Wouldn't you respond by showing, 1) cat is in many dictionaries 2) it's not marked as slang or jargon 3) It's printed in prestige media 4) it's printed in many encyclopedias, ergo, it's encyclopedic. I have more than met any conceivable burden of proof. What is backwards about asking those who assert that it's a problem to cite one thing saying it's a problem? They can't even cite one instance of talk page feedback form a reader saying they find word the hard to understand. There are many known skunked terms, or problematic words, in English, and many expert sources enumerate them, yet not one of them mentions winningest.

The Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries, among many others, have good discussions of "formal language". It means replacing think with cogitate or try with endeavour, making your writing "sound unintentionally funny, as some writers deliberately choose formal vocabulary to create a comic effect." Formal language -- using pompous, overly long words, is not the same as a formal tone, using serious, unambiguous, direct language, best known and best described as Plain English. Winningest is plain English, as are many other "colloquial" or "informal" words which may be used while still keeping a formal tone. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 22:39, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

To clarify, I mean that it's a neologism in the context of longer-term English language history, not a neologism unique to Wikipedia, or even to very short-term usage. We don't have a word like "ultraneologism" for really really new words. If editors (or other readers) here find the word confusing that is the source that's it's confusing! It's the best possible source for a usage being unacceptably confusing on WP. It's literally impossible for some third party source to tell us more authoritatively than our own judgement whether we ourselves are confused by something. If someone comes here and says they think the word "cat" is confusing, they'll be ignored, per WP:COMMONSENSE. No one would waste valuable editorial time digging up piles of sources by walking your four-point checklist, to prove the obvious about "cat", in an internal consensus discussion that has nothing to do with our content policies like WP:V anyway. Especially since such an absurd claim could only be made in either bad faith or failure of competence. We assume good faith, and I'm pretty sure we assume competence, absent evidence to the contrary. So if editors are having "What is this weird gibberish?" reactions when encountering "winningest" outside the context of American sports articles, we're obliged to take their concerns at face value at least initially. If it were just one editor being a unreasonable, we wouldn't have two huge threads open about this, with sharply divided opinions.

That said, I don't actually buy the argument that "winningest" is inappropriate in American sports articles, because in that context it's a familiar term of art, and if necessary we can add it to a glossary of sports journalism (or whatever) and make it linkable. I don't suggest there's any burden of proof (here; there would be in a mainspace article about the word) to demonstrate that the word exists or that it's occasionally used (almost exclusively by Americans) outside a sporting context. The question is whether it is appropriate to use it outside the context in which it's conventional and frequent, and that's a hash-it-out-here judgement call, not a source citation matter. Anyway, I also agree that such a question is not something MoS needs to address on a word-by-word basis, though we maybe should in a abstract way. As an example, I know what "chuffed" and "gobsmacking" mean in British English, and I can find American-published sources that use them (generally in the same tongue-in-cheek way that non-sports contexts use "winningest", BTW), but I think most professional writers and editors would tell me it's a bad idea to insert informal Briticisms into something I was writing for an American (or a general, global) audience. Reader contexts matter. If I were writing about having had a hot date, I wouldn't wax anti-poetic about "I perceived an increase in cardiopulmonary oxygen diffusion and an elevated adrenalin level", like a medical report, I'd say "it was exciting". Heh. We don't cite sources to come to such conclusions. (I agree it may be of value to cite them for usage patterns, but that effort is wasted if its just done to win an MOS talk page argument instead of improve the article on the word.) I can't agree with the hairsplitting over "formal language"; the phrase has multiple meanings, and I didn't cite either of the works you did for their particular in-context meaning, which doesn't seem to relate to this context.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

I think we mostly agree, but there are principles we need to focus on. Have you examined the evidence that this word has been used in a consistent way since 1920-1930? It had a different sense from 1647-1900 or so. MOS:NEO says we should avoid neologisms because the meaning keeps changing, but that is not the case here: winningest is used consistently, from the NYT to Britannica to the BBC. It also says neologisms are a problem because "they do not appear in general-interest dictionaries". Yet we have shown that winningest does appear in all the general-interest dictionaries, and they all give the same consistent definition.

We have also given multiple expert sources that this word is an Americanism, which is why I've argued from the beginning that the word is should be left on US-lined articles per WP:TIES. So again, the real problem here is not how we handle this one word. The problem is that we need principles -- verifiability, reliable sources -- to answer these questions. "Common sense" is nice, but it's also a lot of hand waving, and it's a fig leaf for "I just don't like it". We don't have to do it that way: we have models and experts who can tell us what encyclopedic, plain English, formal tone writing is and isn't. No need to guess, nor to vote. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:04, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Not challenging that the word exists, has a meaning, and has been around a while. The issue is that it's regional, and it's topical jargon, and is raising objections. The existence of a word does not require that we use it. (But the existence of objections to its use doesn't mean we need a rule against it; this is the sort of thing editors has out in consensus discussions at article, considering the context.) Not using the word doesn't seem to matter, since there are other ways to say the same thing.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  12:08, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

That's all rather subjective. I'm sure there are also people who consider following basic grammar conventions to be pompous and amusing, due to them being really damn stupid. Perhaps we can leave the really basic terms to Simple English Wikipedia. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 14:23, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Once again, calling editors you disagree with "stupid" only underscores your failure to find any supporting evidence. Can you enlighten everyone as to what you think "basic grammar conventions" are? If they're so basic, so conventional, then it ought to be easy for you to cite evidence that these grammar conventions are accepted by recognized authorities. Can you explain why prestigious media, and prestigious encyclopedias don't follow what you claim are "basic grammar conventions"? How are we supposed to know what "encyclopedic" means if not by following the example of the best encyclopedias? I fully agree that we should follow the consensus of grammar and style guides, like Fowler's, Garner's, the advice at prestigious dictionaries . The question is, why don't you follow basic grammar conventions? Your arguments are all personal peeves, not based on recognized conventions at all. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:17, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

And I have to swing back to concurring with Dennis on this one.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

I've had a bit to think about it and while I stand by what I said about making rules easier to find, we'd be elevating something from what's officially categorized as an essay to what's officially categorized as a guideline, giving it a promotion. I think a formally publicized discussion, whether it's officially an RfC or not, would be appropriate. If possible, we should resolve the "winningest" issue first. Darkfrog24 (talk) 17:57, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes. Another alternative would be to discuss the gist of it and just formulate new wording. I agree it should be an RfC or something though, since the change would be quite non-trivial.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Dennis, calm down. "once again...bleh." Take a look at what I read, please. At what point did I say that editors were stupid? At what point did I say that there were any issues with grammar conventions on Wikipedia? (*hint* I didn't & I didn't) I get the feeling that you feel quite strongly about this whole issue, but try to show just a little bit of good faith & stop trying to make 2+2=5. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 06:22, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I have to admit I am a little baffled by all this discussion. On a word according to America's best-selling dictionary Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary eleventh edition an encyclopedia Britannica company page 1436 has only been around since 1972. Other sources also confirm early 70's. And if this discussion confirms nothing else it does confirm how controversial this word is. By contrast the very definition in some dictionary's winningest as More successful or winning as victory or superiority in a contest or competition; victorious. And victorious has been around since 14c used all around the world. But surly even if not this word we could come up with something better than winningest. A 44 year old informal American only word that looks as if it could be a misspelling or a made up word to convey the information to the world. 72bikers (talk) 06:28, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

"Looks like a misspelling", probably even to most Americans who are not followers of team sports, is probably the most likely reaction, after "not a fake word, but slangish". The fact that editors (probably even readers who've never edited before) are apt to "fix" it then find themselves in a squabble, is probably the most compelling reason to not use it outside the US sport context.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Posting the same thing 100 times doesn't change the verifiable facts.

Once again, can anyone answer the questions that we have been asking: what is the basis of "encyclopedic"? Where do we learn of your "basic grammar conventions", when you seem to reject every authoritative source that is cited for you? If we can't emulate Featured Articles, and we can't follow Britannica and other encyclopedias, and if the New York Times is a "tabloid", what's left? One editor after another has asked these fundamental questions, and yet you give no reply but hand waving and red herrings. Is "encyclopedic" just whatever you say it is? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 06:35, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

For WP purposes "What is likely to cause pointless disputes?" is probably the most important question, but it's still not sufficient justification for trying to have MoS ban a particular word on unfamiliarity grounds. As I said way earlier, even MOS:WTW wouldn't include this word. It's not controversial enough in reality, however much noise these two threads make this week. Just a judgement call: Why include a word that others are liable to mistake for a type and "fix", when there are a number of alternatives that don't present this issue? I agree that if we're going to contemplate adding something to MoS proper to address encyclopedic tone/wording/language whatever phrase you like, we'd have to define it really well, and this thread clearly isn't going to do that.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Just in case you did not know. In 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia, a collaboratively edited, multilingual, open-source, free Internet encyclopedia supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. As of 20 January 2016, there are 5,059,920 articles in the English Wikipedia. There are 287 different editions of Wikipedia. As of February 2014, it had 18 billion page views and nearly 500 million unique visitors each month. Wikipedia has more than 25 million accounts, out of which there were over 118,000 active editors globally, as of August 2015. Wikipedia's accuracy was found by a Nature study to be close to that of Encyclopædia Britannica, with Wikipedia being much larger. However, critics argue Wikipedia exhibits systemic bias, and its group dynamics hinder its goals. Many academics, historians, teachers, and journalists reject Wikipedia as a reliable source of information, primarily for being a mixture of truths, half truths, and some falsehoods, and that as a resource about many controversial topics, is notoriously subject to manipulation and spin. And also just to put your troubled mind at ease because of such a lengthy controversial discussion I posted in a wrong spot. But because of your instant comment after I did not delete the first post 72bikers (talk) 06:54, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

And yet again, we have another lengthy (two weeks and counting) debate, on multiple talk pages, over the use of a single word. If the removal of winningest was actually important and detracted hugely from the quality of the article, I could understand. But, it doesn't. This is a perfect example of how good editors get dragged into stupid debates, because one single editor takes offence to people changing their article. This is so constructive, I imagine the readers will really appreciate the time and effort spent in order to explain why winningest is a great word. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 07:40, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Parkinson's law of triviality.  :-/ One of my personal goals over the next year hear, to the extent I spend much time in MoS pages, is to discourage, and inspire others to discourage, continued "bicycle shed" pet-peeving here, enough to make a notable difference. Way too many discussions here are clearly WP:LAME.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

That's quite the spin, given the exhausting Herculean effort put into purging Wikipedia of an unproblematic word. Why are you wasting our time with these shenanigans? And what word will you attack next? Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 08:11, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm far too lazy to a Herculean effort into anything. I prefer to discuss things on talk pages and reach consensus that way, it seems a far more economical use of my limited motivation. I have no idea which word to "attack" next, any suggestions? Spacecowboy420 (talk) 08:24, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Yeah: none. Then we can get back to contributing content instead of wasting time on non-issues. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 11:26, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

The great thing is, you both agree this is a trivial, time-wasting non-issue. Common ground is a good thing to find. I think I'm going to go to WP:ANRFC and seek the shut-down of these threads as no-consensus.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  20:51, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
Scratch that; ANRFC has a huge backlog. This will just die a natural death by archival before anyone from there ever got around to it.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:35, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

If discussions leads to improvements in an area that would benefit, then great. This is not one of those cases. It's a difficult situation, a stubborn editor can create a million reports, until all other parties lose interest and then they claim consensus. Maybe we need more evil and arrogant admins, who can just step in and say "it's gonna be done this way. now shut up", rather than constant debate, repeating the same crap a million times. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 13:16, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

The only use of "winningest" I have seen is in a deliberate attempt to be informal (and possibly have simpler sentence construction), at the expense of formality and (sometimes) clarity. Yes, Britannica does sometimes attempt informality and apparent clarity at the expense of actual clarity. Should we do that in Wikipedia? I don't know. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 21:08, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

So in other words, you didn't look at any of the evidence presented (including the Britannica). Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 23:05, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

That's quite an inventive insight into the minds of Britannica, Americana, Columbia, Grolier, the Times, Fowler's, Garner's, et. al, which explains away so many inconvenient facts. But is the MOS still of any use to editors who are not able to divine the secret thoughts of our encyclopedic sources? Unless these article are marked with a strategic "JK" or winky emoticon ;) is there any hope for the rest of us to find common ground? How are we to know when usage advice is meant in earnest, and when reliable sources are putting us on?

Alternatively, what if we did take our most encyclopedic, most reliable, most prestigious sources at face value? When we find they're virtually unanimous, as with winningest, that should be taken as an opportunity to read clear guidance in our style guides and role models. Let's not second guess our best sources unless circumstances absolutely force us to do so. There are controversial word choice and grammar questions, but this is not one of them. By respecting the plain meaning of our verifiable sources, and assuming no occult motives in Britannica or elsewhere, we can expect that any group of good faith editors, not just this particular group with its unique mix of attitudes and peeves and personal opinions, would reach the same conclusions we do, given the same empirical evidence. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 01:35, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Suggestion: I suggest that people accept and move on that there is probably no consensus in this specific thread, and it's TL;DR for any likely newcomer to get involved. I invite those interested to circle back to #Summarizing issues raised. Once finalized, they can be used as a checklist to compare winningest and its alternatives.—Bagumba (talk) 21:20, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I agree that someone could determine in good faith that this discussion hasn't arrived at a consensus and on that basis I would be happy to drop the issue and move along. However, I worry that the editors who expended so much energy removing this word from articles and refusing to stop even while this discussion was being opened will not accept this and allow us to revert those articles back to the status quo. ElKevbo (talk) 23:27, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

If this closes with "no consensus", the closer should be explicit that the anti-"winningest" crowd cannot continue to purge the word, especially as User:Reyk has explicitly refused to stop. Curly Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 00:47, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

This is the WP:TONE thread, which is not specifically the winningest thread at #"winningest" in sports articles. At any rate, the policy on WP:NOCONSENSUS says: "In discussions of proposals to add, modify or remove material in articles, a lack of consensus commonly results in retaining the version of the article as it was prior to the proposal or bold edit."—Bagumba (talk) 10:19, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Most of the articles have reverted to the stable versions before this began. The exception being Harley-Davidson XR-750. There's some noobs there who are playing dumb when it comes to the plain meaning of policy. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 18:17, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Dennis, please don't get angry and resort to personal attacks. Spacecowboy420 (talk) 11:38, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Under construction essay

See Wikipedia:Winningest. --Francis Schonken (talk) 11:50, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you. A good, neutral POV, statement of facts will help us all. --Pete (talk) 18:05, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, that sure is NPOV. And "facts"! So many facts! You've cited Wikipedia for proof that the word is "made up". Ignoring 20 different newspapers and wire services spanning decades, a half dozen usage guides, some 30-40 examples from major encyclopedias, and citations of the word in use dating back to the 1920s in the current usage, and to 1647 (!) for the earlier sense of the word. You don't even cite the one (1) single reliable source that I generously shared with you that actually supports your opinion. I would suggest adding some actual facts to the essay. Explain why so many encyclopedias use the word, and so many Featured Articles and Good Articles. Explain why you cannot cite one single reliable source saying this word is controversial -- unlike actual controversial words, like hopefully, or table, or the debates over gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns. Those are real controversies, verifiable with expert sources, while this is a made-up controversy based wholly on Wikipedia editor opinions. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Closure discussion above

Please see #Can we wrap this up?, above, for a proposed consensus finding on both of the "winningest"-related threads.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  08:12, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

As the proposer here, I don't believe that that applies to this question, which is not about any particular word. Jeh (talk) 06:07, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

I don't believe this one is as controversial, and hopefully we can agree that there is no consensus at this time.—Bagumba (talk) 06:13, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

@Jeh: Right. The whole point is that this more general discussion became overrun with and derailed by argument about "winningest"; the proposed close on that issue addresses that, and suggests that this broader question be reopened cleanly, with a clearer focus.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  02:29, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

When I created the poll about "formal tone" () I created it as a Level 2 section, i.e. independent of any other discussion, and in particular independent of the "winningest" discussion. That was my intent. Immediately someone complained I was "begging the question" about "winningest", assuming that it was an informal usage. Why, when, or who moved it to an L3 underneath "winningest" I don't know, but that wasn't my intention at all. Jeh (talk) 18:58, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I support a clear separation between the perfectly sensible discussion about the proposal for a formal tone from the bizarre one about a bizarre word. Dondervogel 2 (talk) 19:27, 15 February 2016 (UTC)