Biography: Politics and Government Stub‑class

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles Stub This article has been rated as Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. This article is supported by the politics and government work group.

Silvius Magnago was Austrian-Italian, as Meran was part of Austria at the time of his birth. 14.200.158.57 (talk) 14:07, 9 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tha article states at the moment: Magnago was born in Meran. Various IPs try to change that into Merano. I find that inapposite for the following reasons:

• When Magnago was born, Meran was still part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. At those times, Meran had only one single official name, and that was Meran. Merano was only introduced with the Regio decreto nr. 800 in 1923. Therefore, writing Merano in an 1914-context is an anachronism. Immanuel Kant's birthplace was Königsberg, Umberto D'Ancona's was Fiume, and so on: It seems to be good Wikipedia practice to avoid anachronisms.
• Both Meran and Merano are used in English language. Per WP:NOTBROKEN there is no need for exchanging one name with another.
• An IP also stated as an additional justification that Bolzano and Merano populations are made mainly of native Italian speakers... That is simply wrong and shows that the user behind the IPs has little or no knowledge about the subject. In fact, Merano has a German speaking majority. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 11:51, 28 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I quote from Talk:Merano:

• "Wikipedia naming convention states to use the most common name in English which is in fact Merano"
• "Bozen and Meran are most commonly called Bolzano and Merano in modern English, so we use those"
• "What the English speakers do is of course more relevant for the English language Wikipedia, so Merano is the correct solution"

I quote from Talk:Bolzano:

• "Bolzano is the Italian name, Bozen is the German name, Bolzano is the English name; English wikipedia => English name"
• "While I am more than happy to call the city Bozen myself, for the English Wikipedia Bolzano is the proper name based on common usage and naming conventions"
• "All English language encyclopedia's will refer to Bolzano and all other cities that were formerly German by the name the country they are now part of calls them"

There isn't a single line where it was established that Merano/Bolzano must be called Meran/Bozen before 1923. It's just your personal, subjective opinion. If you think your opinion is correct, then create a new topic in Talk:Merano and Talk:Bolzano asking to change the consensus. If you succeed in persuading admins that the consensus needs to be changed, then you're free to edit these articles in that way, but now you're just going against consensus.
In order to reply what you wrote here:

• At those times, Meran had only one single official name, and that was Meran. Merano was only introduced with the Regio decreto nr. 800 in 1923 are you serious? You instst with this argument, and I keep answering: Italy was officially created in 1981, before it's always been just a clusted of statelets, some of them dominated by Austrians, French, Spanish, etc.... Are you saying that, wherever there's an Italian town name in an article about a previous period than 1981, we should use the name used in that period (Latin, ancient Italian, local dialect, foreign conqueror's language...)? Again: are you serious? Or just incoherent because this is all right just for Merano and Bolzano, or even just for those 2 articles? Please...
• Both Meran and Merano are used in English language > "Wikipedia naming convention states to use the most common name in English which is in fact Merano" + "Bozen and Meran are most commonly called Bolzano and Merano in modern English, so we use those" = "What the English speakers do is of course more relevant for the English language Wikipedia, so Merano is the correct solution"
• there is no need for exchanging one name with another so why do you keep exchanging ona name with another?

And about your last point: you're right. In Merano Italian speakers are "just" 49,26%, while the "German speaking majority" (sic!) is even 50,27! Crushing. Really. Well, until 1961 Italian speakers were 58,6%... Why don't we change all these town names in the encyclopedia renaming them all "Merano" from 1923 and 1961 and "Meran" before 1923 and after 1961? Not silly at all, not at all... Well, the consensus is Merano, not Meran, even if there's 1,01% of German speakers more than Italian speakers. Period. Again, and I hope for the last time: you're free to go on the talk page and ask for a change. Just a piece of news: the last one who asked for that change, the IP 131.159.0.47 from "Monaco di Baviera" (^^), is still waiting for someone to become aware of his topic after 1 year. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.20.2.95 (talk) 19:33, 28 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

One more word, my Italian friend, and I'll erase every single Fiume I'll find on en.wikipedia ;-) No, sorry, just kidding, I won't, I'm not like you.

Regarding the stuff from the talk pages: Sorry, not interested. You say There isn't a single line where it was established that Merano/Bolzano must be called Meran/Bozen before 1923. I answer: There isn't a single line where it was established that Merano/Bolzano must be called Merano/Bolzano before 1923. In fact, nobody says anywhere anything about that question. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Yes, I'm serious. And I can easily show you dozens of cases, where Wikipedia avoids anachronistic usage. Immanuel Kant's was born in Königsberg, Umberto D'Ancona's was born in Fiume, Constantine XI Palaiologos was born in Constantinople, etc. etc. Are you going to change all these articles, too?

so why do you keep exchanging ona name with another? I'm simply reverting your totally useless contributions. The article Silvius Magnago needs expansion, high quality sources, users with knowledge and linguistic skills. The article certainly doesn't need nationalistic cleansing, just because you don't want to be bothered by the name Meran. There is even a special policy, that strongly encourages users not to annoy authors with useless changes. It's called WP:NOTBROKEN. Mettiti il cuore in pace, there is nothing wrong with using Meran.

About your last point: That is not comparable. The town has two names since World War II, so both of them could be used for that period. Before 1923 it had just one name. That doesn't mean, that Merano could not be used anywhere in pre-1923-contexts (maybe there are cases, where it is justified), but there is certainly no reason to erase the German name everwhere. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 20:06, 28 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but that's not, how it works. Dear user behind the IPs, why don't you stop with your stubborn behaviour? First you changed the sentence with Magnago's birthplace into:

• Magnago was born in Merano, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and named Meran. Sorry, but that implicates to the readers that the town was named Meran only under Austrian rule. That is factually wrong. Meran was the town's official name in 1914 as it is still today. Then you chose the following version:
• Magnago was born in Meran (today Merano)... Again, this implicates to the readers, that the town isn't called Meran anymore. And, again, that is factually wrong.

Come on, what is going on here? What's all this fuss about? Wouldn't you prefer to spend your time for more useful activities? --Mai-Sachme (talk) 19:58, 29 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]