Template talk:ambitransitive

The following information has failed Wiktionary's deletion process.

It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.

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This term is not widely used and makes Wiktionary seem to be directed at other than normal folks. See “ambitransitive”, in OneLook Dictionary Search..

I suppose we could keep the template and change what it displayed. DCDuring TALK 22:07, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Or, we could assume our users aren't total idiots and will think to click on the word to get to its definition if they don't know what it means. —Angr 22:27, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

You'd be amazed how many editors reject the "assume our users aren't total idiots" idea. Mglovesfun (talk) 23:17, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

I think we should sincerely not treat folks who happen on our site, but aren't particularly good computer users, as unworthy of the extra effort it would take us to make Wiktionary work for them.

I assume that our users are in the top 20% or so of all humanity in terms of computer usage capability. What would be a better assumption?

I think it is a truly bad idea to design our entries with the assumption that users will be willing to click through to get an explanation. We have plenty of instances where users ask questions or make complaints that suggest they have some trouble clicking through or don't think they should have to.

Would it be so hard for us to say "may take two objects" or something more elegantly worded that used words that almost all users would understand? Often enough we talk about how we are trying to make things simple for the user. Here we have what seems like an open-and-shut case in which we are choosing to use a word that:

1. no other online dictionary seems to find common enough to include;
2. does not appear in COCA or BNC;
3. appears in no work outside the field of linguistics.

This is one of those things that makes me wonder whether we are qualified to attempt to make a resource for anyone other than ourselves. DCDuring TALK 00:21, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

I agree that we should not design Wiktionary for people who don't know how to click. On the other hand, {{ambitransitive}} is much more confusing than {{transitive|or|intransitive}}. --WikiTiki89 00:46, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Keep as a shortcut, but change the display to "transitive, intransitive" or "transitive or intransitive", i.e. delete the current state of the template. Whether you assume readers are brilliant or ignorant, "ambitransitive" is unnecessarily arcane and few other dictionaries even contain the term, let alone use it. Hopefully someone will link to the prior discussions. - -sche (discuss) 01:28, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

The display was changed in these edits. That resolves this as far as I'm concerned. - -sche (discuss) 19:44, 3 February 2013 (UTC)