Talk:Bruce Matthews

WikiProject class rating

Matthews listed on NFL Top 100

Requested move 8 October 2016

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: No consensus to move. (non-admin closure) © Tbhotch ^TM (en-2.5). 04:56, 25 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

• Bruce Matthews (American football) → Bruce Matthews
• Bruce Matthews → Bruce Matthews (disambiguation)

– Only 2 pages on dab page, and page views for the football player overwhelmingly outnumber the views for the Canadian officer, 361–8 over the past year. Lizard (talk) 17:26, 8 October 2016 (UTC) --Relisting. GeoffreyT2000 (talk, contribs) 18:29, 15 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

• Question does one have substantially greater enduring notability and educational value than any other topic associated with that term? Bruce Matthews (general) seems to be pretty important in the liberation of Groningen, and isn't President of the Canadian Liberal Party kind of significant too? In ictu oculi (talk) 18:54, 8 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

There is no single criterion for defining a primary topic. However, there are two major aspects that are commonly discussed in connection with primary topics:

• A topic is primary for a term, with respect to usage, if it is highly likely—much more likely than any other topic, and more likely than all the other topics combined—to be the topic sought when a reader searches for that term.
• A topic is primary for a term, with respect to long-term significance, if it has substantially greater enduring notability and educational value than any other topic associated with that term.

In many cases, the topic that is primary with respect to usage is also primary with respect to long-term significance. In many other cases, only one sense of primacy is relevant. In a few cases, there is some conflict between a topic of primary usage (Apple Inc.) and one of primary long-term significance (Apple). In such a case, consensus determines which article, if any, is the primary topic.

It seems to me, based on the page views, that the first criteria is easily met; readers are much more likely to be searching for the football player than for anyone else combined. As for long-term significance, he is a prominent member of the Matthews family, which continues to produce players in the NFL, North America's highest level of competition of the US's most popular sport. He's also generally considered one of the greatest players at his position of all time.[1] [2] [3] Lizard (talk) 19:21, 8 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

• Oppose. No clear primary topic here. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:50, 11 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]
• Support. 97% of pageviews for the football player make him the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. Long-term significance for both appear to be similar. Nohomersryan (talk) 17:29, 11 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]
• Support. Meets both definitions of primary topic by any reasonable measure. Calidum ¤ 04:46, 16 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]
• Oppose They both appear to be equal candidates for the non-dab page so we should stick to the status quo. MilborneOne (talk) 17:38, 18 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]
• Oppose for reasons above plus I note that there are now three articles on the DAB page so the move arguments all need revisiting anyway. Andrewa (talk) 02:47, 24 October 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Requested move 1 December 2017

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Not moved. A clear absence of consensus after extended discussion. bd2412 T 18:17, 19 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Bruce Matthews (American football) → Bruce Matthews
• Bruce Matthews → Bruce Matthews (disambiguation)

– The discussion a year ago ended in no consensus, so trying again. There are only two articles on the DAB page (this one and Bruce Matthews (general)) and per page views this one is clearly the primary topic. Over the past year, the page for the football player averaged 524 views per day, while the page for the general averaged 3 views per day. This overwhelming difference in page views should nullify any argument based on the general having a greater long-term significance, which itself is debatable. Lizard (talk) 04:08, 1 December 2017 (UTC) --Relisting. Jenks24 (talk) 07:30, 8 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Oppose same as last time, a retired football player will always win one part of the PRIMARY criteria (page views), the general wins the other. The 3rd and 4th Bruce Matthews are only mentions, but the dab page is still needed. In ictu oculi (talk) 12:13, 1 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

Besides which, what harm is (American football) doing on the title of a retired footballer? In ictu oculi (talk) 12:14, 1 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

Because when people search or link Bruce Matthews they expect to find an article on a football player, which is evident by the page views. Lizard (talk) 15:07, 1 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

Exactly. If they mislink to the dab page the dab bot will immediately pick it up. If they search for a football player (American football) will tell them they have got it. What's the problem? In ictu oculi (talk) 16:27, 1 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Support. Clear primarytopic by pageviews, and likely to have long-term significance as well (having retired some time ago and still dominating pageviews). Dohn joe (talk) 18:20, 1 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]
• Support per page views and WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. CookieMonster755 Α-Ω 00:31, 2 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]
• Relisting as a multi-move. Jenks24 (talk) 07:30, 8 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]
• Oppose. No PrimaryTopic. A minor sportsperson who will never be the PrimaryTopic internationally and historically. Ghits are hopelessly biased. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 05:18, 18 December 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Requested move 14 July 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Looking through the supports and opposes, I find that the supports have the upper hand in this discussion. While the opposers cite long-term significance as their main argument, I believe the supporters sufficiently rebuked that with both Pageviews and Google. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 17:02, 3 August 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• Bruce Matthews (American football) → Bruce Matthews
• Bruce Matthews → Bruce Matthews (disambiguation)

– As Bruce Matthews was a legendary player, his page is definitely visited more often than the Canadian officer which is not surprising considering he was a 1st round draft pick, played for 19 seasons, made 14 Pro Bowls, became an All-Pro nine times, and even was a coach for five years. He is even a Pro Football Hall of Famer, so I don't see why this wouldn't be the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC as the DAB page only has three pages anyway. NotJamestack (talk) 03:36, 14 July 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. Turtletennisfogwheat (talk) 06:36, 21 July 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath ^talk 09:27, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• Weak oppose per long-term significance.--Ortizesp (talk) 13:59, 14 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Relisting comment: Not enough comments to form consensus. Turtletennisfogwheat (talk) 06:36, 21 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

(削除) Comment. If someone could close this as no consensus, please do so. NotJamestack (talk) 12:13, 22 July 2025 (UTC) (削除ここまで)[reply ]

I take that back. NotJamestack (talk) 03:44, 30 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• Oppose. No primary topic by long-term significance. -- Necrothesp (talk) 06:50, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Note: WikiProject Biography/Sports and games, WikiProject Texas, WikiProject National Football League, and WikiProject College football have been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath ^talk 09:26, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

@NotJamestack Support per nomination. Assadzadeh (talk) 13:07, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

• Support. The football player is the clear WP:PRIMARYTOPIC as evidenced by Pageview analysis which shows the football player averaging 250 views per day over the past year and the army officer having 8. Further, the first few pages on a Google search of "Bruce Matthews" are almost exclusively about the football player. Frank Anchor 13:44, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
• Support the "long-term significance" argument does not make much sense to me. This is a distinguished WWII vet, but (and not belittling contributions or achievements), those are kind of a dime a dozen. Millions of people fought in WWII, while comparably just thousands have played in the NFL, and just hundreds have had such a distinguished career, and even fewer have achieved what the football player has. In my opinion, the "long-term significance" comes into play if a new person becomes notable who has the same name as someone with "long-term significance". An example would be if a someone named "Abraham Lincoln" became a huge pop star, its likely that they will always remain disambiguated with Abraham Lincoln (singer) due to the long-term significance of the former president of the US. This is nowhere near the case, and this borders on what should have been a non-controversial move. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 14:24, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
• Support, clear primary topic per above. BeanieFan11 (talk) 14:56, 28 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Move discussion in progress