Talk:SMS

Requested move 23 March 2017

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: Moved — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:21, 7 April 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

Short Message Service → SMS – per WP:COMMONNAME. This was suggested in the previous just-closed RM with no objection. There was a prior RM in 2009 that moved the article to "SMS", and I'm not sure how it got moved back to where it is. As with DVD and CD, this topic is primarily encountered in its abbreviated form, and (although there are other topics identified at SMS (disambiguation)) this topic appears to be the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for "SMS". SMS has redirected here for 5 years and was the title of the article before that. —BarrelProof (talk) 01:22, 23 March 2017 (UTC) --Relisting. TonyBallioni (talk) 05:18, 31 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Support. As far as I can tell, this article doesn't even really use "Short Message Service" outside of the lead. Appears to be the common name and primary topic. Nohomersryan (talk) 02:14, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]
• Oppose I would agree with both posters above. However I believe that WP policy then overrules all three of us, and not without reason. SMS is an acronym for Short Message Service. It is the function of the article title to be canonical, and thus the full form is what's needed here. SMS is, of course, already a redirect. Andy Dingley (talk) 03:05, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Wikipedia policy does not prefer spelling out abbreviations when the abbreviation is the more WP:COMMONNAME and the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. Please see WP:ACRONYMTITLE. —BarrelProof (talk) 16:12, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• But how often are they called "SMS"? If they're used in the "populist short form", that would be "text". Andy Dingley (talk) 16:21, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• That has been discussed before, and there is a different article at text messaging. SMS is not really synonymous with text messaging. Even on mobile phones, without using something like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Viber, the text messaging often does not use SMS. For example, they may often use MMS, and as the article on that topic says, "MMS messages are delivered in a different way from SMS." As long as it is better known as "SMS" than by its current title, I think the move is appropriate. —BarrelProof (talk) 16:28, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• So the article on "texting" should be called "SMS", because SMS often isn't used?? Andy Dingley (talk) 17:39, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• No, I never suggested that the article at "texting" (which is a redirect to text messaging) should be moved to "SMS". That doesn't seem like it would be a good idea. —BarrelProof (talk) 18:48, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• WP:ACRONYMTITLE says "In general, if readers somewhat familiar with the subject are likely to only recognise the name by its acronym, then the acronym should be used as a title." I think that is the case here. Most people who are familiar with using SMS on their mobile phones probably don't know (or don't remember) the unabbreviated form of the term. Quick, without looking somewhere else, is it "Short Message System", "Short Messaging System", "Short Message Service", or "Short Messaging Service"? —BarrelProof (talk) 16:28, 23 March 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

• Support move. SMS is the common name for the service. ONR (talk) 08:34, 31 March 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 or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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