Remove redirect template for infraspecies

There is an “About” tab for each taxon that usually links to a Wikipedia page; if the latter does not exist sometimes it links to EOL etc. but if all fails a template a provided to create a Wikipedia page, e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/973358-Pocillopora-acuta

However, the vast majority of subspecies/varieties do not have a Wikipedia page, in those cases a template comes up to create a redirect to the species page, e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210117-Tringa-semipalmata-semipalmata

I think these redirect templates are not useful; the average reader does not know what to do with it and has no clue that a Wikipedia page for the species exists. The redirect on the Wikipedia side is useless and only serves to satisfy that “About” tab on iNat: if anyone searches for Tringa semipalmata ssp. semipalmata outside of iNat, most search engines would find the Wikipedia Tringa_semipalmata page, no redirect needed.

So I suggest instead of a redirect template, simply link to the species page, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tringa_semipalmata for Tringa semipalmata ssp. semipalmata and Tringa semipalmata ssp. inornata.

I agree with Peter here. While a few such articles may exist for large mammals or cultivated plants (eg. giraffes and beetroot), the overwhelming majority (>99.9%) of subspecies or varieties do not have their own articles on (English) Wikipedia. Any useful information on Wikipedia is therefore almost certain to not be present at the subspecies level.

But here’s the main reason: Wikipedia (usually) doesn’t want a subspecies level “stub” article to be created! While Wikipedia has deemed that articles of all organisms at the species level or higher meet a minimum “notability” requirement to justify creating a new stub article, the same is not necessarily true for those below species level. Instead, the creation of new articles at the subspecies level is discouraged on (English) Wikipedia, with the preferred location for information about subspecies to be included at the species level article. Only subspecies that already have sufficient existing information on their species level article to be more than a simple stub are considered for potential stand-alone subspecies level articles. Further, any existing subspecies articles that are short stubs with no prospect of any additional information unique to the subspecies being added to it are usually deleted with the remaining information being merged back to the species level article.

Therefore, a link to the species (or higher) level is the best for which to serve both iNat users and Wikipedia readers.

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