Forum:Article titles should be singular wherever possible

(Copy/Pasted from an admin's talk page, where I first typed this)

Because plurals very often involve adding letters to the end of the singular word, links can be shorter than they are, bringing the page size down slightly. Furthermore, we can avoid linking to redirects without making articles longer (thus making them easier/faster to load).

For example, take "Vessels". If I want to link the singular word, I'll either have to link to the redirect or do this: vessel (turns into vessel). On the other hand, if the article were called "Vessel" and I wanted to link the plural word, I could still link to a redirect, or I could do this: vessels (turns into vessels), which is shorter than when the situation is reversed and avoids linking to a redirect.

When the plural requires that letters from the singular form be changed, as is the case with Werewolf/Werewolves, a redirect is impossible to avoid, but all that means is that linking to those articles will remain the same, while the rest are improved.

Furthermore, because singular forms are shorter than plural forms, linking any word will also be shorter by default.

TL;DR: Having article titles in singular form will shorten pages and cut down on the usage of redirects.

Orion ( T - B -C) 23:08, January 19, 2020 (UTC)