Talk:Ryukyu

Alternative Forms Meaning

Hey @Fish bowl, I am enjoying the work you are doing and I wanted to comment on what's going on with this page. I wanted to let you know that (most importantly) I will not ever be reverting what has happened with the L-words here as a proactive matter of avoiding edit warring and having a friendly environment, regardless of what happens.
The theoretical question of what constitutes an alternative form versus a synonym seems straight-forward at first, but these L-words are definitely in the theoretical gray zone for me. After my work on here over the years, I have come to a "tighter" view of what constitutes an alternative form than what you are proposing here, hence although these L-words are in the gray zone, I would go with the 'synonyms' view. Look at the division between alternative forms and synonyms on this page: 1950s. Somewhat tight! However, your view may be more correct or intuitive. I don't know. I don't think there are any rules or guidelines for Wiktionary that clarify this issue. In case you haven't seen it, here are two draft policy proposals related to this issue Wiktionary:Forms and spellings and Wiktionary:Obsolete and archaic terms. If you have any insights that may help me understand the dividing line between alt forms and synonyms, let me know. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 16:18, 24 February 2022 (UTC) (modified)