Wikipedia subpages pros and cons

This page is the place to list facts and unbiased arguments about subpages at wikipedia.

Pro subpages

• Can be used to divide an otherwise long article into sections
• Can be used to facilitate linking to individual sections
• Can be used to store small amounts of data that could be useful but would clutter the main page
• Can be used to store large amounts of data that could be useful but would clutter the main page
• Can be used to create small sub-articles that would look pityful on the top level but make sense within the main topic
• Known and used in the wikipedia community, removing subpages might cause confusion
• Can be used to create automatic links from the child to the parent and from a parent to the list of children; these links, appearing in a linkbar or other special place on a page, stand out and provide a useful, yet non-obtrusive, reminder to the reader of what "main" connections of the current page, in some useful sense of the word.
• Can be used to create standartised mini-schemes facilitating organised treatment of the same kind of relationship; for a trivial but by no means exhaustive example, consider "X/Childhood?" in a biographical article versus competing schemes "Childhood of X" and "X's Childhood" creating confusion and unnecessary complication.

Contra subpages

• Arbitrary decisions on where to create subpages / No rules on where and when to create subpages
• Two hierarchy levels are not good, either only a top layer or unlimited levels
• Can be visually unpleasant
• The switch to the PHP wiki might be the last chance to eliminate subpages
• Having a "magical" character in the title is unpleasant