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 |{{{1|The law of hats}}}|By [[User:Widefox|Widefox]]
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:''This essay was originally created by {{U|Widefox}} as [[Wikipedia:Law of hats]].''

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==Laws of hats==
* '''0th law''': Every article evolves until it gains a hatnote.<ref group=note>Put another way: "[[survival of the fittest|Survival of the hattest]]."</ref><ref group=note>"Articles which cannot so expand are merged into ones which can." or ''Hatnote extinction''</ref><ref>'''Magioladitis' law''' March 9, 2012 Hypothesis: "Due to expansion of Wikipedia all pages will end up having a hatnote to a dab page. At least all pages without parentheses in their title." [[User:Magioladitis]]</ref><ref>Similar to [[Zawinski's law of software envelopment]] "Every program attempts to expand until it can read [[E-mail|mail]]. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can."</ref>
* '''1st law''': Disambiguation scales <math>O(n^2)</math> with articles.<ref group=note>[[Big O notation|<math>O(n^2)</math>]] is based on the number of [[combination]]s of n items <math>{1/2} n (n-1)</math>. This assumes the factors: 1. reduction due to the coefficient of ambiguous titles <math>a</math>, 2. plus additional contributions due to [[WP:DABMENTION]]s which scales with the average size of articles <math>s</math> times their ambiguous coefficient <math>d</math>, giving: <math>asd {1/2} n (n-1)</math>, i.e. <math>O(n^2)</math></ref><ref group=note>Disambiguation [[scalability|scales]] are not to be confused with [[fish scales]]</ref> 
* '''2nd law''': Every disambiguation page evolves until it gains a hatnote.<ref group=note>'''Widefox's law''' or "Did you mean A, B, C?, ''but before that, did you mean X, Y, Z?'', repeat." When iterated due to hatnotes on all dabs, leads readers progressively further from the term they input, which already wasn't enough, without ever converging on an article."</ref>
* '''3rd law''': Disambiguation disambiguation is needed.<ref group=note>That event is notable which leads to a new article - see 0th, plus [[Disambiguation (disambiguation)]]{{dn|date=March 2017}}<!--please leave unfixed-->.</ref><ref group=note>{{As of|2017}}, [[disambiguation disambiguation]] does not exist, but the redlink here is acceptable as it has possibilities, as any redirect would have. The redlink should be retained, based on the [[precautionary principle]] (see [[#The Disambiguation Singularity|The Disambiguation Singularity]])</ref> 

;Notes
{{Reflist|group=note}}

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==How-to==
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{{hatnote|How-to section is not to be taken seriously. For what would happen if admins treated this as policy, See [[Confused deputy problem]]}} 
{{main|Hatnote}}
Allowed, considering:

* '''0th''': If you want it, better put a hat on it.<ref>[[Put a ring on it (disambiguation)]]</ref>
* '''1st''': Create <s>two</s> 256<ref group=notes>{{As of|2017}}, Wikipedia is 16, so that's currently at <math>2^8 = 256</math></ref> disambiguation pages to [[carbon offset|offset]] every article created. [[Moore's law|Double that every two years]].<ref group=notes>See [[Carbon emission trading]] for tips of how to [[carbon offset|offset edits]] on paper, rather than actually doing it</ref><ref group=notes>See also entries may suffice per "Did you mean A, B, C?, ''but during that, did you mean X, Y, Z?'', repeat"</ref>
* '''2nd''': Prevent your dab page going extinct with one well chosen hatnote as early as possible.<ref group=notes>Typos, plurals, foreign languages may be of use. If a reader doesn't know which article, that will no doubt assist in finding other dab pages before the dab page they were first at. Job done.</ref>
* '''3rd''': [[Don't panic]].{{dn|date=March 2017}}<!--please leave unfixed-->


;More notes
{{Reflist|group=notes}}
{{clear}}
==Current research==
===The Disambiguation Singularity===
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{{confused|Singularity (disambiguation)}}
The Disambiguation Singularity – a term used cautiously, as it is ambiguous – [[singularity (disambiguation)|singularity]] may refer to:
* The [[critical mass|article density]] where disambiguation becomes [[gravitational singularity|infinitely dense]]
* The infinitely massive job of disambiguation
* Rumours of [[String theory#Extra dimensions|26 dimensions]] of disambiguation needed to have a [[theory of everything|disambiguation of everything]]
* or, The consequences of reaching the [[Wikipedia:The end of Wikipedia|end of evolution]], but without sources it isn't possible to write articles and safely put hatnotes on
{{clear}}

==="Arts and entertainment" problem===
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{{further|MOS:DABORDER}}
The "Arts and entertainment" problem is disambiguation page section overloading – research on the scaling of dab pages is ongoing. Current assumptions are a solution to the [[NP-hard]] problem of ''popular culture overloading'' or "Arts and entertainment" disambiguation page section overloading, which may refer to:
* The Use of previously unambiguous terms for the titles of notable new popular culture, thereby [[operator overloading|overloading]] the previously unambiguous terms.
** Remakes thereof, or remakes of remakes etc
* Some numerical solutions do not converge on the number of hatnotes required to successfully disambiguate those topics.
* A practical consideration is that due to the unfortunate coincidence of [[MOS:DABORDER|Arts and entertainment being listed at the top of dab pages]], but with exponential growth, they must at some point expand at a rate faster than readers can scroll, thus preventing access to all but Arts and entertainment.<ref>Howto articles could be written about that, but similarly would not be reachable.</ref> As only primary topics would be accessible, disambiguation may attain [[#The Disambiguation Singularity|The Disambiguation Singularity]].
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==See also==
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* [[Zawinski's law of software envelopment]] – "Every program attempts to expand until it can read [e]mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can."<!--see also order sorted by plausible->absurd--> 
* [[Moore's law|More's law]] – the law that inspires more laws
* [[Graham's number]] – once the largest number, now considered negligible
* [[Wirth's law|Worth's law]] – is it worth reading more laws?
* [[Human evolution]] – coincidence we're wearing hats nowadays? (see image)
* ''[[Reductio ad absurdum]]'' – Latin, isn't it

==Further reading==
* ''[[The Selfish Gene|The Selfish Hatnote]]'' – a 2017 book on Wikipedia's evolution by Wikipedians.<ref>''[[The Selfish Gene]]''</ref>
* [[Wikipedia:Three Laws of Wikipedia]]
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