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The appropriate namespace for the main page

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rememberthedot at gmail

Jul 19, 2008, 4:58 PM

Post #1 of 8 (810 views)
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The appropriate namespace for the main page

Hello all,

Comments from a technical perspective would be appreciated at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Proposal:_Move_main_page_to_Wikipedia_namespace

I really don't know why the main page was put in the article namespace in
the first place - if a developer could at least drop by to clarify that it
would be appreciated. I don't know exactly where the developers stand on
this, but I would think that as developers you would be in a better position
to understand what the appropriate thing to do is.

--
Remember the dot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Remember_the_dot
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cbrown1023.ml at gmail

Jul 19, 2008, 6:31 PM

Post #2 of 8 (794 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 7:58 PM, Remember the dot <rememberthedot [at] gmail>
wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Comments from a technical perspective would be appreciated at
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Proposal:_Move_main_page_to_Wikipedia_namespace<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28technical%29#Proposal:_Move_main_page_to_Wikipedia_namespace>
>
> I really don't know why the main page was put in the article namespace in
> the first place - if a developer could at least drop by to clarify that it
> would be appreciated. I don't know exactly where the developers stand on
> this, but I would think that as developers you would be in a better
> position
> to understand what the appropriate thing to do is.
>

I don't see what the developers have to do with it, it's purely a community
choice. The second-largest Wikipedia, the German one, already has such a
change done. <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite> I even
know of some wikis that have it in the Portal namespace... it really doesn't
make a different where the page is from a developmental standpoint.

--
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023

---
Note: This e-mail address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails sent to

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thomas.dalton at gmail

Jul 19, 2008, 6:40 PM

Post #3 of 8 (792 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

> I really don't know why the main page was put in the article namespace in
> the first place

I think the main page pre-dates the existence of multiple namespaces,
so there was no choice when it was created. I don't know why it wasn't
moved when the Wikipedia namespace was created. There is no technical
reason for it being in the main namespace (as evidenced by dewiki
having it elsewhere), so it's purely a community decision.

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nospam at vyznev

Jul 19, 2008, 7:10 PM

Post #4 of 8 (787 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

Thomas Dalton wrote:
>> I really don't know why the main page was put in the article namespace in
>> the first place
>
> I think the main page pre-dates the existence of multiple namespaces,
> so there was no choice when it was created. I don't know why it wasn't
> moved when the Wikipedia namespace was created. There is no technical
> reason for it being in the main namespace (as evidenced by dewiki
> having it elsewhere), so it's purely a community decision.

And, just to clarify, it can be changed by local administrators: just
edit [[MediaWiki:Mainpage]] and change it to point to whatever title you
want to be the main page.

--
Ilmari Karonen

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brion at wikimedia

Jul 20, 2008, 9:26 PM

Post #5 of 8 (782 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

In most cases, I believe the main page is perfectly appropriate for
the primary namespace -- its content is targeted directly at end users.

Where some wikis may prefer for it to be in a different namespace,
this is a simple matter of customizing the value of
[[MediaWiki:Mainpage]].

-- brion vibber (brion @ wikimedia.org)

On Jul 19, 2008, at 16:58, "Remember the dot"
<rememberthedot [at] gmail> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Comments from a technical perspective would be appreciated at
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Proposal:_Move_main_page_to_Wikipedia_namespace
>
> I really don't know why the main page was put in the article
> namespace in
> the first place - if a developer could at least drop by to clarify
> that it
> would be appreciated. I don't know exactly where the developers
> stand on
> this, but I would think that as developers you would be in a better
> position
> to understand what the appropriate thing to do is.
>
> --
> Remember the dot
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Remember_the_dot
> _______________________________________________
> Wikitech-l mailing list
> Wikitech-l [at] lists
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l

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Simetrical+wikilist at gmail

Jul 21, 2008, 6:31 AM

Post #6 of 8 (776 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 12:26 AM, Brion Vibber <brion [at] wikimedia> wrote:
> In most cases, I believe the main page is perfectly appropriate for
> the primary namespace -- its content is targeted directly at end users.

However, in that case they should probably be content with the nstab
used for the main namespace. In the default software that's "page",
which is fine for the main page. Wikipedia has changed it to
"article", which is inappropriate for the main page, and this annoys
some people. "Project page" would be more appropriate. "Portal"
might be even more appropriate, at least if anyone actually used
portals. The main page certainly fits the definition of portals
better than anything.

The distinction is not, frankly, one I would worry about.

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rememberthedot at gmail

Jul 21, 2008, 6:13 PM

Post #7 of 8 (774 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

OK, many thanks for the explanations. Portal:Wikipedia is not a bad idea.

--
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Remember_the_dot
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rotemliss at gmail

Jul 22, 2008, 2:20 AM

Post #8 of 8 (767 views)
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Re: The appropriate namespace for the main page [In reply to]

Simetrical wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 12:26 AM, Brion Vibber <brion [at] wikimedia> wrote:
>> In most cases, I believe the main page is perfectly appropriate for
>> the primary namespace -- its content is targeted directly at end users.
>
> However, in that case they should probably be content with the nstab
> used for the main namespace. In the default software that's "page",
> which is fine for the main page. Wikipedia has changed it to
> "article", which is inappropriate for the main page, and this annoys
> some people. "Project page" would be more appropriate. "Portal"
> might be even more appropriate, at least if anyone actually used
> portals. The main page certainly fits the definition of portals
> better than anything.
>
> The distinction is not, frankly, one I would worry about.
>

Note that:
1. The default software message was formerly "article", but was changed to
"page" to be more general ("content page" is more exact, though - every page in
every namespace is "page"). Wikipedia still uses "article" for obvious reasons.
2. Some projects use scripts to hide the main page title and to change the nstab
to "main page" or similar title.

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