View source for Wiki143:Project namespace

{{short description|Wikipedia project content guideline}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{pp-move-vandalism|small=yes}}
<!-- NOTE: If you are a new user attempting to create your own project page, do not edit this page. This page gives the guidelines for project pages.
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{{hatnote|This page is a [[WP:Policies and guidelines|guideline]] for project and project talk pages. For information about WikiProjects, see [[Wikipedia:WikiProject]]. }}
{{subcat guideline|project content guideline|Project pages|WP:PRJ|WP:NS4|WP:WPNS}}
{{nutshell|title=This guideline|Project pages are for information or discussion about Wikipedia. They should be used to allow Wikipedians to better participate in the community, and not used to excess for unrelated purposes nor to bring the project into disrepute.}}
{{Guideline list}}
{{Namespaces}}
The '''project namespace''' or '''Wikipedia namespace''' is a [[Wikipedia:Namespace|namespace]] consisting of [[WP:ADMINP|administration pages]] with information or discussion about [[Wikipedia]]. Pages in this namespace will always have the prefix <code>Wikipedia:</code>. They can also be reached by alias <code>WP:</code> or the standard prefix (for any [[MediaWiki]] site) <code>Project:</code>. Its namespace number is four (4).

==Terminology==
* Project pages or Wikipedia pages are pages in the Wikipedia and Wikipedia talk namespaces. WikiProject pages, which are included in the Wikipedia namespace, are usually referred to as WikiProject pages to distinguish them from project pages as a whole.
* Meta – Some people refer to pages in the project namespace as ''meta pages''. However, this can be confusing, because [[Wikipedia:Meta|Meta]] is actually the name of the site dedicated to all [[Wikipedia:Projects of Wikimedia|Wikimedia projects]] at [[m:|meta.wikimedia.org]].

==Content==
{{see|Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines#Not part of the encyclopedia|Wikipedia:Be bold#Wikipedia namespace}}
{{seealso|Wikipedia:User pages#What may I not have in my user pages?}}
{{shortcut|WP:PRJC|WP:PRJSD}}
Pages within the "Project namespace" themselves are not part of the [[Wikipedia:What is an article?|encyclopedia proper]]. These [[WP:ADMINP|administrative pages]] are intended for use by editors or by automated tools for the organization and governance of the encyclopedia. Consequently, they do not generally need to conform to the same [[Wikipedia:Core content policies|content protocols]] or [[WP:MOS| style conventions]] as articles. Nevertheless, these pages, as with all pages, should be [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility|accessible]] and ''must'' comply with Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:List of policies#Conduct|conduct]] and [[Wikipedia:List of policies#Legal|legal]] policies.

The project namespace is [[WP:NOT#WEBHOST|not a free web host]] and should not be used as a long-term archive to host pages that look like articles. Articles in the project namespace under construction may be moved to the [[Wikipedia:Drafts|draft namespace]] or [[Help:Userspace draft|userspace draft]] allowing time for their development and feedback before being moved to Wikipedia's mainspace. [[WP:STALEDRAFT|Stalled or abandoned drafts]] and pages in the project namespace that violate [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Community|policies applicable to non-content pages]] may be subject to [[WP:MFD|deletion]]. Editors may not [[Wikipedia:Copyright violations|violate copyrights]] or [[WP:HARASS|harass]] anywhere on Wikipedia. Under the [[Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion|criteria for speedy deletion]], these types of pages are subject to expeditious deletion. See [[#Deletion of project pages|below]] for more information.

==Pages within project namespace==
{{anchor|PAGES}}
{{short|WP:PAGES}}
The project namespace pages are organized according to their function within the overall project schema. This includes Wikipedia official policies and guidelines, process pages, discussion pages, optional essays, maintenance pages, informative pages, and historical pages. 

For lists of pages in the project namespace, see:
* [[Wikipedia:Directories and indexes]] – a handy list of Wikipedia's directories and indexes.
* [[Wikipedia:Department directory]] – a list of the different administrative divisions of Wikipedia.
* [[Wikipedia:Editor's index to Wikipedia]] – an enormous list of the Wikipedia community, intended to help find anything not in the encyclopedia itself.

A main gateway for the project namespace is [[Wikipedia:Community portal|Community portal]]. The Community Portal includes categorized links to the more commonly used pages related to the project. A link to the Community Portal page is available in the [[MediaWiki:Sidebar|sidebar]].

===Policies and guidelines pages{{Anchor|Policies and guidelines}}===
{{short|WP:POLICYPAGES}}
[[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|Policies and guidelines]]  pages describe Wikipedia's best practice and clarify principles that are [[Wikipedia:Consensus|widely accepted by the community]] and have been through the [[WP:PROPOSAL|Wikipedia review process]]. These pages are marked with the {{tl|policy}}, {{tl|guideline}} or {{tl|MoS guideline}} template. For summaries of key policies, see  [[Wikipedia:List of policies|List of policies]]. For summaries of key guidelines, see [[Wikipedia:List of guidelines|List of guidelines]]. For summaries of guidelines about Wikipedia's house style, see the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents|Manual of Style contents]] page. For information on editing policies or guidelines see [[Wikipedia:Editing policy#Edits to policies and guidelines|Edits to policies and guidelines]].
* [[:Category:Wikipedia policies]] – contains important rules that are widely accepted and procedures for important processes such as deletion; there are relatively few of those.
* [[:Category:Wikipedia guidelines]] – contains consensual rules-of-thumb that are not strict, but are considered by most editors to be useful most of the time.
* [[:Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style]] – contains style guidelines widely accepted among editors.

====Process pages{{Anchor|Processes}}====
{{short|WP:PROCEPAGES}}
Process pages help facilitate application of the policies and guidelines governing all Wikipedia pages (e.g., [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion]]). See [[Wikipedia:Processes|Wikipedia processes]] for details.
* [[:Category:Wikipedia processes]]

===Information and discussions===
Many pages in the Wikipedia namespace have nothing to do with rules or implementation of those rules, and thus do not belong in the above categories. See [[Wikipedia:The difference between policies, guidelines and essays]] for more information.

====Discussion and noticeboard pages{{anchor|Discussion and noticeboard pages}}====
{{short|WP:DISPAGES}}
Some pages are designed for discussions, such as the [[Wikipedia:Village pump|Village pump]]s. Others serve as [[Wikipedia:Noticeboards|noticeboards]] to draw attention to discussions taking place elsewhere, such as the [[WP:centralized discussions|centralized discussions]] page and various [[WP:RFC|requests for comments]] pages. While many of these pages operate like talk pages, some of them have posting rules (at the top of the page) which may be administratively enforced, and they also have their own talk pages, usually about the management of the noticeboard or other process in question. To ask a question or make a request, see the [[WP:Request directory|request directory]]. For a listing of ongoing discussions and current requests, see the [[Wikipedia:Dashboard|dashboard]]. 

* [[:Category:Wikipedia discussion]]
* [[:Category:Wikipedia noticeboards]]
* [[:Category:Wikipedia requests]]

====Maintenance pages{{anchor|aintenance pages}}====
{{short|WP:MAINTPAGES}}
Maintenance pages are used to help facilitate the organization and [[Wikipedia:Cleanup|clean-up]] of articles to bring them up to [[Wikipedia:The perfect article|encyclopedic standards]]. These editor- and bot-generated pages typically contain articles and other pages requiring maintenance or attention. (e.g., [[Wikipedia:Dusty articles]]). The [[Help:Special page|Special namespace]] also contains bot generated maintenance reports (e.g. [[Special:UncategorizedPages]]). See [[Wikipedia:Maintenance|Wikipedia maintenance]] for details.
* [[:Category:Wikipedia maintenance]]
* [[Special:SpecialPages]]

====How-to and information pages{{Anchor|Wikipedia how-to and information pages}}====
{{Shortcut|WP:INFOPAGES|WP:HOWTOPAGES|WP:SUPPLEMENTAL}}
Informative and instructional pages are typically edited by the community; while [[WP:Local consensus|not policies or guidelines themselves]], they are intended to supplement or clarify Wikipedia guidelines, policies, or other Wikipedia processes and practices that are communal norms. Where [[#Essay pages|essay pages]] offer advice or opinions through viewpoints, information pages should supplement or clarify technical or factual information about Wikipedia impartially. In comparison to policies and guidelines, information pages, like essay pages, have a limited status, and can reflect varying levels of [[WP:CONSENSUS|consensus]] and [[WP:CONACHIEVE|vetting]]. These pages are typically marked with the {{tl|Information page}}, {{tl|Wikipedia how-to}}, or {{tl|Supplement}}{{efn|The {{tl|Supplement}} template used for "explanatory essays" is intended as a separate "supplement" banner used for pages derived from policy improvement conversations. The template does not indicate a "higher status" within the community  for an essay, but is used to denote that the essay in question has wide acceptance to be linked from said policy or guideline page. See [[Template:Supplement]] for more information. }} template.

There is a large amount of overlap between the [[Wikipedia:Help namespace|Help namespace]] (which provides mainly technical information) and the Wikipedia namespace (which provides mainly procedural information and interpretation). For this reason, [[Help:redirect|redirect]]s and [[WP:hatnote|hatnote]]s are often set up between these two namespaces. See [[Help:About help pages]] for more information. For a listing of how-to and information pages, see the [[Help:Directory|help directory]].
* [[:Category:Wikipedia information pages]]
* [[:Category:Wikipedia how-to]]
* [[:Category:Wikipedia supplemental pages]]

====Essay pages====
{{Shortcut|WP:ESSAYPAGES}}
Essays about Wikipedia may be written by anyone; some represent widespread norms, others only represent minority viewpoints. Essays can be long [[monologues]] or short [[theses]], serious or funny, informative or opinionated. Essays, like information pages, have no official status, and [[WP:CONLEVEL|do not speak for the Wikipedia community]] as they may be created and edited without overall community oversight. Essays are typically marked with one of the [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Wikipedia namespace#Essays|various essay templates]]. See [[Wikipedia:Essays]] for more information. For a listing of essays, see the [[Wikipedia:Essay directory|essay directory]].
* [[:Category:Wikipedia essays]]

====WikiProject pages====
{{shortcut|WP:PROPAGES}}
Pages of a [[WP:WikiProject|WikiProject]] are the central place for editor collaboration and organization on a particular topic area. Many  WikiProjects compose "[[WP:ADVICEPAGE|advice essays]]" about how to apply Wikipedia's policies and guidelines  to their specific subject area. Pages with <code>Wikipedia:WikiProject</code> prefix form a WikiProject pseudo-namespace. These pages are typically marked with the {{tl|WikiProject status}} or {{tl|WikiProject advice}} template. For a listing of projects, see the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory|directory of WikiProjects]]. For additional resources, or if you have any questions, please visit the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council|WikiProject Council]]. 
* [[:Category:WikiProjects]]

===Historical pages===
{{short|WP:HISPAGES}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines#historical}}
A historical page or process is one which is no longer in use, or is no longer relevant or consensus has changed about its content. They are kept as records of past Wikipedia processes to give context to historical discussions and to inform future discussions on similar topics. These pages are typically marked with the {{tl|historical}}, {{tl|superseded}} or {{tl|dormant}} templates. See [[WP:HISTORICAL|HISTORICAL]] for more details.

* [[:Category:Wikipedia history]]
* [[Wikipedia:Historical archive]]
* [[Wikipedia:History of Wikipedian processes and people]]

==Creating new project pages==
{{See|Wikipedia:Avoid writing redundant essays|Wikipedia:Content forking/Internal#Policy forks}}
{{seealso|Wikipedia:User pages#What may I have in my user pages?|Wikipedia:Drafts#Creating and editing drafts}}
{{shortcut|WP:PRJCRE}}
Essays and information pages may be established by writing them and adding {{tl|Essay}}, {{tl|Information page}}, {{tl|Wikipedia how-to}}, or [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Wikipedia namespace|similar templates]] to the page. Essays and information pages in the "Wikipedia namespace" should not be used to create an alternative rule set. Creation of new guideline and policy pages require discussion and a [[WP:Local consensus|high level of consensus]] from the entire community before publication (see [[WP:PROPOSAL]] for procedural details). For general recommendations about the creation and improvement of existing guideline and policy pages, see [[Wikipedia:Policy writing is hard]].

The project namespace contains many pages and a lot of information. Try to avoid creating new pages unnecessarily. Before creating a new page, you should consider looking through the [[Wikipedia:Editor's index to Wikipedia|topical index]], [[Wikipedia:Essay directory|essay directory]] and [[Help:Directory|help directory]] to see if the material belongs at a page that already exists. It is strongly recommended that you propose a [[WP:PJ|WikiProject]] at the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals|proposal page]], if there are enough willing editors to participate in the project. Already existing WikiProjects can be found in the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory|directory of WikiProjects]].

==Deletion of project pages{{Anchor|Deletion of project namespace pages}}==
{{main|Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion}}
{{seealso|Wikipedia:User pages#Deletion of user pages|Wikipedia:Drafts#Deleting a draft}}
{{shortcut|WP:PRJDEL}}
If editing can improve the page, this should be done rather than deleting the page. Disputes over page content are usually not dealt with by deleting the page, except in severe cases. The content issues should be discussed at the relevant talk page, and other methods of [[Wikipedia:Resolving disputes|dispute resolution]] should be used first, such as listing on [[Wikipedia:Requests for comments|"requests for comments"]] for further input. If a project page clearly satisfies a "general" [[WP:CSD|speedy deletion criterion]], it should be tagged  with the [[WP:GCSD|appropriate template]]. 

The usual deletion process is to post a request at [[WP:MFD|miscellany for deletion]] to have project pages [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy|deleted]]. Make sure that a notice of the request is posted to the talk page of the affected project. If the project is under a parent WikiProject, a notice should be posted there as well. 

Essays, information pages, and other informal pages that are only supported by a small minority of the community may be moved to the [[Wikipedia:Userfication|primary author's userspace]] over deletion. The Wikipedia community has historically tolerated a wide range of Wikipedia related subjects and viewpoints on [[Wikipedia:User pages|user pages]].

It is generally preferable that [[Wikipedia:Inactive WikiProjects|inactive WikiProjects]] not be deleted, but instead be marked as {{tlp|WikiProject status|inactive}}, or redirected to a relevant WikiProject, or changed to a task force of a parent WikiProject, unless the WikiProject was incompletely created or is entirely undesirable. See [[WP:INACTIVEWP]] for more details. 

===Policies, guidelines and process pages ===
{{see|Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)}}
Policies, guidelines and process pages should not be nominated for deletion, as such nominations will probably be considered [[Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point|disruptive]], and the ensuing discussions [[Wikipedia:Speedy keep|closed early]]. The {{tl|Disputed tag}} template is typically used for claims that an essay, WikiProject advice or information page was recently assigned guideline or policy status without [[WP:PROPOSAL|proper or sufficient consensus]] being established. See [[WP:Local consensus]] for more details.

===Copyright violations===
{{main|Wikipedia:Text copyright violations 101}}
If the entire project page is a copyright violation, nominate it for [[WP:CSD#G12|G12 speedy deletion]] with {{tlx|db-copyvio|<nowiki>url=link to the source text</nowiki>}}. For issues only affecting specific revisions on a page (where other page versions are fine), [[WP:CFRD|revision delete]] is usually more appropriate. To request revision-deletion for copyright violations, see {{tlx|Copyvio-revdel}} for details.

==Namespace history ==
The Wikipedia namespace began after the January 2002 release of the [[Wikipedia:Phase II software|Phase II software]]. Prior to that, an index of related pages was maintained at '''[[nost:Wikipedia utilities|Wikipedia utilities]]''', which remained for some time afterwards at '''Wikipedia:Utilities'''. This list of pages in the project namespace has been replaced by the pages as described [[#Pages within project namespace|above]].

==Project namespace search==
{{main|Help:Searching#Administrative namespaces}}
By default, [[Help:Searching|Wikipedia's search engine]]  looks in the Article namespace. To search in the Wikipedia namespace, you would type the project page prefix <code>Wikipedia:</code> (''Wikipedia'' followed by a colon) or   <code>WP:</code> (''WP'' followed by a colon), followed by some text identifying or relating to the search target. You can also use the [[Special:Search]] box below to locate Wikipedia/Project namespace pages. See [[Help:Searching]] for more information.
<inputbox>
type=fulltext
width=25
namespaces=Wikipedia**
searchbuttonlabel=Search "Wikipedia" namespace
break=no 
placeholder=example: List of Policies
</inputbox>

==Project namespace banners==
See [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Wikipedia namespace]] for a listing of Wikipedia namespace banners.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

{{Wikipedia policies and guidelines|state=collapsed}} 
{{Wikipedia technical help|collapsed}}
[[Category:Wikipedia features|{{PAGENAME}}]]