From: mediawiki-l-bounces@Wikimedia.org

This isn't what namespaces in MediaWiki do; they are markers of functional distinctions, not separate universes. Create separate wikis, and use interwiki links when you want to link between them.

So I am beginning to understand. Thank you for helping clarify.

If TWiki does what you want, why switch? This is a serious question, not an accusation; I'm curious what your reasons are for wanting to migrate to MediaWiki.

I'm not unhappy with TWiki, I just enjoy playing with new things. I find the act of learning a new piece of software to be rewarding personally and professionally and I have the flexibility to choose whatever software I want for my site.

You do not actually need to duplicate the directory structure; LocalSettings.php could use different databases based on hostname, for instance. We run 150 or so Wikipedias from one directory.

To create separate wikis, you must create separate databases (or in 1.4+ a separate set of tables with a different prefix within the same database).

That I can do. I'm not sure if my web host will let me use different hostnames but, assuming that they do, where can I find some documentation on configuring LocalSettings.php for multiple databases? I just scanned the TOCs for all ostensibly relevant sections in the UG and didn't find anything.

Thanks again, Scott