On 2/7/07, Matthew Brown morven@gmail.com wrote:
So in other words - you find typing Wikipedia:WikiProject <xxx> a PITA and want to type Wikiproject:<xxx>.
Hey, that's my argument, too.
Not entirely an invalid point but I don't think we create namespaces
for the purposes of typing
convenience.
Oh? Why not? How about manageability, memorability etc.
The content of WikiProjects is quite validly within the definition of what the Wikipedia: namespace is supposed to be, so I don't see an issue there. We created Portal: because portals aren't really part of the encyclopedia proper but are content for the users, not for the project, so placing them in Wikipedia: didn't really work. We split Template: from MediaWiki: because templating is different from interface string localization.
WikiProjects are really different to the Wikipedia namespace in general. They're strictly about content. They are strictly divided by theme. They deal very explicitly with actual articles. They provide oversight. They provide people to contact about certain topics (WP:TOL is a frequent "go to" page for identifying wildlife).
Wikipedia: covers a much broader range of topics, like user behaviour, policy, processes such as deletion and creating adminships, and even junk like deleted nonsense, lamest edit wars etc etc. Lots of very much "off-topc" discussion.
They are pretty different.
Steve