Help:Namespace

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A namespace (NS, not to be confused with National Socialism) is a division in MediaWiki software that defines and separates content in RationalWiki. Usually, they have an associated ID number which can be checked with {{ns:}}, e.g. {{ns:1}} produces Talk (Note: {{ns:talk}} also produces Talk).

Except for the "main" ("mainspace"), articles in them are distinguished by having the namespace and a colon before the title, like, for example, Essay:Gender and Sysops (the page "Gender and Sysops" is located in the "Essay" namespace).

List of namespaces[edit]

Here are the namespaces and their descriptions in RationalWiki:

NS NS ID Description Talk NS Talk NS ID
Main 0 This is where main articles ("missional" i.e. according to RationalWiki's mission statement) go. Referred to as "Mainspace". Talk 1
User 2 An editor's own space to treat or ignore as they wish. (obscenities, racist, homophobic, "nasty" entries, and redlinks may be censored or amended). User talk 3
RationalWiki 4 This is info at a "meta" level about the running of the wiki. It also contains the Saloon Bar and Non-CP WIGOs, as well as the timeline and articles related to the history of the site. RationalWiki talk 5
File 6 This is where pretty pictures or any non-text files are stored. File talk 7
Media -2 This is not a "true namespace", but a way to link directly to a file. For example, Media:Jellybrain.png links directly to the image, whereas File:Jellybrain.png links to its description page. (none) (empty)
MediaWiki 8 Technical stuff that relates to the running of the software behind RationalWiki. Things such as the notices which automatically display are held in this space. Only editable by members of the Tech user group. MediaWiki talk 9
Template 10 This is a "storage area" for things (things called "templates") that are likely to be used (called "transcluded") on more than one page. See: Help:Templates for more information. Template talk 11
Help 12 Here we are. Yes, it's the help section for newcomers like you. Help talk 13
Category 14 Any article or page can and should be classified into at least one category; this enables searching & identifying subjects much easier. See: Help:Categories for more information. Category talk 15
Thread and
Summary
90 and
92 resp.
The two namespaces used by the LiquidThreads extension. Thread talk and
Summary talk resp.
91 and
93 resp.
Conservapedia 100 Anything about Conservapedia goes in here. It has its own namespace to keep it from accidentally spilling over into the rest of RationalWiki. Conservapedia talk 101
Essay 102 A place for individual and original contributions which allow personal POVs (Point Of View) or more specialised subjects to be edited by specified editor(s) without interference.
However, we do request that essays have some tact as these essays will still be associated with RationalWiki.
Essay talk 103
Debate 104 Used for heated fights polite and civil discussions. For some reason, this namespace is not very well used. The function is largely usurped by talk pages. Debate talk 105
Fun 106 Totally off mission and amusing or entertaining? Then it goes here. Don't expect the humour to be too high brow. Is mostly defunct, and is rarely edited these days. Fun talk 107
Recipe 108 RationalWiki's concession to weirdness. Mostly defunct. Recipe talk 109
Forum 110 The namespace for our pure-discussion pages. No one uses them anymore, but the archives are available. Most discussion takes place on individual article pages and the Saloon Bar. Forum talk 111
Draft 112 Used to collaboratively write articles before they are mainspace-worthy. Draft talk 113
TimedText 710 Used by the TimedMediaHandler extension. It can be used for adding timed text for audio and video uploads. TimedText talk 711
Module 828 Used for Scribunto modules to write template-like functionality in the Lua scripting language. Wikipedia does this and has many modules, and like templates they can potentially be imported here. Newer Wikipedia templates often use modules, so that both are needed. Module talk 829
Gadget and
Gadget definition
2300 and
2302 resp.
Code for the various tools that can be enabled via your preferences. Gadget talk and
Gadget definition talk resp.
2301 and
2303 resp.
Special -1 This is one of two namespaces that are not directly editable (the other is the unused "Media" namespace), but gives you information about the wiki like, for example, Recent Changes and user Contributions. (none) (empty)

Talk pages[edit]

Every page in all of these namespaces (except "Special" and "Media") has an associated talk page. Talk pages are not the property of any editor and entries should not be deleted except to archive.

In particular, it should be noted that an editor's "Talk Page" is not the property of that editor and they have no exceptional rights over the contents beyond what is prescribed in the Community Standards.

Searching[edit]

When you use the Search box on the upper right corner of the page, it will first search only in "main" (unless you have changed the criteria in "your preferences"), but will then give you the option to check off boxes for any other namespaces (or their talk spaces) to run the search again.

Likewise, if you go to Special pages (left sidebar) and click on All pages, the mainspace is the default, but you can pick any of the other namespaces from a drop down menu to see what is in them.