User:Imperator3733/Archives/Proposal: Move the main page to Portal:Wikipedia

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This discussion is copied from Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Persistent proposals revision 236789263.


Proposal: Move the main page to Portal:Wikipedia[edit]

I would like to propose that we move the Main Page to Portal:Wikipedia. Currently, the main page is in the article namespace, which causes lots and lots of little problems. Moving it to the Portal namespace instead would offer a number of benefits, including:

  • The top-left tab would read "portal" instead of "article".
  • People who want to make copies of Wikipedia, such as people who provide computers to schools in Africa that can't get Internet access, would have an easier time separating actual articles from project content which they don't want to copy. Because the content of the main page changes dynamically from day to day, it would take quite a bit of work to make the main page work and keep working on an offline copy of Wikipedia. Thus, since the main page won't actually work by default, it's probably best to exclude it from copies of Wikipedia article content by default.
  • The "cite this page" link in the sidebar would be hidden from screen readers and text-only browsers, and the sitewide CSS would no longer have to contain a special declaration to hide it.
  • The article count shown at Special:Statistics would be accurate instead of being 1 higher than the actual number of articles on Wikipedia. {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} would also be accurate instead of being off by one.
  • Statistics about Wikipedia articles would be more accurate and not slightly skewed by statistics about the main page that are likely to get mixed in.
  • It would be generally easier to write bots and other automated scripts because developers would not have to worry about having to write special code for the main page, ever.

Here's how the proposal would actually be carried out:

  1. The main page would be moved to Portal:Wikipedia. Portal:Wikipedia would be temporarily transcluded back into Main Page, so that the two pages work identically while we move the links to the main page to Portal:Wikipedia.
  2. After the links have been transitioned and everyone is comfortable with Portal:Wikipedia (perhaps a month or two after step 1), Main Page would be changed to a simple redirect to Portal:Wikipedia.

Please remember that the main page appears as simply "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", so the only thing that will change for readers is the URL, and in any case they will be able to continue using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page instead of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Wikipedia as long as they like. In the long run (think years), users will access Main Page less and less until it is used so infrequently that we can delete it altogether.

Interestingly, the German Wikipedia has already done something similar. They moved their main page to the Wikipedia namespace (de:Wikipedia:Hauptseite), and it is working fine for them.

I know that this has been discussed before, but I feel that it is important to restart the discussion so that people won't have to sift through the previous discussion, which turned into a convoluted mess. —Remember the dot (talk) 01:23, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Ugh. Most of these reasons are completely ridiculous. I wish this issue would just die. --- RockMFR 01:40, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
Some of them may seem ridiculous, but only if you ignore the real issue and focus on the tinier secondary effects. The Main page is not an article, it does not belong in the article space. End of story. --NickPenguin(contribs) 02:07, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Suggestion - I've been a web master since 1995 and ever since I first saw the Wikipedia main page in 2004 I have thought the name is wrong. There is a long standing tradition on the world wide web what the main page of a web site should be. Most of the major organisations on the Internet including the web and Internet standardisation organisations follow that tradition. The main page of the English Wikipedia should of course be http://en.wikipedia.org/ , nothing else. And for database technical purposes such as what name magic words return inside templates and so on the name can be for instance Portal:Wikipedia or whatever people prefer. Thus making the talk page be Portal talk:Wikipedia. --David Göthberg (talk) 07:33, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
    • I'd like that too, but I don't think the wiki software is designed to do that. And like you said, moving the page to a different namespace doesn't prevent us from shortening the URL in the future if that becomes possible. —Remember the dot (talk) 01:40, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment You are conflating two proposals here. The first proposal is to move main page to the Portal namespace, and the second—to name it Portal:Wikipedia. The second should be discussed only if the first is supported. Ruslik (talk) 12:54, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
    • In the last discussion, several alternatives were proposed and the one that was most supported by far was Portal:Wikipedia. I'm trying to consolidate the proposal down to focus on this idea, but if you have a better one that hasn't been discussed before then by all means propose it. —Remember the dot (talk) 01:40, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Support There are a large number of advantages with this proposal and no real disadvantages. The Main Page is not an article, therefore it should not be in article space! It belongs in portal space. As mentioned, the only thing that would change to most users is the url, and the old url would still work! As far as I know, every single problem with this suggestion has already been addressed. -- Imperator3733 (talk) 02:29, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose I oppose the move and the proposed name. Main Page is not in article namespace, and indeeds predates namespaces. Rather, the software mistakenly acts like it is an article. We should correct the software rather than a perfectly adequate page name. Nor is the name "wrong" just because other websites choose differently. Superm401 - Talk 07:00, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
As was pointed out in the previous discussion on this proposal, the developers gave a resounding "no" to writing some sort of hack to make the page name display properly. How is it easier to modify the Wiki software rather than move the page to it's proper location? --NickPenguin(contribs) 14:39, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
I asked for no hack. Superm401 - Talk 20:06, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
Why do you say that Main Page is not in article space? Pages in article space do not have prefixes, and neither does the Main Page. Also, take a look at this page. Main Page is in article space. The devs are not going to change the software to accomodate this, especially since everything can be fixed by moving the page. -- Imperator3733 (talk) 19:27, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
You are pretending that the prefix system has always been here, which is not true. Superm401 - Talk 20:06, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
But that doesn't change the fact that from the software's perspective, Main Page is in the article namespace. -- Imperator3733 (talk) 20:28, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
  • I gave my support in a previous discussion. I'll give it again, here. SharkD (talk) 22:09, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Copied from archive since really all issues have already been addressed. This discussion should continue. -- Imperator3733 (talk) 17:38, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose The kind of people who don't like Main Page being in article namespace also won't like Main Page being a cross-namespace redirect to Portal:Wikipedia. This necessary redirect might be deleted at some point, leaving thousands of dead links across Wikipedia and the World Wide Web. There are some good reasons for the change but none are compelling enough to justify moving a page that's remained in the same place for seven years without serious problems. 67.187.76.80 (talk) 13:38, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
    • Better to have a cross-namespace redirect than to have the page itself be in article space. In any case, the redirect isn't going to be deleted for a long time (years). There will undoubtedly be an RFD for it at that time where we can discuss whether or not the impact is low enough to justify deletion. —Remember the dot (talk) 15:58, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose - For multiple reasons. 1) You say "The top-left tab would read "portal" instead of "article".". 'However, if you look now, the tab on the main page says "main page", not "article". In my opinion, even if it gets changed to portal, main page would still be a better tab. 2) Regarding your second point, it's not difficult to remove Main Page from the list. 3) Your comment about the article count has 1 problem: The article count changes every couple of seconds, so it's usually inaccurate anyway. 4) Other than interwiki bots, I can't think of any bots right now that need special code for the main page (and the code is already written). 5) Excluding en.wikipedia.org, there are thousands of links on the web linking to the main page. Combine that with the Main Page links, and eventually, there will be thousands of dead links. Not to mention the thousands of people with the main page bookmarked. IMO, this is a solution in search of a problem. X! who used to be Soxred93 16:21, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
The tabs across the top of the Main Page are "article," "discussion," "view source," and "history." Foogus (talk) 21:51, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
? It used to be main page... It was set in some javascript. X! who used to be Soxred93 22:04, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • This proposal has come up dozens of times over the years (I'm surprised it's not on Wikipedia:Perennial proposals). It'd be disruptive to no apparent end other than consistency. If you really want to get it moved, write a famous book named Main Page. :-) Dcoetzee 00:15, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Strong oppose. When newcomers type in en.wikipedia.org and see "Main Page," they know what it is; but when they see "Portal:Wikipedia," they might not know what a portal is with respect to Wikipedia. After all, don't bite the newbies with jargon. While "Portal:Wikipedia" is more technically correct, "Main Page" does the job fine. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 02:45, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
    • Excuse me? The phrase "Main Page" appears only in the sidebar, where it is perfectly appropriate. It does not appear in the title bar or at the top of the page, and neither would "Portal:Wikipedia". —Remember the dot (talk) 01:26, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
      • The problem with "Portal:Wikipedia" is that it doesn't fit the mainstream definition of a portal. When you go to Portal:Mathematics, you expect to find articles about math. But the articles featured on the Main Page aren't about Wikipedia (i.e. Jimbo Wales, Nupedia, etc.); there's a variety of content. A more accurate title would be "Portal:Everything" (which wouldn't do, of course). So there isn't really a good way to name the Main Page a portal. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 05:40, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Support changing Main page to Portal:Main Page. We should definitively strive for accuracy on all aspects since this is what our main goal is; if the Main page is a portal, call it one, don't be shy or scared to for any possible reason. In regards to "It's too hard for newcomers", I disagree. Newcommers may actually learn more about Wikipedia when we show them what a portal is. Besides, Portal:Main Page will only be visible in the URL, so definitely calling it what it is would be a good idea. I also agree with what Imperator said above, "There are many advantages with this proposal and no real disadvantages. The Main Page is not an article, therefore it should not be in article space". -- penubag  (talk) 02:40, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
  • If people don't like having the Main Page in article space, maybe we could move it to Wikipedia:Main Page instead. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 16:51, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Main Page was the original suggestion, but since Wikipedia space is supposed to be for pages related to the project, the proposal was changed to moving it to Portal space (which is what the Main Page really is). Portal:Main Page doesn't really sound that good so someone suggested Portal:Wikipedia, which is what is currently proposed. -- Imperator3733 (talk) 19:58, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose: I, and many other users, have always known the face of Wikipedia to be the Main Page. Not "The Wikipedia Portal", or some other similar name. While it may be technically incorrect, exceptions to every rule or policy must be made for certain unique cases. This is one of those cases. If I was a new user, and I saw myself looking at Portal:Wikipedia, I very well might have absolutely no clue what a portal is, what this page is for, and where I find the home page (not knowing this was the home page, per se). Main Page is plain and simple, and neither too confusing nor too uninformative. There is no reason to fix something that ain't broken. Calor (talk) 02:50, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
    • Please see the extensive list of technical problems this currently causes, and please realize that you will still be able to call it the main page, front page, home page, whatever you like. The only place "Portal:Wikipedia" will appear is in the URL. The title of the main page will, as before, appear as simply "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". This proposal is about changing how the main page is stored internally, not about revolutionizing the main page's name or role. —Remember the dot (talk) 03:50, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Support the move to the Portal namespace which is more aesthetically correct and logical. No strong opinion on the name. While some of the opposes present real concerns, i.e. backward compatibility issues, many boil down to "we've never done it that way before" which is not a strong argument. Eluchil404 (talk) 16:16, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Weak Support because I don't see the reasons in favor of this proposal as being very strong, but none of the objections raised have had any substance, either.--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 05:13, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Support Teemu Leisti (talk) 12:28, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose - something tells me this would cause a lot of problems when all that needs being fixed are minor "issues". Wikipedia is the 8th most visited site in the world, I'm guessing millions of people visit the Main Page everyday, things are going to be really weird when people suddenly think they're not actually on the Main Page. Additionally, are these minor problems with the Main Page in the article namespace such a big deal that it completely needs to be moved? No.   jj137 (talk) 20:58, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
    • Why would people suddenly think that they're not actually on the main page? —Remember the dot (talk) 01:25, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
      • If they click in the left hand corner (Main Page link) and it takes them to Portal:Wikipedia. However stupid it may seem, I've been there before, it would happen to a lot of people.   jj137 (talk) 03:06, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Support on account that it would make the Number of articles accurate, and I don't see any real reason to oppose. Plus, what if it turns out that there's a notable book or band called Main Page? Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • (Broken clamshells • Otter chirps • HELP) 14:47, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Support more accurate and would generate more interest in portals. Plus TenPoundHammer's point about other things called "Main Page". -- Escape Artist Swyer Talk to me The mess I've made 15:08, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
  • comment Portal:Wikipedia is already an exact replica of the Main Page. So the only thing that would change here is that the Main Page would become a redirect to Portal:Wikipedia.--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 16:05, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose, the mainspace is jammed with non-"articles" already (lists, dab pages, etc.). The important distinction is between reader-facing and non-reader-facing pages and that is not threatened by the existing location of the mainpage. Christopher Parham (talk) 01:01, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by "reader-facing"?--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 17:26, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
Generally, reader-facing pages are content pages that are intended as part of the "product" (e.g. articles, portals, and most categories and images) and non-reader facing pages are those which do not contain content and are intended to support the editorial community and editorial processes (e.g. userspace, project space). Christopher Parham (talk) 18:38, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
Oh, thanks. I hadn't heard that terminology before.--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 01:31, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose Wikipedia is not a portal. It's an encyclopedia. We wouldn't want the Main Page to be confused with Wikipedia itself. --Pwnage8 (talk) 03:49, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
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