Wikipedia:Cross-namespace redirects

This proposal aims to settle the long debate about cross-namespace redirects (CNRs) by providing a solution which hopefully satisfies all involved parties, solves usability issues, and makes Wikipedia look more professional and organized.

Overview of the debate

Redirects for discussion has endorsed the deletion or retargeting to article space of every cross-namespace redirect recently nominated.

Arguments for deleting CNRs

Related guidelines: Wikipedia:Avoid self-references, Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion#When should we delete a redirect? delete#5, Wikipedia:Verbatim copying

• CNRs are bad because they result in a person (reader) walking around a building (encyclopedia) and falling into the pipework (project space) because the builders (editors) thought cracks in the walls and floors would be useful for them to get around.
• Namespaces were created for a reason, so that the encyclopedic content would be separate. CNRs work against this.
• The filters exist for a reason, to fine-tune search results. And some encyclopedic searches return a majority of Wikipedia pages because of all of the cross-namespace redirects; the user shouldn't have to filter through manually, that's what the filters are for. Search filters should work, not return extraneous results. (For example, searching the encyclopedia for a term "page update" (which is hardly a wikipedia specific term) will return CNR's as the first four results, and we should not be requiring readers to sift through non-encyclopedic background noise when they were explicitly searching the encyclopedia.)
• Some mirrors duplicate the main article namespace but not the project namespace. Thus, cross-namespace redirects end up creating thousands of broken links on mirrors. Per WP:ASR we should link to stuff outside of the article namespace with external links; see Wikipedia as an example.

Arguments for keeping CNRs

Related guideline: Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion#When should we delete a redirect? keep#5

• Useful to some people. One purpose of WP is to explain obscure references.
• Otherwise the newbie users for whom these redirects are useful would be left up the creek. In most cases, users who type such names in the search box expect to be taken to its other-namespace target.
• CNRs aid in accidental linking.
• They're easier to type.
• If they're acceptable, then Wiki requires no policy on cross-namespace redirects. Simplifying policy improves odds that newbies and policy non-wonks understand/follow policy.
• Often, the redirect is a holdover from before the creation of the alternate namespace version. The redirect may hold history of the page. (WP:R keep #1)
• For redirects which have been extensively used on Talk and User pages, the cost of orphaning the redirect is far greater than the potential benefits.
• Redirects which are used exclusively on User, Talk and other project pages do not create confusion. Readers of the article-space only (whether at Wikipedia or through a mirror which only copies our article-space) will never fall into this "pipework" because these "cracks" (or more accurately, "access ports") are only being left in the maintenance corridors.

Technical details

• Currently the shortcuts (i.e. redirects starting with WP:, CAT:, etc.) do not have their own namespaces; they're included in the main (article) namespace. (see Pseudo-namespaces)
• Currently the default search filter is set to main namespace only.
• Wikipedia has many more readers than editors.

Solution

• Readers (who don't edit at all) and those who are interested only in the encyclopedic content would not get pages about the encyclopedia-making process as search results. Filters would work properly. (WP:ASR and WP:ENC)
• Editors would be able to reach for example "articles for deletion" simply by typing it in the search bar. (usability issue)

Implementation

• Create separate namespaces for the prominent shortcuts (e.g. WP:, CAT:). There would be a separate search filter named "Shortcuts" that would toggle searching in these namespaces.
• Modify the default search filter for logged-in users to include the Wikipedia:, Category:, Template:, Portal:, Help: and the newly created "Shortcut" namespaces. These settings could be changed anytime at Special:Preferences.
  • The default search filter for users searching Wikipedia anonymously would stay as article namespace-only.
  • Logged-in users who have the default (main namespace only) settings at the time of the implementation of this change would have their search filters changed to the new default value, and notified once at the "login successful" page after their first login with "Please review your search preferences at Special:Preferences/Search".
  • Logged-in editors who don't have the default settings would not be affected by this change.
• Modify the search mechanism from the current "check whether [text] exists, if not then search [text]" to: "check whether [text] exists, if not (and "search in Wikipedia:" is on) then check whether Wikipedia:[text] exists, if not (and "search in Category:" is on) then check whether Category:[text] exists, ..., if not then search". This way by typing "articles for deletion", the editor would arrive at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion without effort.
• Delete all cross-namespace redirects, since we no longer need them. The process of deleting these redirects would be as follows:
  1. If it contains useful edit history, the page history should be merged into the target page.
  2. If the redirect has incoming links, it should be orphaned, preferably by an automated bot.
  3. If the cross-namespace redirect has no incoming links, and has no useful page history, it could be speedied: CSD#R2 would be expanded to include "Cross-namespace redirects from the main article space which have no incoming links, and have no useful page history".