Wikipedia talk:Subpages

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Archived discussion about subpages is located at the following subpage (naturally enough):

/Archive

Other old talk can be found at Wikipedia talk:Do not use subpages.

Contents 1 Special dispensation for mathematical proofs 2 Suggestion 3 Fictional Universes 4 Finding subpages 5 OS/2 6 AC/DC 7 Embedded Tables 8 One line summary 9 Root pages 10 Part of wikipedia or not ? 11 Format of this page - numbered lists 12 Linking from subpages 13 Subpages in mainspace—On or Off? 14 wp:sp 15 From WikiProject Films talk 16 Subpage template created 17 How can you tell if another user has created a subpage? 18 "Disallowed" section 19 Question about creating 20 Moving subpages to mainspace

[edit] Special dispensation for mathematical proofs

In mathematics, there appears to be an occasional need to provide supporting evidence, documentation and derivations for certain complex mathematical statements. In many cases, providing such derivations directly within the article would clutter the article and make it harder to read, if not just plain uglier. Thus the suggestion is to put these proofs out-of-line, on their own pages. Proofs would be a semi-formal half-way house between the anarchy of talk pages and the formality of article pages; they need not adhere to the "higher standard" of articles, while still providing a coherent, verifiable "audit trail" of the correctness of certain mathematical claims.

The exact need, utility and mechanism for this is discussed at length in Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Proofs. Currently, the concept of article proofs for math pages is somewhat experimental; but in order to support the future growth of the math pages, some sort of policy on derivations and proofs will need to be arrived at.

Mechanically, we can place proofs for "Topic" at "Topic article proofs". The idea is to have a consistent naming convention so that the associated proofs for an article can always be found. It was then suggested that a better way of uniformizing the location of proofs is to put them at "Topic/Proofs".

Since all such proofs will always be located in the exact same uniform location, this use of subdirectories seems to evade the technical reasons stated for the ban on article sub-pages. In fact, using a uniform, common naming scheme such as this will make it easier, not harder, to find article proofs.

Thus, a formal request is herewith made to get a special dispensation to use the /Proofs subdirectory for mathematical articles. linas 16:16, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Suggestion

the draft link redirects to this same page, i think it should go to the wiktonary for an explination of what a draft is. Cherylb 05:57, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Fictional Universes

I think that sub-topics pertaining to specific fictional universes or works ought to be another recognized exception. Pages about fictional places or characters, or pages discussign a fictional work in more detail than can fit on a single page, but that have not achieved general notariety outside of the context of the paeticualr fictional work involved, could well be accomodated at a subpage of the primary page on the fictional work, series, or universe involved. This case seems to me to avoid all the objections to subpages that involve content belonging to multiple hierarchies. DES ^(talk) 16:01, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

• I don't really like the idea. Articles cannot generally be put in a neat tree of dependencies, and it makes finding articles (and hotlinking to them) harder - and thus it would also encourage (re)creation of articles by the wrong title. If a name is ambiguous, we can always use "Foo (Bar character)" rather than "Foo". Radiant_>|< 07:42, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

One could also argue that articles that would merit being in sub pages for the reasons you give are by definition not noteworthy enough to be in Wikipedia. Pimlottc 16:32, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Finding subpages

Is there any way to list all the subpages of a specific page? Thanks, Bovlb 01:30:49, 2005-08-09 (UTC)

To find all subpages of Manifold, for instance, go to Special:Allpages and type "manifold/" in the box labelled "Display all pages starting with:" (I learned this trick from R. Koot) -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 18:20, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Hmm. A useful trick, but I was really looking for some way to include such a list on the page. Maybe it could be done with an extension. Thanks, Bovlb 14:47:08, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

[edit] OS/2

is the artcile OS/2 really the article 2, a subpage of OS. Should it be changed? --Commander Keane 04:36, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] AC/DC

The rock band AC/DC is another example where making it a sub-page of, in this case, AC seems crazy OZ_Rhett 09:59, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Embedded Tables

I found myself discussing this with a fellow editor, so I might as well ask the experts: is it OK to use the subpage format for embedded sections, such as charts? Mareino 02:56, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] One line summary

There being a need for concise one line summaries of guidelines, I offer this version. Please feel free to change it as necessary, and update the template Template:Guideline one liner to suit your taste. If the summary is inaccurate, please improve it rather than removing the template. Comments and opinions welcome! Stevage 13:20, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

• I don't see the "need" for such one-line summaries. So far in the few cases I have examined, they have been misleading if not dead wrong. DES ^(talk) 00:37, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

In this particular case I'm not sure you're right. Your summary says that guideline allows subpages. However, the wording I used "subpages of articles" is correct - the guideline only recommends subpages for pages which are not articles (ie, wikiprojects, user pages, talk pages etc). But anyway. Stevage 01:14, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes in this case the summery was technically correct, but IMO misleading. DES ^(talk) 01:18, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

How could it be made better? Stevage 01:27, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I frankly don't think it can, within one line. Perhaps "Subpages are apporved for only certian particular uses." Of course that doesn't expalin what they are, or how to make them, but what do you want in one line. I fear that one-line summeries will all too often over-simplify and induce readers to ignore important detals that don't fit into one line. DES ^(talk) 01:31, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

The summary is obviously meant to contain the gist of the guideline. As for the details, well, that's what the article is there for :) In any case, anything along the lines of "don't create subpages of main articles" is accurate. There are no circumstances listed for which creating subpages in the main article namespace is recommended. Even if there were *some*, it would not be a bad mis-statement, but a necessary simplification. Anyway, please discuss the merits of the project itself at template talk:guideline one liner if you like. Stevage 01:45, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Root pages

Note that some users are trying to resurrect subpage functionality. See Wikipedia:Root page — Omegatron 00:40, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Part of wikipedia or not ?

Could I be allowed to write about my own fantasy fiction universe as individual pages or as subpages to my userpage ? Or is such a thing not allowed here ? And it will not be a promotional campaign or anything similar since my work will probably be licensed under the GNU GPL or some similar CreativeCommons license. --Tyriel 11:03, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm afraid not. Wikipedia is not a free host, blog, webspace provider or social networking site. Even user subpages are expected to serve the purposes of Wikipedia, not one's personal vocations or hobbies. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 14:53, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Its not a blog or webspace and it has nothing to do with my social life, its my literary works and fictional universe. Or do I need to be a published author first for this to apply? --Tyriel 20:16, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

wrong page Tyriel

You could always do it at other wikis that aren't so anal about rules, such as s23 wiki, Encyclopædia Dramatica, and a hundred other wikis. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 22:55, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Format of this page - numbered lists

Are numbered lists a good format of this page? As I understand it, usually a less "law-like" format of guideline pages is preferred. // Habj 10:28, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linking from subpages

There's no information about how links in subpages are interpretted. That is, are they resolved at the top level of their namespace or only within the sub page? For example, does a link to "foo" on the page "Main:Bar/Whatever" go to "Main:Foo" or "Main:Bar/Foo"? This should be addressed in the article. Pimlottc 16:36, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. This is explained at meta:Help:Links#Subpage_feature (copy at Help:Links#Subpage_feature) --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 11:06, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Subpages in mainspace—On or Off?

The "History of Subpages" section states that creation of subpages in the main namespace is disallowed. If this is true, then how is allowed use #1 done? I have no plans to create an article subpage; I'm just trying to make sure that things make sense. Ardric47 05:04, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

This article says that the creation of subpages in mainspace is disabled, but Triaria/De claris mulieribus was created today. I'm going to AfD it (since it is disallowed anyway), but I thought this couldn't happen? Fram 09:32, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

These are not subpages, just ordinary pages that have a slash in the title. That subpages are disabled in the main namespace means that the slash is not a special character in mainspace article titles. Kusma (討論) 09:35, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

According to this link it is allowed, well it tells you how to do set up sub-pages so I assume its allowed, I was going to ask once you have followed those steps can you delete the link to the sub-page (I would use mine for testing stuff, most of the time it would me empty) pjb007 11:17, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] wp:sp

When I type WP:SP into the "search" box, I get the "sock puppetry" article. When I click on a link to WP:SP, I get "subpages." Both pages say "WP:SP redirects here." I assume you have to be an administrator to fix this; maybe someone could take care of it? Thanks. Theleek 16:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] From WikiProject Films talk

This is related to a current project discussion (Long synopses & Extended plot sub articles). Sometimes in a film article we have a well writen short synopsis (which is not so easy to achieve) which then starts growing to either become a mess, or something worth keeping for those who want it, but definitely no longer "synopsis". For some users such an extended plot is distracting (in the course of the main film article). We have tried to set length limits, but even there a well writen 2-3 paragraph synopsis is different from an equally well written 4-5 paragraph plot. So the question is, should we create lose main namespace articles like '''[[Extended plot (Film title)]]''' and forget completely the subpage idea? Hoverfish Talk 19:18, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Subpage template created

Template:Usersubpage Template:Usersubpage I don't know whether I should put it in the article or not. -- Arriva436 11:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How can you tell if another user has created a subpage?

For example, if some other user creates User:Dzubint/RANDOMSTUFF, is there some indication of this creation on my main userpage? Dzubint 15:36, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Disallowed" section

I changed the style of the "disallowed" section to match the "allowed" one, removing the bolded "do not" and "do not even consider". We are not supposed to WP:BITE the newcomers, and I felt the tone of this section was too "bitey" for comfort. Barking orders at people who intend to edit in good faith is not very helpful, and those who want to make bad faith edits will just go ahead and do it anyway. AdorableRuffian 09:46, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question about creating

I wrote an article several months ago that got deleted. I want to create a subpage under my user page to post that article (I saved the code) so I can show friends what got deleted. Is this allowed? -Fez2005 21:46, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Userfication

Garrie 23:25, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moving subpages to mainspace

A lot of editors throw together random bits on a subpage until it gets to a point where it wouldn't be prodded in article space. I am suprised to see that the process of moving a user subpage to article space isn't specifically mentioned and covered here (a link to an article that discusses it more fully isn't even provided in an obvious way). Garrie 23:32, 29 March 2007 (UTC)