Author: stvrtg
Description:
I remember asking Starling about this a few years ago, and though I thought his answer was unsatisfactory, I suppose I figured it would have been corrected anyway. It hadn't come up again until recent discussion:
"...[It] might be called something like "Wikipedia:WikiProject [Scope]," though
the usage of the above terminology is attributable to a unfortunate convergence of
factors:
- An unfortunate technical/technocratic inability to use the word "Project" as a
namespace (which would produce something elegant like "Project:[Scope]")
" 2) A likewise unfortunate tendency to honor CamelCase as a kind of Wikipudlian
meme, and
- An equally unfortunate propensity we all have for using the word "wiki" in any
context imaginable. "
( http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2009-May/100680.html )
AIUI, the reason is that the word "Project" is currently used as a standard substitute for a MediaWiki project's actual name, either because :
- someone hasn't entered a unique or else local name when they install MW.
- code usage, to refer to the main meta namespace.
The first one is solved simply by requiring the input of a <s>project</s> wiki name, which isn't unreasonable.
The second is solved simply by using something other than "project" as a token in code. If a token is required, something like "project_" "projectname" "meta" or "metaspace" could conceivably work just as well.
Again, the idea is to free up "Project" for usage with actual subprojects, which is a more important usage of that namespace, IMHO.
-SV
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Severity: normal