Help:Namespaces

{| cellspacing="7" style="width: 100%; background: #EFFBF5; border: 1px solid silver;" Page titles in MediaWiki (the software used to run this wiki) are composed of two parts: the namespace (including a colon), if there is one, followed by the name. The title can be found at the top of each page on the wiki, or by taking everything in the address bar of your browser after the   part (with underscores in place of spaces). If there is no colon in the title, the page is part of the "Main" namespace.
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Guild Wars Wiki is organized into the following namespaces:

Main namespace
The Main namespace contains all the game documenting articles, such as NPCs, areas and items along with the associated talk pages. The Main namespace should not be used for articles that have their own namespace; in particular guild pages should go in the Guild: namespace only, and player pages belong in the User: namespace, even though both are technically part of the game. The primary policy governing the main namespace is Guild Wars Wiki:Article retention, but all policies that do not specify a specific other namespace apply to the main namespace.

User: namespace
The User: namespace contains all user articles. Each registered member of the community may make a page in the User namespace with their username as the name; for example, a user named Example would create their main userpage at User:Example. A user may also create subpages (collectively known as that user's userspace), such as for their individual characters (User:Example/Example_Elementalist), for humor pages (User:Example/Joke_Skill), for a personal sandbox to experiment with wiki code (User:Example/Sandbox), or to track projects on the wiki (User:Example/Projects). Guild Wars Wiki:User pages is the policy specific to the User: namespace, but other policies dealing with user behavior (such as GWW:NPA) and GWW:COPYRIGHT still apply.

Guild Wars Wiki: namespace
The Guild Wars Wiki: namespace contains pages that relate to the operation of the wiki. Policies and guidelines, as well as policy and guideline drafts, are found in this namespace, along with pages of general community interest such as the Guild Wars Wiki:Community portal, Guild Wars Wiki:Requests for comment, and the Guild Wars Wiki:Admin noticeboard. There is no policy specific to the Guild Wars Wiki: namespace, but Guild Wars Wiki:Policy has instructions for creating a new policy draft or proposing changes to an existing policy, and non-policy pages may have their own rules which can be found at the top of those pages.

File: namespace
The File: namespace (previously known as Image:) contains all uploaded media. Images should be appropriate for the namespace in which they are used: for example, images used in Main namespace articles will most often be in-game screenshots of Guild Wars NPCs or items, maps, or extra game-related media from ArenaNet. Images for User: or Guild: namespace are less restricted, but still should be kept appropriate for User or Guild pages.

All images should be given descriptive names relating to their subject. For example, a screenshot of an NPC named John Smith should be uploaded as File:John_Smith.jpg rather than File:gw001.jpg. Images used in the User: or Guild: namespace should also have the word "User" or "Guild" followed by the name of the user or guild at the beginning of the name; for example File:User_Example_John_Smith.jpg, or File:Guild_Wiki_Examples_Anonymous_John_Smith.jpg. The description when uploading an image should include the source of the image. The screenshot template should be used if the source is an in-game screenshot, a link to the original location should be provided if the image was found off-site, or the username of the original uploader should be provided if the image was originally uploaded somewhere else on Guild Wars Wiki.

Guild Wars Wiki:Image use is the primary policy for the File: namespace, and Guild Wars Wiki:Formatting/Images contains image formatting guidelines. Additionally, all images are subject to Guild Wars Wiki:Copyrighted content and images for use on user pages and guild pages are subject to GWW:USER and GWW:GUILD, respectively.

Talk:, User talk:, Guild Wars Wiki talk:, etc
Every page on the wiki has an associated talk page. For Main namespace articles, these talk pages are in the Talk: namespace, while other namespaces each have a corresponding "(Namespace) talk:" namespace. Regardless which talk namespace it is, comments on talk pages should be signed using four tildes ( ~ ), should not be editted except for typos, clarification, or to strike out part of a comment that no longer applies, and then should only be editted by the person who wrote the comment. Comments should only be removed from a talk page to archive them or to move them to a more relevant talk page, unless it is vandalism or a personal attack.

Talk pages in the User talk: namespace are considered part of a user's userspace, and as such is subject to Guild Wars Wiki:User pages. They should generally be treated like other talk pages, but users should refrain from archiving another user's talk page without permission, and the user may add a custom header to personalize their talk page, so long as it doesn't interfere with other users using the talk page. There is no policy specific to talk pages aside from GWW:USER, but general behavior policies, particularly Guild Wars Wiki:No personal attacks, apply as always.
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