Help:FAQ

From Wikimedia Incubator

This are the Frequently Asked Questions.

Contents 1 Is this part of Wikipedia? What is Wikimedia, and MediaWiki? 2 Incubator 2.1 What are the rules and policies? 2.2 How do I upload an image? 2.3 How do I start a new test language? 2.4 When will my test language have its own site? 3 Prefix 3.1 What is a prefix? 3.2 What is the prefix of my test? 3.2.1 Help, I have no ISO code! 3.3 Why must all pages be prefixed? 3.4 How to link to prefixed pages? 3.5 I still don't understand it, or I don't know what my prefix is 4 New wiki created 4.1 Our wiki is created! But what do I need to do now? 4.2 Why are some pages not imported? 5 Localisation, interface, etc. 5.1 The interface is in English, how can I change it to a language I speak? 5.2 I've chosen (Arabic/Hebrew/another right-to-left language) but it still appears in left-to-right. How do I fix this? 5.3 My language is not in the list on Special:Preferences? / I've chosen my language but it is still in English? 6 My question is not answered.

[edit] Is this part of Wikipedia? What is Wikimedia, and MediaWiki?

Take a look at these images:

		So the Wikimedia Incubator is part of the Wikimedia Foundation which operates various projects, like Wikipedia.

[edit] Incubator

[edit] What are the rules and policies?

You can find the policy on Incubator:Policy. See also Category:Incubator:Policy.

[edit] How do I upload an image?

If you are a registered user, you normally can upload a file through Special:Upload but it's disabled. You have to upload it on Wikimedia Commons.

You can find more information on Incubator:Upload.

[edit] How do I start a new test language?

Follow the instructions on Help:Manual. Note that you really need a valid ISO code.

[edit] When will my test language have its own site?

After you have submitted a request at Meta, you need to wait on approval by the Language subcommittee. The wiki will first be verified to be eligible, that means the test wiki is allowed to have an own wiki. Then you will see a link to a status page. There you can easily see what needs to be done yet. If everything has been done and your test wiki here is still active, the test wiki will be approved. After approval, it takes a long time before a bug is submitted and done...

[edit] Prefix

[edit] What is a prefix?

A prefix is the first part of a page title, if you go to a random page you will likely go to a page "Wx/xx/Page title". The first two letters indicate the project, then a slash, the following two or three letters indicate the language, then another slash, then the normal page title as it will be when the wiki is created.

[edit] What is the prefix of my test?

This needs to be Project/code

• Project: Normally you start with Wikipedia, so use Wp, but it can also be: Wiktionary (prefix "Wt/"), Wikiquote (prefix "Wq/"), Wikibooks (prefix "Wb/"), or Wikinews (prefix "Wn/"). Wikisource and Wikiversity projects are hosted elsewhere: oldwikisource: and betawikiversity:.
• Code: The ISO 639 code of your language. The language must have a valid ISO-639 (search) code.

[edit] Help, I have no ISO code!

Sorry, but you can not start a test project here.

• You can try submitting a request for an ISO 639 code.
• You can start one at Incubator Plus, but you won't get your own Wikimedia wiki.

[edit] Why must all pages be prefixed?

There are several reasons:

• Logically, to distinguish the pages between the test languages.

  For example, if there is one page (e.g. "Europa") which is the same in many, many languages. Which test will have an article with that name? What should the other test have to do? Prefixes solve this problem.

• The prefixed pages will be imported when your test language has its own subdomain, the unprefixed pages will not.

  Pages have to be imported instead of just copied. It is very very hard to import pages without a prefix.

• The prefixed pages will be listed in the analysis for your test language, the unprefixed not.

  So, in some way, you will get your own wiki faster :-)

[edit] How to link to prefixed pages?

To link to pages, use [[Page title]] and to link to prefixed pages, use [[Wx/xx/Page title]].

To make it yourself easy, you can use gadget AddPrefix.

• When creating a page, it will add a prefix to links. When you don't want one, use [[|Link]] (pipe after "[[").
• When editing a page, it will add such a pipe.

[edit] I still don't understand it, or I don't know what my prefix is

Try asking in the community portal for help.

[edit] New wiki created

[edit] Our wiki is created! But what do I need to do now?

First of all, you can create an account on the new wiki, but do not start copying or editing! Someone will import pages from here to the new wiki, see Incubator:Importing from Incubator for more information.

[edit] Why are some pages not imported?

You probably got the number of articles from Special:Statistics or {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}. It is a known problem that page count is incorrect after import. So, look at Special:Allpages for the real number (no number, but a list of all pages). On the other side, after previous imports there were some pages missing. This could be fixed meanwhile, but it is still possible that there are some pages missing.

[edit] Localisation, interface, etc.

[edit] The interface is in English, how can I change it to a language I speak?

First, you need to be logged in. Then you can easily change your language in Special:Preferences (the list somewhere in the middle). Also see here for interface translation: Help:Manual#Step_4:_Localisation

[edit] I've chosen (Arabic/Hebrew/another right-to-left language) but it still appears in left-to-right. How do I fix this?

Go back to Special:Preferences, click on "Gadgets" (the right-most tab), search for the right gadget and click on the checkbox to enable it.

[edit] My language is not in the list on Special:Preferences? / I've chosen my language but it is still in English?

This means your language is not yet translated, or not completely translated. If you are willing to translate it, you can do that on Betawiki (follow the instructions on Translating:How to start). See also the localisation statistics.

[edit] My question is not answered.

Try asking in the Community Portal. The question and answer will be added here.