Help:Moving a page
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Moving (renaming) a page means changing it's name, so it will appear at a different address on the wiki. This is done by using the "move" link in the "more" menu at the top of the page to be moved. The "move" link is only visible to logged-in users.
Moving a popular page can have far reaching consequences for the wiki. For pages that are linked to from many places, are large, central, have many redirects etc., the operation can require potentially complex or lengthy manual intervention. Moving popular pages, and pages well referenced from the web, could potentially disrupt user's experiences. Please fully take note of and understand all implication before attempting a move.
Move a page
To move a page, click the "move" link, enter the new page name, and provide a comment explaining the reason for the move. Read the explanation at the top of the "move" page, and the rest of this section, before clicking the "Move page" button.
Pages cannot be moved to a name where there is a preexisting page, except over a simple redirect that has no past edit history.
If there is a Talk page associated with the page to be moved, an option to move this page - "Move associated talk page" - will be shown, and should usually be left selected. If the destination name already has a talk page associated with it, the talk page should be manually moved/merged, if necessary.
The "move" page allows a new namespace to be selected, if the page is to change namespace, though this will usually not be needed. Leave "Watch source page and target page" selected to be notified of subsequent changes by other users.
When moving page "A" to a new title "B", the following changes will be made:
- Rename the title of "A" to "B"
- Rename all the editing history of page "A" to "B"
- Create a new page "A", containing a redirection to page "B"
The second point is important. By using the "Move" feature, the editing history is transferred, which is desirable in most situations. The editing history allows people to see how the contents of the page were built up, and who contributed what. Not using the move feature, and transferring contents around by copying and pasting, will not preserve the editing history, which is nearly always undesirable (see Help:Tracking changes).
Because the move operation leaves behind a redirect (see Help:Redirects), it should not break links, however it is good practice to identify pages which link to these new redirects, and change their text to link directly to the new title. The "What links here" feature, which can be used through the link in the Tools menu, is useful when doing this.
Redirects that already pointed to the page being moved may become "double redirects". These should be corrected as explained in Help:Redirects#Double_redirects. Once these redirects have been checked and corrected, the Special:DoubleRedirects page may be consulted to be sure there are none left. Any broken redirects should also be corrected, and can be checked for at Special:BrokenRedirects. These two special pages will show redirect issues for the whole wiki, though there usually should be almost none, so any issues caused by a new page move should not be hard to identify on these pages.
Proposing a move
Deciding on a page title can be a difficult aspect of wiki organization, and one which can cause debate. If a move could cause upset or be considered controversial, propose the move first, by explaining the reasons for the move on the article's talk page. The page itself may also be labeled, with a move proposal template, to make everybody aware of the proposed move.
Undo a move
As with all wiki editing, a move operation can be reversed (by any user). To reverse a move operation, simply move the page back, e.g. move page "B" back to "A".
The page title "B" will remain as a redirect, now from "B" to "A". Any user can remove the redirect or propose that the page be deleted, however the final deletion will require sysop privileges (see Help:Deleting a page).