Wikisource:Do not move Index:, Page:, File: pages

Page architecture
The architecture of works produced with the mw:Extension:Proofread Page extension for scanned texts (usually DjVu and PDF files) imposes an alignment of pages across three namespaces, and their use in transcluding into other namespaces.

For such works the naming of the pages need use the exact same filename:


 * 1) Scan of work at either Commons or at English Wikisource
 * 2) Index: page at English Wikisource
 * 3) Page: for the respective text pages being proofread at English Wikisource
 * 4) Transcluded work, typically in Main or Translation: namespaces
 * 1) Page: for the respective text pages being proofread at English Wikisource
 * 2) Transcluded work, typically in Main or Translation: namespaces
 * 1) Transcluded work, typically in Main or Translation: namespaces

What is involved in moving and updating
When a move is required, the first three (File:/Index:/Page:) have to be moved in close unison, and redirects are considered undesirable in this case. Note that usually in the Page: namespace the number of pages affected can be in the tens to hundreds.

Following these moves, then the display pages in the main namespace need to be updated for the new transclusions: generally this entails updating the  parameter of all   tags.

Normal users do not have sufficient rights to make these moves effectively, because the Mediawiki software is not configured to allow normal users to be able to suppress redirects. This means the redirects for moved page A will often interfere when page B is moved to page A's old location (which is now a redirect). Even if the redirects do not interfere, they still need to be tidied up. Administrators and bots have the right to suppress these redirects and thus can move Indexes and Pages much more easily.

Prefer not to move
The community would prefer to seek alternates to moving all those pages if possible, most especially if there are transcluded pages. This is due to the fact that our displayed works do not require perfect naming of the file/index/page pages: the transcluded result will not show the name of the File: or Index: to the end user.

Specifically, when a file has a name that is not actively misleading or overly ambiguous, even if not ideal, then we normally do not move the File and Index if Pages already exist. For example File:The life of Henry Bidleman Bascom ... (IA 00341926.emory.edu).pdf is an acceptable name, where an ideal filename might be "The life of Henry Bidleman Bascom - Henckle - 1854.pdf". Over a million files on Commons exist with such automatically-generated filenames, renaming them all is not practical or worthwhile.

When might we move?

 * When there is only a File: and Index: (i.e. no Pages: have been created yet), it is reasonably easy to move both of these, and request the deletion of the resulting redirecting Index: page (e.g. with sdelete)
 * When the above is true and only a few pages are in the Page: namespace
 * When we are moving Page: pages from one Index: to another Index: due to a source replacement (for whatever reason that may occur)
 * When a filename is actively misleading (e.g. the title is completely mistaken)
 * When a filename is missing important information like a volume number and that is making proofreading difficult

We would prefer not to, and generally we would not, leave redirects, though there may be cases where that is our resulting action.

How do I request a move

 * Scriptorium.

Please provide the detail of the work that needs repair or moving, and the target, be it new or existing, and why you want the page moved. If we are migrating pages from from one scan to another, and there is an offset (e.g. page 10 of the old scan is now page 12 of the new scan), that is very important information. Information in the form of special:PrefixIndex can be quite useful to scope the proposed move.

Some admins have automated tools for these moves, so it will save you a lot of time to request an Index to be moved rather than attempting to do it yourself and then request tidying up of all the redirects (either way, you'll need to request something). While you are waiting for a request, you can continue to work on the Index in its current location: when the move happens your new pages will be moved too.

Image-based indexes
If we have Index: pages built with individual JPG or PNG files, there are different issues, and different solutions. There is more wriggle room for alterations to the Index: name, though numbers of the issues expressed above still exist, so caution should continue to be exhibited.