Difference between revisions of "Help:Special pages"

From DoomWiki.org

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|Administrators can [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves|merge revisions]] of one article into the history of another.  This is useful for resolving instances of plagiarism between wikis.|}}
 
|Administrators can [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves|merge revisions]] of one article into the history of another.  This is useful for resolving instances of plagiarism between wikis.|}}
 
{{SpecialPageCell|MIMESearch|N
 
{{SpecialPageCell|MIMESearch|N
|Lists uploaded files with a specified [http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/index.html MIME type].  Non-standard formats like [[LMP]] and [[WAD]] are classified as "text/plain".|}}
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|Lists uploaded files with a specified [http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/index.html MIME type].  Non-standard formats like [[Demo|LMP]] and [[WAD]] are classified as "text/plain".|}}
 
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Revision as of 01:46, 15 January 2018

Special pages are part of the MediaWiki software. Most are designed to help with site maintenance and paperwork. Some perform activities indirectly related to editing, like uploading images or listing all links to a certain article.

Special pages never appear in lists of articles, and generally cannot be modified. Most have PHP configuration variables, and any explanatory text can be revised via #Special:AllMessages. Parameters (such as the log type on #Special:Log) can sometimes be passed to a special page in the URL; these are rarely documented, however. When typing a URL by hand, the camelcasing is not required.

As of January 2012, all special pages are "live", not cached. Therefore, repeatedly pounding the refresh button may overtax the database server. Lists of articles are limited to 5000 items in any case.

Pages marked as hidden are omitted from the directory at #Special:SpecialPages, but may be accessed via certain auto-generated wikilinks, such as those in the sidebar.

Special page Hidden Description Redirects
N An interface for configuring the AbuseFilter extension. Algorithms for the filters are stored in numbered subpages. A table summarizes each filter's actions and indicates its total volume. The user can edit or import filters, test them on past edits, or view the text of rejected edits (some tools are restricted to administrators however).
N A detailed log of changes to the AbuseFilter criteria (see #Special:Log), with some advanced search options.
N Lists registered users with at least one edit in the last 91 days.
N A version of the review log with some advanced search options relating to revision control. Special:QualityOversight
N Lists all text strings in the MediaWiki interface (excepting a few strings used by extensions). Administrators can edit them. Messages differing from the defaults are stored in the MediaWiki: namespace.
N Lists all pages within a specified namespace. Redirects are italicized.
N Lists articles by date of last edit.
Y A test page.
N Administrators can block an account or IP address from editing. IP ranges can be blocked using CIDR notation, although this should be done with due caution as the potential for collateral damage is high. Special:BlockIP, Special:BlockUser
N Lists the accounts and IP addresses that are currently blocked, and for how long. Special:IPBlockList, Special:ListBlocks
N If you know a book's ISBN number, this page searches for it in various online stores.
N Lists redirects pointing to nonexistent pages. Ideally this should be empty, but occasionally someone will create redirects with the intention of starting the real article later.
Y Displays the help text for our captcha extension (MediaWiki:Questycaptchahelp-text and MediaWiki:Captchahelp-cookies-needed).
N Lists all categories in alphabetical order (see also #Special:CategoryTree). Equivalent to #Special:AllPages in the Category: namespace.
N Navigate categories and subcategories in an "expanding/collapsing folders" format. (See also #Special:Categories).
N Allows a logged-in user to change his/her configured email address.
Y Accessed from #Special:Preferences, this allows a registered user to change their password. An email address is not required. Note that this does not permit resetting passwords deleted during the fork (since you have to be logged in to view your preferences). Instructions for that case are listed in the FAQ. Special:ResetPass, Special:ResetPassword
An interface for conducting checkuser queries. Unlike Wikipedia, this site has no formal system of requests (our privacy policy discusses situations where checks might occur). Currently the checkuser permission is assigned only to accounts in the bureaucrat group.
Users with the checkuser right can review a log of #Special:CheckUser actions.
N Generates a formal bibliographic citation for a wiki article. Several standard formats are displayed.
N Allows generating a diff between two articles or two specific article revisions, in case duplicate content needs to be merged efficiently.
N Lists pages for which an editor has overridden standard revision stabilization rules. This should ideally be empty most of the time.
Y This page is linked from #Special:Preferences if the user has entered an email address. The address must be validated before MediaWiki will begin sending messages there.
N Lists edits by a specified user. Deleted revisions and logged actions are omitted. Special:Contribs, Special:MyContributions
N Allows creating a new account without having to visit #Special:UserLogin first, even if you are already logged in.
N Lists articles with no outbound wikilinks.
N Administrators can view deleted edits by a specified user (unless they predate the fork).
Y Linking to this, with revisions as arguments, displays a diff as an internal link.
N Lists redirects pointing to other redirects. These normally result from page moves where the editor forgot to check for redirects to the old title. To prevent an infinite loop, MediaWiki follows only the first link automatically, so double redirects should always be fixed.
N Counts the total edits by a specified user, grouped by namespace. Deleted revisions and logged actions are omitted.
Y Any registered user can use this page to create and maintain a watchlist, which shows recent edits to the pages they select. Talk pages are automatically included along with their articles. Add /raw to edit the list with an edit window instead of checkboxes, and /clear to empty the list.
Y A web form for emailing another user. Both parties must have entered addresses in their preferences, and the sender's address is always revealed to the recipient (but not vice versa). Currently disabled on the Doom Wiki. Special:Email
N Test area for previewing the results of transclusions (templates, MediaWiki variables, and/or parser functions).
N Dump one or more articles to an XML file. This file can normally be imported into another MediaWiki installation.
N Lists articles in ascending order of edit count.
N Finds duplicates of a previously uploaded image (using file hashes). In the current version of MediaWiki, this search is run automatically as part of the upload process.
Y If you know the full title of an image, you can bypass the File: page to view or download it directly.
N Descriptions of available gadgets.
Y
N An administrator can add pages or revisions en masse from an XML file generated by MediaWiki (see #Special:Export).
N Administrators can manage the table of interwiki link prefixes, provided by the Interwiki extension.
Y Generates a confirmation link for deactivating the user's email address (see #Special:ConfirmEmail). With #Special:EmailUser disabled, this appears not to work either.
N Finds external links matching a specified URL or domain. Useful for tracking down large-scale spam, or when a domain has become dead.
N Using hash functions, lists all uploaded files with duplicates. Only the latest versions are scanned. Special:ListFileDuplicates
N A table of pages in the File: namespace, with extra information like file size and upload summary. Special:AllMyFiles, Special:AllMyUploads, Special:FileList, Special:ImageList, Special:MyFiles, Special:MyUploads
N Specifies which MediaWiki permissions are assigned to which user groups. These settings can be changed only by the database maintainers, who are unlikely to do so absent a clear demonstration of consensus or a site performance issue. Special:UserGroupRights
N Lists every redirect in every namespace, in the order they were created.
N Lists all users in a specified group. (See also #Special:ActiveUsers.) Sorting by account age is currently broken. Special:ListAdmins, Special:ListBots, Special:UserList
This page allows the entire site to be temporarily locked from editing. Currently unused and inaccessible, because we have no user groups with the siteadmin permission.
N A record of editing actions that don't involve revising the text of a page: abuse filter setup, blocks, deletions, XML imports, interwiki table changes, history merges (currently disabled), page moves, page patrolling (largely unused), page protections, reviews, file uploads, account creations, account merges, account renaming, and user rights changes. The abuse filter entries do not show the criteria in detail, since that would make them easier to evade. See #Special:AbuseFilter. Special:Logs
N Lists articles with no inbound wikilinks. Special:OrphanedPages
N Lists articles in descending order of size (mainspace only). In 2004, it was easy to overload an old computer or an outdated browser, but nowadays this is mostly useful for finding promotional editing.
N Lists number and total size of uploaded files by file type.
N Administrators can merge revisions of one article into the history of another. This is useful for resolving instances of plagiarism between wikis.
N Lists uploaded files with a specified MIME type. Non-standard formats like LMP and WAD are classified as "text/plain".
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N Lists pages that have a lot of categories.
N Displays pages with the most interlanguage links. However, we have no other language versions so this table is empty.
N Lists the categories containing the most articles/files. Special:MostUsedCategories
N Lists files being used on many pages. All namespaces are included. Special:MostFiles, Special:MostImages
N Lists pages with the most inbound wikilinks. All namespaces are included, and links within transcluded text (such as a navbox) are counted. Special:MostLinked
N Lists pages with many edits (mainspace only).
N Lists pages with the most transclusions (all namespaces). Special:MostLinkedTemplates, Special:MostUsedTemplates
Y Accessed via the move tab, this form executes a page move.
Y Switches the wiki's content language to the language in the user's preferences, if that translation exists. Has no effect here because there is only one language. (Interface message translations are always available with the uselang URL parameter).
Y Redirects to the User: page of the current user or IP address.
Y Redirects to the User talk: page of the current user or IP address.
N Displays a grid of recent uploads with thumbnails. Special:NewImages
N Lists page creations within the last 91 days. Highlighted entries have not yet been reviewed.
N An administrator can mass-delete pages created by a specified user within the last 30 days. Obviously, this is only intended for use in clear cases of spamming or repeated vandalism.
N Allows searching for articles with special wiki engine properties such as tables of contents or sort order overrides. Special:PagesByProp
N Allows a logged-in user to have a new temporary password sent via email (must have a configured email address or this will not work).
N Lists pages which were previously reviewed, but have additional revisions pending. "(under review)" means that the diff has been viewed by someone with reviewing permissions in the last 5 minutes or so (that user may decline to approve the revision, of course). As of January 2013, only about half the mainspace (including redirects) has ever been reviewed. This list is short because many of our most active users are also Editors, meaning that their contributions are automatically approved. Special:OldReviewedPages
Y Linking to this, with a revision ID as an argument, displays a permalink as an internal link. Special:PermaLink
N Lists pages in order of all-time views (mainspace only).
N Logged-in users can customize the site's appearance and editing interface, and specify contact information.
N Search for pages whose titles begin with a certain string (technically redundant with #Special:AllPages, but less unwieldy). Redirects are italicized.
N Lists pages pending review, filtered by edit tag. The Doom Wiki has few extensions which apply tags (see #Special:Tags), so this page is normally empty.
N These pages are currently under some form of editing restriction. Administrators can change a page's protection level. This list omits nonexistent pages "salted" against re-creation; for those, see #Special:ProtectedTitles.
N Lists pages that cannot be created due to repeated counterproductive editing.
N Immediately loads a randomly selected page. The main namespace is used by default, but this can be changed in the URL, e.g. https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Special:Random/Help  . A random file can be embedded using the RandomImage extension. Special:RandomPage
N Loads a random page within a specified category. This also may be included in a URL, e.g. https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Special:Random/1994_WADs; this version of the page is a MediaWiki built-in feature.
Y Similar to #Special:RandomInCategory, but provides less biased results. Provided by an extension.
N Like #Special:Random, but displays a redirect page instead of a normal page.
N A chronological list of recent page edits plus "public" logged actions (such as deletions and file uploads). All of the filtering options, including the timestamp, can be specified in the URL. The hard limit of 365 days was apparently lowered to 91 days at some point.
N Similar to #Special:RecentChanges, but confined to pages linked from a specified page, pages linked to a specified page, or pages within a certain category. The "Related changes" link in the sidebar brings up this page and performs a search on the currently displayed article or category. Special:RelatedChanges
N Generates redirects to various types of articles by title or page id. Can be used with the page title or id appended to the end of the URL with a slash.
Bureaucrats can rename an account. Because this is extremely database-intensive, and because copyleft requires edits to be accurately attributed, it should only be done for users with very few contributions.
N Allows private account tokens to be reset in case an account has been compromised. The user must initiate this action; it cannot be done by an admin on their behalf.
N Lists pages that have ever been reviewed, by namespace and quality level. "prime revision" links to the version of each page displayed by default (to non-logged-in users). Pages are vaguely ordered by the timestamp of the initial approval.
Y Abbreviated log generated by #Special:ReviewedPages, listing all validated versions of a given page and who reviewed them. Special:StableVersions
Y Here administrators can delete or undelete individual edits, while the page as a whole remains in place.
Y Confirmation page for rejecting draft revisions, which prompts the user for a log summary.
N Search in page titles or text by namespace. MediaWiki's indexing has become more powerful over the years (two-letter words can now be included, for instance).
N Lists articles in ascending order of size (mainspace only).
Y Most core special pages are linked here, grouped by topic.
Y Administrators can override the default public revision on an individual page without editing or reviewing it. This dialog is linked from the protection tab; the URL can be manually typed only if the target title is included, e.g. https://doomwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Stabilization&page=Mace_of_Contrition  . As of May 2012, all administrators are also Reviewers, making this page largely redundant. Special:Stabilisation
N Summarizes recent site traffic in terms of edits, page views, and registered users. A nonzero job queue length means that certain edits presumed to be database-intensive (like changing a widely used template) have not yet propagated to all pages. If you suspect this in an article you want to edit, append ?action=purge to that article's URL.
N A list of tags which can be automatically added to edit summaries. Currently these are used only to identify possible spam or vandalism.
N List of auto-populated maintenance categories. These can normally be changed only by extensions or by modifying MediaWiki's source code. As of April 2015, we rarely use them, so most haven't even been created.
N Allows an administrator to unblock a user or IP address if it is blocked, without having to check the #Special:BlockList.
N Lists categories which are not themselves in a category. This should only contain one entry, Category:Categories.
N Lists files which do not belong to any category. This should be empty. Special:UncategorizedImages
N Lists pages which do not belong to any category (mainspace only). This should be empty, although subpages have proved challenging.
N Lists templates which do not belong to any category. This should be empty.
N Administrators can view and restore previously deleted content, unless it predates the fork.
This page restores editability to the wiki if it has been locked (see #Special:LockDB). Currently unused and inaccessible, because we have no user groups with the siteadmin permission.
N The complement to #Special:ReviewedPages, listing pages that have no reviewed revisions.
N These categories have been created (description text, templates, categorization...) but contain no pages.
N Uploaded files which are not included on any page, mainspace or otherwise. Most of the time these will never be used, and may safely be nominated for deletion. Special:UnusedImages
N Templates which are not invoked on any page. Wikilinks pointing to the Template: page do not count, although those are included at #Special:WhatLinksHere.
N Pages not on any user's watchlist. Unwatched pages are easier to vandalize, so this list is restricted to administrators.
N Upload images and media for embedding in articles. A page in the File: namespace is automatically created to document each file. Only certain file types are permitted (MediaWiki examines both the extension and the MIME type to determine this).
Y
Y Gallery of the user's file uploads awaiting review, visible only to the uploader. This was implemented specifically to support the Commons Upload Wizard and so does not function on most other sites, including this one.
N Registered users can log in here. Administrators can create an account on someone else's behalf by going to this page while logged in, then clicking "create an account". Special:Login
Y Loading this page logs the user out. Special:Logout
Bureaucrats can merge one account into another. Because this is extremely database-intensive, and because copyleft requires edits to be accurately attributed, it should only be done for users with very few contributions. The discontinued account is completely removed from the site, not merely hidden or blocked.
Y
N Administrators can view and change the access levels of any registered account. Some changes are restricted to bureaucrats only (see #Special:ListGroupRights). Special:MakeBot, Special:MakeSysop
N Data on how promptly new contributions are vetted for quality.
N Some broad information about our MediaWiki configuration and the extensions currently installed. (Installed extensions are occasionally deactivated due to performance or stability issues.)
N Categories which contain pages, but have not yet been created (description text, templates, categorization...). Subcategorization is a tedious procedure, so categories are often "proposed" in this manner.
N Files that have been linked to, but not actually uploaded. Using this page indiscriminately as a to-do list is not recommended, due to copyright issues and vanity editing. In most cases, links to deleted images should simply be removed.
N Pages that have been linked to, but not actually created. Notability standards are ill-defined on the Doom Wiki, and this list includes all namespaces, so a single link means very little. Titles at the top of the list are far more likely to be relevant. Special:BrokenLinks
N Templates that have been linked to, but not actually created. Writing templates can be complex and time-consuming, so templates are often "proposed" in this manner. On the other hand, it might be a typo or vandalism.
N Like #Special:RecentChanges, but limited to the user's watchlist.
N Lists all pages with wikilinks pointing to a certain page or file. This list can be generated from the sidebar toolbox, for the page currently in view.
N Lists articles without interlanguage links. Such lists are worthless on the Doom Wiki, which only has one subdomain, but fanatically maintained on Wikipedia.