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2 User User talk 3
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Virtual namespaces
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User pages are pages in the User and User talk namespaces, and are useful for organizing and aiding the work users do on Wikipedia, and facilitating interaction and sharing between users. User pages mainly are for interpersonal discussion, notices, testing and drafts (see: Sandboxes), and, if desired, limited autobiographical and personal content. User pages are available to Wikipedia users personally for purposes compatible with the Wikipedia project and acceptable to the community; Wikipedia is not a blog, webspace provider, or social networking site. Wikipedia policies concerning the content of pages can and generally do apply to user pages, and users must observe these policies. Users believed to be in violation of these policies should first be advised on their talk page using Template:Tls when immediate action is not otherwise necessary.

Terminology and page locations

Note: "Your" in this context means associated with you, not belonging to you.
User page 
Your user page has a name like this: User:Example. (This link is to yours.) Its normal use is to give basic information if you wish, about yourself or your Wikimedia-related activities. You don't have to say anything about yourself. If you prefer to put nothing here then you can redirect it to your user talk page for the convenience of other editors.
User talk page 
Your user talk page (sometimes abbreviated to "your talk page" or "your user talk") has a name like this: User talk:Example. (This link is to yours.) Its normal use is for messages from, and discussion with, other editors. For more information see Help:Using talk pages.
Shortcuts:

Subpages 
You can create subpages of your User page and your User talk page. The subpages will usually have names such as User:Example/draft article on violins or User:Example/test and their related talk pages. The first step is to type in the name of the page you want to make, such as User:Your_Wikipedia_Name/draft article on chosen topic into the Wikipedia search bar, and then navigating to the red-linked (non-existent) page you are setting up. After reading the instructions on that page, click on the Start the ___ page link. Your new page will come up, and you can start using it right away, or if you are using the new subpage for an article draft you may want to add the template {{userspace draft}} at the top of the page. You can also list any subpages that do already exist by using Special:Prefixindex (for example, Special:Prefixindex/User talk:Example/). You can usually have anything on a subpage that you might have on a user or user talk page, except for a few items (see below) that must be visible to other users if posted. Hierarchies of subpages are also possible. You can have as many subpages as you want but keep in mind that Wikipedia is not a free web host, please use subpages within reason. (See: Wikipedia:Subpages for more information)
User pages or user space 
All of these pages are your user pages or user space. While you do not "own" them, by custom if used reasonably and within these guidelines, you will mostly be left to manage and set them up entirely as you wish.

You also have subpages ending in .js and .css to store any user scripts and skin customizations that you may wish to have when you edit Wikipedia. Only you and administrators can edit such pages, although anyone can view them.


User talk notification

Shortcuts:

You will be notified if anyone edits your user talk page and/or leaves you a message there. The alert and links below are automatically displayed on all pages until you view your talk page, a diff on your talk page, or its history. Creating a fake message banner that misleads readers into thinking they have new messages is prohibited.

You have a new message from another user. (last change).

The links Special:MyPage and Special:MyTalk are shortcuts that take any user to their own user and user talk pages. If someone is to visit your (or someone else's) user or user talk pages a proper page link will be needed (e.g., [[User talk:Example]]). In practice, user and user talk pages are mostly visited by clicking on user signatures in discussions, and links shown in page histories and diffs.

Options available from user pages

In addition to the usual information accessible from an article page such as 'page history', "Discuss this page" and the like, users visiting user and user talk pages can also click "User contributions" (in the sidebar or at the bottom of the page) to see what contributions you have made at Wikipedia over time, and "Logs" to see records of other events related to your editorship, done by yourself and by others. (Note that having your user page deleted does not delete any list of your wider contributions.)

Visitors to your user page can also click "E-mail this user" if you have opted in your user preferences to be able to send and receive email. Your email address will remain private unless you reveal it yourself, select the option to reveal it (in preferences), or reply using an email system outside Wikipedia.

What may I have in my user pages?

Shortcut:

There is no fixed use for user pages, except that usually one's user page has something about oneself, and one's talk page is used for messaging. Provided other users can quickly and easily find the pages they need, users may, within reason, freely organize their user pages as they choose.

Users may include a user page notice on their own user pages, user talk pages, or both. Placing the template {{User page}} at the start of a user page clearly identifies the nature of the page for readers, and also helps if people find the labeled page in copies of Wikipedia elsewhere (more about this below) and want to locate the original.

Contributions can also be given a wider license - for example releasing them into the public domain or multi-licensing them - by putting a notice to this effect on one's user page, or on a subpage linked from it. Note that it is not possible to give them narrower licensing: all edits on Wikipedia, including all userspace edits, are licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License and in most cases the GNU Free Documentation License as part of Wikipedia.

User pages may be mirrored by other sites. If there is material you do not want copied, reposted, or reused, do not post it on the site.

Certain kinds of material must not linger indefinitely in user space; see below for details.

Besides communication, other legitimate uses of user space include (but are not limited to):

  • Significant editing disclosures (voluntary but recommended)
    • Things other editors may find helpful to understand, such as alternative accounts (if publicly disclosed)
    • If you are editing for or on behalf of a company, organization, group, product, or person (etc.) which you wish to be open about in order to gain a good working relationship with the editing community.

      (Editing must always be neutral and within encyclopedia norms. Editors tend to distrust concealed conflicts of interest and agendas. Openly disclosing such interests gains respect, invites others to help and shows a desire to edit appropriately.)

  • Notes related to your Wikipedia work and activities
    • Current or planned articles, topic areas, to-do lists, reminders, articles worked on, accolades and other successes, collaborative works, draft proposals, (constructive) thoughts on Wikipedia articles or policies and how they should be changed, etc.
    • Expansion and detailed backup for points being made (or which you may make) in discussions elsewhere on the wiki.
  • Work in progress or material that you may come back to in future (usually on subpages)
    • Drafts, especially where you want discussion or other users' opinions first, for example due to conflict of interest or major proposed changes
    • Drafts being written in your own user space because the target page itself is protected, and notes and working material for articles (Some content may not be kept indefinitely).
  • Useful links, tools, and scripts
  • User space archives
    • Old talk page threads, etc. (Some content may not be kept indefinitely in userspace if unused.)
  • Matters that are long enough in length, or active enough, to allocate them a page of their own
  • Personal writings suitable within the Wikipedia community
    • Non-article Wikipedia material such as reasonable Wikipedia humor, essays and perspectives, personal philosophy, comments on Wikipedia matters
    • Disclosures of important matters such as absences or self-corrections that you would like other editors to know about, etc.
    • Statements of congratulations or condolence for major events, especially if related to Wikipedia editorship or major life-events.

      (Make sure the user wants these to be publicly mentioned on the wiki, they may wish it to be private.)

  • Experimentation (usually on subpages)
  • Limited autobiographical content
    • For example, languages you know (see Wikipedia:Babel) or fields you have knowledge in.
  • A small and proportionate amount of suitable unrelated material
    • A number of users have Wikipedia and sister project content such as (free use) pictures from Wikimedia Commons, favorite Wikipedia articles, or quotations that they like.

      Pages used for blatant promotion or as a soapbox or battleground for unrelated matters are usually considered outside this criterion. For example: a five page résumé and advertising for your band will probably be too much, a brief three sentence summary that you work in field X and have a band named Y will be fine.

You are also welcome to include a simple link to your personal home page, although you should not surround it with any promotional language.

User pages are also used for administrative purposes, to make users aware of blocks, warnings, or other sanctions if they happen, and to notify of matters that may affect articles you have worked on or editorial issues you have been involved with. Others may also edit your user pages, for instance awarding you a barnstar or leaving notes and images for you, or adding comments and questions. Although you have wide leeway to edit your user pages, a few of these matters should not be removed (see below).

Userspace and mainspace

Details about yourself should not normally go in the main encyclopedia namespace (reserved for encyclopedia articles only), and encyclopedia articles should never link to any userspace pages.

In the rare case that you or something closely connected to you may have an article in the encyclopedia, that is always treated as completely separate from you as an editor. You should very carefully read the guidance on conflict of interest and generally avoid editing about yourself or matters closely related to you in any article.

If you would like to draft a new article, Help:Userspace draft provides a standard template and useful guidance to help you create a draft in your userspace, and the article wizard can walk you through all stages of creating an article with the option to save as a userspace draft too. You can use the template {{userspace draft}} to tag a userspace draft if it is not automatically done for you.

Personal and privacy-breaching material

Some people add personal information such as contact details (email, instant messaging, etc.), a photograph, their real name, their location, information about their areas of expertise and interest, likes and dislikes, etc. Once added this information is unlikely to ever become private again. It could be copied elsewhere or even used to harass you in the future. You are cautioned to think carefully before adding non-public information to your user page because you are unlikely to be able to retract it later, even if you change your mind.

Privacy-breaching non-public material, whether added by yourself or others, may be removed from any page upon request, either by administrators or (unless impractical) by purging from the page history and any logs by oversighters (see requests for oversight).

What may I not have in my user pages?

See also the content section of Policies and guidelines.
Shortcuts:

Generally, you should avoid substantial content on your user page that is unrelated to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a general hosting service, so your user page is not a personal website. Your user page is about you as a Wikipedian, and pages in your user space should be used as part of your efforts to contribute to the project.