View source for Proposals for new projects/header

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 | title    = Proposals for new projects
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 | previous = ←[[WM:I/RP|Requests and proposals]]
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 | notes    = This page hosts proposals for new Wikimedia projects, in line with the [[new project process]]. 
* To propose a new language for an existing project, see [[Requests for new languages]]. 
* To propose closing an existing project, see [[Proposals for closing projects]]. 
* To suggest an enhancement which requires a change to MediaWiki, file a feature request in [[phab:|Phabricator]]. 
* To propose enhancements to an existing project, visit that project and gather interest there.
<span class="plainlinks" style="float:right;">[//meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proposals_for_new_projects/header&action=edit +/-]</span>
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== Notes to consider ==
* '''Hosting:'''  Wikimedia Foundation is not a free hosting company. If your project does not fit the [[Values|Foundation's ideals]], download [[mw:Download|MediaWiki]] for free and install it on a server you control. [[Centralwikia:|Fandom]] (formerly Wikia) or another [[w:list of wiki farms|wiki farm]] are also options, but come at the cost of losing control of your project.
* '''Need a dedicated project'''? Think well. Maybe your proposal fits better into one of the existing projects, for example, Wikipedia, Wikibooks, or Commons?
* '''History:''' Individuals attempting to create a new project should read the [[Wikipedia timeline]].
* '''Be persistent.''' Don't take criticism personally. Some users are afraid of repeating mistakes from past projects. Going from an idea to a working wiki takes time and editing and sometimes software development.  Be prepared for criticism; if it is a good idea, others will help you out!
* '''Demo:''' It may be useful to start a demo of the wiki along with the proposal. Demo wikis can be created at [[:Wikispore:|Wikispore]], which is a [[Wikispore|proposed]] wiki for seeding new WMF projects. You can also use [[:centralwikia:|Fandom]], [https://ourproject.org/ ourproject.org], or any other [[:w:Comparison_of_wiki_hosting_services|wiki farm]].

The last project to be created was [[:wikifunctions:|Wikifunctions]] in 2023. See the history of [[Wikidata|the project proposal page for Wikidata]] before it went live. The last one before that was [[v:|Wikiversity]] in 2006. Some proposals below are suggesting adopting existing projects. The only time this has happened was when [[Wikitravel]] was forked as [[Wikivoyage]] and integrated into the [[Travel guide]] proposal in 2013. Creating new projects is extremely rare but not impossible. Please consider if what you are proposing is really a new type of information or educational project that cannot fit within the scope of existing projects.

{{#if:{{#translation:}}|[[Category:Proposals for new projects/header/Translations|{{#translation:}}]]
[[Category:Proposed projects| Header]]
}}== Existing projects ==
''see also the [[Complete list of Wikimedia projects]]''

Some common proposals could be merged into one of these as a [[subproject]]:
* '''[[w:|Wikipedia]]''' has many [[w:Wikipedia:WikiProject|WikiProject]]s. Your proposal could be one, or part of one. 
* '''[[s:|Wikisource]]''' has [[Wikisource:Wikisource:WikiProject|WikiProject]]s for primary sources and historical documents.
* '''[[b:|Wikibooks]]''' hosts some collections: [[b:Wikijunior|Wikijunior]] (children's books), and the [[b:Cookbook|Cookbook]].

Other content projects may be a good fit for what you have in mind:
* [[n:|Wikinews]] (collaborative journalism)
* [[c:|Wikimedia Commons]] (images & media)
* [[species:|Wikispecies]] (taxonomic database)
* [[q:|Wikiquote]] (quotations)
* [[wikt:|Wiktionary]] (dictionary and thesaurus)
* [[v:|Wikiversity]] (educational materials)
* [[voy:|Wikivoyage]] (travel guide)
* [[d:|Wikidata]] (data repository)
* [[incubator:|Incubator wiki]] (new language editions of most Wikimedia projects; see [[:betawikiversity:|Beta Wikiversity]] and [[:s:mul:|Multilingual Wikisource]] for those projects)

== Instructions ==
# Create an [[Help:Logging in|account]] and a user page on this wiki, so people can address questions to you.
# Create a page describing your plan: enter the project name in the box below and click the button.
# Link to your proposal from this page, below.
# Advertise your project! Good places to do so are on the [[Wikimedia Forum]] and the [//lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l wikimedia-l mailing-list].

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There was a [[New projects process|proposed reform of new project process]] and a [[Sister Projects Committee|proposed community committee]] to develop a clear policy and documentation for sister project proposals, both of which are currently inactive. The ''de facto'' process is described below:
#Any proposal may only be approved by the [[Board of Trustees]] after a prominent discussion process and a broad and clear consensus (dozens and probably hundreds of supports are needed, and the proposal may be open for years)
#Any users in good standing may close or merge any proposal if:
#*it is clearly redundant to another project or project proposal, or is not a serious or intelligible proposal— i.e. jokes, trolling, proposals with extremely vague scope, and patent nonsense (tag "Procedurally closed"); 
#*it is stale and has few support after a considerable amount of time (tag "Stale");
#*it clearly has no consensus after a considerable amount of time (tag "Rejected").
{{Notice|Unless your proposal involves new features that the MediaWiki software currently doesn't have, you may incubate your proposal in [[Wikispore]], an unofficial project to develop test wikis.}}