From EncyclopAtys
Reference : Mediawiki: Help:Namespaces
Pages on a MediaWiki wiki are grouped into collections called “namespaces” which differentiate between the purpose of the pages at a high level. Pages in certain namespaces can also have special properties or behave differently when they interact with other pages.
Namespaces are indicated in page titles by prefixing the page name with<namespace>:
, so the prefixHelp:
in this page's title (Help:Namespaces) indicates that this page is in the Help namespace. Each namespace is identified by a number and a name, which can be translated and can also have some aliases. Aliases are usually translations of the namespace's name (for example: Hilfe, Ayuda, Aide, Справка have “Help” as an alias in this Wiki)
A page whose name is not prefixed by a namespace lies in the mainspace. Note, however, that colons and prefixes can also appear in page titles without indicating a namespace: the page Foo:Namespaces is a page located in the mainspace because the namespace “Foo” does not exist. Similarly the page Help:Foo:Namespaces is in the “Help” namespace.
Each namespace is asociated with a second one, with the same name suffixed by Talk, the purpose of which is to contain discussions about the first one. This page, for example has a discussion page which name is Help Talk:Namespaces . It lies in the Help talk namespace.