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New project process/Handbook for requesters

< New project process

This page explains the procedures for making proposals for new projects. For the policy that governs such requests (including criteria for approval), see the New projects process.

Identify yourself and your idea

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  • If you haven't already, please log in or create an account and create a user page on this wiki so people can address questions to you. This will make it easier to keep track of fellow contributors.
  • Please read the page describing the New projects process and this page first completely before proceding with actions.
  • Get clear to yourself what your idea is.
  • Before pursuing your idea further, consider:
    • Hosting: Wikimedia Foundation is not a free hosting company. Is your project compatible with Wikimedia's principles and ideals (freely licenced, spreading free knowledge)? If not, you might rather try Wikia, wikidev.net or the c2 list of wiki hosts with reviews [is this linkable?].
    • Consider if you really need a dedicated project. Many proposals fit better into an existing project, like Wikipedia, Wikibooks, or Commons.
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  • Check previous proposals which are not considered anymore currently. Your idea - or something similar - might already be there. Try to add your new ideas as a feature to one of them. You can take responsibility for / re-propose an exsting dormant proposal.
  • Make informal proposals, or discuss the process, on the discussion page.
  • The last projects to be created: Wikivoyage, Wikidata. See the history of those pages before they went "live".
  • Look at Summer of Code projects and other Strategy proposals -- they can be helpful for context or brainstorming.
  • NB: Projects to distribute content are also important. For instance, schools-wikipedia. (which has ist own volunteer community and processes, even though it produces regular static snapshots rather than a dynamic site)


Making a new request

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  • Again, make sure you read the New project process and are logged in on Meta.
  • Now, you may go ahead and create a proposal page describing your plan: in the box below, replace PROJECT_TITLE with the working title of the proposed project and follow the description.

  • Create the page with the following template. Make sure to fill out the template and replace the examples. Preview the new page to view explanations for each field.
{{TNT|New sister project proposal
| status              = discussion
| project_name        = What is the name/working title for the project?
| tagline             = Does your project have a tagline? (optional)
| project_description = What project do you propose? What will be its scope? How would it benefit to be part of Wikimedia? <!-- preferably, you write a synopsis here and answer the questions in detail in the "Proposal" section -->
| multilingual_wiki   = Will there be many language versions or just one multilingual wiki?
| multilingual        = Is the project going to be in one language or in many?
| technical_reqs      = If the project requires any new features that the MediaWiki software currently doesn't have, please describe in detail. Are additional MediaWiki extensions needed for the project?
<!-- The following are optional: -->
| url                 = The (proposed) website for the project
| logo                = The logo for the project, if you already have one
| more_settings       = Further comments on the settings? for example: Can images and files be uploaded to the project?
| development_wiki    = Does your project have a technical-development wiki (e.g., in Wikimedia Labs)?
| participants        = List of project participants
}}

==Proposal==
Replace this text with the description of your proposed project. See also "project_description" above.
You can also refer to external documentation or websites.
<!-- the following will be replaced by your signature --> --~~~~

==Discussion==
  • On Proposals for new projects, add "{{proposed project|Title of the page you just created|Date in the format 11-March-2012|status=discussion}} (for example, "{{proposed project|Wikinonsense|14-December-2016}}") under "Open proposals".

General advice to proposers

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Be persistent. Don't take criticism personally. Some users are afraid of repeating mistakes from past projects. Be prepared for criticism; if it is a good idea, others will help you out!

Going from an idea to a working wiki takes time and editing and sometimes software development. Identify bottlenecks and find people with skills to help address them. The better-prepared and informed the team proposing the new project is, the more likely it is to be approved.

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