Proposals for new projects/header

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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 Phabricator.
  • To propose enhancements to an existing project, visit that project and gather interest there.

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Notes to consider[edit]

  • Hosting: Wikimedia Foundation is not a free hosting company. If your project does not fit the Foundation's ideals, download MediaWiki for free and install it on a server you control. Fandom (formerly Wikia) or another 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, which is a proposed wiki for seeding new WMF projects. You can also use Fandom, ourproject.org, or any other wiki farm.

The last project to be created was Wikifunctions in 2023. See the history of the project proposal page for Wikidata before it went live. The last one before that was 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.

Existing projects

see also the Complete list of Wikimedia projects

Some common proposals could be merged into one of these as a subproject:

Other content projects may be a good fit for what you have in mind:

Instructions[edit]

  1. Create an account and a user page on this wiki, so people can address questions to you.
  2. Create a page describing your plan: enter the project name in the box below and click the button.
  3. Link to your proposal from this page, below.
  4. Advertise your project! Good places to do so are on the Wikimedia Forum and the wikimedia-l mailing-list.

There was a proposed reform of new project process and a 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:

  1. 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)
  2. 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").
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