Page mover

The page mover user right (extendedmover user group) allows users to move pages without leaving behind a redirect and to quickly move subpages when moving parent pages. This allows them to move a page over a redirect with history (among others) using a round-robin page move.

At their discretion, any administrator can grant this right to experienced and trusted users who regularly move pages and demonstrate familiarity with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines regarding page moving and naming. Users are expected to have at least six months of editing history and at least 3,000 edits. Users should also have experience with the requested moves venue and know how page moving works.

If you wish to request page mover rights for yourself or another user, please see Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Page mover. Administrators are automatically granted this user right, so they do not need to request it.

There are currently users with page mover right, which together with Wikipedia administrators makes for a total of users with this permission.

Flags granted

The page mover group includes the following user rights:
#suppressredirect (move a page without creating a redirect)
#move-subpages (move a page and all its subpages in a single action)
#move-categorypages (moves pages in the Category namespace)
#tboverride (override the Title Blacklist, and therefore allow the editing of editnotices)
#delete-redirect (move pages over existing single revision redirects regardless of target)

The page mover right also allows users to

*move pages at an increased rate

suppressredirect

Page moves create redirects by default. This is undesirable in some cases, such as when reverting pagemove vandalism or when a page name needs to be made available for a different page. With the right, page movers can move pages without leaving a redirect by unchecking the checkbox "" in the move interface.

Page moves that do not leave a redirect will still be logged, but with a note ("without leaving a redirect"). These moves are not recorded in the deletion log. However, if the source page remains empty, logged-in users will still see the "A page with this title has previously been deleted" message displayed along with the deletion and move logs for the page, as in the case of any other deleted page, and IP editors will still see the "Wikipedia does not have a page with this exact name" error message.

move-subpages

With , a page mover can move a page and all its subpages in a single action. For example, a user could rename Talk:Foo to Talk:Bar, and also move Talk:Foo/Archive 1 to Talk:Bar/Archive 1 in a single action. This becomes useful when moving a page with a lot of archives. In the move interface, this is done by checking the checkbox "".

On some occasions, one might inadvertently move a talk page incorrectly assumed by the MediaWiki software to be a talk subpage of a different article. For example, Talk:A/B testing is the talk page for A/B testing, but not technically a subpage for Talk:A. If a mover uses on Talk:A, the move operation would incorrectly move Talk:A/B testing. (This is not an issue for the article mainspace, as it does not have subpages enabled.)

move-categorypages

Page movers have the technical ability to move category pages, but this should only be done if there is consensus for the move at either Wikipedia:Categories for discussion (Cfd) or Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy (CfD/S). Categories should not be moved boldly. This means that unless you are helping to close CfD discussions, you should almost never be moving categories directly.

If you choose to exercise the ability to move a category, all of the pages in that category must be updated. This does not happen automatically. Therefore, do not move a category unless you are planning either to update the pages yourself or to ask for admin help at Wikipedia talk:Categories for discussion/Working. Alternatively, file the category for a discussion and once a consensus is met (or not denied if it is a speedy discussion), a bot will assist in moving the category and updating all pages that are categorized in the category.

delete-redirect

By default, a move cannot be carried out if there is already a page at the target title, unless that existing page is a single revision redirect pointing to the title that is being moved to replace it. If that page is a single revision redirect with a different target, the delete-redirect right may be used to eliminate the need for round-robin page moves by allowing page movers to delete the redirect, regardless of the redirect's target. This will generate a deletion log entry for the target page.

Increased page move throttle

For confirmed users, the MediaWiki software limits the number of page moves that can be performed to eight per minute. The right raises this throttle to allow 16 moves per minute, enabling page movers to handle larger jobs more efficiently.

Redirect suppression criteria

Page movers can suppress a redirect during a page move if the redirect would be eligible for one of the criteria for speedy deletion. Page movers are expected to exercise discretion when suppressing redirects for the purpose of moving pages. G3, G6, R2, R3, and U1 are the criteria most commonly applicable to aspects of the page move process. These are the nine recognized rationales for suppressing redirects:

Suppressing a redirect that would otherwise be eligible for speedy deletion is considered the norm, and choosing to suppress redirects in other cases may result in the revocation of page mover rights ( see below).

Round-robin page moves

With suppressredirect, page movers are able to perform non-trivial swaps of two or more pages. Suppose an article is deemed to have a more appropriate title, occupied by its redirect , but has non-trivial revision history. A round-robin move to swap and proceeds as follows:
#Move → (a new page) without leaving a redirect behind (uncheck "")
#Move → (possible, since ''B'' is vacated) without leaving a redirect behind
#Move → (possible, since ''A'' is vacated) without leaving a redirect behind
#Perform redirect cleanup and updates:
#*The original redirect , now at , should be retargeted to point to . (similarly for existing talk and subpage redirects)
#*If currently exists and does not (i.e. if the article has a talk page and the redirect does not), and there are incoming links to the newly red-linked page, create a new talk page redirect from to .
#*Along the same lines, for any (all) article talk archives, and GA nomination pages that have been moved and have incoming links, equivalent subpages should be made at the redirect and targeted appropriately.

Note: Redirects are suppressed during ''all'' moves in the round-robin page move process.

There is a redirect to this page, , which can be used as a holding pen for a subpage used as above. The subpage name that appears after the slash (/) can be any name as long as it is a red-linked, non-existing page when the round-robin procedure begins. When the round robin is finished, the page will once again be a red link.

The pageswap user script can help automate the first three steps outlined here.

Examples

Suppose you want to move The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit to Gromit the Hobbit, but the latter title already exists as a redirect, and has multiple intermediate edits which prevent a one-step move-over-redirect. Also suppose that The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit has a talk page, and Gromit the Hobbit does not. (Reasonable, since many article-namespace redirects do not have accompanying talk-space redirects.) Using the tools provided by this right, performing the move would be accomplished as follows:
*Move Gromit the Hobbit to Draft:Move/Gromit the Hobbit without leaving a redirect; the former title becomes free.
*Move The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit and its talk page (if created) to Gromit the Hobbit without leaving a redirect.
*Move Draft:Move/Gromit the Hobbit to The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit without leaving a redirect.
*Retarget the redirect (at The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit) to Gromit the Hobbit.
*Create a ''talk page redirect'' Talk:The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit and target to Talk:Gromit the Hobbit to preserve incoming links to the original talk title. (Necessary, since the redirect in this example did not have a talk page, and links would be broken.)
:(Edit summaries suggestion: linking WP:PM/C#4 within the move summaries is a good practice.)

Watchlists

In the above example, the first round moved an article page to a draft page (holding page) that used the article's new title as a subpage. This is a good practice rather than to use the same page title, such as Draft:Move/my pet move page all the time. The reason for this is a side effect that involves user watchlists. If a user has a page on their watchlist that is renamed, then the page title to which the watched page is moved is automatically added to that user's watchlist without removing the original title. If the same holding page is used all the time, then all future uses of that holding page will add more pages to the user's watchlist. This results in an undesirable expansion of user watchlists. To minimize this, use a different page name for the holding page each time a new page is renamed using the round-robin method.

Moves involving primary topics

suppressredirect can be useful when executing a series of moves that involve a change of primary topic. Imagine it was established there was no primary topic for "Berlin". The moves of the disambiguation page to the primary title and of the article about the German city to its new title Berlin, Germany could be achieved using the following steps:
:1. Vacate Berlin, Germany, a title currently occupied by a redirect. This can be done by moving the redirect to another title that will also make for a suitable redirect, for example Berlin (city).
:2. Move Berlin to the newly freed up Berlin, Germany.
:3. Move Berlin (disambiguation) to Berlin.
The moves in the first two steps would be carried out without leaving redirects. At the end of the process, all incoming redirects will need to be checked and retargeted if necessary (as is the case for any move involving a primary topic).This section previously recommended a series of two swaps. This was removed after an October 2020 discussion and replaced with the current text. If no suitable new redirect can be found for step #1, then the old redirect blocking the move can be moved to a temporary title and tagged for G6 speedy deletion (discussion).

Conduct expectations

Page move disputes

The page mover right should never be used as an advantage to gain an upper hand in titling disputes. Editors without the right are sometimes unable to revert moves performed by page movers, such as in the case of "round-robin" moves. Therefore, unilateral decisions should be avoided, and moves should be reverted upon request if they prove to be controversial. Finally, never wheel war with administrators or other page movers.

Have a strong password

Page movers must have a strong password and follow appropriate personal security practices. Because a page-move vandal with the increased page move throttle would be able to quickly move many pages, a compromised account will be blocked and its privileges will be removed for site security. If you believe your account is compromised, notify a steward immediately so they can lock your account.

Guidelines for granting

# The editor should be a registered Wikipedia user for at least 6 months.
# The editor should have at least 3,000 edits.
# The editor should demonstrate experience with moving pages in accordance with guidelines. Participation in requested moves and move reviews, or experience closing move requests is a good way to gauge this.
# The editor should have no behavioral blocks or 3RR violations in the 6 months prior to application.

The above items are guidelines. An administrator may grant page mover rights to users they otherwise deem competent and may deny the requests if they do not see a need for the tools or have other concerns.

Criteria for revocation

The user right can be revoked for violating any of the above conduct standards and for other misconduct. Additionally, it can be revoked at any time by an administrator without any process or prior notice in any of the following circumstances:
#The editor demonstrated a pattern of performing obviously controversial moves without first determining consensus.
#The editor demonstrated a pattern of failing to exercise sufficient care when moving pages, resulting in serious errors appearing on pages, or when using suppress redirect.
#The editor demonstrated a pattern of using the permission to suppress redirects that would not have been eligible for one of the criteria for speedy deletion.
#The editor used the permission to gain the upper hand in disputes.
#The editor performed any blatant vandalism.
#The editor failed to report to an administrator after noticing unauthorized use of their account or otherwise neglected account security practices.
#The editor has been inactive for 12 months.

Additionally, the right may be removed immediately at the request of the editor.

If your page mover right was revoked and you would like to appeal the decision, first discuss with the revoking administrator. If after such an exchange you still feel the matter is unresolved and requires outside input, you may post at WP:AN to appeal the decision. Request for the right after a revocation for inactivity or self-requested removal may be made at WP:PERM.

Scripts

Page swapping

* User:Andy M. Wang/pageswap – this script adds a "Swap" option next to the "Move" option, allowing a page mover or administrator to swap titles of two pages along with their histories ("round-robin move") through a short sequence of prompts.
** User:Ahecht/Scripts/pageswap – modified version of Andy M. Wang's script that works directly from Special:MovePage with a pre-filled edit summary, and that can create talk page redirects as needed.

Draftifying

* User:Evad37/MoveToDraft – this script adds a "Move to draft" option in the "More" section which is used for automating the process of moving an article to the draft namespace without leaving a redirect, automatically notifying the page creator.
* User:Mr. Stradivarius/gadgets/Draftify – a similar tool used for moving userspace drafts to the draft namespace without leaving a redirect (although this and many other aspects are configurable).

See also

* Wikipedia:Requested moves
* Wikipedia:Move review
*
* :Requested moves, a category for article renaming requests awaiting action
* May 2016 RfC resulting in the creation of this group
** June 2016 RfC that increased the move throttle for this group
** November 2018 RfC that granted this group the tboverride permission
* , a top icon template to indicate you have page mover permission – adds a category to page automatically
* , a userbox template to indicate you have page mover permission
* , a userbox to indicate having page mover permission with period of time

Notes

{{Wikipedia accounts, collapsed
Wikipedia user access levels
Wikipedia procedural policies