Wikipedia:About the Sandbox

From Free net encyclopedia

The Wikipedia Sandbox for all ages (which can be found at Wikipedia:Sandbox) is a Wikipedia namespace page designed for testing and experimentation with the Wiki syntax. Sandboxes in other languages can be found in a list on the English Sandbox, and the Meta-Wikipedia has a Sandbox at m:Meta:Sandbox.

However, while using Sandboxes in other languages may be useful on certain occasions, it is important to keep in mind that, unless interwiki links are used, each Sandbox can only access the links, images, and templates on that particular Wikipedia.

The Sandbox was created as a place with fewer rules and policies than other pages on Wikipedia. For example, there is no need to follow the Manual of Style or reach community consensus before making a major change. However, it must not be used for malicious purposes, such as googlebombing, and rules such as no personal attacks and avoiding direct links to shock sites, which are never needed for testing, still apply.

The Sandbox is also interesting in that many ex-vandals or vandals use the place for testing (thus, some Wikipedians use the sandbox history to hunt for vandals). Many of the testers are anonymous IPs. Often, many sandbox testers seem to be the younger Wikipedians. When a certain nonsense piece of work is placed into the sandbox, it is very likely that many people will start adding in more nonsense to it.

If you are a registered member, you can create your own sandbox in your userspace. For example, if your username was "MrFish", you could have your very own sandbox at "User:MrFish/sandbox".