Wikipedia:Page mover

For users that may move media files, see Wikipedia:File 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.

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 6 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 do not need to request or add this user right for themselves or other administrators, as it is automatically granted to administrators.

There are currently 50 users with page mover, which makes the total number of users with this permission 1,346 (the rest are administrators).

Flags granted

The page mover group includes the following user rights:

1. suppressredirect (move a page without creating a redirect)
2. move-subpages (move a page and all its subpages in a single action)

The page mover right also allows users to move pages at a faster rate than normal editors.

Suppressredirect

By default, a redirect is created with each page move. This is undesirable in some cases, such as when reverting pagemove vandalism, or when the page name needs to be made available for a different page. With the suppressredirect right, page movers can move pages without leaving a redirect.

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 without content, it will be displayed like any other deleted page: logged-in users will still see the "A page with this title has previously been deleted" message, listing the deletion and move logs for that page; and anonymous IPs will still see the "Wikipedia does not have a page with this exact name" error message.

Move-subpages

With move-subpages, a page mover can move a page and all of 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.

Increased page move throttle

The MediaWiki software limits the amount of page moves that can be performed in a period of time to eight per minute, for confirmed users. The extendedmovers 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. G3, G6, R2, and U1 and are the most commonly applicable criteria of the lot for redirects that would result from a page move. There are six widely undisputed uses for suppressredirect which are codified here:

No.	Criteria	Shortcut
1	Reverting page move vandalism (WP:CSD#G3)	WP:PM/C#1
2	Moving pages within a requester's own userspace to another location if a desire for deletion is expressed (WP:CSD#U1)	WP:PM/C#2
3	Moving pages from a title unambiguously created in error or in the incorrect namespace (WP:CSD#G6)	WP:PM/C#3
4	"Round-robin" page moves (see below) when moving is blocked by a redirect with non-trivial page history (WP:CSD#G6)	WP:PM/C#4
5	For non-admin page movers with the file mover user right only: Moving files per WP:FNC#9 (WP:CSD#G6) Note: Currently, such moves can be undone only by administrators.	WP:PM/C#5
6	Moving a page from the mainspace to another namespace when appropriate (WP:CSD#R2)	WP:PM/C#6

Round-robin page moves

See also: Wikipedia:Moving a page § Swapping two pages

With suppressredirect, page movers are able to perform non-trivial swaps of two or more pages. Suppose an article A is deemed to have a more appropriate title, occupied by its redirect B, but B has non-trivial revision history. A round-robin move to swap A and B proceeds as follows:

1. Move B → C (a new page) without leaving a redirect behind (suppressredirect)
2. Move A → B (possible, since B is vacated) without leaving a redirect behind
3. Move C → A (possible, since A is vacated) without leaving a redirect behind
4. Perform redirect cleanup and updates:
   • The original redirect B, now at A, should be retargeted to point to B.
   • If B_talk currently exists and A_talk does not (i.e. if the article has a talk page and the redirect does not), a new talk page redirect from A_talk to B_talk should be created to preserve incoming talk page links.
   • Along the same lines, for any (all) article talk archives, GA nomination pages that have been moved, equivalent subpages should be made at the redirect and targeted appropriately to avoid link breaks.

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

An equivalent round-robin move would be: A → C, B → A, C → B. This essentially a round-robin move done the opposite way around the move chain. This round-robin version is discouraged, as it adds two moves to the article's revision history (including the red-linked C) rather than just one direct move.

There is a redirect to this page, Draft:Move, that can be used as a holding pen for a subpage used as C 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 C page will once again be a red link.

A hypothetical move scenario involving 3 pages to be swapped would involve a temporary fourth page, which one of the pages occupies while the others are moved accordingly, all involving suppressredirect.

Swapping two page titles example

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 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.) Here instructions to do so using the tools provided by this right:

• Move Gromit the Hobbit to Draft:Move/Gromit the Hobbit without leaving a redirect; this clears the title for the move
• Move The Adventures of Gromit the Hobbit and its talk 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 the 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)

Conduct expectations

Page move disputes

This right should never be used to gain an upper hand in page move disputes. You have a privilege that most editors do not have. Editors without the right are sometimes unable to revert your moves (e.g. "round-robin" moves). Therefore, avoid making unilateral decisions, and revert upon request if a page move of yours proves to be reasonably controversial. Lastly, never wheel war with admins or other page movers.

Have a strong password

See also: Wikipedia:User account security

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. In the unlikely event that your account is compromised, notify an administrator immediately so they can block your account and remove any sensitive privileges to prevent damage.

Guidelines for granting

1. The editor should be a registered Wikipedia user for at least 6 months.

2. The editor should have made at least 3,000 edits.

3. The editor should have experience with moving pages in accordance with guidelines. Participation in and closing requested moves and move reviews is a good way to gauge this, but not required.

4. The editor should have no behavioral blocks or 3RR violations for a span of 6 months prior to applying.

The above items are merely guidelines. An administrator may grant page mover rights to users they otherwise deem competent.

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:

1. The editor demonstrated a pattern of performing obviously controversial moves without first determining consensus.
2. 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.
3. The editor used the permission to gain the upper hand in disputes.
4. The editor performed any blatant vandalism (not limited to page move vandalism).
5. The editor failed to report to an administrator after noticing unauthorized use of their account or otherwise neglected account security practices.
6. 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 must be made at WP:PERM.

Scripts

Automatically check subpages

To automatically check "move subpages" you can add the following to your common.js:¹

/*
 * Automatically tick the "Move subpages" option when moving pages.
 */
var moveSubpagesBox = document.getElementsByName("wpMovesubpages")[0];
if (moveSubpagesBox !== undefined) {
  moveSubpagesBox.checked = true;
}

See also

• Wikipedia:Requested moves
• Wikipedia:Moving a page § Post-move cleanup
• Category:Articles to be moved, for article renaming requests awaiting action.
• May 2016 RfC for creation of this group.
  • June 2016 RfC to increase the move throttle for this group.
• {{Page mover topicon}} a top icon template to indicate you have page mover permission.
• {{User wikipedia/Page mover}} a userbox template to indicate you have page mover permission.