Changes

::No problem, please do feel free to ask, even if the question does seem "silly"!   

::No problem, please do feel free to ask, even if the question does seem "silly"!   

As I understand it, articles are created with various namespace titles, but Special:Random picks from any namespace, so there is little effect.  However, namespaces are still used in maintenance, statistics, and so on.  My bot also uses namespaces so some extent.  I don't know if Special:Random was configured intentionally to load pages from any namespace, or if there is a glitch in the system somewhere.  --[[User:DavidB4|<font color="ForestGreen">David B</font>]] ^{([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]])} 16:00, 21 March 2017 (EDT)

As I understand it, articles are created with various namespace titles, but Special:Random picks from any namespace, so there is little effect.  However, namespaces are still used in maintenance, statistics, and so on.  My bot also uses namespaces so some extent.  I don't know if Special:Random was configured intentionally to load pages from any namespace, or if there is a glitch in the system somewhere.  --[[User:DavidB4|<font color="ForestGreen">David B</font>]] ^{([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]])} 16:00, 21 March 2017 (EDT)

:Investigation using [[Special:Random]] appears to suggest that no such namespace exists. [[Special:Random/User]] takes you to a random talk page, [[Special:Random/Talk]] to a random talk page but  [[Specail:Random/NamespaceThatDoesntExist]] goes to a mainspace article as does [[Special:Random/Essay]] but if you've made a bot that makes use of namespaces (as most bots would probably have to) you probably know more about the subject than me. [[User:ChristopherW|ChristopherW]] ([[User talk:ChristopherW|talk]]) 12:43, 22 March 2017 (EDT)

:<s>Investigation using [[Special:Random]] appears to suggest that no such namespace exists. [[Special:Random/User]] takes you to a random talk page, [[Special:Random/Talk]] to a random talk page but  [[Specail:Random/NamespaceThatDoesntExist]] goes to a mainspace article as does [[Special:Random/Essay]] but if you've made a bot that makes use of namespaces (as most bots would probably have to) you probably know more about the subject than me. [[User:ChristopherW|ChristopherW]] ([[User talk:ChristopherW|talk]]) 12:43, 22 March 2017 (EDT)</s>

:My mistake! Essays do appear to have their own namespace but there appears to be a technical problem in that [[Special:Random/Essay]] goes to a random mainspace article not an essay. [[User:ChristopherW|ChristopherW]] ([[User talk:ChristopherW|talk]]) 12:44, 22 March 2017 (EDT)