The location of the random page link found on the "Explore" tab
The random page (Special:Random) link can be used to go to a random article in a wiki's content namespaces. This link is great as a starting point for browsing a community, or if you just want to learn a random piece of information. A link to random page is shown in the "Explore" tab of every community.
On most communities the content namespaces include only the main namespace. However, some communities have custom namespaces — if marked as content namespaces, they will also show in random page results.
Not all pages are included (such as redirects) and the results are not strictly random.
Random pages in specific namespaces
You can also choose to view random pages in specific namespaces.
To create a link to a random page in a specific namespace, use [[Special:Random/namespace name]]. For example:
- Special:Random will take you to a page in any of the namespaces marked as content (generally only the main namespace).
- Special:Random/Talk will take you to a page in the Talk namespace.
- Special:Random/User will take you to a page in the User namespace.
- Special:Random/User talk will take you to a page in the User talk namespace.
- Special:Random/Community Central will take you to a page in the Community Central namespace.
- Special:Random/Community Central talk will take you to a page in the Community Central talk namespace.
- Special:Random/File will take you to a page in the File namespace.
- Special:Random/File talk will take you to a page in the File talk namespace.
- Special:Random/MediaWiki will take you to a page in the MediaWiki namespace.
- Special:Random/MediaWiki talk will take you to a page in the MediaWiki talk namespace.
- Special:Random/Template will take you to a page in the Template namespace.
- Special:Random/Template talk will take you to a page in the Template talk namespace.
- Special:Random/Help will take you to a page in the Help namespace.
- Special:Random/Help talk will take you to a page in the Help talk namespace.
- Special:Random/Category will take you to a page in the Category namespace.
- Special:Random/Category talk will take you to a page in the Category talk namespace.
If you have custom namespaces on your community, you can also view random pages in those namespaces by linking to them in the same way.
If there are no pages in a namespace, the random page will take you to the main page of the community instead.
Note: "project" can generally be used as a redirect to the project namespace ("Community Central" on this wiki).
Random pages in a category
Alternatively, you can use Special:RandomInCategory to get a random page in a specific category.
Placing a specific category in the URL will let you pick a random page from that category. For example, Special:RandomInCategory/Help pick a random page in the 'Help' category.
Further help and feedback
- Browse and search other help pages at Help:Contents
- Check Fandom Community Central for sources of further help and support
- Check Contacting Fandom for how to report any errors or unclear steps in this article