Forum:Move update pages to the update history namespace

Forums: Index → Proposals → Move update pages to the update history namespace

This is a settled discussion about changing something about Blooncyclopedia. Do not modify it. Deadline: Monday, 20 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC Outcome: 4-1-5-2 in favor of option 3

So, currently this wiki covers updates in the main namespace. Originally I thought this was a good idea, but now I think otherwise. My reasons are:

1. Content namespaces (stats, strategy, update history, and gallery) are used for pages with different writing styles and content from the usual content seen in the mainspace. Update pages are also written differently, and have their own guidelines and different writing standards, but are currently in the main namespace. (There are some other things I'd like to move to dedicated namespaces in the future, like event lists, but that can be decided later.)
2. The existing article titles are a bit awkward in that they aren't always consistent with how Ninja Kiwi names updates. Modern BTD6 updates are (usually) written as "Bloons TD 6 vX.Y", but older updates used a different system.
3. It makes the use of update pages more consistent with games that don't have separate pages for each update. Update history:Bloons TD 5 Deluxe and Update history:Bloons Pop! cover all of the changes in their updates on their update history pages, since their updates are small enough to fit nearly in a single page. Meanwhile, BTD6, BTDB, BTDB2, BCS, and some future games require you to go into a different namespace to see the full list of changes in each update. Same goes for update history sections for towers, like Update history:Alchemist (BTD6).
4. It bloats the search suggestions. Searching bloons td battles 2 brings up a whole bunch of updates instead of Bloons TD Battles 2+ because it's sorted in alphabetical order. Moving them to another namespace means they won't show up unless you specifically search for them. It doesn't take much extra effort to search for them now that there's a namespace shortcut (searching uh: is the same as searching update history:).

If this proposal passes, all update pages will be moved to the update history namespace using the most popular format. Pages for unique version numbers will be converted to redirects (like Update 51.0, Update 51, Version 51.0, and Version 51 will all redirect to Update history:Bloons TD 6/51.0), while version numbers shared by multiple games will become disambiguation pages (like Version 2.0 (disambiguation) redirected to by Version 2.0, Version 2, Update 2.0, and Update 2).

These are three different ideas I have for how to format the names of these pages. I don't really like using subpages in the main namespace, since it causes issues with subject names that have a slash in them (like R/C Plane), but for other namespaces, I think it's fine. If you have any other ideas, let me know in the comments and I'll add options for voting on them.

1. Option 1: Update history:[Game name]/[number]
   • Bloons TD 6 v50.0 → Update history:Bloons TD 6/50.0
   • Bloons TD Battles 2 v4.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles 2/4.0
   • Bloons TD Battles (mobile) v6.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles (mobile)/6.0
2. Option 2: Update history:[Game name]/V[number]
   • Bloons TD 6 v50.0 → Update history:Bloons TD 6/V50.0
   • Bloons TD Battles 2 v4.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles 2/V4.0
   • Bloons TD Battles (mobile) v6.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles (mobile)/V6.0
3. Option 3: Update history:[Game name]/Version [number]
   • Bloons TD 6 v50.0 → Update history:Bloons TD 6/Version 50.0
   • Bloons TD Battles 2 v4.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles 2/Version 4.0
   • Bloons TD Battles (mobile) v6.0 → Update history:Bloons TD Battles (mobile)/Version 6.0

Option 1

1. Second choice. Drgoku282 (talk) 05:41, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
2. I prefer this Pixelentropy (talk)
3. Second choice Overclockbtd (talk) 18:14, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
4. Second choice once my issues are resolved. --Planterror (talk) 23:38, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

# My preference. Polavux (talk) 05:36, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Option 2

1. Second choice. I would prefer writing it in lowercase (i.e., "v50" instead of "V50"), but that isn't possible because MediaWiki automatically capitalizes the first letter of subpage names. Polavux (talk) 05:36, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Option 3

1. Third choice. I don't think spelling "version" out in full is necessary, but I figured some might prefer it. After some thought, I like this option the best. Polavux (talk) 05:36, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
2. I agree on moving updates to its own namespace. I like how this one looks the most tbh Drgoku282 (talk) 05:41, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
3. well, if we cant keep the v lowercase for option 2, this might be the cleanest way to go then IceCastles (talk) 11:56, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
4. I prefer this choice best Overclockbtd (talk) 18:14, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
5. Primary choice once my issues are resolved. --Planterror (talk) 23:38, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Do not change

1. I think before we do any changes to namespaces, we have to figure out how to make these pages more noticeable. It seems a bit difficult for new users of the wiki (and even some Bloons Youtubers) to find update notes and their balance changes already, so moving them right now would only make things worse. I think it is a good idea to copy the Minecraft Wiki's style on update disambiguations, but it might need more. --Planterror (talk) 11:18, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
2. I agree with the statement above Overclockbtd (talk) 18:14, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Comments

@Planterror If you don't think adding disambiguation pages and redirects is enough to make these pages easier to find, I could also add a link to Category:Updates to the mainpage and sidebar. Polavux (talk) 22:54, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, sounds good. I have a fear that linking to a category page might be a bit overwhelming to find the correct update, so maybe having the update history pages (such as Update history:Bloons TD 6) appear in the general category only, and then from there users have a more readable format to find the update they are looking for from there. --Planterror (talk) 23:38, 6 April 2026 (UTC)