robchur wrote:

We can create "alias" redirects to simple pages existing in that namespace now.
I've added one from Special:Userlist to Special:Listusers in SVN trunk, r14083.

The special namespace, of course, doesn't exist as the others do. It might not
be *too* difficult to allow user-customisable redirects in that namespace, but
then things become a little disorganised, since the code relies somewhat on
things behaving in a specific manner.

On the other side of the coin, we don't want to be overwhelmed with thousands of
requests for redirects from vast permutations, and we don't want to clog up
SpecialPage.php with said redirects.

(In reply to comment #0)

Often, I've done something like type in Special:Userlist . . . wait, doesn't
exist. Special:Listuser . . . nope. Oh, wait, it must be Special:Listusers.

The same exact thing happens to me. This feature would be awesome. There could
possibly be an edit button for, say, admins on each non-existant special page.
That way admins could make redirections themselves. Or, better yet, there could
be a new interface for admins to choose which special page should redirect to
which other special page.

ayg wrote:

(In reply to comment #1)

On the other side of the coin, we don't want to be overwhelmed with thousands of
requests for redirects from vast permutations, and we don't want to clog up
SpecialPage.php with said redirects.

It would seem logical to have them in the database somewhere, like existing
redirect pages, and creatable by users (I don't see any harm that could come
from letting anyone create them, since at worst you'd just be redirected to the
wrong Special page). That way there would be no problem of devs being deluged
with requests.

Of course, if a mechanism for alternate names is already in the code, it would
almost certainly be easier to just declare all requested permutations as some
kind of constant variable (not familiar enough with PHP to know what the exact
implementation would be), thus avoiding the problem of cluttered code. A list
of requested redirects could be maintained on a Meta page, and just copy-pasted
(after a cursory glance to make sure nothing's fishy with it) into the builds by
a dev whenever a software update is about to be installed at Wikimedia.

There are aliases.