Table of Contents
Anonymous edit? Stop that!
When editing pages just keep the following rules in mind:
General
- Be nice - don't be rude or offensive.
- Write in a way that is easy to understand and avoid local slang or phrases. Many of those who will read your text may not have English as their first language.
- Don't delete other people's contributions (unless you know what you are doing)
- Don't use too many acronyms (or at least, have a page explaining them)
- Avoid the "click here" phrase!! Don't say: "More info about etiquette can be found here" but use "More info about etiquette can be found at WikiEtiquette". I'd suggest avoiding it for external links as well.
- Contribute only original stuff. Links are fine, but don't cut-and-paste from copyrighted things.
- Correcting typos is quite okay - in fact, it's a very good habit, since it makes the web page more readable.
About comments
We don't need no stinking comments!
- You are free to contribute anonymously, but it is preferred that you sign your comments with your name (or handle). It is common to prepend the signature with '--' like this: -- Janne Jalkanen (While you're at it, you are free to create your own wikipage and tell us about yourself.)
- A good way is also to put your name first, like this: Janne Jalkanen : I'd like to say that...
- Think before you comment. WikiWiki is not a high-speed conversation board. It's not a news server either. What you say will stay here forever (yeah, we do take backups) for everyone to see and comment.
Creating WikiNames
- A good WikiName is short and descriptive. If the name is logical and easy many more people will link to it.
- Although you can take a whole sentence and crunch it up to make a WikiName, it is better style to restrain it to at most 5 words.
- Instead, try to use WikiNames like you would use as chapter titles in a book.
- This Wiki allows you to create pages with a single word as a name, but try to use at least two words - we don't want to exhaust the name space :-).
- Double-check WikiNames for typos - otherwise someone will create a misnamed page! Misnamed pages are bad, since linking to them requires more effort than to a logical, correct WikiName.
Refactoring pages
Refactoring is the process where you sum up a page, shortening it, making it more accessible. Anyone who feels up to it may go ahead, but we suggest that you leave it up to frequent (experienced) visitors.
- Be objective - both pros and cons have to be represented correctly.
- Be careful with signed contributions - don't change their meaning.
- Give credit where credit is due.
- Use 3rd person or plural instead 1st person singular in your summary.
(Thanks to Sensei's
library
for
this initial text.)