RabbitWiki:Talk page guidelines

From RabbitWiki

The purpose of a talk page is to encourage discussion about the associated article or project page. The prime values of a talk page are communication, courtesy, and consideration.

Contents 1 General 2 Layout 3 Good practice 4 User talk pages 4.1 Back and forth 4.2 Central location 5 Archiving 6 See also

[edit] General

• Communicate
• Stay on topic: Talk pages are not for general conversation. Focus on the article.
• Be positive: Talk pages are for improving an article, not nitpicking or overly criticizing.
• Stay objective
• Discuss edits: Ask about other's changes or explain one of your own changes.
• Make proposals: Discuss how you want to improve or change the article.

[edit] Layout

• Answer a post directly underneath it. This puts conversation in chronological order, with the most recent post at the bottom.
• Indent your post by putting a colon (:) in front of your paragraph. The number of colons determines how far to the right your post will be indented.
• Start new topics at the bottom of the page
• Start new topics with a new header like this: ==New topic==
• Leave whitespace between multiple points

[edit] Good practice

• Sign all posts by using 4 tildes: ~~~~
• Use italics, bolding, and ALL CAPS to show emphasis. Don't overuse these markups, so as to avoid sounding like you are screaming.
• Do not edit other user's posts, with some exceptions.
  • Fixing formatting
  • Blatant attacks
  • With their permission
• Do not edit your own posts, with some exceptions.
  • Fixing formatting
  • You can use strikethroughs, like this: <s>text</s> which produces text to show a change
  • With permission of other users involved

[edit] User talk pages

There are two major schools of thought regarding conversations that take place on user talk pages.

[edit] Back and forth

1. UserA leaves UserB a message on UserB's talk page.
2. UserB gets a "new message" notice
3. UserB then responds on UserA's talk page
4. UserA gets a "new message" notice
5. UserA then responds on UserB's talk page
6. etc

This method guarantees that each party involved will know that they are receiving a message. However, the conversation can seem disjointed since it takes place over 2 pages. This is the simplest and most common method.

[edit] Central location

1. UserA leaves UserB a message on UserB's talk page
2. UserA adds UserB's talk page to his watchlist
3. UserB gets a "new message" notice
4. UserB responds on UserB's (his own) talk page
5. (optional) UserB leaves a message on UserA's talk page, saying that he has posted a reply on UserB's (his own) talk page
6. UserA checks his watchlist and sees that UserB responded (OR, UserA gets a "new message" notice if UserB completed the optional step)
7. UserA responds on UserB's talk page
8. etc

This method guarantees that the conversation is readable and in a central location. However, this requires that the initiator (in this case, UserA) adds that person's talk page to their watchlist OR that the recipient (in this case, UserB) completes the optional step. This method can produce the best results, but requires more effort.

[edit] Archiving

When a talk page gets long, or discussion are considered complete, you may want to archive the talk page. Here's how to do it:

1. Create a sub-page for the archive. For example, Talk:New page/Archive 1.
2. Add {{talkarchive}} to the top of the new archive page
3. Cut the relevant content from the current page and paste it into the archive page.
4. Add a link on the current page to the archive page.

If you have difficulties with archiving a talk page, feel free to ask an administrator to help.

[edit] See also

• Template:talkguidelines