Help:Editing wiki pages

From P2P Foundation
(Redirected from Help:Editing)
Jump to navigation Jump to search


The Rules of the P2P Foundation Wiki

Please note that our wiki needs integrity in its naming conventions and internal structure. These rules have been used for 10 years, are specific to our wiki, and are not those of the Wikipedia:

Method

Our method is called 'opportunistic updating', this means that most of the time, our entries are not 'researcher' but take material from the flow of knowledge and information that comes through us through the internet, and we iteratively improve articles.

Our method is pluralistic, so we juxtapose various perspectives, we are a 'perspectopedia' and do not strive for neutrality and objectivity, as the Wikipedia claims to do.

We use the names and concepts, as they are used by concrete p2p movements and commons movements, in their practice and own namings, and we observe and reproduce these with quotes taken from their own material.

All our material should be sourced; if you write something yourself, you should sign it. Always use quotes for external material. Avoid copying wholesale articles without permission, use citations under the fair use doctrine. Don't delete the material if the original source disappears, and keep the original source URL even if it disappears.

Naming Conventions for Titles

  • Don't start with an article.
  • Use all caps for names, nouns, and verbs, but not for articles ('the' , 'an').
  • No double titles, just a single phrase (i.e. title:subtitle is a no-no).
  • Filenames have to be clearly descriptive, this means occasionally we change the titles of books and articles when they have no clearly independent meaning; but the book title is in the entry itself and therefore still fully searchable.
  • Videos and Audio Podcasts take a different naming convention, i.e. Name on Topic, for example: "Yochai Benkler on Peer Production". Make sure all video and audio titles make sense.
  • People entries take Firstname Lastname format.

Careful use of Section Tags

We do not use free tags, but section names. The wiki is organized in 3 columns on the main page: the middle column shows the subject-oriented sections, the right column shows the format-oriented pages.

Each section tag gets a subject tag, a format tag, and if possible, a geographic tag. Don't use tags randomly, use the popular tags that already exist so that they can form well-documented section pages; only introduce a new tag if you intend to use it regularly; we don't want an inflation of unused tags.

Here is a list of the format tags we use: Articles, Bios, Books, Courses, Conferences, Maps, Movements, Places, Podcasts, Webcasts.

Kinds of Pages

We have normal pages, and category pages.

Category pages are the pages automatically created if you use category tags. The category pages are an introduction to the topic of the section, offering a selection of introductory material, and following by the full encyclopedia of articles using that tag.

Subdivisions Used in our normal pages

These subsection pages take one or two 'equal signs' (=) before and after the subsection, and one additional = sign for each deeper subdivision. Using one and two "=" signs have different advantages and disadvantages:

  • One = headings are designed for page headings, and therefore no space is automatically added before it. To get round this, put at least two blank lines, followed by a horizontal rule (four '-' characters together ---- on their own on an otherwise blank line)
  • Two == headings are designed for major sections, and have automatic space added before them. Only leave one blank line before these.
  • One = headings are good to use in pages which could otherwise have been given as separate pages
  • Two == headings are good for normal pages
  • The one = and two == headings have a horizontal rule underneath the words, but lower level subheadings do not.
  • Think of the readability of the overall page, and change if necessary. Too many horizontal rules can look very ugly and reads less easily.


The pages start with a one line summary in bold, following by the main URL

Section names commonly used are, used in this order if possible:

  • Definition
  • Description
  • Abstract, Review, Excerpt(s): for articles and books
  • Characteristics, Typology, if available and needed
  • Discussion
  • More Information

But, of course, use your common sense if these really don't work.