LDSClerks:Guidelines
From LDSClerks
These guidelines will create consistency for additions and corrections to the LDSClerks wiki.
Contents |
[edit] Creating New Articles
An article in this wiki should be similar to an encyclopedia article. It should cover a single topic, and should stand on its own. Topics may be very broad, or quite specific.
Before you create a new page, make sure that:
- The content is not already covered on another page
- The content is appropriate to the LDSClerks wiki
- You have chosen an appropriate title
[edit] Article Title
The title of the article should be chosen carefully. It should describe the content well, and be a term that others would naturally apply to this content. A user of the wiki can type a title in the search box of the wiki and click Go (or press Enter) and go directly to an article if an article with that title exists. So a title of Financial Clerk would be a much better choice than Clerks who handle finances.
[edit] Opening Paragraph
The first paragraph of the article should give a brief overview of the topic of the article. Usually the title of the article should appear (in bold type) at or near the beginning of that paragraph.
[edit] Editing Pages
The content of the wiki makes progress because many users make contributions, from making simple spelling corrections to adding new articles. Be bold so that you move the project forward, but don't be hasty -- sloppy edits will just create more work for others and lower the quality of the wiki.
[edit] Use Preview
Before you click Save page to save your changes, use the Show preview button to see how your changes will actually appear. This can help save you from posting content with obvious errors.
[edit] Make changes at one time
Use the preview button liberally as you are creating a page or making edits. Whenever possible, make all your changes to a page in a single session. If you save the page often, you will needlessly clutter the history of the page and fill up the recent changes log with many entries. This makes it more difficult for other users to discover what has actually changed.
[edit] Style Guide
For consistent usage and/or presentation of common words and concepts, a style guide is under construction. Please refer to the style guide frequently when creating or editing a page. For more information on style guides, see Wikipedia's entry on style guides.
[edit] Discussion Pages
Each article has a discussion page or talk page. These pages provide a forum for the community to come to a consensus as to the direction a particular article should take. If there is anything at all controversial about a change you have made or think ought to be made, start a discussion using the discussion pages.
[edit] Topics
Discussion pages can be organized into topics. This is particularly helpful for articles that have multiple sections and thus may have ongoing discussion related to different sections.
[edit] Sign your name
You can easily sign your name by adding four tildes to the end of your comment. This will add your username and a time stamp. You can use three tildes for just your name or five tildes for just the timestamp, but the preferred signature uses four tildes to include both. The appearance of your username is determined by the preferences you have set. Comments in discussion pages should always be signed, but signatures should not be placed in articles.
[edit] Use Templates to Flag questionable content
If you come across an article that needs to be edited or should be deleted, you can flag the article by inserting a template. To do this, simply edit the article and insert the text {{Template_Name|Parameter}}. The parameters for a template are documented on the template page, which you can examine by going to the appropriate template page: Template:Template_Name.
[edit] Template:Edit
Use the {{Edit}} template if you find a page that requires editing, but you don't have the time or skill to edit it. This template may be inserted at the top of the page if it applies to the entire page, or at the beginning of a section if it only applies to that section. It has a parameter that is a brief description of what needs to be corrected. For example, the annotation
{{Edit|Eliminate first person from this section}}
would result in a box appearing in the text as follows:
| This page may need to be edited for quality to meet the LDSClerks guidelines. Eliminate first person from this section |
[edit] Template:Merge
Use the {{Merge}} template if you find a page that should be merged with another page. This template should generally be inserted at the top of the page. A brief explanation should be offered that includes a link to the destination page. For example, the annotation
{{Merge|This page should be merged with [[Training]].}}
would result in a box appearing in the text as follows:
| This page may need to be merged to meet the LDSClerks guidelines. This page should be merged with Training. |
[edit] Template:Delete
Use the {{Delete}} template if you find a page that should be deleted. This template should generally be inserted at the top of the page. This template should not be applied lightly, but if the page contains content that is simply not appropriate to the LDSClerks wiki, the page should be flagged. Justification for the deletion should generally be added to the discussion page so that the original author will have an opportunity to justify why it should not be deleted and the community can weigh in on the decision. For example, the annotation
{{Delete|This is spam}}
would result in a box appearing in the text as follows:
| This page may need to be deleted to meet the LDSClerks guidelines. This is spam |
If you think a page is misnamed, use the move link at the top of the page to rename it, rather than creating a new page and leaving the original page to be deleted.
[edit] Add Sources
Although opinions and personal ideas can be helpful, statements purported to be official Church policy will be more effective if backed up by an official source. Other unofficial sources, such as the LDS Tech forums, can also provide additional details.
To add sources to an article, use the Cite extension. This consists of two steps:
- Add <ref> tags to list your sources. These are placed in the body of the text that comes from the source, and will be replaced by a superscripted number, like this.[1]
- Add a second level heading at the very end of the article called References (== References ==). On the line after the heading, put <references />, which will be replaced by the collection of all the reference sources on the page.
