Historical version 5 of Wiki Etiquette (view current version)

The Open Guide, and wikis in general, are very relaxed online communities. The principle that operates is Just do it. If you have a London related topic you wish to write about, go ahead and write about it (if you are not confident in punctuation, grammar or spelling, others will correct the page afterwards). Similarly, if you have some material to add about an existing writeup, just add it. In this case, it is customary to sign the paragraph or section with your user ID.

It is important to understand the workings of the Comment about your changes textbox . When you make a change, this is publicised to the "RecentChanges" page, and also appears on the site's front page. Whatever you put in the comment box is the narrative for the change. If you are creating a new page, it is customary to put the text "New Page". When changing an existing page, give a brief synopsis of the change you have made. This gets announced on the front page, and makes it easier for the rest of us to see what your change is about.

If you are adding some material you are not sure of the accuracy of, or is incomplete, say so and add the tag Fix Please. Someone else who knows more, or has time to research it, will confirm or correct the information. Don't be too worried about the professional look of writeups with requests to fix; it's much more useful to have these requests, than to have inaccuracies and false information. It's also much easier for others to spot that something needs correcting, if the page has been tagged that way. For those with spare time, a title search on Fix Please generates a to-do list of corrections.

Regarding missing links and blank pages, it's really better to leave a missing link as a missing link, without creating a blank page for it. All missing links show up in the Wanted Pages list, whereas blank pages will potentially remain forever unfilled. Please don't create empty pages just for the sake of it - this creates an administrative nightmare. If you have a small amount of content for the page, by all means create it; if appropriate, add fix please markers where additional content is required.

It is important to distinguish fact from opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and others are entitled to disagree with it. If you are presenting your opinion, it is customary to sign this with your user ID. Remember that the Guide is not Slashdot. We are aiming to provide a useful guide to London, not a soapbox for personal snipes, ego trips or flame wars.

When it comes to changing or deleting text from somebody else's writeup, use common sense. Put yourself in the other person's shoes: would they be upset with what you are intending to do, or would they be grateful? If you are in doubt about this, post an item to Wiki Discussion, and invite some other opinions.

It is important to acknowledge sources of information. Grubstreet allows and encourages links to outside websites - this greatly increases the usefulness of the site. Cutting and pasting material from elsewhere is not encouraged, it's much better to link. See Wiki Discussion/quoting external content for more on this.

This is version 5 (as of 2003-08-04 10:02:09). View current version. List all versions.