Help:Discussion Pages

Discussion pages are used to make suggestions and ask questions about a particular page. They are similar to forums, but they are wiki pages, so everything is not quite as automatic. There are right and wrong ways to use these pages. Hopefully this guide will clear up any issues people may have.

Adding A New Discussion Topic

At the top of each discussion page there is a tab, marked with a plus (+) sign on it. Clicking the + will bring up a special page editor which will allow you to set a new topic. Enter the topic, then in the main editor window you can elaborate. Always sign your messages with ~~~~ at the end. This will convert to a link with your name, and the time/date your message was posted.

Replying To A Discussion Topic

For replying to a topic, simply use the edit tab. Navigate the cursor below the message you want to reply to. To make things a little neater, we use the ":" colon character to indent. if you are responding to a response, you can indent another level in with two colons "::" and so on. Once again, always be sure to sign your messages with ~~~~ at the end! Do not create a new topic when responding to a message.

Example:

== Discussion Topic ==
The initial question/suggestion is never indented. ~~~~
:Direct responses should be indented one level. ~~~~
::Responses to responses should be indented another level. ~~~~
:::Responses to responses should be indented another level. ~~~~
:Direct responses should be indented one level. ~~~~

Looks like:
The initial question/suggestion is never indented. ~~~~

Direct responses should be indented one level. ~~~~

Responses to responses should be indented another level. ~~~~

Responses to responses should be indented another level. ~~~~

Direct responses should be indented one level. ~~~~

Never Delete/Modify Somebody Else's Posts

This practice is greatly frowned upon, not to mention pretty useless considering pages can be rolled back by moderators if needed. The only time discussion pages should be erased is by a moderator; when the content within the page is out of date or completely irrelevant. Moderators may also modify posts to remove unwanted links or graffiti. In short: Although we do appreciate when users catch and kill some spam or graffiti, there is generally no need for users to moderate discussion pages themselves.

Always Sign Your Name!

It's one of the top 10 things people religiously forget to do, or they plain don't know how. Yes, it's the third time its mentioned in this article, but it can't be stressed enough how important it is. Always sign your messages with ~~~~ at the end!