Help:Talk Pages: Difference between revisions

Help:Talk Pages (view source)

Revision as of 22:09, 2 August 2011

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 [[Category:Help]]
-The intention of this guide is to assist in the understanding and use of '''talk pages'''. For more information regarding editing in Articles, please see [[Help:How To]].
+This is a guide in the use of '''talk pages'''.
-Every Article consists of a special extra page refered to as a talk page. It's intention is for discussion regarding concerns or suggestions of the specific article's style and content, not subject matter. The talk page is displayed as a ''Discussion'' button on the left hand corner of the main article page. Clicking it will send you to the talk page.
+Every page on this wiki (articles, categories, images etc) has an additional page attached to it, referred to as a talk page or discussion page. This is accessed by clicking "Discussion" at the top of the page.
-==Content==
+In most situations, a talk page is for discussing the article/page itself. This would include suggestions for things to add or remove, changes that need to be made, questioning whether something is true and so on.
-It is recommended to try and keep the conversation going on one page to avoid confusion. That way, another user who may benefit in any way from the discussion can easily follow the conversation. Users do not recieve notifications if one has replied to their topic, hence they might forget. If this occurs, you can pop by that users own talk page and leave a message there! This way, users do get notifications, reminding them to check there.
+Talk pages should not be used for a general discussion on the subject matter of an article. For example, [[Talk:Vehicles]] is used for discussing what should be listed on the [[Vehicles]] page and in what style, NOT for talking about your favourite vehicle.
-For an example of a good talk page, please follow this link: [[Talk:Main Page]].
+Talk pages are located at their respective _talk: namespace. For main-namespace articles (such as [[Vehicles]]), they are located at [[Talk:Vehicles]]). For pages in other namespaces, such as [[Template:Navbox]], the talk page is located at [[Template talk:Navbox]] and so on.
-==Attributions==
+Each user also has their own talk page, located at User_talk:Username. This is used when you need to inform the user of something, ask them a question, ask them for help etc. Users will be notified of all changes to their own talk page.
-On an Articles talk page, attributions are executed by typing four tidles which automatically presents your username   link and time of contribution. It is vital that an attribution is included to ensure users of who was involved within the contribution.
-Code for Attribution:
+==Discussions==
+Discussions should be kept in one place, on one talk page. This is to avoid confusion, and so everyone can see the whole discussion.
-<pre>~~~~</pre>
+Where two pages are being discussed (such as when a Merge is being proposed), there should be one talk page used rather than spreading the discussion across both.
-* [[User:Montario|Montario]] 21:25, 2 August 2011 (BST) - This would be the initial outcome of displaying the code, though with your own username displayed.
+On user_talk pages, replies to long discussions should be given on the same page as the discussion started, rather than hopping between your talk page and theirs. However if you reply on your own page, they will not be notified, so you may need to remind them, or ask them to 'Watch' your talk page. An exception is for quick replies where a long discussion is unlikely, in these situations it's fine to reply on the asker's talk page.
-==Sections==
-When starting a new contribution, always apply a level two header, with your topic title displayed inbetween. When replying to a topic, indent, then display a colon (:), followed by your contribution. If a topic goes as far as six replies, this is how it must be displayed if you want to avoid any major confusion and untidiness:
+==Signatures==
-<pre>==Test Topic==
+Every comment you leave on a talk page must be signed. You do this by adding four tildes ({{sign}}) to the end of your comment. When you save, this will add your name and the date/time.
-This is a test topic.
-:Reply 1
-::Reply 2
-:::Reply 3
-::::Reply 4
-Reply 5
-:Reply 6</pre>
-==Test Topic==
+This must only be done on talk pages, to sign your comments, never in articles. You can always click the History button to see who made a certain edit.
-This is a test topic.
-:Reply 1
-::Reply 2
-:::Reply 3
-::::Reply 4
-Reply 5
-:Reply 6
-==See Also==
+Example:
+:<pre>This is a comment - ~~~~</pre>
+:This is a comment - [[User:Montario|Montario]] 21:25, 2 August 2011 (BST)
-*[[Help]]: - The main help page listing all the other Help-related articles
+==Structure==
+When starting a new conversation, click 'Add Section' at the top, rather than 'Edit'. This will allow you to enter a title, and will mean you don't need to enter an edit summary.
+When replying to a conversation on a talk page, you should first indent your reply, by using a colon : at the start of every paragraph. The next reply should use two colons (::) and so on, until about 5 indents when the next person should start off without any indents. If you're replying to a reply, you can un-indent again to put your comment in line with your previous comment.
+For example:
+<pre>Person 1
+:Person 2
+::Person 3
+:Person 2
+::Person 4
+:::Person 5<br>Continued<br>Continued
+::::Person 6
+Person 7
+:Person 8
+:Person 8 continued</pre>
+This will produce:
+Person 1
+:Person 2
+::Person 3
+:Person 2
+::Person 4
+:::Person 5<br>Continued<br>Continued
+::::Person 6
+Person 7
+:Person 8
+:Person 8 continued