Wiki Contribution Guidelines

The Zen of OOoWiki

Be constructive

Think of the reader

But better write it down quickly than thinking too much and forgetting to write it down

However, when doing drafts, do those on your User-page. Use it as your sandbox. see for example User:B_michaelsen, esp. the staging area. You are not required to add tight categories and context links on your userpage.

Always add new pages a existing category

This is very important to keep the wiki maintainable. Non-english content should always be sorted in the category of the language (or one of its subcategories). If you want to create a new category, you will need to add that to an existing category too (making it a subcategory).

Seek the best context first

You should make the content easy to find. Think hard about the title of the page, its very important for search.

Embed your contribution into existing context

Link to your page from as many related pages as possible to provide the needed context and to prevent duplication.

Always use Wiki-Links or InterWiki-Links when possible

Dont use HTTP links, when Wiki-Links or InterWiki-Links are possible. HTTP links do not show up in "What links here" list for example, making pages orphans easily. InterWiki-Links are easy to update, if a Wiki changes its base-URL.

Use the available namespaces

You bio should be on your userpage. You may redirect to it from the main-namespace. Categories should be described in the Category-namespace. You may redirect to those from the main-namespace. Never redirect to the main-namespace from the category- or the user-namespace.

Be open to early or late changes to your contribution

Don't blame others, think of the best solution to the problem

If nobody contributes, it's maybe good

If myriads of people change your contribution, it might be better

Sometimes, it might be helpful explaining why you wrote something

To delete a page (because it is spam or outdated), replace its content with {{delete}}

Use templates!

Transclusion is great. Use it!

If your page shows up in the Maintenance reports, you likely did something wrong