Style Guide
All pages here are editable by anyone, so this suggests that some basic style conventions are useful.
Tips and hints
- Use a clear but informal voice. Expect others to elaborate or complete your writing. (This is easiest if you write in third person.)
- Notes and comments need not be in chronological order on the page -- add them where they seem to fit best, possibly set apart or as separate page with a link inserted in the original text.
- First person accounts are suitable when reporting experience not easily reduced to facts or advice, e.g. anecdotal, personal opinion or added comments. Sign these. Such can often form dialogue threads.
I think wikiwiki servers are interesting. -- WikiSignature
- Note that this kind of signature points to a page where we would expect a presentation of who "WikiSignature" is. This is the joy of hyperlinked text.
- One useful wiki-convention when "commenting" is to include a WikiWord in someone's text to create an "open link"--this appears with a "?" prefix--when you feel the need for some further clarification or explanation. You can even do this in your own text to invite comment or elaboration from others. A later reader can take the open link to be a prompt to provide more content, either by creating an entirely new page at the other end of the link or by removing the link and adding to the original text.
- Horizontal rules can be used to set apart different voices, subtopics or context breaks. (The end-of-page rule is automatically added by the server.)
Compilation
- It can be useful to later summarize main points at top of page when several people have posted a lot of material. A page can be re-edited or broken up into several pages of the (dialogue) threads seem to become to convoluted. A self-styled WikiMaster may also summarize the main points of a page to provide a fresh start.
- Edit pages to emphasize the flow of ideas, not the chronology of contribution. Complete rewrites that condense the essentials of many different contributions are one of the charcteristics of wiki life.
- Finally, don't say things designed to make others mad. Practice civility and understatement. You will reach ten times as many readers even if you miss the ones you want to zing.
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