Homecoming Wiki:Main Discussion

Welcome to the Main Discussion Page

I have created this article as a forum to dicuss things about the wiki. The actual discussions are on the discussion page (go figure) of this article. This is just a general topics page, though I might also use it as a means to "steer" the discussion. Anything I feel is really important and/or relevant, I might copy here.

If a discussion becomes particularly longwinded, I will create a specific page relevant to that discussion. If these pages absolutely explode with comments, then I will probably lock them down and put an honest-to-god forum here in its place.

How to Use the Discussion Page

First of all, navigating to the discussion page so you can see what everyone has to say is probably a good start. You can browse the comments to your heart's content there.

Notice that each discussion has a top-level heading. Top-level comments are flush to the left margin of the page, and responses are indented.

Also notice that there is a link to edit a topic to the right of the top-level heading. If you have something to add to that topic, click on that link. You'll get an edit box with the topic heading and everyone's comments in it. Navigate in that box where you want to place your comment (either at the bottom for a new comment or below someone else's comment for a response), insert a blank line before the previous comment, and go to town.

If you are typing a response to someone's comment, you should indent it one level further than their comment. To indent a comment, place a colon (:) at the beginning of the line for each level of indention. For example, if you are responding to a comment that begins with two colons (::), make sure your comment begins with three (:::).

Also, please add a signature and timestamp to your comment. Though not strictly required, it is handy to see who said what. (Technically, I can dig this out in the discussion page history, but it's an awful lot of trouble.) To sign and timestamp a comment, add a couple of dashes followed by a space and four tildes (~) after your comment. In other words, you'll type something like this:

::I think that's a great idea! -- ~~~~

What will actually appear with you save the page will look like this (with your name and timestamp instead of mine:

I think that's a great idea! -- TonyV 15:56, 27 Jan 2006 (CST)

If your comment spans multiple paragraphs, be sure to add the colons to the beginning of each, and you might want to add your signature as a separate paragraph at the end for clarity. For example:

::After carefully thinking about it, I think that's a
great idea, and I appreciate all the time you've put
into your well thought out argument.

::However, since I really never really cared for turnip
greens, I'm afraid that I'll have to reject your request
and leave the article about CoH-friendly foods as it
exists now.

::-- ~~~~

That would appear as follows:

After carefully thinking about it, I think that's a great idea, and I appreciate all the time you've put into your well thought out argument.

However, since I really never really cared for turnip greens, I'm afraid that I'll have to reject your request and leave the article about CoH-friendly foods as it exists now.

-- TonyV 15:56, 27 Jan 2006 (CST)

Notice also that you can apply formatting in your comments by using normal wiki markup, such as enclosing text in two apostrophes ('') to make it italicized and enclosing text in three apostrophes (''') to make it bold. Please don't go nuts with that, as it is more important for your comment to be readable than for it to be obnoxious.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment on my user page or to send me an e-mail to tonyv@pcfreepress.com.