Help:Editing
From The Otherkin Community
Below are a series of guidelines when adding content. Please note that certain guidelines must be followed and will be enforced by community administrators and moderators.
Contents |
Creating Articles
An 'article' on The Otherkin Community can be edited by any registered Community member. Articles serve to provide aid on a specific topic, so long as it relates to the Community.
- Articles must contain accurate information. 'Accurate' information is determined by the following:
- Any information that is held true by the majority of the otherkin community, unless proven otherwise through research.
- Cited information retrieved from a reputable source.
- Common knowledge that cannot be contested
- Any claims must be backed up by at least one (1) of the following:
- A cited source
- Personal research (see below)
- If the claim is not backed up, it must be clearly marked at theory (see below).
- When you create an article, you do not need to provide a lot of information. It can simply be used as a start, and other users can continue with it.
- No "me" or "I" please. Articles should appear as though they were written in an encyclopedia. There should be no writing in the first person. Please leave yourself out of the article, unless you provide a section for author's comments or personal experiences.
How To Create/Edit An Article
The easiest method to create an article is via the search box on the left-hand side of the page:
- Using the search box on the left-hand side of the page, enter the title for the article you wish to create. Keep the title short, but descriptive. For example, an article describing parapsychology would simply be "Parapsychology". Alternatively, if you see a red link on a page, that means that the article it links to does not yet exist. Clicking on it will allow you to edit it.
- If the article exists, you will be taken to its page. Please do not create multiple articles for the same topic! If the page already exists, edit it to add new information, revise it, or change inaccurate information. Remember, this article is not meant to be your own. It's meant to be viewed and edited by everyone. To edit, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the page.
- If the article does not exist, you will see a red "Create this page" link. Click on that to begin writing your page.
Note: You must be logged in to create/edit pages.
Research & Theories
Research and theory articles are designed to present a hypothesis and attempt to both prove and disprove it through research.
- All research done by a 3rd party, or any information included to support your hypothesis, must be cited.
- For research done by yourself, you must include the following:
- The materials used in the experiment
- Detailed steps required to reproduce the experiment
- Organized results of the experiment (graph, list, etc)
- When responding to research, please post it below the research, indenting it with the ":" prefix. Be sure to sign your statement with "~~~~". If your post is not constructive, do not post it.
- Do not modify research data. If you disagree, post your own research data.
- Research should be placed within the 'Research' category, and theories within the 'Theory' category.
- Research articles should be prefixed with 'Research:', and theory articles should be prefixed with 'Theory:'. Use your best judgment if there is a bit of both in the article. Note that 'Theory:' pages are treated as the "Talk" or "Discussion" pages for the 'Research:' page of the same name. For example, 'Theory:Otherkin' is the discussion page for 'Research:Otherkin'.
- Every research topic needs a corresponding theory topic.
- Please place a Theory Info Box in all new theories.
- Please place a Theory Notice on all theory pages so it can be clearly distinguished from other talk pages.
Categories
Each article should be placed in a category. It is preferred that you place it in an already existing category, such as Metaphysics (or more specifically, Telekinesis). However, if needed, you may create your own category. To place an article into a category, add the following at the bottom of the article:
[[Category:Category Name Goes Here]]
Note that by adding multiple category tags it is possible to include an article in multiple categories. You may view the categories by clicking on the 'Categories' link in the navigation menu to the left of the screen.
Formatting Articles
Below are a number of options for formatting your articles.
Citing Sources
Documenting sources is very important. Citing a source gives readers a reference from where you got your information. This is required for quotes or work that is not your own, as well as claims and research that is not your own.
This is some cited text.<ref>Citation goes here</ref>
In the above text, the note will be placed with a number (increasing from 1 automatically). This number, when clicked, will take you to the bottom of the page where your note will appear.
This is some cited text.[1]
You will also need to add the following at the bottom of the page (preferably), or wherever you'd like citations to appear:
<references/>
Citing Sources By ISBN
If you have the ISBN of a book, you can also cite then with the following:
<biblio> #schwartz2005 pmid=16100001 // see also <cite>stryer somebook</cite> for a smooth introduction #webber2001 pmid=11751224 #somebook John Smith. ''The art of saying nothing''. Verbose Editions 1999. #stryer isbn=0-7167-4954-8 </biblio>
The above produces the following result:
- Schwartz PH, Nethercott H, Kirov II, Ziaeian B, Young MJ, and Klassen H. Expression of neurodevelopmental markers by cultured porcine neural precursor cells. Stem Cells 2005 Oct; 23(9) 1286-94. doi:10.1634/stemcells.2004-0306 pmid:16100001.
see also stryer somebook for a smooth introduction - Webber C and Barton GJ. Estimation of P-values for global alignments of protein sequences. Bioinformatics 2001 Dec; 17(12) 1158-67. pmid:11751224.
- John Smith. The art of saying nothing. Verbose Editions 1999.
- Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko, Lubert Stryer; Web content by Neil D. Clarke. Biochemistry. New York: W.H. Freeman, 2002. isbn:0-7167-4954-8.
Graphs
Graphs are especially useful for research, and can be created within an article via the plot commands. Here is an example:
<plot> plot '-' using 1:2 t 'quadratic approximation' with linesp lt 1 lw 3, \ '-' using 1:2 t 'cubic approximation' with linesp lt 2 lw 3 1 2 2 4 3 8 4 16 e 1 3 2 9 3 27 4 81 e </plot>
The above code will render the following graph:
For more information on graphing, please refer to the Gnuplot Tutorial. You may also refer to the Gnuplot Documentation.
Notices
Notices are messages displayed at the top of the article in colored boxes that relay an important message. You can find a list of all the available notices on the Help:Notices page.
Opinion
All sentences that express opinion, not fact, should be clearly marked with {{Opinion}} at the end of the sentence before the period. Avoid these sentences at all costs. Opinions should only be expressed in articles where it contributes to the overall quality of the material. Unmerited opinions should be removed.
Note that opinion tags are not required in research or theory sections unless they are contained within a factual section (one opinion within many proven facts).
Theory
All sentences that should be regarded as theory should be clearly marked with {{Theory}} at the end of the sentence, before the period. This is not required in articles prefixed with 'Theory:'.
