Members are free to contribute to the Archive. However, in order to keep the wiki clean and very structured, guidelines must be placed. These guidelines are to be respected so that the environment of the Archive is consistent. If you feel that a new guideline needs to be put in place, please add it under the section labeled New Guidelines which can be observed by an administrator in the future.
Table of Contents
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Page Format
PF1
A page must contain content of a similar topic. If there is content on a page that does not match with surrounding context, it should be moved to where it best fits.
Articles within the Archive are meant to be specialized in one topic. The content of an article must somehow relate back to the subject of its existence. For example, you wouldn't want to put something about monkeys on a page mainly about elephants unless the monkeys directly affect the elephants in some way. Topics that are related should go together. Even if there is information that relates to the primary subject that has an article of its own, it should be included within the article and have a link leading to its main article. Articles of dissimilar content should be revised. If an article has information that doesn't fit with the primary subject, please consider moving it to where it does fit.
PF2
Pages should not be too long. If a page seems too long, divide it into two or more pages with different topics.
The articles within the Archive are meant to be entries that cover a topic; they are not meant to be an in depth study on the topic. Therefore, articles cannot be too long. Do not over detail a topic with a bunch of jargon that can be either used elsewhere or simply omitted. Irrelevant detail should also be omitted. An article is considered too long when the reader becomes intimidated by the length at first sight, it becomes hard to keep a good attention span for reading the entire article, there are filler details that can be omitted and they are what provide much of the length, and the article has a table of contents that extends a far way (unless the headings are improperly used). If an article is too long, please consider omitting useless detail or dividing the content into two separate articles.
PF3
Similarly, pages should not be too short. If a page is too short, consider merging it with a page of similar content.
The pages also cannot be too short. The article must have enough information to cover the main subject completely. If the page does not have enough detail to cover the subject, a table of contents would be unnecessary, or the page looks useless at first sight, then it is probably too short. If you find an article that is too short, then either add content to it or merge it with something of similar content.
PF4
All content of the Archive must be formal. There will be no use of slang or bad language. Sentence structure needs to fit correctly, and grammar mistakes must be kept at a minimum.
The articles in the Archive are meant to be somewhat like encyclopedia entries. Strictly speaking, the language and vocabulary the Archive portrays must be as professional as possible. This means that there will be no cursing, slang words, short-cuts, conversational fillers, and grammatical mistakes. Please understand that this is meant to provide information and not meant to be a conversation between you and the reader. Make sure you word your sentences to where anyone could understand it. If you don't know what you are writing, you probably should reconsider what you are writing. If an article portrays an unprofessional atmosphere because it is polluted with unpopular diction, then please help revise the article so that it matches the criteria.
PF5
Write in third person unless strong emphasis is needed.
This is a simple rule saying to write in third person at all times. The Archive is a community, and thus we are writing the article because we all contribute.
PF6
Content must be accurate. Anything that is untrue should not be in this wiki.
This wiki is meant to provide information that is currently true. Do not lie or provide untrue information under any circumstance. If information seems like it might be inaccurate, please take the time to find out or delete the statement. For the article to be relevant, it must be 100% accurate. This will not be a place where you get to put whatever you want. The Archive will be a storage where you can put any article you desire as long as it is truthful.
PF7
If there are important terms in an article, the first of them needs to be referred to a glossary or other apparatus.
Important terms might not be completely understood by the general public. If that is the case, then please take the time to link it to a glossary. As of right now, this rule is not being fully enforced.
PF8
The content of any page should be neutral. Do not use this wiki to express opinion.
As mentioned in previous conventions, this wiki is meant to portray accurate information in a professional matter. Do not include your opinion in any article at all. This includes articles such as presidential elections, abortion, and other controversial topics. The article may discuss the arguments presented by each side of a given topic, but the site must not be biased toward one side. If you believe that an article is too opinionated, please take the time to fix it yourself or post on the forum.
PF9
Be sure to include all details on the topic specified unless it violates guideline PF2. Do not leave important material out.
Articles must contain all the information necessary to cover a topic completely. There should never be any information left out. The only rule that supercedes this is PF2 which states an article shouldn't be too long. We want to be sure that the reader is able to find the information he/she is looking for under any given category. If you believe an article might be lacking some fundamental facts, please inform the community or revise it yourself.
PF10
Use good sentence fluency and organization.
Simply, make sure the articles have an organized infrastructure. We do not want an article to be composed of a bunch of random facts spread all over the place. Group the facts together into sections, and present those sections in an order that makes sense.
Forum Discussion
- Be courteous to others. No insults, bad language, and put downs.
- A forum can be relaxed, and it doesn't have to be very formal.
- No misleading information.
- Make a collapsible drop down if you have a possible answer to a Math Problem of the Month. See my forum post for details.
- No double posts (posting directly after your own post). Use the edit option instead.
Vandalism
- Vandalism will not be tolerated. Offenders will face possible ban from the wiki and revoking of membership.
- If vandalism occurs, report it to an administrator, and an he/she will take care of the situation. Previous content can be retrieved through the history button at the bottom of the page.
- Simple editing and goodwill fixing is not considered vandalism. An administrator will be able to tell the difference, and they will have the final say.
Revision Station
- The revision station is meant to address pages and articles that don't meet the above requirements. If there is a page that doesn't meet all the requirements, place the concern in the forum and in the Revision Station along with the link to the page.
- If a page doesn't meet a guideline, be sure to use the appropriate heading at the top of the page.
Citing Sources
CS1
No plagiarism! Always cite your sources if you are using researched info.
All articles must cite the sources of research in the form of a Works Cited section. Plagiarism will not be tolerated at all. At the bottom of each page, you should prepare a works cited area to put all the sources in standard bibliography form. To do that, simply go to Easy Bib and insert the correct information.
CS2
Sources need to be trusted. Books, government sites, encyclopedias, school sites, and primary sources are typically trusted. Try not to use Wikipedia or personal websites as a source.
Simply, sources of research must be authoritative. The information in the Archive must be as accurate as possible, so we want to use the strong, official databases of knowledge rather than personal websites or blogs. Furthermore, try not to use Wikipedia as a source. Wikipedia tends to be accurate and is usually trustful, it can still be difficult to determine fact from fiction.
CS3
Use parenthetical citations. That means, put the first part of your source in the text in parenthesis.
A parenthetical citation is a way to tell the reader which source a piece of information came from. To make one, you simply add (name of source) at the end of a sentence. We want to use these as much as possible because it tells the reader where certain information was retrieved so that they can trust the info more or go back and do further research.
CS4
Do not directly copy any text from other sources unless you use quotations in the correct way.
This is an important rule stating that you should always write an article in your own words. You are not to directly copy text from a source, or else you are plagiarizing. If you sense the need, however, to use a direct quote, do so with caution and use the correct quotation technique. Put quotation marks around quoted material. Also, be sure that if the quote is more than four lines long, it should be indented, italicized, and separated.
New Guidelines
No new guidelines.