Talk:Wiki standards

Please sign your addition with four tildes (~). Will 09:31, 7 November 2011 (PST)

Also please indent replies with added colons(:) to clarify threads.

Like this.Will 09:39, 7 November 2011 (PST)

Discussion

Page titles

Are we aiming for a streamlined or exhaustive index ? oops, wrong word. If it were an index, we could put sub-headings under main titles. Which we can do, using "see also," or redirect, e.g., "Age of Women" see also or redirect to "Women." But for now, are we aiming for big ideas, ideas general to the spiritual questor's vocabulary, or particularly pronounced concepts originating from the New Message? Outside in or inside out, to rephrase the latter two, or in other words, do our entries flow from the inquirer's questions or from the texts. --Mary s 09:35, 17 November 2011 (PST)

When there's a phrase in the teachings that typically pairs two concepts, is it better to separate them? (Sigh. I like those paired concepts but they JDLR--just don't look right)-Mary s 09:35, 17 November 2011 (PST)

Formatting References

Old-school style says to italicize book-length works, quotation marks for articles (big enough to stand on its own/a portion of a collected work). The exception is religious works: the Bible, the Koran. Our lives would be easier if we agree the NM titles fit the rule on religious works (except for me, who will take italics off everywhere I put them). I've asked DM for feedback on citation style. --Mary s 18:38, 15 November 2011 (PST)

A contribution made on 17 Nov. 2011 at 05:21 PST by esteemed collaborator shows the use of quotation marks for (so-called "chapter-length") individual teaching, "The Gift." Yes! I would like to retain italics for books and quotation marks for chapters. --Mary s 09:35, 17 November 2011 (PST)

Despite the (hundreds?) of places where I've embedded an external link to the website for the book (GCS, primarily), it will probably be better to embed an interior link to the entry for the title--the link to website can be located there. But what about individual teachings? An external link to the site of the teaching would be great... --Mary s 21:00, 16 November 2011 (PST)

My preference would be for external links to all printmatter. And also to de-list book titles from the pages of the wiki, combining them on a "Books of the New Message" or "Bibliography" page. --Mary s 09:44, 17 November 2011 (PST)

My habit is not to capitalize but to abbreviate the words "chapter," "page" and "volume." Going to be hard to break. Will I have to? --Mary s 19:04, 15 November 2011 (PST)

Footnotes

I really want to be able to paraphrase for brevity, and then cite long quotes at the bottom of the page. However, I don't know the best way to do this, especially since footnote numbering will all get messed up when you add new ones out of order. Any ideas? I'm tempted by the cite extension but it'll take some work.Will 09:40, 7 November 2011 (PST)

Any other issues with cite extension? Delegating the work to one individual could be a spot fix. I.e., I could take it on (with some help translating the technical instructions provided by Mediawiki), following up on Recent changes. I find myself loathe to paraphrase except to outline and would be happy if a more advanced student could do it. Mary s 11:02, 8 November 2011 (PST)

I agree with this criticism found on the Cite.php help page, along with the just more tedious remark, because many casual Wikipedia users are not familar with the cryptic Wikitext tags that they find with the use of Cite.php, it is likely that the net effect of Cite.php is often to deter new users from making edits to reference sections These criticisms don't outweigh the advantages, once we do have paraphrased copy as intro. Mary s 14:56, 11 November 2011 (PST)

The Cite extension is installed. It's a big clean up job to apply it, and it's awkward to use when you just want to add a quick quote, so we'll just use it slowly and steadily to neaten things as we can.--WikiAdmin 18:32, 7 December 2011 (PST)

Ellipses

If you cut the beginning of a sentence from your quote, with a full sentence remaining, just capitalize the first word in the new (partial) sentence, no ellipses points (...) needed. Do use ellipses points (...) if omitting words from within the quotation. --Mary s 21:00, 16 November 2011 (PST)

Questions

Mitch 01:00, 10 November 2011 (PST)mitch

Not sure, Will, if that is what you meant by marking our additions with four tildes. Please acknowledge or correct. If so, it appears the intention is for the eye to more easily identify the various inputs.

Hello. See the Help page (last item on Navigation menu) Mary s 14:56, 11 November 2011 (PST)

Thank you, Mary, for pointing out the signature button above. I had not previously focused on those button at all. They offer some nice time savers. --Mitch 02:18, 17 November 2011 (PST)

Pages needing administrator

Main Page The corridors need to link to categories, right? Following example of category:God ? Categories are listed on help page (search box only brings up 9 of 11). Alternatively, my preference actually, a "see also" link at the bottom of the corridor's main entrance, the page of that title.

I'm not sure about this.-WillWikiAdmin 18:31, 23 November 2011 (PST)

A "see also" is redundant; clicking on the category itself opens the category page. --Mary s 19:25, 23 November 2011 (PST)

Better if the corridor links go to pages instead of categories. I'll change that. I don't think "See also" is redundant, since it's tailored page by page to take people to closely related pages that may not be in the same category.-WillWikiAdmin 18:35, 7 December 2011 (PST)

Quotation marks

If the material is more than one paragraph, use opening quotation marks for each paragraph but closing quotation marks only at the end.--Mary s 18:59, 16 November 2011 (PST)

Text formatting

What do you say we tighten up the quotations with lots of white space? --Mary s 20:07, 16 November 2011 (PST)

Please yesWikiAdmin 18:34, 23 November 2011 (PST)

When I quote an excerpt that straddles paragraphs, I combine them ignoring the paragraph break.--Mary s 20:07, 16 November 2011 (PST)

Please yesWikiAdmin 18:34, 23 November 2011 (PST)

When copying from other sources and pasting onto wiki, a couple things (so far) to watch: 1) two hyphens does not equal an mdash in wikiscript. You will need to replace them with code: ampersand, mdash, semicolon — find it on chart at help page for formatting). 2) In passages with quotation marks, change them to apostrophes. --Mary s 12:40, 17 November 2011 (PST)

I feel that two hyphens will do in a pinch. It can be later cleaned up with a search, right? It needs to remain easy for people to pop the wiki open, drop in an excellent quote, and leave, without worrying about syntax. And yes, a real mdash will look better and be easier to read.WikiAdmin 18:34, 23 November 2011 (PST)