How do we communicate?

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Discussion Pages

This is the place in the Wiki where we all communicate. The discussions on the discussion pages can be accessed by any registered user.

There is a discussion page for every page in this Wiki. As soon as a page is displayed, the related discussion page is available via the discussion link in the top navigation (provided you are a registered user). Therefore, discussion pages in this Wiki are always related to the associated pages and their content.

A discussion page is designed by anybody who contributes to the page. There are no Posting features like in forums or a board. The discussion page can be edited like any article page and provides the same editing options.

A discussion page displayed is automatically offered for editing if it is empty. If it has been edited before, the content will be displayed. If you want to contribute to the discussion, click on the edit button in the top navigation bar.

Design of Discussion Pages

How well a discussion page is designed depends on the actively contributing users. All contributors should observe the following rules:

• Whoever starts a new discussion topic, i.e. a new "thread", starts with a == Section header containing the topic ==. Right below he/she enters the text of the "Start Posting".
• Whoever answers to a posting enters a separating line below the posting he/she is answering using ----. All paragraphs of the answer posting are indented one more level than the posting being answered. To do this, add colons in front of the first line of each paragraph. One colon indents the paragraph one level, two colons indent by two levels, and so on. If you directly answer a start posting, one colon is enough (the start posting should not be indented). If you answer to an answer, you add two colons.
• At the end of a posting, add the character string --~~~~. In the presentation view, the Wiki application will automatically replace this with your signature: your user name and the timestamp of your contribution.

The following graphic shows a discussion page designed according to these rules:

Code of Conduct on Discussion Pages

We expect the following rules to be observed when contributing to discussion pages:

• Only criticize the content, not the author(s).
• Give proper reasons for your criticism.
• The only motivation for criticism is improving the content.
• Criticism always comes along with serious proposals for improvement or change.
• The contributions should not disconnect from the topics covered in the articles discussed.

We want to avoid:

• religious wars,
• editing wars,
• private vendettas.

Please only edit your own contributions on the discussion pages. You may only edit other users’ contributions for reasons of clarity (indenting, separating lines between postings, etc.). Please do not change any text in other users’ contributions – not even typos. This is the only way to prevent users from being afraid of manipulations to their contributions.

Discussion Pages of User Pages for Private Messages

Even special pages of the Wiki, e.g. the user pages of all registered users, provide discussion pages. If you click on a user’s name in the user list, you access the user page of the user. On his/her user page, every user has the option of introducing himself/herself, and the page also provides access to a discussion page by clicking on the discussion link in the top navigation bar (available for registered users only). If you edit the discussion page of another user’s user page, at his/her next logon the user will be notified by a message informing him that he has new messages. He/she can then directly access your message.

Discussions on discussion pages are available to all registered users. If a discussion starts to get private or is of no further interest to anybody but the two contributing parties, the contributors should move the discussion to their own user pages.

Formal or Informal Address?

In discussions we address other users just as we do in real life. If we know someone and are on first-name terms with him/her anyway, we will do the same here. Otherwise, we use the formal address for persons we do not know. There is no mandatory “informal address” rule or similar in this Wiki.

Additional Information

The following pages provide additional information:

• Wikipedia help: Talk pages
• Help: Talk page (from the official MediaWiki Manual)