9 things you need to know about the Crankshaft Coalition wiki
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| − | #A wiki is a piece of software. It's like a word processor (software used to edit documents, like Microsoft Word) combined with a bulletin board (software used to enable discussions between groups of people, like the | + | #A wiki is a piece of software. It's like a word processor (software used to edit documents, like Microsoft Word) combined with a bulletin board (software used to enable discussions between groups of people, like the [http://www.hotrodders.com/forum Hotrodders Bulletin Board]. On a wiki, groups of people work together to edit articles. There are thousands of different wikis on the internet, the most famous (and largest) one being [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]. This wiki, the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki, is focused on hotrodding information. |
| − | #Anyone, especially you, can edit any of the articles on the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki. Just click the "edit" tab at the top of the page. Once you do that, you'll see the text of the page in a posting box on the resulting screen. From there, you can just add, remove, or edit the text in the box accordingly, and click the "Save page" button at the bottom of the screen. Don't worry about screwing anything up; every time a wiki page is edited, the previous version is saved. It's very easy to roll back to a previous version. In fact, you can see the editing history of a wiki page by clicking the "history" tab at the top of the page. | + | ##Anyone, especially you, can edit any of the articles on the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki. Just click the "edit" tab at the top of the page. Once you do that, you'll see the text of the page in a posting box on the resulting screen. From there, you can just add, remove, or edit the text in the box accordingly, and click the "Save page" button at the bottom of the screen. Don't worry about screwing anything up; every time a wiki page is edited, the previous version is saved. It's very easy to roll back to a previous version. In fact, you can see the editing history of a wiki page by clicking the "history" tab at the top of the page. |
| − | #What about vandalism and trolls? Certain wiki pages can be "protected" by having their editing privileges restricted. Also, vandalous IP addresses can be blocked. However, bear in mind that the power of the wiki method lies in its openness. Ideally, articles are only "protected" from open editing after they have fully exhausted the selected topic. | + | ###What about vandalism and trolls? Certain wiki pages can be "protected" by having their editing privileges restricted. Also, vandalous IP addresses can be blocked. However, bear in mind that the power of the wiki method lies in its openness. Ideally, articles are only "protected" from open editing after they have fully exhausted the selected topic. |
| − | #The unofficial wiki motto is "Be '''bold'''". When editing wiki pages, don't hold back. If you have information that can be added to a page, add it. If you see a spelling or grammatical error, fix it. On a wiki, the best articles come from a large group of people making small additions and adjustments to a single document. Don't worry that you're going to offend anyone. Don't hesitate to improve an article, even if it just means adding a comma to one sentence. | + | ####The unofficial wiki motto is "Be '''bold'''". When editing wiki pages, don't hold back. If you have information that can be added to a page, add it. If you see a spelling or grammatical error, fix it. On a wiki, the best articles come from a large group of people making small additions and adjustments to a single document. Don't worry that you're going to offend anyone. Don't hesitate to improve an article, even if it just means adding a comma to one sentence. |
#At the top of each wiki article is a "discussion" tab. You can use the discussion page to discuss any article. You may want to ask the opinion of some other wiki editors regarding a specific change, or you may want to start a discussion about future additions to the article, etc. Also, the discussion page leaves a written record of the thought process that went into each article. To discuss an article, simply click the discussion tab. If a discussion about that article is already in place, simply edit its page. If not, you'll be directed to a posting box. Start the discussion for that page by typing in the box and clicking the "Save page" button, just like you were editing an article. | #At the top of each wiki article is a "discussion" tab. You can use the discussion page to discuss any article. You may want to ask the opinion of some other wiki editors regarding a specific change, or you may want to start a discussion about future additions to the article, etc. Also, the discussion page leaves a written record of the thought process that went into each article. To discuss an article, simply click the discussion tab. If a discussion about that article is already in place, simply edit its page. If not, you'll be directed to a posting box. Start the discussion for that page by typing in the box and clicking the "Save page" button, just like you were editing an article. | ||
#Don't copy-paste information into the wiki posting box. In most cases, it will be covered by copyright, and it's illegal to copy it. Any text entered into the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki must be accompanied by a promise that you wrote it yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Fortunately, once your original writing is entered into the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki, it's covered under a special "Creative Commons" license that allows it to be freely shared and copied. For more information on this, see [[Project::Copyrights]]. | #Don't copy-paste information into the wiki posting box. In most cases, it will be covered by copyright, and it's illegal to copy it. Any text entered into the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki must be accompanied by a promise that you wrote it yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Fortunately, once your original writing is entered into the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki, it's covered under a special "Creative Commons" license that allows it to be freely shared and copied. For more information on this, see [[Project::Copyrights]]. | ||
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