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A '''talk page''', or '''discussion page''' is used in [[wiki]] [[collaboration]] to contain discussion about the contents of its associated main page. In the first [[wiki]] released to the public in 1995, [[Ward's Wiki]], topic and discussion shared the same page.{{Fact|date=November 2008}} The [[MediaWiki]] software package, however, provides for every content page to have its own corresponding talk page, in order to separate the discussion of writing and maintaining a page from the actual page content itself. [[Wikipedia]], a wiki that uses MediaWiki and the most prominent and lagest publicly accessible wiki in the world, makes use of talk pages in various ways and has additional rules for talk pages that specifically relate them to the task of writing encyclopaedia articles. It in particular has different rules for the use of section headings on talk pages to those originally envisioned for MediaWiki.<ref name=Malcolm1 /><ref name=Wiki /><ref name=Abramowicz /> |
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== MediaWiki == |
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In the MediaWiki wiki software each article or other content page has a corresponding talk page. The purpose of these pages is for people who contribute to a single page to discuss changes to the content, such as why changes were made or were rolled back, and to resolve disagreements amongst themselves. The purpose of having a discussion page is to allow content to be separated from discussion surrounding the content.<ref>{{cite book|title=Enterprise 2. 0 Implementation|author=Aaron Newman, Adam Steinberg, and Jeremy Thomas|pages=185|publisher=McGraw-Hill Professional|date=2008|isbn=9780071591607}}</ref><ref name=Malcolm1>{{cite book|title=Multi-Stakeholder Governance and the Internet Governance Forum|author=Jeremy Malcolm|pages=188,280|publisher=Terminus Press|date=2008|isbn=9780980508406}}</ref> |
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For each type of content page, the associated talk pages have their own namespace. This namespace has, by convention (although this can be overridden in the configuration files), the same name as the associated content page namespace, but with the suffix "_talk". For example, the talk pages for the pages in the "Help" namespace are in the namespace "Help_talk". Each namespace on MediaWiki is numbered, and talk page namespaces have odd numbers.<ref name=Wiki /> |
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One of the features of talk pages in MediaWiki is an additional hyperlink, next to the "edit" link, labelled with a plus sign ("+"). Following this link leads to a page editing form that, instead of editing the whole page (as the "edit" hyperlink does), or an existing section (as the "<nowiki>[edit]</nowiki>" hyperlinks next to the section headings do), edits a new section, which, when saved, is added to the bottom of the page with a second-level heading. (This is unlike the normal operation of [[web log]]s, where new comments are added to the top.) The contents of the heading are specified by a field on the editing form. This behaviour can also be turned on for pages in non-talk namespaces, on a page-by-page basis, by adding a so-called "magic word", the string "<tt><nowiki>__NEWSECTIONLINK__</nowiki></tt>", to the wikitext of each individual page.<ref name=Wiki /><ref name=Choate1>{{cite book|title=Professional Wikis|author=Mark S. Choate|pages=174|publisher=Wiley|date=2007|isbn=9780470126905}}</ref> |
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Each account on a MediaWiki wiki has its own user page, which, like the article pages, has its own talk page. This talk page is a means of communication with other users of the wiki. However, there is no restriction in the software that talk pages must be used in that fashion. One of the distinctive features of user talk pages is that they cause a message to be displayed, to the user whose talk page it is whenever they next log in to that account, stating that "You have new messages (last change).". Two hyperlinks in that message allow the account owner either to read their entire talk page, or to look directly at the very last edit that has been made to that page.<ref name=Wiki>{{cite book|title=Wiki|author=Anja Ebersbach, Markus Glaser, Richard Heigl, and Gunter Dueck|pages=55,80–82,109,120–121,156|publisher=Springer|date=2006|isbn=9783540259954}}</ref><ref name=Fuchs1>{{cite book|title=Internet and Society|author=Christian Fuchs|pages=316|publisher=Routledge|date=2008|isbn=9780415961325}}</ref> |
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== Starting new sections == |
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Different authorities have different recommendations for starting new sections over editing existing sections. |
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Broughton<ref name=Broughton1 /> recommends for talk pages on Wikipedia that if a conversation is quite old (where "quite old" is a matter that he leaves to the reader's judgement, observing that even 3 months is not necessarily quite old) one should start a new section on a talk page in order to resume discussion, pointing to the prior discussion using an internal hyperlink (of the form "<tt><nowiki>[[#Title of the prior section]]</nowiki></tt>"). |
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Choate<ref name=Choate1 /> observes that the point of the "+" hyperlink in MediaWiki is to "gently encourage" people commenting on talk pages to confine their comments to individual sections, rather than editing the sections containing the comments of other people. |
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== Wikipedia == |
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Wikipedia, a wiki that uses MediaWiki, makes particular use of talk pages for separating the internal workings of article development from the encyclopaedia articles themselves.<ref name=Abramowicz>{{cite book|title=Predictocracy|author=Michael Abramowicz|pages=264|publisher=Yale University Press|date=2008|isbn=9780300115994}}</ref><ref>{{cite paper|title=The quality and trust of content in a wiki community|format=PDF|author=Trevor Ian Peacock|date=November 2006|url=http://researchwiki.peacocktech.com./images/b/b3/Thesis.pdf|pages=23}}</ref> On Wikipedia, although the pages are themselves called "talk pages", the hyperlinks to them, at the edges of the articles, are (confusingly, in Broughton's view) labelled "discussion".<ref name=Broughton1 /> |
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The primary purpose of a talk page (also referred to as a <code>/Talk</code> page) is to improve the contents of the corresponding article, from an encyclopaedic point of view.<ref name=washingtonpost1>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091601699_pf.html|title=On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet|author=Jose Antonio Vargas|date=[[2007-09-17]]|accessdate=2008-04-30|work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> Questions, challenges, excised text (due to confusion or bias, for example), arguments relevant to changing the text, and commentary on the article are typically placed on the talk page.<ref name=newyorktimes1>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/technology/19wikipedia.html?th&emc=th|title=Seeing Corporate Fingerprints in Wikipedia Edits|author=Katie Hafner|date=[[2007-08-19]]|accessdate=2008-04-30|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism|author=Caroline Eisner, Martha Vicinus|pages=43|publisher=University of Michigan Press|date=2008|isbn=9780472050345}}</ref> |
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Sometimes, the editing of article pages is disabled at Wikipedia, with notices in the article referring users to the article's discussion page.<ref>{{cite book|title=Wikis For Dummies|author=Dan Woods, Peter Thoeny, and [[Ward Cunningham]]|pages=241|publisher=For Dummies|date=2007|isbn=9780470043998}}</ref> Talk pages are also used to publicly recognize good articles, or good editing.<ref name=Fuchs1 /> |
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The organization of talk pages at Wikipedia is very different to the organization of article pages. Whereas article pages are essay-like, a talk page is a conversation. The page fomatting — the markup used to format text on the page — is the same, but the rules are different. Examples of the differences include italicization, boldface, and signatures. Italicization and boldface are used sparingly in articles, and not where they would challenge the neutral point of view, but are common on talk pages, since they allow editors to express themselves clearly. Similarly, signatures are forbidden on article pages, but are customary on talk pages.<ref name=Broughton1>{{cite book|title=Wikipedia|author=John Broughton|pages=145–152|publisher=O'Reilly|date=2008|isbn=9780596515164}}</ref> |
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Some other conventions apply to talk pages on Wikipedia:<ref name=Broughton1 /> |
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*When someone says "this page" on a talk page, they are usually referring to the main page that the talk page is associated with, rather than the actual talk page itself. |
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*Piped links and shortcuts to Wikipedia policy, guideline, and instructional pages are common on talk pages. |
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*Talk pages generally do not have standard sections at the bottom for footnotes, "see also" links, external links, and so forth. So citations must be placed within the body of a talk page comment. |
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=== Etiquette === |
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Wikipedia has many rules for talk page [[etiquette]], and for the uses of article talk pages. These include:<ref name=Broughton1 /> |
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:;It is better to fix an article than to complain about it on the talk page.: Broughton points to Wikipedia's "be bold" exhortation (see [[#Further reading|Further reading]]) in explaining this. He observes, however, that boldness can sometimes be foolhardy. If an article's content has already been extensively discussed on the talk page, then boldly altering it, without at least first reading the article's editing history and all of the prior discussions on the talk page and its archives, is unwise. |
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:;Be specific rather than general.: Broughton recommends that it is best to point to specific text rather than to make general statements, warning that if one doesn't have the time to find such examples in the actual text of the article, then one shouldn't write on the talk page at all. |
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:;It is better to quote another person, that one disagrees with, directly than to paraphrase them.: Broughton observes that paraphrasing carries the risk that one will be accused of misrepresenting the statements of one's opposition. The convention for quoting is to use italicization. |
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:;Don't just name a policy, hyperlink to it.: Broughton comments that it is easy to hyperlink one's text to the encyclopaedia's rules, using the various shortcuts available, and this helps other people to find those rules. He also recommends directl hyperlinking to "diffs" when discussing individual edits, and hyperlinking to sources when discussing facts. |
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:;Use article talk pages as ways of detailing edit summaries.: An edit summary that says "see talk page" or "see discussion page" can be explained fully on the talk page. |
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:;Do not post personal information or poorly sourced or unsourced controversial biographical information.: Personal information, including names, addresses, and telephone numbers, whether of another Wikipedia editor or someone else, is viewed as not belonging ''anywhere'' in Wikipedia. Similarly, poorly sourced or unsourced controversial biographical information is against the rules of the encyclopaedia. Broughton recommends that if one sees such information, one should remove it immediately, hyperlinking one's edit summary (by using the markup "<tt><nowiki>[[WP:BLP]]</nowiki></tt>" in the edit summary itself) to the Wikipedia policy page that explains this, so that others can follow the hyperlink and (in Broughton's words) "edify themselves". |
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:;Chat is forbidden.: Comments and opinions on the subject of an article (e.g. one's opinion of a politician or of a celebrity) do not belong on Wikipedia article talk pages, but on web logs, discussion fora, or personal WWW pages. They have nothing to do with the process of improving Wikipedia articles. Again, Broughton recommends that if one sees such "wikichat" on an article talk page, one should remove it (unless it has, as happens in rare cases, led to constructive discussion about the improvement of the article). |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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== Further reading == |
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* {{cite web|title=Help:Talk page|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Talk_page|work=[[Meta-wiki]]|accessdate=[[2008-11-11]]}} — the MediaWiki Handbook's entry for talk pages at the Meta-wiki |
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* {{cite web|title=Wikipedia:Talk page|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Talk_page|work=[[Wikipedia]]|accessdate=[[2008-11-11]]}} — the English language Wikipedia's internal guideline on the purpose and use of talk pages |
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* {{cite web|title=Wikipedia:Be bold|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Be_bold|work=[[Wikipedia]]|accessdate=[[2008-11-11]]}} — the English language Wikipedia's exhortation to "be bold when updating pages" but also to "be careful" |
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* {{cite book|title=How Wikipedia Works|author=Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates|date=2008|isbn=9781593271763|pages=25,29,110,113–117,318–319,337–341,338|url=http://howwikipediaworks.com./|publisher=No Starch Press}} |
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[[Category:Wikis]] |
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{{web-stub}} |
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Revision as of 18:07, 15 November 2008
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