One Wiki Style

Please do not take this as a voice-from-above giving you rules for how to use Wiki, either on the page from whence you came or in general. WikiNature just ain't that way. This page and the approach it describes are meant only as an attempt to stimulate our best possible discourse.

  1. Every page on the wiki is not required to reflect your views. Wiki is a center of discourse, not a group manifesto.

  2. Link freely, especially when criticizing.

  3. UsingSignatures when appropriate.

  4. Find a place for people whose views counter your own. The only view that can't fit within Wiki is the view that other people aren't allowed to disagree.

  5. Edit boldly when you agree, but be very cautious about reversing existing content.

  6. BeExcellentToEachOther?. A cheesy reference to a popular comedy, but we could do a lot worse than to follow this practice in all of our discourse.

  7. Strive to undo your mistakes.

  8. Carefully and occasionally ignore this advice.

That's it. Thanks for checking it out!


How about: When you create a MundaneLink?, include in the Wiki some idea of what is in the page/site being pointed to.

A would-be contributor wonders in OneWikiEvolution. Thanks for linking to your thoughts rather than stepping on these.

This doesn't seem to be working too well in terms of the WikiNature. I see the BigDesign pages being modified back and forth in a very contentious fashion, rather than the productive tolerance that usually characterizes WhyWikiWorks. If you can't explain WhyOneWikiStyleWorks?, I think I'm going to sign this here paragraph -- PeterMerel

Yeah, it didn't work out so well, did it? It got even worse! Note the new edits, in an attempt to fix up the idea.

It's more that the alternatives manifestly don't work. Something needs to be done differently. See ThreadModeCorrected and ThesisAntithesisSynthesis for other attempts.


See also: PlainEnglish

CategoryWiki CategoryWikiMaintenance


EditText of this page (last edited July 6, 2008) or FindPage with title or text search