Help:Talk page
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Each page has a corresponding talk for discussing that page, with the exception of those in the Special: namespace. If there has been no discussion of a page, the link to its talk page will be red. You can still discuss the page — you will just be the first person to do so.
The title of a talk page is the same as the main page's title with Talk: added to the beginning (after the namespace title). The talk page for the Main Page is Talk:Main Page and the talk page for this help page is Help talk:Talk page.
[edit] General usage
To access a talk page look for a link labelled Talk, Discussion or Discuss this page. These links will be found either at the top of the page or on the left hand side (near Edit this page).
When you leave a comment on a talk page, you should sign it by typing --~~~~. See Help:Editing shortcuts.
The "Post a comment" feature allows you to start a new section without needing to edit the whole page. The section header becomes the edit summary when you save the page, so it only needs to be typed once. The this feature is accessible through a link with a "+" near the talk page edit link.
[edit] Threading
Because the wiki software platform provides for a wide range of formatting styles, certain best common practices have developed to provide a consistent, readable format.
When replying to a comment, indent your reply with one more colon than the comment has. This style of conversation is easy to read, even when multiple users reply to a particular comment. Always add your comment below other replies to the same comment.
Example:
| Markup | Rendering |
|---|---|
Can someone tell me where to find the wikimarkup syntax examples? --Bob : Sure, check out the help pages at [[meta:Main page|Meta]] --Alice :: You could also check out the Wikipedia help pages. They have a larger userbase. --George ::: Yes, but their information is WP specific. --Alice :: Actually, the official documentation is on the [http://www.mediawiki.org MediaWiki] wiki. --Stacy ::: Thanks, I found some. --Bob |
Can someone tell me where to find the wikimarkup syntax examples? --Bob</nowiki> |
[edit] User talk pages
User talk pages are used to communicate with other users and have certain special properties. After someone else edits your user talk page, the alert "You have new messages" is automatically displayed on all pages you view, until you view your user page.
Since all users have talk pages, there are generally two methods of discussing issues on the talk pages. One is to keep the discussion all on one page; just like on normal talk pages. The other is for each person to reply on the other's page.
The benefit of the latter is that each user will get a notification as soon as someone edits their page. The benefit of the former is that discussions are easier to read and are easier for others to join in on.
Users generally have a preference. If you leave a message on their talk page, you should honour their discussion style preference.
