Help:Talk pages
Every page on the wiki with user-generated content has its own space for discussion called a talk page. Talk pages are used to discuss the associated article, template, category, etc. A user's talk page can be used to communicate with that user.
Accessing a talk page
From any page, you can access its talk page from the "Discusssion" tab at the top of the page. If the talk page doesn't exist yet, the link will appear in red, in which case it will take you directly to an editing screen where you can be the first to start the discussion.
A talk page works just like any other page on the wiki, except it exists in a Talk: namespace to keep it separate from other types of pages.
Talk page formatting conventions
Talk pages may seem confusing at first to those who are not familiar with editing wikis, but there are certain conventions that make it orderly and accessible to engage in discussions on a free-form wiki page:
- At the end of your post, sign and date it by typing four consecutive tilde characters (
~~~~). This sequence will be converted into your signature when you save the page. - Start a new topic by placing it at the end of the page (the bottom) under a
==level 2 heading==. This is done for you if you follow the "New topic" link at the top of the talk page. - Indent replies using colons (
:) at the beginning of the line.
Editing discussions
Although it is possible to edit other's posts, it is generally considered bad etiquette to modify someone else's wording.
If someone forgets to sign their post, use {{unsigned}} to provide attribution.
In deep threads, {{outdent}} can be used to reset the indentation level.