NSWiki:Avoiding common mistakes

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This article, released under the GFDL, has been taken in large part from the Wikipedia page on this subject.

As a newcomer, it's easy to commit a NSwiki faux pas. That's OK — everybody does it! But, here are a few you might try to avoid:

  • Creating "copy" pages. NSwiki is where nations come to record their own history and the shared history of NationStates play. Please don't create pages that only duplicate information that can already be found on NS or related sites such as NSEconomy (the standard nation infobox has automatic links to the NS nation page and NSEconomy already). A nation with only an infobox and/or the nation description from the NS nation page is not considered useful content. Let each active nation create their own page, with their own content. You don't need a separate page for each puppet nation either, unless it has a roleplaying history of its own.
  • Making redundant articles. Before creating a new article, run a search for the topic — you may find a related one that already exists. Consider adding to existing articles before creating an entirely new one. In searching keywords, remember that article titles are usually singular, e.g. "Tree", not "Trees".
  • Deleting useful content. A piece of content may be written poorly, yet still have a purpose. Consider what a sentence or paragraph tries to say. Clarify it instead of throwing it away. If the material seems miscategorized or out of place, consider moving the wayward material to another page, or creating a new page for it. If all else fails, and you can't resist removing a good chunk of content, it's usually best to move it to the article's "Talk" page, which can be accessed using the "Discuss this page" button. The author of the text once thought it valuable, so it is polite to preserve it for later discussion.
  • Deleting biased content. Biased content can be useful content (see above). Remove the bias and keep the content.
  • Deleting without announcing that you're doing it. Remark on it in the edit summary box. Otherwise other users who care about the article's development will be caught unawares, and may think you're being intentionally sneaky.
  • Deleting without justifying. Deleting anything non trivial requires some words of justification in the edit summary or on the talk page. If the justification is presented on the Talk page, you can simply write "See talk:" in the edit summary box.
  • Using NSwiki pages as a chat room.
  • Respecting "the author".
    • Critiquing instead of editing. Articles have no single author with one overarching plan. Offering a suggestion or critique on the talk page can be helpful, but it is often faster to just give the article what you think it needs.
    • Failing to be bold. Yes, you might mess things up a little. But someone else will probably clean up after you. Really, go ahead and change it, we mean it.
  • Arming for war. NSwiki is a unique community of altruistic and consensus-oriented people. In other words, this isn't the General Forum, and flaming is just not done. For more about NSwiki manners, see NSwiki:Etiquette.
  • Over-capitalizing titles. For instance, the second word in "French grammar" is in lower case. That's the NSwiki house style.
  • Leaving in a huff because you find some bad articles. NSwiki is a work in progress; please tolerate our (temporary) imperfection, and help us improve. There are a lot of smart people here, and everyone finds they have something to contribute. If you're still skeptical, see the replies to common objections.
  • Deleting your user talk page or removing text from your user talk page. Talk pages are part of the historical record in NSwiki, and your user talk page is the best way others have of communicating with you. It's OK to clean up or archive old content, but please be very careful before removing content from your talk page; it makes it look as though you're trying to hide criticism.
  • Creating more work for WikiJanitors, especially for pages in the NSwiki namespace. Many well-meaning users will attempt to improve a process without considering that their changes will increase the workload for others.