MEpedia:Discussion and collaboration

Discussion, or talk, pages are a forum for contributors to discuss changes if they need advice on an edit they are considering, or if they have concerns about a change that's been made. Every MEpedia entry has a discussion page, as does each contributor. These discussion pages are the main form of communication within MEpedia- there is no other way to 'message' or 'email' another user.

Where to ask your question

 * If you have a question or comment about a particular MEpedia entry, it is often best to leave your question or comment on that entry's discussion page, even if your question will be directed to a particular contributor. Others who have the page on their watchlist may have valuable input to contribute.  Other contributors can also be explicitly invited to a new discussion.  To find out who has recently edited the page, click on "View History" at the top of the page being discussed.


 * If you have a question or comment for a specific contributor that's not limited to one entry, it is best to leave your question or comment on that contributor's User Discussion page. Be sure that you are adding it to their User Discussion page (e.g. User talk:Pyrrhus) and NOT on their main User Page (e.g. User:Pyrrhus).

Contributor availability can vary significantly, so if you need help quickly, you can also ask your question at the Editor Help Desk and get input from the contributor(s) available to reply to you soonest.

If you need input or assistance that requires Administrator rights, you can find a list of editors with those permissions at Special:ListUsers/sysop.

How to use a discussion page
To use a discussion page, click the "Discussion" tab at the top left of the screen. If no one has discussed anything on the page before, you can simply add the first question or comment to create the discussion page. If the discussion page already exists, you'll see the preceding discussions. (Check to see if your question has been addressed!) If you're responding to a discussion under way, you can join it by adding your comment right after the last comment in that discussion. Otherwise, add your question or comment to the end of the page.

Writing in a discussion page requires certain symbols called "wikitext". Here are the most important wikitext tips:


 * If you're starting a brand new discussion, you should first separate your comment to make it readable. You can type two equal signs "==" on a new line, type a brief description, and then type two more equal signs.  For example, " == Suggestion == " or " == Question == ".  (Alternatively, you can use the "Level 2 Heading" button with the giant "A" at the top of the screen.)


 * If you're responding to an existing discussion, you should first separate your comment to make it readable. You can begin your comment with four hyphen characters "  " on a line by itself, which separates your comment with a clean line.  Alternatively, you can indent your comment by adding  one or more colons ":" to the beginning of each line.


 * After you've separated your comment to make it readable, just type normally.


 * To invite another contributor to join the discussion, simply link to that contributor’s page by putting "User:" in front of the contributor's name, and placing that inside double braces "" "" . For example, "Inviting contributor User:Pyrrhus to the discussion."


 * You should always end your comment with four tilde characters " ~ " on a line by itself, which signs your name to the comment.


 * If you want to write double-spaced, just use two returns at the end of each line instead of just one.

Finally, save the page and you're done! (Don't be discouraged- wikitext is really easy to learn if you follow the above few tips.)