User:Bookku/Summary

This essay is mainly about writing summary of content focused discussions on Wikipedia (article) talk pages.

Why to write summary

 * Helps WP:DR process.
 * WP:3O is first step in WP:DR process, uninvolved 3rd Opinion givers also many uninvolved participants are usually uninitiated what the discussion is all about and who is saying what. If some thing is too long it looks like WP:Wall of text hence in such situations many Wikipedia users report Too long; didn't read or just ignore the discussion without providing their valuable inputs, if no one volunteers to give 3rd Opinion or sufficient inputs are not received in RfC discussion then effort on raising RfC goes waste or many important points may remain uncovered because of low participation. That makes giving justice to issue at hand difficult. Hence WP:3O says, ".. editors are requested to present a short summary of the dispute, .."
 * Here what other users expect is bulleted or numbered summary of every possible important point about what every involved user is trying to say. But not, personal complaints, not single liner summary  avoiding point by point summary.


 * After WP:3O if suppose you go to WP:DRN or dispute resolution notice boards there you may find moderators / admins are placing word limits. If your edit summary is already ready it becomes very easy to present or link at various notice boards


 * Many times we fail to notice what other user in the discussion is trying to say, if s/he/ they are not clear you can request for clarification; vice versa once you publish a summary if other user feels they mean some thing else than what your summary is saying then they can give their clarification. This can help avoiding misunderstanding, helps to make exact positions of each side more clearer among deliberating/disputing users and also to rest of Wikipedia community.


 * Summary represents your points easily even in your absence even if you are on short break, get blocked or topic banned for some reason or  you eventually retire summary remains available even in talk page archives for curious researching readers in future.

How to write summary

 * One way is to underline important sentences, then club them who is saying what wise.
 * If you are finding above difficult then underline first sentences of each paragraph, see if that is making sense as summary if not then if you can find any important point in next sentence.
 * Elimination of Redundancies: If you are finding difficult or jarring take the texts to your own PC or may be google documents. Delete less important sentences while  Keeping important sentences then simplify what is remaining.