User:DynSkeet/Editing

Disclaimer: I am not an admin, nor do I hold any position of authority at all within Wikipedia, but I have some definite ideas about what is "good" and what is "bad" in an article. I do not claim that these tenets are official Wikimedia policy (although some may be); they are simply things I like and dislike. Here, then, are my opinions.

Things what are bad

 * DO NOT use passive-voice phrases like "it is revealed that" or "it becomes known that." Find another way to say what you're saying without that wishy-washy use of the undefined "it".
 * DO NOT ever, ever, ever use "you" in an article. This often leads to the next point.
 * DO NOT put your personal opinion into an article. One of the major cornerstones of Wikipedia's editorial policy is avoidance of Point-of-View (POV). If you feel very strongly about an article (positively OR negatively), take several breaths and step back a bit before you save a change. Make sure you're being objective.
 * DO NOT edit an article just to make changes between "British English" and "American English". Examples: "-or" vs. "-our", "-ize" vs. "-ise", et cetera. THIS GOES BOTH WAYS. And for God's sake, don't edit an article about a British personality to Americanize the spelling or vice versa.
 * DO NOT insert every trivial detail about a subject. I realize that everyone wants to see their favorite tidbit mentioned, but for instance, articles on The Simpsons have grown to enormous sizes because of these amusing yet useless additions. Yes, your favorite character may have said something very funny in that one episode, but unless it was a substantial landmark in the show, it probably doesn't deserve to be added, particularly if the show (continuing the example) lasted more than two or three seasons.
 * DO NOT use contractions. Take the time and spell out the words. Similarly, if abbreviations are necessary, make sure they are spelled out the first time they are used.
 * DO NOT get overly territorial about an article. Yes, you may have created it and performed 95% of the edits. But make sure you are being objective over someone else's changes rather than deleting them offhandedly.

Things what are good

 * Having sources to back up your article, especially if they are "little-known" or questionable assertions. If you cite your sources, you don't have to deal with people questioning you on the discussion page.
 * Before submitting, check through your article and try to disambiguate the links. For instance, link to "paranoia" rather than "paranoid". One is an actual article and the other simply redirects. It's cleaner to link to the real thing, and you'll save time for people committed to correcting links to redirects. (Such people do exist, if you weren't aware of it.)
 * PLEASE make sure and "Show preview" before you save the page. There really isn't an excuse for committing a change with broken links due to misspellings or catastrophic format changes from forgotten equal signs or brackets.
 * Try to fit in with the pre-existing tone of the article. If a paragraph is written in the present tense, make sure your additions or edits maintain that. Try not to make it obvious when a snippet is tacked on.
 * If someone makes an edit that really does stick out like a sore thumb, try to incorporate it smoothly instead of simply reverting. Naturally, it's a judgement call on whether something is worth keeping or not, but be generous unless it's overt vandalism.
 * Take the time to verify your facts. If you're editing an article, refresh your memory on the subject no matter how familiar you think you are with it. You may have gotten that quote, statistic or other factoid wrong.
 * If you have vague doubts about something in an article but don't have irrefutable proof that it's wrong, question it on the article's discussion page instead of deleting it. Give people a few days (or more) to respond; not everyone checks their watchlist every five minutes.
 * Learn the shortcuts. Don't type out underscores within a wikilink (they're unnecessary); if you want to use an article's title except for something in parentheses at the end, use an empty alternate text field (example: "Sky High (2005 movie)|" within a wikilink appears identically to "Sky High (2005 movie)|Sky High").
 * Italicize titles. I forget the exact rules, but I think that movies, television shows, books, and musical works should all be italicized. Short stories or individual episodes of shows? Not sure, I think just quotation marks, but you may salt and pepper to taste.
 * Take the time to make sure you've spelled things correctly and check your grammar.

Things what should go without saying

 * Vandalism is pointless. Any damage you do to an article can be undone with a few mouse clicks. If you genuinely enjoy being an annoyance, you have some issues to resolve.
 * Don't act like it's incomprehensible that people get angry when you add a pornographic picture into a non-pornography-related article. Yes, maybe the Eiffel Tower is visible behind the nude woman, but there are more appropriate pictures to illustrate the structure. Act like you have some common sense.
 * Don't get unduly bent out of shape about things. Before you dash off a snotty reply on the discussion page, deface someone's talk page or send hateful email, cool down. Maybe whatever you're taking as an insult wasn't meant as such. (I am guilty of this.)
 * Take Wikipedia seriously, but not too seriously. It isn't a playground for in-jokes between your buddies and you, but neither is it a forum for nuclear disarmament talks. Your loved ones will not die horribly if you don't compulsively edit every article you find.