Help:Talk Page Policy

The following covers the policy for Talk (Discussion) pages and for pages such as the Administrator Noticeboard where discussion takes place.

What are Talk pages?
Talk pages for any page on this wiki can be found by clicking the "Discussion" tab. They are a place where users can discuss the page in question in an easily accessible format.

Why we use Talk pages
Most significant decisions should take place on talk pages - they are accessible to all wiki users and provide a clear, easy-to-find, transparent location for discussion. Talk pages are also a good place for more casual changes (such as moving a long-standing page following a spelling confirmation) or to suggest edits if you are not sure how to make them yourself.

The process
If you are starting a discussion, simply write your comment and then sign your comment with four tildes ( ~ ). This will automatically pull in your signature.

If you are responding to someone, preface your comment with a colon. If you a replying to a reply, preface it with two colons, and so on, within reason. If you are starting a separate topic, then do not use a colon - skip a line and start a new comment. For example:

I'm starting a discussion. ~



This is a separate topic.~

Looks like this:

I'm starting a discussion. Untropicalisland (talk) 01:12, May 11, 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm replying. Untropicalisland (talk) 01:12, May 11, 2022 (UTC)

This is a separate topic. Untropicalisland (talk) 01:12, May 11, 2022 (UTC)

The policy
All wiki policies apply: be civil and stay on topic.

You may not edit or remove other user's comments. Contact an administrator if you feel a comment should be removed; in the case of no immediate admin response you may remove hate speech, identifiable information (ie, attempts at doxxing), or vandalism, but please notify the administrators so they may take any further necessary actions.

The Talk pages serve as a discussion archive; if you wish to retract your own comment, particularly if it was replied to, please use the strikethrough ( comment ) and it will appear as such: comment.

Archiving
If a talk page gets long and has a number of topics that are no longer being discussed, you may wish to archive the comments. To do so:
 * 1) Create a subpage of the talk page (eg:Help:Talk Page Policy/Archive1, increasing the number for subsequent pages).
 * 2) Copy and paste the old discussion, in full, without edits, to the archive page.
 * 3) Create a link to the archive subpage on the talk page so people are aware it exists.

When in doubt, ask an administrator, rollbacker, or experienced user for help.