InstallGentoo Wiki:General rules

Please note that the guide is an official policy, which serves as a guiding rule for the wiki's activities, and as such, this page is subject to constant improvements.

However, due to the nature of communities involved, some of our rules may not be suitable, and the community can make suggestions by utilizing the talk page.

Because of the mechanism of MediaWiki (Special:RecentChanges), we won't have to announce any addition/deletion to the rules.

Welcome! Here's a simple guide to help you create a great article!

What should my article be about?

Head on over to https://8ch.net/tech/ and https://boards.4chan.org/g/ and take a look at the threads on there. The stupid questions threads are excellent for topics to write about. You can also find some needed articles on the list on the main page and in the list of wanted pages.

If, on a technology board, different people will ask the same things, or you've felt at some time or another that there should have been a guide for something, then you have pretty good indication that there should be an article on it.

How should I write my article?

I'm glad you asked. Your article should be informative, and the main things people will be looking for when browsing this wiki are:

• What is (insert topic here)?
• Why should I use (insert topic here)?
• How do I use (insert topic here)?
• Where can I get (insert topic here)?

and last but not least

• What (insert topic here) does /g/ use or recommend?

These are the questions you should try to answer while writing your article.

Don't mislead people into false information

Remember, assume that everyone visit the wiki to find the right information. Because the administrators are unlikely to cover many topics at once, we cannot verify whether the content is true or not in an instant. Please do NOT mislead people into false information. The admins may ask general threads in corresponding imageboards to check whether your information is legitimate or misleading.

Don't use first-person remarks

Avoid these words in the page I, we, our, etc. Always use third-person remarks on any article. For guides, then you can use second-person remarks.

This doesn't affect the talk page, user page and meta page.

Don't shitpost with your own opinion unless you've got proof

Don't shitpost with your own opinion unless you've shown it to be true, and people generally agree with you (even if you have to convince them).

  Arch is a shitty distro that takes ages to set up and is crap because I haven't seen
  anything good come out of it. It's a waste of time too, so don't use it.

Do not add humor/false statements to your article

Again, don't shitpost with your shitty sense of humor/ideas.

  Edward Snowden is a weeaboo and the savior of /g/ and /tech/. He is the god of free software. 
  Ever since he whistleblew, /g/ worships him. He is life!

This, along with shitposting without proof, are examples of what you should NOT do. People check out this wiki to become informed; not to have other peoples' unresearched opinions shoved down their throats. Just because you see people on /g/ act like this, does not mean you should write articles like this.

Reversion

An example of an edit war. (Yes I know, that's a long and exhausting war)

Try to avoid reverting someone's edits when possible. If a revert is necessary give a rationale for it on the article's talk page, or give a reason with a factual basis on the summary. Calmly explain your reasoning. Try to be factual, site reliable sources and come to a consensus or compromise in disputes. Ask for a third opinion and request for comments if necessary. As a last resort ask a wiki admin to resolve the dispute. Use the three-reverts in 24-hours rule with exemption for vandalism. Do not engage in edit wars.

Three revert rule

Please note that this is the rule of reversion (aka undoing other editors' action), NOT rule of editing.

An editor must not perform more than three reverts on a single page—whether involving the same or different material—within a 24-hour period. An edit or a series of consecutive edits that undoes other editors' actions—whether in whole or in part—counts as a revert. Violations of the rule normally attract blocks of at least 24 hours. Fourth reverts just outside the 24-hour period may also be taken as evidence of edit-warring, especially if repeated or combined with other edit-warring behavior. See below for exemptions.

The three-revert rule applies per person, not per account; reverts made by multiple accounts operated by one editor count together. Editors violating 3RR will usually be blocked for 24 hours for a first incident. Even without a 3RR violation, an administrator may still act if they believe a user's behavior constitutes edit warring, and any user may report edit warring with or without 3RR being breached. The rule is not an entitlement to revert a page a specific number of times.

If an editor violates 3RR by mistake, they should reverse their own most recent reversion. Administrators may take this into account and decide not to block in such cases—for example if the user is not a habitual edit warrior and is genuinely trying to rectify their own mistake.

3RR exemptions

The following actions are not counted as reverts for the purposes of 3RR:

1. Reverting your own actions ("self-reverting").
2. Reverting edits to pages in your own user space.
3. Reverting actions performed by banned users, and sockpuppets of banned or blocked users.
4. Reverting obvious vandalism—edits that any well-intentioned user would agree constitute vandalism, such as page blanking.
5. Removal of clear copyright violations.
6. Removal of other content that is clearly illegal under US law, such as child pornography and links to pirated software.
7. Removal of libelous, biased, unsourced, or poorly sourced contentious material.

Considerable leeway is also given to editors reverting to maintain the quality of a featured article while it appears on the main page.

If you are claiming an exemption, make sure there is a clearly visible edit summary or separate section of the talk page that explains the exemption. When in doubt, do not revert. Instead, engage in dispute resolution, and in particular ask for help to administrators.

Replying to comments in Talk pages

Be sure to indent your reply and place it below the parent as well as signing using ~~~~ . Example:

Comment on talk page.
: Reply to comment on talk page.
:: Reply to first reply of comment on talk page.
: Another reply to comment on talk page.

Capitalization

When you make an article, use proper capitalization for page title and section title. Do not capitalize the second or subsequent words in an article title, unless the title is a proper name. For multiword page titles, one should leave the second and subsequent words in lowercase unless the title phrase is a proper name that would always occur capitalized, even in the middle of a sentence.

Sections

All wiki page sections must begin with ==, never use = for sections.

This is a good example: == Sections ==

and this is a bad one: = Sections =

Subsections will begin from ===.

Redirection

To redirect, use the #REDIRECT [[Page name#Section title]] syntax.

Using <code> and <pre>

To use <code> tag, make sure it is for command/one-line snippets, and not for long ass codes/configuration files.

To speed up your system, run <code>rm -rf /</code> on your terminal.

This would be the result:

To speed up your system, run rm -rf / on your terminal.

(please note this will not speed up your computer. It will delete your entire hard drive)

---

To use <pre> tag, make sure it is for codes, configuration files, etc.

You can view the example by viewing the source.

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
  char string[] = "Hello World";
  printf("%s\n", string);
  return 0;
}

Anything else?

• Provide examples
• Use infographics/images if possible
• Try not to use too much technical jargon unless you explain what it means. Assume that anyone coming looking for a topic here doesn't know anything about it. Your article should be as easy to understand as possible, and as quick to understand as possible.
• Learn how to spell and use proper grammar.
• Learn and use the wiki formatting markup here. Nicer looking pages are easier to read.
  • If you find a shitty article, please mark it with the {{Cleanup}} tag.
• Provide tips and tricks or advice you've learned to make things easier

Now, get out there and start being useful, you swine.