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This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Old School RuneScape Wiki contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it.
Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell: If you see something that can be improved, improve it! In many cases, it can be better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Users are supposed to use common sense, though. |
Be bold!
Old School RuneScape Wiki is a wiki made up of people who share a love of the game Old School RuneScape. This wiki is for all things about Old School RuneScape, and how to improve yourself and others when playing this game. Tips, advice, and tools to help one another while playing this game is precisely why we have come together to write the content that you are reading at the moment.
Importantly, if you find something that you would like to see on this wiki or find missing in the articles… BE BOLD and help to improve this wiki by actually making the tools and features you would like to see added here. As a wiki, everybody can edit and contribute, and there is no monopoly on good ideas either. Every new contributor can have good ideas on how to improve this website, and you are encouraged to help. Do you find an article that has some grammar problems? Is there an image you think can be improved? Do you think you could write a walk through of a quest that is more understandable? Has there been an update recently that makes the page you are reading old and stale? Do you want to contribute to a discussion but aren't sure what others will think of your views? Be bold and help us out by trying to join us here and making those changes yourself. Let's work together and improve this wiki, and you can be that somebody who can make a difference.
You are not required to be bold, but it is encouraged that contributors and editors of this wiki be willing to take some risk and at least experiment sometimes to try new ideas and come up with something that can be of benefit to the rest of the readers and contributors to this wiki.
…but please be careful
Years of effort have gone into the development of all of the pages in this wiki, and represents a significant passion for many of those who have put their time and effort into creating the existing content you are now reading. We are all people with different personalities, backgrounds, ages, and experience even with this game and sometimes contributors to this wiki can get a little sensitive if you start to make massive changes without at least working with the other editors. Not everybody can agree on everything either, so it is important to arrive at some consensus if a dispute arises. Be willing to communicate your feelings about issues that may arise, and try to remember that we are all human as well. Also, be willing to seek advise and technical support for ideas you may have but aren't exactly sure how to get them to work.
Often it is easier to see that something is not right rather than to know exactly what would be right. We do not require that everyone be bold. After all, commenting that something in an article is incorrect can be the first step to getting it fixed. It is true, though, that problems are more certain to be fixed, and will probably be fixed faster, if you are bold enough to do it yourself.
To use the words of Edmund Spenser, "Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold," but "Be not too bold."
Be able to undo what you do
If you start to make a massive change to the structure and format of how the content on this wiki is organised, allow for the ability to reverse those changes. This is both for policy and for technical changes that may happen. There are many tools available to help reverse a minor mistake or two, but over time most changes will become ingrained and become a part of the overall network of pages that represents this website. Substantial reorganising of content ought to be presented to the community at large to seek feedback and advice.
Luckily, as a wiki, the tools to reverse changes are pretty good and it is relatively difficult to make lasting changes causing damage for a typical user or even an administrator. From minor changes such as the spelling of words to renaming pages or even deleting content can be reversed in most cases. This does not mean that you should be reckless, but if you follow an idea and it turns out to be a bad idea, it can usually be fixed and reversed in most cases. Remember to use the "Preview" button before saving the page.
Committees don't make things happen, people do
Discussions are a good thing, and it is important to be able to seek input on particularly major changes that may be made. But at the same time if all you do is discuss the idea and engage in arguments about the idea, nothing really happens. At some point a person simply needs to be bold and start acting and doing, even if the results aren't perfect.
Newcomers are always to be welcome
Just because you are new to this wiki and have not really participated before, realise that you are indeed welcome here. New participants are the lifeblood of wikis like this, and we not only appreciate but actually need new people to come forward and to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Be willing to join us and adding your voice to the rest of the participants on this wiki.