Essay:Cosmikdebris' editor's guide

Here are some loosely defined things to consider when considering whether or not to hit that "Save changes" button on RationalWiki:

• Assume good will. Not everyone is a vandal or troll.
• Don't make outrageous or controversial claims or statements in articles, unless you back them up with credible references.
• When examining existing articles, or creating new ones, consult the manual of style. It's very good.
• Remember to patrol spam pages before vaporizing or moving, so that they don't clog up the list of un-patrolled recent changes.
• Just block the /64.
• All kinds of boxes and widgets are found on the template list.
• Subtle snark is good. Too much snark makes the article look stupid.
• If referencing a book, include its ISBN number in the reference. The wiki software automagically creates a nifty search link. This is broken since the last upgrade. As an alternative, use the isbn template.
• Use the rp template in conjunction with a reference name to reference a specific page in a book.
• Separate notes from references. There is also a nifty template that does this.
• If a single reference applies to more than one part of an article, group them together.
• If totally lost, look for all the pages in the Help namespace.
• If an external link in an article has gone 404, check to see if it's been archived on archive.org or archive.is.
• Fragile links are nicely encapsulated using the archive template.
• When considering articles for deletion, always check to see what links to them to get an idea what the impact might be.
• Don't vandal-bin nasty BONs, instead, apply the banhammer gracefully.
• To archive YouTube videos directly on the Internet Archive, use https://web.archive.org/save/{url}
• Censor content as appropriate. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

• Don't use the phrase "it should be noted that" or any of its variants.
• Inline hyperlinks are almost always a bad idea. Use references instead.

References

This essay is an original work by signed users. The original author has freed it for editing by other editors.