Help:Talk

In any wiki, it's important to communicate between the contributors, and for this reason, we have talk pages.

What's a Talk Page?

A wiki contains a lot of talk pages, and these are the central place for discussion on the cooperative project we call DiabloWiki. Every page has a talk page, and they are there to discuss that particular article. They work like a posting board, just like on the Unofficial Forums, but with the difference that every contributor can edit everything, and everyone can see all changes. There are three types of talk pages:

• Article talk pages - Just like the talk page for this help page (Help talk:Talk), they are made to discuss the content and planning on the article they belong to. Everything from minor suggestions from new contributors to advanced pre-planning of entire projects relating to given subject can be discussed. When you "move" an article, the talk page will follow suit.
• User talk pages - These pages have another purpose than the article talk pages in that they are just small guest books for each member in the DiabloWiki. The pages are used for general chit-chat or discussing projects. These are as formal or informal as the owner of the talk page prefers.
• Community Portal talk page - The main "board" for over-arching discussions in DiabloWiki. Larger issues go here, similar to some of the ones in the user talk pages. New, old or re-planning. This is the hub for the wiki.

How to use a Talk Page?

Talk pages are not complicated at all. It's just a matter of editing, write a message, sign and save. Besides being made in a wiki-format, it's very much like a forum. There are a couple of things to bear in mind though:

• Always sign your comments! Just add a --~~~~ at the end of anything you write on a talk page, or click the "Your signature with a time stamp" tool in the formatting toolbar at the top of the edit page. Mind you, don't sign things you write in normal articles!
  • Some people sign on a lower row, some on the same. Either way is fine. Just sign.
• New topics on bottom, replies to topics on bottom of topic. New topics are placed at the bottom of the talk page, and you reply to others' comments by adding your reply underneath them.
  • New topics deserve a headline. Add "==Headline==" over your topic.
  • If you are discussing something with diverse sub-topics, you can make sub-headings. These sub headings go on the end of the current discussion (but above older ones further down). Add "===Sub-Headline===" over your topic.
• Replies should be "indented" to show which comment you are replying to. Use ":" as the first sign on a row to indent a small level. Use "::" to indent more, etc etc. This will create a logical "tree" of replies, and you should keep to that.
  • Reply under the previous comment that you want to give your opinion about.
  • If you want to reply to an earlier made comment, make the comment under all other comments, but with only one indent more than than the post replied to.
• Keep a conversation on a specific topic on ONE talk page, so it's easier to follow.
  • You can also invite your friends to continue the discussion somewhere else, like on the page you are discussing about (example: talk about how to organize headlines on the Wizard, is logical to have on the Wizard talk page rather than a user talk page.
• Generally refrain from asking "support" questions in terms of non-wiki technical troubles as well as gameplay. Use the unofficial forum for that.

Examples

Obviously, these examples uses one and the same contributor for all comments, and normally there would be quite different contributors, but this is how a talk page can look:

Health Orbs

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Text about health orbs, either how to format it, or what focus to have on the actual article would go here. As an initial post it could be a suggestion or even just a question. Generally refrain from asking support questions. Use the unofficial forum for that. --Leord 12:40, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

In this case the first reply is just a short comment. --Leord 13:35, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

The second reply is also a short comment, and contains quite few words as well. --Leord 14:10, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

The discussion continues and the Health Orb organisation is starting to take form. --Leord 14:15, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

This is the seventh post, note the time. --Leord 23:19, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

The fourth reply is not relating to the others, but directly to the original comment. --Leord 18:49, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

The fifth reply is also a short one, for the first post. --Leord 21:23, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

The sixth one is a reply to the fifth one. --Leord 21:43, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

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This would be the text you'd see in the edit window:

== Health Orbs ==
Text about health orbs, either how to format it, or what focus to have on the actual
article would go here.  As an initial post it could be a suggestion or even just a
question. Generally refrain from asking support questions.  Use the unofficial forum
for that. --Leord 12:40, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
: In this case the first reply is just a short comment. --Leord 13:35, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
:: The second reply is also a short comment, and contains quite few words as well.
   --Leord 14:10, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
::: The discussion continues and the Health Orb organisation is starting to take form.
    --Leord 14:15, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
:::: This is the seventh post, note the time. --Leord 23:19, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
: The fourth reply is not relating to the others, but directly to the original
  comment. --Leord 18:49, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
: The fifth reply is also a short one, for the first post. --Leord 21:23, 27 August 2008 (CEST)
:: The sixth one is a reply to the fifth one. --Leord 21:43, 27 August 2008 (CEST)

Further Help

If you need any further help, make a note on the talk page of this article!