Discussion pages (also called talk pages) are a key feature of Wikipedia, offering the ability to discuss articles and other issues with other Wikipedians.
The discussion tab
If you have a question, concern or comment related to improving the article put a note in the article's talk page and not in the article itself. You do that by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the page. Do not worry if the link shows up in red; it is all right to create the talk page if it does not already exist.
Talk page types
There are three major types of talk pages:
Article talk pages
For discussing issues related to the content of the article (e.g. to query a source or propose the addition or removal of a section)
They are not for discussing the subject of the article itself.
Prefixed "Talk:..."
Wikipedia talk pages
For discussing issues relating to the running of Wikipedia.
Prefixed "Wikipedia talk:..."
User talk pages
For communicating directly with specific other editors (e.g. to ask for advice or direct their attention to an article)
They are not for social networking.
Prefixed "User talk:..."
You have your own user talk page on which other contributors can leave messages. This includes contributors who have not created an account. If someone has left you a message, you will see a note saying "You have new messages", with a link to your user talk page.
You have new messages (last change).
Talk page formatting
When you post a new comment, put it at the bottom of the talk page under a new header.
The exception is if you are responding to someone else's remarks, put your comment directly below theirs.
Unlike when you edit articles, you should always sign and date your comments on talk pages....... Rockpocket 10:53, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
You do this by typing ~~~~ and the software will automatically add your username and a time signature.
there is a button at the top of the edit box with a signature icon which inserts "--~~~~" when clicked.
Indenting can improve the layout of a discussion considerably, making it much easier to read.
A standard practice is to indent your reply one level deeper than the person you are replying to.
There are several ways of indenting in Wikipedia:
Plain indentations
The simplest way of indenting is to place a colon (:) at the beginning of a line. The more colons you put, the further indented the text will be. A newline (pressing Enter or Return) marks the end of the indented paragraph.
For example:
This is aligned all the way to the left.
: This is indented slightly.
:: This is indented more.
is shown as:
This is aligned all the way to the left.
This is indented slightly.
This is indented more.
Bullet points
You can also indent using bullets, usually used for lists. To insert a bullet, use an asterisk (*). Similar to indentation, more asterisks in front of a paragraph means more indentation.
A brief example:
* First list item
* Second list item
** Sub-list item under second
* Third list item
Which is shown as:
First list item
Second list item
Sub-list item under second
Third list item
Example discussion
Here is an example of a well-formatted discussion:
Hi. I have a question about this article. I'm pretty sure purple elephants only live in New York! JayRandumWikiUser 02:49, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Well, last time I was in New York, the elephants I saw were green. — try2BEEhelpful 17:28, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I think you should find a source for your claims. Living × Skepticism 20:53, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
