HRWiki:User space
From Homestar Runner Wiki
HRW:US
The Homestar Runner Wiki provides each user with a user space to facilitate communication among participants in the project. If your username is JohnDoe:
- Your user page is the page at "User:JohnDoe"
- Your user talk page is the page at "User talk:JohnDoe"
- Your user subpages are any pages at "User:JohnDoe/subpage" or "User talk:JohnDoe/subpage" (see below)
- Your user space is the collection of all the above.
Details about yourself shouldn't go in the main namespace, which is reserved for Homestar Runner content.
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[edit] What can I have on my user page?
A good start is to add a little information about yourself, possibly including contact information (email, instant messaging, etc), a photograph, your real name, your location, information about your areas of expertise and interest, likes and dislikes, other homepages, and so forth. Obviously, this will depend on how comfortable you are with respect to privacy. Users under the age of 13 should read our policy on youth protection as well.
You can also use your user page to help you use the Homestar Runner Wiki more effectively: so you can use it to list "to do" information, work in progress, reminders, useful links, and so forth. It's also good for experimenting with markup (a personal HRWiki:Sandbox).
Another use is to let people know about your activities and opinions on the Wiki. So you might include current plans, a journal of recent activites on the Wiki, and your opinions on how certain Wiki articles or policies should be changed. If you won't be editing the Wiki for a while, drop a note on your user page to that effect.
You might want to add quotes you like, or some of your favorite Wiki articles or images, or something like that.
You are allowed two personal images for your user space. Please do not abuse this privilege. See HRWiki:Personal images for more information.
[edit] What can I have on my user talk page?
Your user talk page is for other users to discuss matters related to the Wiki with you. As your user talk page becomes larger, you may choose to delete or summarize old discussion, as you feel appropriate. Please avoid deleting discussion merely because it is critical of your actions - doing so will only make people repeat the same criticism, and will make it seem like you are ignoring criticism.
In general, your contributions to your user talk page should be in response to other people's comments - avoid stuff that would be better placed on your user page. Please see our user talk guidelines for more detail.
[edit] What about user subpages?
If absolutely necessary, you can create subpages.
Examples:
- your signature
- a work in progress, until it is ready to be released
- archives of user talk
- tests; for testing a template, make it a separate subpage
The following uses are NOT allowed, and will be deleted if created.
- Additional personal pages, especially when they are also secret pages (meaning unlinked from the user page)
- pieces of fanstuff
- archives of already deleted pages
- pages that do not serve the project
Please do not abuse this privilege. Do not use component (nested) pages for content that could just as easily go on your main page.
[edit] What should I avoid?
Generally, you should avoid any substantial content that is unrelated to the Homestar Runner Wiki. Examples include:
- A weblog relating your non-Homestar Runner Wiki activities
- Commercial advertising or spam
- Discussion not related to the Homestar Runner Wiki
- Excessive personal information
- Opinion pieces not related to the Homestar Runner Wiki or other non-encyclopedic material
- Communications with people uninvolved with the project
- Guestbooks
Free and low-cost web hosting, email, and weblog services are widely available, and are a good alternative for content unrelated to the wiki.
New users who edit only their user space, their friends' talk pages, and the sandbox are typically looked down on by the community, and this practice is specifically discouraged. On the other hand, community-building activities that are not strictly on topic may be allowed, or even encouraged, when initiated by committed users with good edit histories. At their best, such activities help us to build the community, and this helps to build the knowledge base.
[edit] Ownership and editing of pages in the user space
As a tradition, the Homestar Runner Wiki offers wide latitude to users to manage their user space as they see fit. However, pages in user space still do belong to the community:
- Contributions should always respect the copyrights of The Brothers Chaps.
- Other users may edit pages in your user space if they do so for a specific reason (but see below).
- Community policies apply to your user space just as they do elsewhere.
- In some cases, material that does not somehow further the goals of the project may be removed (see below).
If at all possible, avoid editing another's user page. If you must do so, it should be for a compelling reason, for example to correct linking errors that might confuse readers or to provide technical assistance. Occasionally a user (especially an administrator) might edit another's user page to bring it in line with policy, but keep in mind that a talk page notice is preferred in most cases. Please do not encourage anyone to casually edit your page. Casual editing of another's user page is strongly discouraged and in most cases may be reverted.
In general, if you have material that you do not wish for others to edit, or that is otherwise inappropriate for the Homestar Runner Wiki, it should be placed on a personal web site. Many free and low-cost web hosting services are available to serve such needs.
[edit] What other information is accessible to others from my user page?
In addition to the usual information accessible from an article page such as page history, "Discussion", and the like, other users, from the sidebar (or the top or bottom of the page depending on the display skin), can click "User contributions" to see what contributions you have made to the Wiki over time.
Visitors to your user page can also click "E-mail this user" if you have opted in your preferences to be able to send and receive email.
