Powerbase:Help Contents

What is "wiki"?

A Wiki is a collection of interlinked web pages.

What if someone tries to vandalize or insert disinformation into Nuclear Spin?

Currrently all people who want editorial access to Nuclear Spin must register with SpinWatch. This is our first level of security. The Nuclear Spin software also includes a number of features that make it possible to detect and manage vandalism.

• As editors to the site are registered, it is easy to track the editing activities of registered user.
• In the case of someone still managing to write malicious material, the software keeps an archive of all past versions of each article, making it easy to undo by reverting to a previous version.

Do I have to register to edit pages?

Yes.

Do I have to use my real name?

Yes.

Technical Questions

How do I Edit a page?

It's quite simple. Simply click "Edit this page" on the bottom or the side of the page, and type away.

How do I make links?

A link is just the name of the page surrounded by double square brackets. It's also possible to make the link display text that is different to the link:

[[page name]]

[[page name]]s -- suffix text will display as part of the link

[[page name|display name]] -- hide the page name and display something else (but use this sparingly, and never "click here"!)

[[page name (disambiguation)|]] -- the "pipe trick": the part in parentheses will not be displayed.

How do I rename a page?

Registered users can move a page; this moves the page content and edit history to a new title, and creates a redirecting page at the old title. This method is better than just copying the content by hand, as it preserves the article's history. Use the "Move this page" link. If you want to move a page, please click the "What links here" and fix the links to the page in question. S

What is "Recent Changes", and what do the abbreviations used there mean?

The notations on "Recent Changes" are "N" for new page (new pages often attract a bunch of copyedits); the "M" stands for "Minor edit" or "minor change", which you can set by checking the check box labelled "This is a minor edit" when you edit a page. If you check your "Preferences", you can suppress minor changes in the Recent Changes List. Checking this box is a courtesy to people who suppress seeing minor changes -- check the box if the change is a simple spelling or grammar change.

What is an orphan?

An orphan is an article that no other article links to. These can still be found by searching Nuclear Spin, but it is preferable to find another article where a link can be added. You can find a list of orphan articles here.

What is a minor edit? When should I use it?

When editing a page, one has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and simple rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at--either through substantial additions or reorganisation--or fixes a major error.

This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

What is "Recent Changes", and what do the abbreviations used there mean?

The notations on "Recent Changes" are "N" for new page (new pages often attract a bunch of copyedits); the "M" stands for "Minor edit" or "minor change", which you can set by checking the check box labelled "This is a minor edit" when you edit a page. If you check your "Preferences", you can suppress minor changes in the Recent Changes List. Checking this box is a courtesy to people who suppress seeing minor changes -- check the box if the change is a simple spelling or grammar change.

Are there any standard formats, for things like dates for example?

For referencing please see A Guide to Referencing

Copyrights

I have, or can get, special permission to copy an image or article to Nuclear Spin. Is it OK to do that?

The text and images of Nuclear Spin are covered by the GNU Free Documentation License. Unless an item is covered by the same or a similar license, or is in the public domain, it cannot be used on Nuclear Spin. So you have to ask the copyright holder of the material to license it under GFDL.