Gentoo Wiki talk:Guidelines

Please discuss all changes here before making any changes to the Guidelines article.

Go to this article's archive sub-article to see previous completed discussions.

Shortened URLs
Recently a discussion in occurred on shortened URLs. I believe it is in the best interest of the Gentoo community to not permit shortened URLs for a few reasons: In fact, it would seem our spam filter already blocks some shortened URLs. I make the proposition of adding a new section to the Guidelines that will outlaw shortened URLs. --Maffblaster (talk) 20:38, 29 November 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) Users have no indication where the destination points. It could be a inappropriate site or some other place they don't want o visit.
 * 2) The link could be used for tracking purposes. Something that really should't be happening unless the user makes the decision to actually travel to a destination server (meaning there's not a third party in the middle intercepting the request).


 * I agree with you. Valid shortened URLs should be expanded before adding them to the Gentoo wiki. Fturco (talk) 10:33, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Var element
I see the element is being used on this wiki for (the names of) configuration variables like "USE", "CONFIG_PROTECT", etc. I'm not sure I like this usage. I think of as marking text that is itself variable (IOW, "replaceable" or "stand-in" text).

Examples:
 * ( within a with something else later.


 * I would not appreciate to make it direct links to pages explaining the variable in more detail. We should only link when appropriate, and repeating the same link is also something I dislike (and is not used on wikipedia either for instance).


 * --SwifT (talk) 09:25, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Update linking section to include 'limited' linking
I would like to update the linking section a bit (the one currently titled with HTTPS for external links). My suggestion would be to
 * change the title to "Linking"
 * expand it to have users only use linking to other articles or resources once (or, in large articles, once per main section)

This is also used by wikipedia.

--SwifT (talk) 09:44, 10 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, please! I agree wholeheartedly. I probably should have had a discussion here before adding the HTTPS for external links section. :( --Maffblaster (talk) 08:16, 11 November 2016 (UTC)