What to do when noticing an error on the wiki

Wiki Help pages
Contributor's guide — Guidelines — Fixing errors howto
Editing pages — Talk pages — Formatting
Code of conduct — About Gentoo wiki — Wiki FAQ

There may occasionally be errors on the wiki, as the volume of documentation managed here means some things will inevitably slip through. Anyone reading the wiki who comes across an error can help fix things though! Here are instructions on what to do when noticing an error on the wiki, to get things fixed.

Tip
Please use the just fix it option, if at all possible. It's quick, and means the least work for an already overstretched team ;).

Note
Some pages are protected and not publicly editable, and will have a "view source" button in place of the "Edit" buttons. For these pages, please flag issues on the talk pages.

See also
See the contributor's guide for a full introduction on how to help out on the wiki.

Just fix it

The most useful thing that can be done about an issue on the wiki is to create an account, if not already done, and just fix the issue directly on the wiki! This is the best thing anyone can do to help out around here. Don't worry too much about formatting, or the quality of the English - editors can touch this up later - the main thing is to get erroneous information removed from the wiki.

Even an imperfect solution can be fixed up by editors later, so don't worry about making things absolutely flawless. If an edit is short, and makes things better than they were before, it should be a good contribution, at least to work from. Just refrain from making large edits, as these can be hard to untangle.

Check out the contributor's guide for more information on creating accounts, on how to start editing the wiki, and on how to make the best additions possible. If making more substantial edits to the wiki, please do check out that guide, and the official wiki guidelines.

Flag the issue on talk pages

If what needs changing to make things right isn't quite clear, please leave a note on the offending article's talk page, so that people know about the issue, and so that an editor can come along and fix it.

Talk pages are also the place to bring up any changes needed to protected pages, such as the handbook or project pages.

For protected pages it can be helpful if a user wishes to go above and beyond to make a snapshot of the page in the user area to link as an example of the change that is felt needed. This can speed up time needed to be spent by the wiki team.

Come tell us on IRC

If all else fails, it is possible to come and tell us on IRC, on the #gentoo-wiki (webchat) channel, about an issue. Please only do this as a final recourse, as it is much easier for the wiki team to organize their work when things are clearly stated on talk pages, and this avoids things being forgotten or missed (not everybody has time to constantly monitor the IRC channel).

Discuss it on the Mailing List

There is a dedicated gentoo-doc mailing list specifically for documentation issues, including the Gentoo Wiki. This is most helpful as a means suggest large scale changes to the documentation, wiki plugins or upgrades, etc. It's also useful for coordinating with others regarding multiple planned changes to the wiki when timezone differences are a factor. Anyone who actively participates in addressing documentation issues on the wiki is welcome to join the gentoo-doc mailing list and participate in discussions.