Wikipedia talk:Talk page guidelines

Additions to policy page for "Editing comments"

Please add the following to the policy page for section "Editing comments":

• That it is allowed to provide section headers for comment/comments that do not have a header. Policy mentions about allowing to fix "formatting errors", but is leaving out a section header considered a formatting error? This is not clear on reading the policy.
• If it is allowed to edit a comment to provide wiki links, then it can be added as a policy guideline. Again, providing a link to an article is not fixing a formatting error. It's not very clear if we're allowed to do that.

Jay (talk) 09:54, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

I've made this clear in the formatting errors bullet point. Jay (talk) 15:56, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

When pages get too long

The section on WP:Talk page guidelines#When pages get too long tells what to do when pages get too long. How long is too long? Jay (talk) 08:34, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Got the answer from the help desk - Wikipedia:Help_desk/Archives/2009 March 21#archiving long user talk pages. Jay (talk) 12:44, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Copying other user's comments into secondary discussions

I'm continually finding talk comments that I make being copied and pasted into discussions on other pages, giving the impression that I had participated in the discussion on the secondary talk page (e.g. from here and to here). What is the WP policy on selectively copying (dare I say editing) other user's comments in this way in order to form or support an argument elsewhere? Thanks Socrates2008 (Talk) 10:05, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

anons

Are IP addresses allowed to blank their pages of warning and block notices? — pd_THOR ^{| =/\=} | 18:31, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

As per WP:BLANKING, editors -either registered or anonymous- may remove almost any message at will from their own talk pages. — Kralizec! (talk) 23:48, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Typo correction after one has replied

I want to ask for outside input. I was in a discussion on my talk page with another user (see here). We were in a disagreement as to whether or not WP:REDACT disallows us from editing our own comments if someone has replied even though it is just a simple typo correction. Is it okay to correct typos in our comments even though someone has already replied? —Mythdon (talk) 04:49, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

That page clearly says, "Altering a comment after it has been replied to robs the reply of its original context." Correcting "their" to "there" does not change context of what I was saying. But, what you will also not find on that page you pointed to is the comment, "If someone changes their comments, revert their edits." Typos are typos, and have no bearing on the context of what it is saying. Please understand that we should follow the spirit, not the letter of the guideline.  BIGNOLE  (Contact me) 04:56, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Anyway, it's a guideline. Asking people to obligatorily follow it to the letter is just stupid counterproductive. I redact my comments all the time (and considering the number of spelling mistakes I do, you should be glad =)). As long as the meaning doesn't change, it shouldn't be a problem. -- lucasbfr ^talk 07:36, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

User Talk pages Redirecting to User pages.

I was just checking up on some old pages when I found some edits by a user I wished to discuss further. When I went to talk to him I was baffled momentarily by ending up at his user page until I realised that he had made it redirect from User Talk:JCraw to User:JCraw. This I found out of kilter with the rest of Wikipedia as he wants queries directed to his email. I realise he didn't want personal comments directed to him but wouldn't this put veils over the normal transparency that Wikipedia has as to find any discussions that have been had with JCraw you would need to look through all of his edits to find where he has discussed and then look through the archives of everywhere to see the other side of any discussions that other users may have had (Through his edits you can only see one side) and I can't even tell if there are edits by users that he hasn't responded to. Taking it outside of Wikipedia by emailing him completely cuts off any posibility of discussions being able to be seen later which, in my opinion, just isn't right. The last edit by another user was MZMcBride who said "User talk pages enable communication among users. As such, they shouldn't redirect to user pages. Cheers. --MZMcBride (talk) 21:38, 6 January 2008 (UTC)". Which means there has been no transparent discussion since early 2008; what is the agreed policy on users redirecting talk pages to user pages? I Grave Rob_§talk♥^stalk§ 03:15, 11 April 2009 (UTC)