How to contribute to Judgepedia

From Judgepedia

Judgepedia is built by ordinary people, like you. You don't need any special credentials to participate -- just an interest in sharing what you know or learn about judges, the judicial system, laws, lawsuits, the judicial elections and campaigns--in general, anything to do with the judiciary.

The fact that Judgepedia is open to anyone and everyone to start articles and improve existing articles is what gives all of us working together the ability, over time, to create a detailed, comprehensive, reliable and informative collection of articles on everything to do with judges.

So, you can just dive right in and work on any article you like. You can edit any article directly, or if you want to add your thoughts, questions or comments about an article, you can go to the article's talk page or just click on the "discussion" link in the horizontal menu at the top of the article.

Judges, laws, lawsuits, judicial election and selection, the judicial system and the judiciary in general can and do attract tremendous controversy and debate from time-to-time. Feelings can run high. It is important, therefore, to write articles that focus on documented facts. Please include thorough references to documentation supporting the facts in your article, and avoid inflammatory language or a provocative tone. What you're trying to do is help people understand judges and the judicial system, not to push a particular point-of-view.

New contributors are always welcome to Judgepedia, and you are encouraged to be bold in editing pages. You don't have to worry too much about making mistakes, as all contributions are monitored by other contributors at the Recent changes page.

What is a "wiki"?

A wiki^[1] is a collection of interlinked web pages, any of which can be visited and edited by anyone at any time. The concept and software was invented by Ward Cunningham. You can even edit the page you are reading right now; just click "Edit this page" (in the horizontal menu bar at the top). However, if you don't have anything to add or correct here, and you just want to see the Wiki in action, edit the Judgepedia:Sandbox page instead of this one.

Protecting Judgepedia's integrity

What about vandalism?

Judgepedia's users help control vandalism, by regularly checking the "recent changes" page. Also, Judgepedia's software makes it possible to detect the IP addresses of vandals.

Also:

1. Logged-in users can create their own individual "watch lists" that let them keep an eye on articles that they feel deserve particular monitoring. They can also call up a list of all recent changes to the entire site.
2. The software keeps an archive of all past versions of each article, making it easy to undo malicious or misguided changes by reverting to a previous version.
3. Trusted users can be given "sysop" status, which lets them ban users who engage in vandalism. If a particular page becomes a target for repeat vandalism attempts, sysops can also mark that page as "protected," so that only other sysops can change it.

Protected pages

Pages that have been designated by an Administrator to be protected cannot be edited. Protected pages may be pages that have been targeted for vandalism. Judgepedia also has adopted a policy of locking (protecting) election-related pages on the Thursday before an election. This ensures that valuable information compiled over a period of months won't be lost to vandalism, and will be available to voters, for whom it was created.

Can I add Wikipedia articles to Judgepedia?

Sure, and vice versa.

An article imported from one site to the other should be accompanied by a hyperlink back to the original. The reason is that neither Judgepedia nor Wikipedia places its contents in the public domain. Instead, articles on both sites are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

How can I contribute?

By editing pages, creating new pages, and many other ways.

Registration

What's the point of registering?

Visit the registering with Judgepedia page to register your own user ID. Beyond being able to edit pages, you also get the following features:

• It allows you to set and save your Judgepedia preferences.
• It credits you in the article history, as well as on the Recent Changes page, with changes you make.
• You get a personal Judgepedia page in the User: namespace. You can use this as a spot to tell people about yourself, list the articles you've worked on, or your personal sandbox for Judgepedia work.

Finally, it is much easier for your fellow Judgepedians to interact with you if you have a name.

Do I have to use my real name?

Real names are not required.

How do I change my username?

The only way is to create a new user account.

Types of pages and articles on Judgepedia

What's the difference between a page and an article?

The term "page" encompasses all the material on Judgepedia, including encyclopedia articles, talk pages, documentation, and special pages such as Recent Changes. "Article" is a narrower term refering to a page containing an encyclopedia entry. Thus, all articles are pages, but not all pages are articles.

What is an orphan?

An orphan is an article that no other article links to. These can still be found by searching Judgepedia, 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 stub?

A stub on Judgepedia is a very short article, generally of one paragraph or less. Most people hate stubs, even though they are probably a necessary evil. Many excellent articles started out as short stubs. Existing stubs should be expanded into proper articles: there is a list at stub articles, and a automatically generated list of short Judgepedia articles at Shortpages.

Editing features

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 do the abbreviations used in "Recent Changes" 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.

The Zen of editing

Can we debate or talk about the subjects here?

Absolutely! This is an encyclopedia that strives to present subjects fairly, accurately, comprehensively and from a neutral point of view. Discussion intended to improve articles is welcome. The best place to discuss controversial edits to an article is in the "talk" or "discussion" page attached to every article.

I've found vandalism, or I've damaged a page by mistake! How can I restore it?

Click on the "Older versions" link. Find the last good version of the page (it helps to use a browser with multiple tabs). Edit this old version (you'll get a warning that you're editing an old version at the top of the edit box). Save this text -- it will become the new current version.

Why are some links red?

Because an article or page with that name has not yet been started.

You can click on that link and start a page with that name. But be careful -- there may already be articles on similar topics, or an article on the same topic under a different name. It's pretty important to hunt around for similar topics first. See Judgepedia:Naming Conventions for information on naming pages.

What happens when two users edit a page at the same time?

This is called an "edit conflict". You'll get a conflict screen that displays both versions in separate windows, along with a summary highlighting the differences, and instructions on how you should proceed. It's virtually impossible to lose any data.

How do I learn about changes to certain topics without having to go there from time to time?

If you are a logged-in user, on every page you will see a link that says "Watch this article". If you click on it, the article will be added to your personal watchlist. You watchlist will show you the latest changes on your watched articles.

Links: External and References

Is translating pages from other wikis that have more information than ours a good way to add to the project in general?

Yes, it's a good idea to cross-pollinate.

Is it OK to link to other sites, as long as the material is not copied onto Judgepedia?

External links are great. They increase the value and usability of Judgepedia. However, external links should support the content of the article, not replace it. The current convention is to place external links in a separate section at the bottom of the article. However, sometimes they are placed within the article as a footnote.

Copyrights

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

The text and images of Judgepedia 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 Judgepedia. So you have to ask the copyright holder of the material to license it under GFDL.

I have an out-of-copyright image (or text) that is reproduced in an in-copyright book. Can I scan / type it into Judgepedia?

Providing they haven't altered the image then they can't claim a copyright on it. If it was in the public domain before they used it, it's still in the public domain afterward.

Using images and other media

Images, movies and sound files enrich and liven up articles. Some resources:

• Lifehacker's guide to finding uncopyrighted media.
• Image*After, an online database of free images and textures that can be used on Judgepedia and other sites.

Miscellaneous

Judgepedia is great! How do I spread the word?

See Judgepedia Outreach for some ideas.

How do I edit a page?

It's quite simple. Simply click "Edit this page" on the bottom or top of the page, and type away. See Help:Quick guide to editing to learn about making links, using bold and italics, linking to images, and many other things.

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.

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 administrator? What is a sysop?

Two words for the same thing. An administrator is simply a Judgepedia user who can access the few restricted Judgepedia software functions: deleting articles and uploaded files, protecting and unprotecting pages, blocking and unblocking IP addresses, and running certain direct database queries.

How can I become an administrator?

It's easy. First, you need a user account. Then, make useful edits over a period of time. In this way, you prove to the community that you are here in good faith. Then, send a message to Michael Tams at mtams(at)samadamsalliance(dot)org and request sysop status.