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Some times, in the course of your browsing at Codex Gamicus, you may encounter pages which need correction. These pages may be confusing, inaccurate, or very poorly written, among other potential problems. There might also be a notice at the top of the page indicating a problem with the article. What should be done in this situation? Well, if possible, try to fix it yourself!
A list of pages marked for clean-up can be found on the Cleanup category page.
Cleaning up a page
The goal of cleaning up an article is to make it accurate, understandable, and enjoyable to read. It is also important to be respectful of the work done by previous contributors.
Signs an article needs cleaning
- Confusing - article or portions of the article make little or no sense. Just because an article is about something you are not familiar with doesn't mean it should be confusing - an article should do its best to explain itself to casual readers, often through linking to other articles which define terms or concepts
- Inaccurate - article contains information which you know is inaccurate, or information which contradicts information from other sources
- Poorly written - if an article contains very bad grammar or spelling, it may be difficult to read. Sometimes this will overlap with "confusing"
- Strong opinions - article is essentially a rant, or contains excessive or annoying opinion on the topic (for example, "campers are all assholes!") or first-person commentary ("I hate campers")
- Vandalism - article contains spam, advertisements, "notes" (such as, MrAwesome is the best at WoW!!!), or other obvious signs of being tampered with
- Unrelated - some aspects of the article are completely unrelated to the article's topic
- Unattributed work - Due to previous practices, there are many Wikipedia articles that have been moved here without attribution.
Cleanup guidelines
Do your best to improve the article without damaging the work of previous contributors. Try to correct something before completely rewriting it, and note and explain any changes you make in the article's Talk page. If you aren't sure whether to change something, ask about it in the article's Talk page. If you don't know how to fix all or part of an article, consider adding a cleanup tag to the top of the page (this is explained later).
- Confusing: Try to rewrite or rearrange sections of the article to make them less confusing. Add wikilinks ([[ ]]) to terms or concepts that a casual reader may not be familiar with. If there is no article to explain that term or concept, you should still add the link so someone else can write the article later. Or, try writing it yourself!
- Inaccurate: Correct with accurate information. If necessary, research the topic to make the best decision. If you find conflicting information or are very unsure, consider adding an accuracy tag (explained below).
- Poorly written: Try to improve the grammar, spelling, and sentence structure of the article. Do your best to preserve the original meaning.
- Strong opinions: Remove strong opinions from the article. However, you shouldn't just remove the opinion completely, even if you disagree. Instead, add a section where you note that particular feeling in a neutral manner (for example: "Some consider camping to be an unfair practice").
- Vandalism: Remove the vandalism, and if necessary, restore any damaged sections from previous edits in the history page.
- Unrelated: Remove unrelated information, or if possible move it to a more relevant page.
- Unattributed work: Either: (i) Add the
{{Wikipedia}}template to the page, and cleanup some potentially outdated info, or (ii) Rewrite the page entirely. Please check the history before doing this, there may be good revisions to revert to.
Cleanup Tags: When you can't fix it yourself
Sometimes you may encounter an article which you can't clean up yourself. This may be because you do not have sufficient knowledge of the topic being discussed, don't have time to make the corrections yourself, don't fully understand the editing process, or just aren't sure how to rewrite whatever needs correction. In any of these situations, it may be appropriate to place a cleanup tag at the top of the page, in order to mark it so that others can make changes. The Cleanup can also be enabled as a Flag by clicking the "Flag" Button.
Guidelines
Try to fix a page yourself before marking it for cleanup. If you feel you cannot adequately correct the page for any reason, then it may be time to add a cleanup tag. If still you aren't sure if a cleanup tag is appropriate, it may be best to ask about the problem on the article's Talk page instead. If you mark a page because you don't currently have time to clean it yourself, please remember to come back and look at it when you have time!
How Cleanup Tags Work
Cleanup tags call premade templates which are displayed where the tag is located in the article. Inserting a tag is simple - all you have to do is copy the tag from here and paste it into the article (you can also type it in manually). Generally, it is best to insert the tag at the top of the page. However, if you feel it only applies to a certain section, you may wish to place it directly above that section instead.
Currently, all cleanup tags add the page to the Cleanup category. However, as usage of the tags increases, they may be divided into separate categories.
Types of Cleanup Tags
- {{Accuracy}} - Use this tag to mark a page if you are certain that the page is inaccurate but don't have the knowledge to fix it yourself
- {{Cleanup}} - Use this tag to mark a page for generic cleanup. Currently, any problem besides accuracy falls into this category
As the usage of cleanup tags increases, more specific tags may be added.
Spelling
Check for Common misspellings. Alternatively, using a third-party browser extension, such as [www.grammarly.com Grammarly], can be very useful to pick up both spelling and grammatical errors.