KOI Wiki Best Practices

This page is a living FAQ / How-To / Best Practices guide for editing the KOI wiki. Please edit and add to this page as you see fit!

Editing & Commenting

KOI wants volunteers to edit and comment upon the wiki pages as they feel appropriate. The edits to the wiki are logged, so any malicious editing can be dealt with, and erroneous edits can be reversed.

Logging in

Log into the wiki by clicking the "Log in" link in the very top right of the page.

A screenshot of the top right of the KOI wiki when the user is not logged in. Above the search bar are two links: "Create account" and "Log in."

The link will take you to the SSO login page. Enter your username and password, and you'll be brought back to the last page of the KOI wiki you were on.

Editing

When you're on a page and see something you want to edit, look to the top of the section or sub-section you are looking to edit. There are two links to the right of each heading: "edit" and "edit source."

A screenshot of the top of the Purpose, scope, and definitions section of the KOI Financial Policies and Procedures wiki page. The heading, "Purpose, scope, and definitions" and   the two subheadings, "Purpose" and "Recognition of Capitalism and Harm," each have links next to them that read "edit" and "edit source."

If you select edit source, you'll see the wiki contents presented as plain text with mark-up instead of traditional formatting:

A screenshot of the Edit Source wiki editor. It has the interface of a text editor. In the text box is the contents of the "Editing & Commenting" section and "Logging in" subsection of the "KOI Wiki Best Practices" page. The headings have equals signs on either end instead of any visible formatting difference between them and the rest of the text. Instead of images, the file names and alt text are written out.

Selecting "edit" will bring you to a traditional text editor-type interface:

The pencil icon in the top right will let you switch between both views without leaving the editor. Once you're on this page, you can make any changes to the text, contents, and formatting as you'd like! The editor gives you the option to enter citations and insert various media and other elements, including comments (see below).

After you've made your edits, you'll click on the "Save changes..." button in the top right of the page:

A screenshot of the top right of the wiki Edit page. It features the Help icon (a question mark), the Options icon (a hamburger menu button), the drop-down for switching editing views (a pencil icon), and a blue Save changes... button.

If the Save changes button isn't blue, it's because you haven't made an edit yet. Clicking Save changes... will bring you to a screen that asks you to record the reason for your edit:

A screenshot of the wiki "Save your changes" window. A textbox labeled "Summary" contains "/* Purpose, scope, and definitions */" and below has two check box options: "This is a minor edit" and "Watch this page." "Watch this page" is selected. At the bottom is a button labeled "Review your changes."

• Summary - a text box where you'll record what you changed and why. You'll write it after the section heading, which will be in the box by default (in the above examples, it's "/* Purpose, scope, and definitions */"). This will be visible by other wiki users who review the edits to the page.
• This is a minor edit - select this option if the edit your making is small and doesn't change the content of the page in a meaningful way. Use your own judgement.
• Watch this page - select this option to add the page you're editing to your wiki "Watchlist" where you can review other changes to the page.
• Review your changes - this button will let you look at a preview of the page with your edits implemented.

When you've entered the summary of your edit and are happy with your changes, select the Save changes button. That will implement your changes and will bring you out of the editor and back to the page you were just editing.

Commenting

One of the options available while making an edit to a wiki page is leaving a comment. You can find that option under the "Insert" drop-down menu in the editor:

A screenshot of the wiki Editor's Insert drop-down menu. It includes the options "Images and Media," "Template," "Table," "Comment," "Code Block," "Gallery," "Your signature" (which is grayed out), and "Reference list."

When you select the comment option, make sure your cursor is already in the location where you want to leave the comment:

A screenshot of a the wiki Edit page. A pop-up window titled "Comment" features a blank text box and an arrow pointing to a cursor location on the editable text.

Enter the comment you wish to leave, click the "Insert" button in the top-right of the comment window, then finish the editing process as described above. Your comment will not appear on the main page itself, but will be visible to anyone who looks at the Editing view of the page. It will also appear in the list of other edits for users to view.

Important note: if you have a word or a portion of text selected when you make the comment, the comment will replace the highlighted material:

A screenshot of the wiki Editor that shows a bullet point that has been replaced by a comment. The comment reads "Test comment."

The Wiki Spirit

The KOI Wiki was inspired by the spirit of Wikimedia Foundation's projects, most famously Wikipedia. As much as possible, we try to retain the same spirit of free editing.

If you're not sure what the best way to do something on the wiki is, and we don't have it written down somewhere, you can always ask yourself: "What would Wikipedia want me to do?"

Lastly, if you're still not sure, you can always ask in the KOI Team channel, or in the Wiki channel!