Gearhead Wiki:Guidelines

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The Guidelines which the Gearhead Wiki community follows are quite simple. They are basically common sense and, for the most part, follow the guidelines of many other wikis, so if this is your first time here please take a minute to review the following guidelines.

Be Bold

Be Bold means that you shouldn't care what others will think about what you add to the site. If you see a spelling or grammar mistake, don't pass it by, just fix it. If you can improve upon or create a new article, don't hesitate for a second, just do it. As long as you are adding something of value, it is more than OK. Don't be afraid that you might not be the most knowledgeable about a subject, because, chances are, someone else is less knowledgeable and will find use in whatever you write. It also will act as a 'seed' article for someone more knowledgeable than you to improve upon whatever you have written.

Allowed Information

All information that could be considered useful to a gear head is welcome here, as long as it follows these 3 simple rules:

  1. Information (includes images) cannot in any way infringe on someones intellectual property (ie. copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, etc.,etc.).
  2. Cannot be written in a biased way. All information must be neutral. If there is more than one legitimate, generally accepted way to do something (ie. repair or installation info) instead of fighting, just add a number to the title of your article.
  3. Companies are encouraged to add the same kinds of information as individuals but must not do so in a way that does not use GearHeadwiki for the gain of said company. (no advertising except through approved Advertising channels)

Some examples of acceptable information are:

  • Car specifications
  • All repair information on any and every vehicle
  • Company profiles (including aftermarket)
  • Aftermarket part specs and installation info
  • Common vehicle modification information
  • Car club information
  • Car show information
  • Specs on anything automotive
  • etc,etc

Style

For now the style of pages will be dictated by however people write their information. Please try to make pages aesthetically pleasing, not just for looks, but good looking pages are easier to read and understand.

Linking

Linking in Gearhead Wiki is split into internal and external.

External linking

External links are links that point to other websites for reference or citation purposes. Any other purpose will require links to be deleted. Links should point to a specific article on the linked website and not to a home page or other general page. Gearhead Wiki takes link spam very seriously and action may be taken (although rare) against users that choose to spam links repeatedly.

  • Note: Reciprocal links are always appreciated but by no means necessary.

Internal linking

Internal links are links within the text of a page that point to a different area on Gearhead Wiki. Words should only be linked to once per article and there should not be a mess of links that make a page distracting.

Assume good faith

This could be the most important guideline because it applies to all pages including these guidelines. To assume good faith means that you must assume that most people, most of the time mean well for others and this site. Do not take things personally and even if you think someone is "playing dumb" treat them as though they are only trying to help, most likely they are just new to the site.