# Help:Discussion

Discussion or "talk" pages are for communicating with other ArchWiki users. To discuss any page, go to that page and then click the "discussion" tab at the top of the page. Experiment by editing the talk page of the Sandbox.

## Starting a new discussion

Add a new discussion at the bottom of a discussion page with a proper heading. See Help:Style#Section_headings. You can also make use of the `+` tab at the top of each discussion page.

If the discussion page does not exist yet, create it.

## What does not belong

A discussion or talk page is used for discussing subjects relevant to the article in question.

With that in mind, please do not:

- Add an edit summary to the discussion page.
  - There is an editing summary line available on the edit screen specifically for this type of information. See Help:Style#Edit summary.
- Ask for help.
  - Please use the forums or the chat room for this kind of request.
- Categorize a discussion page.
  - See Help:Style#Categories

## Join a discussion

- Add a new comment at the end of the page or reply below an existing comment.
- Use colons to indent and format your discussion. Standard practice is to indent your reply one more level deep than the person to whom you are replying. Further, you should insert your comment beneath the one to which you are replying, but below others who are doing the same.
- Sign comments by typing `~~~~` to insert your username and a timestamp. Avoid editing another user's comments.
- Do not edit your posts if somebody has already replied, otherwise you will break the flow of the discussion and make it difficult for others to further respond. Only striking (using `<s>` tags) words or sentences is allowed, but the related explanation should be given in a regular reply.
- It is possible to split a discussion in order to reply to different parts of a post separately, but you will have to copy the signature of the split post at the end of every resulting section.

## Close discussions

You should take care to strike the header of exhausted discussions using `<s>` tags.

Exhausted discussions will be deleted a while after striking.

An explanation is not mandatory in talk pages, where the why should be already evident.
When deleting exhausted discussions, however, some explanation words are required (e.g. "closed discussion," "fixed," etc.) and including also the title of the discussion could help retrieving it in the history in case it needs to be reopened.

## User talk pages

Note the difference between a user page, and a user talk page. Everyone may have a user talk page on which other people can leave public messages. If one does not exist for a particular user, you may create it so that you can leave a comment. If someone has left you a message on yours, you will see a note saying "You have new messages" with a link to your own user talk page: in this case you are supposed to reply on your own talk page beneath the original message with appropriate indentation. Please avoid replying to a discussion on a different talk page, for example the one of the user who contacted you, since such a style of communication creates disconnects with the flow of information regarding the subject at hand.

Do not edit a user's own page without permission (i.e. [[User:Name]]); these serve as personal user spaces. The "user talk page" is the correct place for communicating (other than sending private email if the address is published).

Category:

- Help