Theosophy Wiki:Policies

Viewpoint in wiki pages

One advantage of the wiki format is that differing perspectives on a subject can be readily presented together in a neutral and academic fashion. Readers should be allowed form their own opinions after being presented with varied viewpoints that are clearly identified. Section headings should be used to organize distinctive viewpoints within a wiki page. Examples might be:

• Use of term in Buddhism
• Scientific perspective
• Personal account from Henry Olcott
• Commentary by Annie Besant
• Alice Bailey viewpoint
• Clairvoyant research of Geoffrey Hodson

Maintaining a neutral tone and scholarly attitude is crucial if the viewpoint has the potential to be contentious.

Discussion pages

Each wiki page has an associated Discussion page, where editors can post comments and respond to others. This facility is best used for things like considering the best organization of a complicated wiki page, or deciding how best to collaborate is writing a page. When initiating a discussion, please add this line at the beginning of the wiki article:

{{Template:See Discussion page}}

That will place a message at the top of the article drawing attention to the discussion. If all issues under discussion reach a point of resolution, the template should be removed.

Editors who want to engage in extensive discussion of a topic, who are feeling argumentative, or who enjoy provocation should take their comments to a moderated online forum such as Theos-talk, Theosophical Network, or the Theosophical Community. For lists of additional discussion groups, see TheosophyLinks.net at [1] or [[Category:Internet forums]].

Courtesy and respect

Editors are expected to behave in the highest standard of Theosophical principles. Communication should be courteous and respectful. The administrators are not acting as moderators, but will respond to complaints about disrespectful behavior. Contentious edits can be reversed, and contentious editors can be banned.

Style

The earliest editors of the wiki have generally applied the Chicago Manual of Style in writing end notes and bibliographic entries. However, any style manual may be used, as long as citations are complete enough that the original source can be located by readers. Editors of this wiki come from a wide range of academic disciplines and educational systems, using different styles of citation. It is reasonable in this wiki to apply styles such as APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), Harvard, Bluebook (for legal documents), or other systems, provided that they are comprehensible to general readers.

The initial author of a wiki page determines the citation style, and subsequent editors should generally try to match that style. It could be a bit rude to take a long article and reformat all the citations just because you prefer a different style. Our focus should be less on letter-perfect citations than on useful citations. For source materials that are available in print and on the Internet, it is preferable to provide citations including both.

See Help:Editing for additional comments about style.

Treatment of living people

Editors must take particular care when adding information about living or recently deceased people to any TS Wiki page. Biographical sketches should be written sensitively, bearing in mind the privacy of the subject and his/her family and associates. The information must be verifiable, using high quality sources. Contentious material, whether negative, positive, neutral, or just questionable, should be avoided entirely. High quality sources of such material may be listed on the wiki page as “Additional resources.” Contact information may not provided without the express consent of the subject.

For-profit organizations

It is acceptable to establish a wiki page for a for-profit organization, and to provide a link to that organization’s Web page. In the United States, for example, a nonprofit organization can own a for-profit under some circumstances, and that for-profit entity might reasonably have a wiki page giving its history and description. The category “For-profit organization” must be applied to such a page.

Advertising and publicity-seeking are never acceptable. However, if a wiki editor wishes to provide a link to a for-profit site where an unusual resource is available for sale, that information may reasonably be added to the wiki page.