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StoopidWiki is a brand new site that is written collaboratively. We've entered some stories and other media to get users started, but anyone can edit or create pages.
It was created as a fun site, where users can enter their stoopid (yes, with two "o's") true life stories, and other freely available jokes, stories and media. It is intended to be used as a way to laugh at ourselves, and share stories that make the human condition real, and which we can all relate to and laugh at.
Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute, since their primary role is to write stories from their own lives; this means that people of all ages and cultural and social backgrounds can write StoopidWiki stories. Most of the stories can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit link. Anyone is welcome to add information, cross-references or citations, as long as they do so within StoopidWiki's. Users need not worry about accidentally damaging StoopidWiki when adding or improving information, as other editors are usually around to advise or correct obvious errors, and StoopidWiki's software is carefully designed to allow easy reversal of editorial mistakes.
Even if you are not a good writer, you can share your personal story. Other editors can fix grammatical errors, and give you ideas on ways to spice up your story (if you wish) using the discussion link on your story's page. You can always go back to a previous version if you do not like the edits.
We currently have an extremely small staff. Please click on the "Donations" link at the left for ideas on how to help StoopidWiki expand.
Contents |
[edit] About StoopidWiki
[edit] StoopidWiki history
The idea for StoopidWiki started while the creator of the site was watching a "Pop Tart" commercial. For some reason, she immediately thought, "poptart.com, the site about stupid celebrities." Then she remembered another idea she had about a wiki, and then the idea hit: stoopidwiki.com! Strange, yes, but what would you expect for a site like this?
[edit] Copyrights
All of the text in StoopidWiki, and most of the images and other content, is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Contributions remain the property of their creators, while the GFDL license ensures the content is freely distributable and reproducible. (See the copyright notice and the content disclaimer for more information.)
[edit] StoopidWiki contributors
Anyone with internet access can edit StoopidWiki, and this openness encourages inclusion of a large amount of content. We are a new site, but hope to eventually have many editors joining in on the fun!
Several mechanisms are in place to help StoopidWiki members maintain civility. Editors are able to watch pages and techies can write editing programs to keep track of or rectify bad edits. Editors who fail to work with others in a civil manner can be temporarily or permanently banned from editing StoopidWiki by the administrators.
Although StoopidWiki owns the site, we hope to become less involved in writing and daily operations.
[edit] Making the best use of StoopidWiki
[edit] Exploring StoopidWiki
Check out our categories from the front page, or create new ones to help organize content. Once we have more content and more contributors, we will begin featuring the best stories on the front page. Your own personal, true life stories, jokes and anecdotes, and other original content has the best chance of being featured.
Most content is organized into categories, which you can see on the front page, or at the end of any story. You can also use the "Special pages" link in the Toolbox at the left to find certain types of content.
[edit] Basic navigation in StoopidWiki
StoopidWiki sories are all linked, or cross-referenced. Wherever you see highlighted text like this, it means there is a link to some relevant article or StoopidWiki page with further in-depth information elsewhere if you need it. Holding your mouse over the link will often show you where a link will take you. You are always one click away from more information on any point that has a link attached. There are other links towards the ends of most articles, for other articles of interest, relevant external web sites and pages, reference material, and organized categories of knowledge which you can search and traverse in a loose hierarchy for more information. You can add further links if a relevant link is missing, and this is one way to contribute.
[edit] Strengths, weaknesses, and article quality in StoopidWiki
StoopidWiki's greatest strengths, weaknesses, and differences all arise because it is open to anyone.
- StoopidWiki is open to a large contributor base, which has the potential to draw a large number of editors from diverse backgrounds. This allows StoopidWiki to potentially have a diverse collection of regional and cultural stories, and makes it very difficult for any one group to censor. It also means that like any publication, StoopidWiki may reflect the cultural, age, socio-economic, and other biases of its contributors. Since StoopidWiki is intended to provide funny personal stories of people from all backgrounds, this just makes the site all that more fun and enjoyable.
- Allowing anyone to edit StoopidWiki means that it is more easily vandalized, which requires removal. Blatant vandalism can usually be easily spotted and rapidly corrected. While StoopidWiki stories may attain a good standard after editing, it is important to note that fledgling, or less well monitored, articles may be susceptible to vandalism. StoopidWiki's radical openness also means that any given article may be, at any given moment, in a bad state, such as in the middle of a large edit or rewrite.
The MediaWiki software which runs StoopidWiki retains a history of all edits and changes, thus information added to StoopidWiki never "vanishes", and is never "lost" or deleted.
[edit] Contributing to StoopidWiki
Anyone can contribute to StoopidWiki by clicking on the Edit this page tab in an article. Before beginning to contribute however, you should check out some handy helping tools such as the help pages. It is important to realize that in contributing to StoopidWiki, users are expected to be civil and neutral, respecting all points of view (vandals are reported via the Administrator and may be temporarily blocked from editing StoopidWiki.)
You can start an article as a stub, and improve on it until you have something suitable to be listed as a featured story. Minor edits by other users can help. If you are not an experienced writer, the discussion area may also be a good place to get hints on what you can do to make your story better.
[edit] Editing StoopidWiki pages
- Main article, including list of common mark-up shortcuts: StoopidWiki:How to edit a page
StoopidWiki uses a simple yet powerful page layout to allow editors to concentrate on adding material rather than page design. These include automatic sections and subsections, automatic references and cross-references, image and table inclusion, indented and listed text, links ISBNs and math, as well as usual formatting elements and most world alphabets and common symbols. Most of these have simple formats that are deliberately very easy and intuitive.
StoopidWiki has robust version and reversion controls. This means that poor quality edits or vandalism can quickly and easily be reversed or brought up to an appropriate standard by any other editors, so inexperienced editors cannot accidentally do permanent harm if they make a mistake in their editing. As there are many more editors intent upon good quality articles than any other kind, articles that are poorly edited can be corrected promptly.
[edit] StoopidWiki content criteria
StoopidWiki content is intended to be fun and entertaining, but external sources must be cited.
You can find out more about our policies in our policy category.
[edit] Editorial administration, oversight and management
The StoopidWiki community is largely self-organising, so that anyone may build a reputation as a competent editor and become involved in any role they may choose, subject to peer approval. Individuals often will choose to become involved in specialised tasks, such as reviewing articles at others' request, watching current edits for vandalism, watching newly created articles for quality control purposes, or similar roles. Editors who find that editorial administrator responsibility would benefit their ability to help the community may ask their peers in the community for agreement to undertake such roles; a structure which enforces meritocracy and communal standards of editorship and conduct.
StoopidWiki also includes some tools to help editors to watch for problematic edits and editors.
[edit] Handling disputes and abuse
StoopidWiki has some methods to handle most abuses that commonly arise.
- Intentional vandalism can be reported and corrected by anyone.
- Unresolved disputes between editors, whether based upon behavior or editorial approach, can be addressed through the talk page of an article.
- Abuse of user accounts, such as the creation of Internet sock puppets or solicitation of friends and other parties to enforce a non-neutral viewpoint or inappropriate consensus within a discussion, or to disrupt other StoopidWiki processes in an annoying manner may result in blocking or banning of the offending user, as long as there is proof of the bad behavior.
In addition, brand new users (until they have established themselves a bit) may at the start find that their votes are given less weight by editors in some informal polls, in order to prevent abuse of single purpose accounts.
[edit] Technical attributes
StoopidWiki uses MediaWiki software, the open-source program used on StoopidWiki and many other websites.
[edit] Feedback and questions
StoopidWiki itself is run as a communal effort. It is a community project. Feedback about content should, in the first instance, be raised on the discussion pages of those articles. You are invited to edit the pages yourself to add information or correct mistakes if you are knowledgeable and able to do so.
[edit] Giving feedback
There are pages designed for raising questions, feedback, suggestions and comments:
- Talk pages — the associated discussion page for discussion of an article or policy's contents. This is usually the first place to go.
- webmaster@stoopidwiki.com — to report vandalism (you're encouraged to fix vandalism yourself as well as report it)
[edit] Contacting individual StoopidWiki editors
If you need more information, the first place to go is the Help:Contents. To contact individual contributors, leave a message on their talk page. Standard places to ask policy and project-related questions are online and over e-mail. You can also reach other StoopidWiki users via e-mail.
For a full list of contact options, see contact us.
