Scratchpad:Be bold

Scratchpad:Be bold (SP:BOLD) can be explained in three words: “Just do it”. The Scratchpad community encourages users to be bold when updating the wiki. Wikis like ours develop faster when everybody helps to fix problems, correct grammar, add facts, make sure wording is accurate, etc. We would like everyone to be bold and help make Scratchpad a better collaborative wiki. How many times have you read something and thought – Why aren’t these pages copy edited? Scratchpad not only allows you to add, revise, and edit articles: It wants you to do it. This does require some amount of politeness, but it works. You’ll see. Of course, others here will edit what you write. Do not take it personally! They, like all of us, just wish to make Scratchpad as good a wiki as it can possibly be. Also, when you see a conflict on a talk page, do not be just a “mute spectator”: Be bold and drop your opinion there!

Don’t get upset if your bold edits get deleted. The early advocate of trial and error followed by observation to gain knowledge — Francis Bacon — said: “For if absurdity be the subject of laughter, doubt you not but great boldness is seldom without some absurdity.” Instead of getting upset, read Help:Assuming good faith and Wikipedia:Civility, and be bold again. But, after a deletion of a bold edit, you might want to be bold in an edit on the talk pages so as not to start an edit war.

... but please be careful!


Though the boldness of contributors like you is one of Scratchpad’s greatest assets, it is important that contributors take care of the common good and not edit recklessly. Of course, any changes you make that turn out badly can be reverted easily, usually painlessly, and it is important not to be insulted if your changes are reverted or edited further. But, there are some significant changes that can be long-lasting and that are harder to fix if the need arises. If you’re unsure of anything, just ask for advice.

Also, changes to articles on complex, controversial subjects with long histories, such as articles on politics, religion, etc., should be done with extra care. In many cases, the text as you find it has come into being after long and arduous negotiations between members of the Scratchpad community with diverse backgrounds and points of view. A careless edit to such an article might stir up a latent conflict, and other users who are involved in the page may become defensive. If you would like to make a significant edit — not just a simple copyedit — to an article on a controversial subject, it is a useful idea to first read the article in its entirety and skim the comments on the talk page. On controversial articles, the safest course is to seek consensus before making changes, but there are situations when bold edits can safely be made to contentious articles. Always use your very best editorial judgment in these cases and be sure to read the talk page.

Often it is easier to see that something is not right rather than to know exactly what would be right. We do not require that everyone be bold. After all, commenting that something in an article is incorrect can be the first step to getting it fixed. It is true, though, that problems are more certain to be fixed, and will probably be fixed faster, if you are bold enough to do it yourself.

To use the words of Edmund Spenser: “Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold”, but “be not too bold”.

Non-article namespaces
Although editors are encouraged to be bold in updating articles, more caution is sometimes required when editing pages in non-article namespaces. Such pages are identified by a namespace prefix. For example, this page, Scratchpad:Be bold, has the Scratchpad: prefix. If it were called simply Be bold (with no prefix) it would be an article, in the main (article) namespace.

Problems may arise for a variety of reasons in different contexts in non-article namespaces. These problems should be taken into account in deciding whether to be bold, and how bold to be.

Scratchpad namespace
Most of the policy and guideline pages in the Scratchpad namespace are protected such that only editors with certain access permissions may edit them. If you wish to suggest an editorial change to such a page, you may do so on that page’s talk page using the template. If such a page does not prevent you from editing, then the rest of this section applies.

Scratchpad does not “enshrine” old practice: Bold changes to its policies and guidelines are sometimes the best way to allow the wiki to adapt and improve. In this case, “bold” refers to boldness of idea; such ideas are most commonly raised and discussed first to best formulate their implementation.

The admonition “but please be careful” is especially important in relation to policies and guidelines, where key parts may be phrased in a particular way to reflect a very hard-won, knife-edge consensus – which may not be obvious to those unfamiliar with the background. In these cases, it is also often better to discuss potential changes first. However, spelling and grammatical errors can and should be fixed as soon as they are noticed.

Discussing changes to Scratchpad-space pages on their respective talk pages is also a good idea. If nothing else, it will provide an explanation of the changes for later editors. Most such pages are collections of arguments placed in Scratchpad space for later reference, so the same arguments don’t need to be made over and over again.

Template namespace
Being bold in updating templates can have far reaching consequences. This is because template changes can affect a large number of pages with a single edit. Moreover, some templates also form part of wide-ranging, uniform systems of templates across Scratchpad, such as infobox and stub templates. Templates may also have complex source code that can be easily broken by untested changes (although they can fortunately be corrected with a single revert).

Because of these concerns, many heavily used templates are indefinitely protected from editing. Before editing templates, consider proposing any changes on the associated talk pages using the template. Templates often have associated sandbox and testcases subpages; respectively, these are a place for the proposed modified template, and a place where the proposal may be trialed in comparison with the existing version, before taking your changes live. If a template does not have these subpages, you may create them, affixing and  to the top of these pages, respectively.

Category namespace
Creating new categories, or reorganizing the category structure, may come to affect many pages. Consider the guidelines on categorization and overcategorization, and if what you’re doing might be considered controversial (especially if it concerns categories for living people), propose changes on the category(ies) related talk page(s).

File namespace
Be bold in adding information to the description of an existing image. However, new images should be uploaded with new names rather than overwriting old ones. Doing otherwise risks having the old image confused with the new one.

User namespace
It is generally recommended that you do not edit another Wikipedian's user page or comments left on talk pages (other than your own, and even then do not be reckless). Fixing vandalism is nearly always welcome, even on user pages. Specific users will let you know if they find your changes inappropriate or if you have given incorrect information.

Portal namespace
Regarding changes to graphical layout? See the next section. Note that the color scheme used for portals is not necessarily arbitrary. For example, most portals related to countries use the colors of the nation's flag. It is a good idea to propose design changes on the talk page first.

Graphical layout changes
Making major changes requires caution to the graphical layout of certain pages that are not articles (examples below). It is often best to test changes first (in a sandbox page in your userspace, or a subpage of the page in question), and to discuss the proposed change with other editors before making it live. When many users edit pages for layout, different plans can conflict, and the page may get worse rather than better.

This is particularly true of highly visible pages, such as those linked to from the navigation boxes on the left of the screen. These often use intricate formatting to convey their information, and a lot of work has gone into making them as user-friendly as possible. Moreover some pages form groups whose formatting is intended to be uniform. You should not make unapproved design edits to these types of pages. Examples include the Main Page (which in any case is permanently protected), the Community Portal, the Featured content group of pages, and the group consisting of Portal:Contents and its subpages, as well as Portal:Current events. This does not apply to articles or normal portals.