Wikipedia talk:British Isles Terminology task force/Specific Examples/Instructions

Starting a disucssion

This page describes how to initiate a discussion at British Isles Terminology task force/Specific Examples. Such discussion affect editors in different areas, and it's important that all interested parties be notified of discussions. If these instructions aren't followed, discussions may be closed by an administrator without any resolution having been reached.

If you do not understand these instructions, or need help following some of the steps, just create a new discussion at WT:BISE but be sure to mention that you have not alerted talkpages! Another editor will do that for you.

These instructions assume that you've found an article where the term "British Isles" is either being used (and you feel it's being used incorrectly) or not being used (and you feel it should be). In the instructions this is called the article.

1. Before proceeding, you should check the talk page of the article. Has the issue been discussed previously? Do any of the relevant WikiProjects have information about using (or not using) "British Isles"? This may avoid the need to do the following...
2. Create a new discussion at WT:BISE.
3. Use the {{British Isles Discuss}} template to notify the article's editors: go to the article's talk page and copy and paste the following:

   {{Subst:British Isles Discuss|section=SECTIONNAME|action=ACTION}}

   Replace SECTIONNAME with the text used for the header when you created the new discussion at WT:BISE.

   Replace ACTION with either insert or delete.

   There is no need to create a new header—the template will do it automatically.

4. Go to the talk page of every relevant WikiProject listed on the article's talk page and use the {{British Isles Discuss}} template, to alert WikiProject members to the new discussion at WT:BISE:

   {{Subst:British Isles Discuss|section=SECTIONNAME|action=ACTION|article=ARTICLENAME}}

   Replace SECTIONNAME with the text used for the header when you created the new discussion at WT:BISE.

   Replace ACTION with either insert or delete.

   Replace ARTICLENAME with the name of the article.

5. That's it!

Notes for administrators

1. When discussion has stopped, use the {{resolved}} tag to mark the discussion as resolved. Note was the decision was, and want further action – if any – is required. Appending "(Resolved)" to the discussion's header makes TOC navigation easier for everyone concerned!
2. If any further action is required, a discussion participant will normally do it, and then use the {{done}} tag to indicate that it's been done. Encourage participants to do this – it makes life easier for everyone. The editor who does this will, ideally, provide a diff showing what was done.
3. Leave the discussion on the WT:BISE page for at least two days after the discussion is resolved, to give participants time to raise further issues.
4. Archive discussions to the most recent archive page listed. Step 1 example, step 2 example.
5. Go to the talkpage of the article that was discussed, and locate the {{BID2}} tag in the "use of British Isles" section. Change "BID2" to {{BIC}}, add the discussion's conclusion, and provide a link to the archived discussion (in the form "Closed7#Name of discussion"). See this example.

Handy hints

• {{BID}}/{{BID2}} add talkpages to the hidden category British Isles Discussion.
• Changing BID/BID2 to {{BIC}} removes talkpages from the hidden category, so the category should remain up to date as talkpage templates are updated.