Additional writing habits have formed beyond those mentioned in GoodStyle. Here are some more suggestions, some of which are subsequently debated.



# At the top, establish a context: Tell the reader what the page is about.

# Tell important information first, go into details later. Think of the wiki page as newspaper article. Readers are impatient: they start at the top and read down. If they care enough about the page to edit it, they scroll to the bottom (because the EditPage button is there).

# Link to other relevant wiki pages wherever possible. Links increase the value of the WikiWikiWeb.

# Use categories for automatic indexing. See WikiCategories.

# Unless you prefer anonymity, sign and date your comment. -- LarsAronsson (18 May 2001)

# Readers love enumerated lists, (of 5 entries +/-2 i.e. 3-7 entries).



These probably deserve to be considered, pondered, cherished and grokked for a while before eventual inclusion in GoodStyle.



On the other hand ...



* See also PleasePleaseDontCategorizeEveryPageOnWiki

* Anonymity and non-dated comments are preferred if we want to "Edit pages to emphasize the flow of ideas, not the chronology of contribution." Besides anonymity, not signing invites refactoring.

* Some readers don't love enumerated lists. Remember: use of a numbered list implies that either there is a chronological ordering, or you will refer back to it at some point in the following text. Otherwise, a bulleted list works just as well.