FAQ - Comments

Q: How can I provide comments and feedback?

A:

Constructive comments and feed back on TRP and individual pages within TRP are always welcome. The term comment is used in various ways within the wiki, so first lets clarify what we're talking about.

At the foot of most wiki pages you'll find an "Add Comment" button. If a comment has already been added to a wiki page the text on that same button reads "nn Comments". Clicking that button reveals the "Post new comment" feature and the text of any pre-existing comments. Using this feature of our wiki isn't the best way to post comments and feedback and we ask that you do not use this feature. There are generally more wiki friendly ways of achieving the same or a better result.

Why Not?

There are a couple of reasons that we prefer you to use alternatives methods for sharing comments and feed back.

The primary issue is that these comments have no versioning or history and they can be changed which may lead to confusion. On the other hand the content of a wiki page is fully versioned and the changes over time can be seen via its history.

Comments can also become "stale". Our wiki is a dynamic beast and existing pages are enriched with new and updated content. This evolution of a page's content can cause a comment to become stale. The content of the page may have changed such that the comment now no longer makes sense in the context of the current version of the wiki page.

Alternative Approaches

There are several alternative ways to handle comments within our wiki. Which is most appropriate is going to depend on the nature of the comment you want to make, but in all cases it should be made within the body of the content of a wiki page.

• If you want to note your relationship to an ancestor, the primary place to do so is within the content of your AboutMe page, the creation of which is described in First Steps - Part 2. Once you have done that, you may also consider adding a brief sentence as a Research Note to your Earliest Reeves Ancestor's (ERA) page. You should wrap that sentence in the code snippet which restricts access to community members only.
  Restricted Relationship Snippet

  {GROUP(groups=>Registered)}John Doe Reeves is the nth great grandfather of community member ((AboutMe_your_real_name|your name)).{GROUP}

  If there isn't a Research Notes section on your ancestor's wiki page, please add it using !!Research Notes before adding the relationship snippet.
  Please only use this on the page for your ERA, not all your ancestors. Posting your line of descent from your ERA is described elsewhere.
  
• If you've a more general comment or query about the workings of TRP or the underpinning wiki software, please reach out to your Mentor Team via its talk page. How to edit and use that page is covered in First Steps - Part 3.
  
• If you think information on a wiki page is of dubious quality, in the first instance please use your Mentor Team's talk page. Be sure to clearly identify the wiki page you're concerned about as well as the nature of the issue. If the mentor's agree there is a potential issue with a page's content which would benefit from a detailed discussion, they may create a talk page specifically for that wiki page.