# General Guidelines

Steal This Wiki Scope

Citations

Writing Guidelines

Quality Control

Editing Guidelines

Things We Need Help With

Free Cities

Art

Reach Out

Contact

In order to ensure quality and provide the most useful source of anti-authoritarian information possible, there are some general guidelines which every editor should follow. These are here to ensure that the information we are providing is actually accurate and reliable. The nature of this wiki is obviously that of subversion, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to ensure our information is accurate, up to date and well written. If the information presented on this wiki is incorrect or poorly written, readers will find it less useful, less compelling, and we won't be able to serve the purposes we want to serve.

### Steal This Wiki Scope

Anyone can create new pages, but that doesn't necessarily mean any page should be created. The scope of STW is to provide a platform for anti-authoritarian information on a number of topics. While some information on the wiki may not be directly related to fighting authoritarian organizations, most of it does tie into a specific organizational structure which makes sense. If you're considering making a new page, and you're not sure whether it will fit in, please feel free to discuss it using the contact information or on talk pages. You should also consider looking at the Table of Contents to get a feel for how everything is organized, and where the page you want to make would fit into that structure.

This wiki is generally not aiming to be the repository of all knowledge, but if you want to write a page that doesn't fit within the anti-authoritarian scope that you still think makes sense, go for it. To ensure it won't be taken down, however, you should discuss it first with the community and decide whether it will serve as a positive addition to the scope and add useful information which users will find helpful. We want to avoid cluttering the wiki with unmaintained, unrelated information. Some topics may not be directly anti-authoritarian but still provide useful information that our readers will find relevant and useful that isn't easily accessible in this context from anywhere else. We welcome such additions.

### Citations

Most pages, at the moment, do not include citations. Some information is original research, and some of it is general enough so as to not warrant citations. That being said, specific information pertaining to drugs, medicine, legal advice, weapons, chemistry, and more should be cited. In order to cite critical information of this nature, please ensure the sources are reliable.

Research should generally be cited using "literature reviews", systematic reviews, and meta-studies from reputable medical journals, unbiased government organizations, and perhaps from professional books, where possible. Try to avoid citing one specific study unless research is sparse or that specific study is well-regarded in the literature and other studies corroborate it.

### Writing Guidelines

- Clarity. It is generally a good idea to be clear and direct. Try to avoid ambiguous language, and try to say what you have to say in an efficient non-verbose manor.

- Leftist & Anarchist Politics. We're unashamedly a radical leftist project. We think leftist policies and anarchist community prefiguration are the best tools for fighting authoritarianism. But, we do also want to hold out an inviting hand to people on the other side of the political fence who may not agree with us on political principles and strategy.

### Quality Control

- To call attention to pages that are desperately in need of editing, place the pages in the ImproveQuality category by appending 'ImproveQuality' to the #topics at the beggining of the article.

- If an article is of particularly poor quality, editors might consider placing it into the CompleteDisaster category by appending 'CompleteDisaster' to the #topics at the beggining of the article. Articles in this category should be in need of a complete or near complete rewrite.

- To call attention to information that lacks citation (and should have it), you can place "<sup>[Citation Needed]</sup>" following the uncited information.

- To call attention to a page that is just an outline or only includes a few paragraphs, place it in the 'Stubs' category by appending 'Stub' to the #topics at the beggining of the article. Articles in this category should be basically empty, consisting of a few lines or just an outline.

- As the wiki is revised and improved, administrators and involved editors may create other templates to keep articles' quality from slipping - as they are created, notes should be kept here or in relevant locations as to their purpose and usage.

- Use the discussion spaces!

- To find articles that need editing, check ImproveQuality, CompleteDisaster, Citation Needed, or Stub.

- Avoid using "I", "we", "us", and similar when writing. If drawing from personal experience or firsthand research, indicate this but avoid phrases such as "I found", "we recommend", and so on.

### Editing Guidelines

1. Before adding a page, make sure the the information is not covered under an existing topic. Do not just spam new pages with one sentence content. If you make a new page, be sure the topic has enough information to justify an article.

2. Use correct AmuseWiki syntax. This isn't just a nitpick -- doing so helps us index our content efficiently, which in turn helps people read what we have to say. If you're new to AmuseWiki (the software that powers this site), you might be interested in taking a look at the AmuseWiki Editing Basics.

3. Please make your edits professional. We understand that typos happen, but for the sake of those who may rely on your information, make sure you are 100% correct in your terms, names, quantities, etc. Just as an example: the difference between "nitrate" and "nitrite" is a small, yet deadly one.

4. Don't ask editing questions in articles -- that's what the discussion spaces are for. If you want to edit a page, but you're not 100% sure of your information, head on over to the Discord or Matrix to talk it over with someone :).

5. Don't add content that you didn't write (or that you don't have the rights to re-publish.) If a page on some other site has valuable content, either e-mail the webmaster and encourage him to contribute to the wiki, or find a way to include an original version of that information. If you plagiarize, your edits will be reverted. If you repeatedly plagiarize, your editing privileges will be revoked.

6. Don't flame. It doesn't accomplish anything.

7. Spamming links to a site or articles that are blatant advertising earn an IP ban.

8. Don't get in an edit war. If someone corrects something you wrote, and if you disagree with the correction, bring it up on the discussion/talk page -- don't constantly revert someone else's changes.

9. Use correct spelling (with the exception of satire, such as "Amerika") and grammar. It makes us look less credible when pages are filled with silly mistakes.

10. Use SWIM: Someone Who Is'nt Me. Some of the topics are in grey areas or are outright illegal. This protects you. While there is freedom of speech, cops have in the past signed up on forum boards and fringe sites fishing for information. Plus, the wiki does not sound good with first person narratives.

11. If you are writing on a technical topic with lots of info, do not just spam outside links. Instead, summarize the content from the outside links in the article itself. Try to put it in plain English for the average reader as much as possible. If all an article does is tell you to go to another site, what is the point in the wiki? A 'further reading' section with links is acceptable or if the site is an example site like Craigslist or a free university, that is cool too.

12. Just for Liberate/Free Cities pages: Do not just make new pages for cities, hoping someone else will write the article for you. This is really true with smaller, lesser known cities. Do not think we are opposed to an article on a place like Dinosaur, Colorado. It is just that most folks are not going to have info to contribute to such a new article. But, we will keep even small town write ups if they are well-written and interesting like the Slab City article. In other words, do not add smaller cities unless you are willing to write the whole article.

### Things We Need Help With

#### Free Cities

We need everyone who has useful data or experience on any of the cities in Liberate to contribute so we will have a good reference for yippie kids on the move.

#### Art

Are you an illustrator, doodler, photographer or cartoonist? If you are, we would like to have artwork randomly placed throughout the book, especially on Chapter opening pages. Currently, we have 1960s/1970s ad and old WW2 poster theme to illustrations in many articles to avoid copyright issues. A few even have diagrams and pictures.

#### Reach Out

We'd like to make a list (something we all consider and contribute to) of forums/blogs/news sites that we can reach out to for further collaboration. For the most part, we'd like to focus on these groups:

- Low-income Americans

- Students, particularly college-age

- Those traditionally considered "Minorities" - Black, Asian, Native Americans, Hispanic - anyone in America who is being marginalized because of the color of his or her skin, religion, etc.

- Immigrants, particularly undocumented

- "Those in search of freedom"

This list can be compiled on our new Reach Out page. Once we have a good, full list, we can contact these groups. (That's not to say that we cant invite anyone at any point, because we can!)

### Contact

Questions about the project can be addressed by joining our discussion spaces on Discord or Matrix, tweeting at us, emailing StealThisWiki@proton.me or DMing us.