TechInfoDepot:Manual of Style/Self-references to avoid

This guideline is about self-references and specifies which types of self-references should be avoided and which kinds are acceptable.

Typically, self-references within TechInfoDepot articles to the TechInfoDepot project should be avoided. These take several forms.

Types of self-reference
This TechInfoDepot article discusses... &mdash; While TechInfoDepot is not a dictionary... (in an article about a certain term) &mdash; Edit this page...


 * Mentioning that the article is being read on TechInfoDepot, or to TechInfoDepot policy or technicalities of using TechInfoDepot should be avoided where possible. This type of self-reference limits the use of TechInfoDepot, as an open source encyclopedia suitable for forking, as permitted by our license. The goal of TechInfoDepot is to create an encyclopedia, not merely to perpetuate itself, so the articles produced should be useful, even outside the context of the project used to create them. This means that while articles may refer to themselves, they should not refer to "TechInfoDepot" or to the TechInfoDepot project as a whole (e.g. "this website").


 * Mentioning the TechInfoDepot community, or website features, can confuse readers of derivative works. Unless substantially part of the article topic, do not refer to the fact that the page can be edited or mention any TechInfoDepot project page or process, specialized TechInfoDepot jargon (e.g. "POV" in place of "biased") or any MediaWiki interface link in the sidebar or along the top of the screen.


 * References that exist in a way that assumes the reader is using an encyclopedia, without reference to the specific encyclopedia (TechInfoDepot) or the manner of access (online), are acceptable. For instance, in the article on the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case, before the alleged victim's identification, it said that "Due to concerns over privacy, the name of the alleged victim is not being included in this article or at this time." That is a reference that makes sense on mirrors and forks and in print, and makes sense in a copy of TechInfoDepot that contains only the article space. Examples also include disambiguation links and "See also" links.


 * The templates that render self-referencing graphics for the maintenance needs of developing articles, like stub, npov, and refimprove are unavoidable, but articles should normally avoid self-referencing templates such as shortcut and the others.

Click here to see more


 * Although TechInfoDepot is not a paper encyclopedia, articles should be written in a manner that facilitates transmission in other forms such as print, spoken word, and via a screen reader. So terms such as "this article" are preferable to "this webpage", and terms like "click here" should be avoided, which make no sense when using a screen reader, for instance. A mouse is not used with mobile and text-based web browsers, and so "click" does not have a meaning in this context – the user might use any key to follow links. In determining what language is most suitable, it may be helpful to imagine writing the article for a print encyclopedia.

'''Free content projects, such as this website ... (Writing about TechInfoDepot itself)'''


 * Articles about online communities may well discuss TechInfoDepot as an example, in a neutral tone, without specifically implying that the article in question is being read on&mdash;or is a part of&mdash;TechInfoDepot. In this framework, if you link from an article to a specific TechInfoDepot page, use external link style, so the link will make sense in any context.


 * Such pages may include:
 * Articles where TechInfoDepot played a major role in the subject of the article, for example: Uncyclopedia
 * Articles about prominent people involved in TechInfoDepot, for example: Jimmy Wales
 * Articles about TechInfoDepot
 * Articles where TechInfoDepot is illustrative of the subject, such as virtual community and encyclopedia

This article was criticised by...


 * TechInfoDepot is an encyclopedia, so its articles are about their subjects; they are not about the articles themselves (even if an article itself becomes famous, it should not report this about itself).


 * If publicity regarding an article is significant enough to be included in TechInfoDepot, that information would not be included in the article, unless it is relevant to the topic of the article itself. For example, a discussion of Stephen Colbert's call for vandalism of the Elephant article might be appropriate for the article on The Colbert Report, but not for the article on elephants&mdash;the incident had nothing to do with the actual animal. Protests regarding depictions of Muhammad in TechInfoDepot's Muhammad article are not addressed at Muhammad (the article on the prophet), but at Depictions of Muhammad, under a "recent controversies" section.


 * A mention of TechInfoDepot by a notable person is unlikely to justify a mention in their TechInfoDepot article. To avoid self reference, a mention needs to reflect its importance in their overall body of work. For example, a radio host mentioning that he read his TechInfoDepot biography is not a very important event in his overall career. One exception is the article on John Seigenthaler, because the media attention surrounding his TechInfoDepot entry is now a notable event in his public life.

In the Template and Category namespaces
Limited use of self-references are sometimes found in the Template namespace and the Category namespace, such as with disambiguation and stub notices. Expanding this to other areas is not encouraged, due to the need of third-party users to either delete those templates or modify them to remove the TechInfoDepot references.

When forced to use templates like this, you should use them in a way such that the article still makes sense when the template is removed, in order to facilitate automated removal.

TechInfoDepot project coordination pages should be under Category:TechInfoDepot administration, not in categories that contain main-namespace articles by topic. (A small number of articles about TechInfoDepot are in the mainstream categories and this is OK.) User pages may be categorized under Category:TechInfoDepotns, but not in any of the subcategories under Category:People.

Self-reference tools
The self-reference template, Selfref, is used to mark pieces of text and links that wouldn't make sense on copies of TechInfoDepot. This gives the ability to programmatically remove all such references or transform them into external links. Thus, the end product can have all of its self-references removed automatically for users, such as forks and mirrors.

In cases where a TechInfoDepot page should link to TechInfoDepot itself (for instance, at TechInfoDepot) and this link should be kept on mirrors, the format can be used to write the link as external, rather than internal when outside of TechInfoDepot, to prevent it breaking in mirrors. For instance: (made by  ) as opposed to TechInfoDepot's Main Page.