TechInfoDepot:Glossary

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 ''Note: while the definitions below may be useful for understanding and communicating on project and discussion pages, and with edit summaries, remember to explain jargon in encyclopedic articles, and write them in language which is readily understandable without specific knowledge of the TechInfoDepot project.

''Do not overdo the use of TechInfoDepot jargon such as shortcuts on talk pages and edit summaries, either, at least not without providing explanatory links to the appropriate pages. See TechInfoDepot:WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG! for an essay on this.''

This is a glossary of terms commonly used on TechInfoDepot. For more help, see TechInfoDepot:Help index, TechInfoDepot:FAQ, or TechInfoDepot:Contributing FAQ. For abbreviations often used in edit summaries, see TechInfoDepot:Edit summary legend. For common shorthands used in Articles for Deletion (AfD), see the TechInfoDepot:Guide to deletion. For a list of common abbreviations used within TechInfoDepot see TechInfoDepot abbreviations. For common abbreviations and slang phrases outside TechInfoDepot, see Appendix:English Internet slang. See also TechInfoDepot:Manual of Style (abbreviations), TechInfoDepot:WikiProject Glossaries, and List of acronyms.

!$@

 * : – en:, de:, es:, fr:, ja:, etc.
 * The English-, German-, Spanish-, French-, Japanese-, etc.-language TechInfoDepot. Often used in edit summaries to indicate changes to interwiki links. For a full list of codes, see ISO 639. For a full list of TechInfoDepots, see Complete list of language TechInfoDepots available.


 * ø
 * The character ø is sometimes used in edit summaries to indicate a null edit.


 * "Is not equal to". This usage comes from the relational operator in such languages as C.
 * "Is not equal to". This usage comes from the relational operator in such languages as C.


 * !vote
 * WP:NOTAVOTE— Read as "not-vote" (the exclamation mark means 'not' in many programming languages). Something that looks like a vote but should not be considered a vote. The term !vote is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. See also TechInfoDepot:Polling is not a substitute for discussion.


 * Used to show minor addition to text. Used in edit summaries.
 * Used to show minor addition to text. Used in edit summaries.


 * Used to show correction of odd minor error. Used in edit summaries.
 * Used to show correction of odd minor error. Used in edit summaries.

0–9

 * 0RR
 * Voluntary or imposed zero-revert rule. See TechInfoDepot:Revert only when necessary.


 * 1RR
 * Voluntary or imposed (sometimes by ArbCom) one-revert rule. See also TechInfoDepot:Revert only when necessary.


 * 2RR
 * Voluntary or imposed two-revert rule


 * 3RR
 * Abbreviation for three-revert rule


 * 5P
 * Abbreviation for Five pillars

A

 * Abcdise, ABCDise, Abcdize, ABCDize
 * Term sometimes used in edit summaries to indicate that the edit was to move list or other items into alphabetical order.


 * Actionable
 * In featured content promotion discussions, all objections to promotion must be actionable&mdash;that is, it must be possible to make changes (or "actions") so the specified problem can be resolved. For example, objecting on the basis that the citations need improvement is actionable because it is possible to make improvements in this area: more and better citations can be added, the citation style and syntax can be improved, etc. An example of an unactionable objection is that the topic is too controversial; WIkipedia editors can do nothing to change how controversial the topic is.


 * Admin
 * Short for Administrator. A user with extra technical privileges for "custodial" work on TechInfoDepot – specifically, deleting and protecting pages, and blocking abusive users.


 * AfC, AFC
 * The articles for creation project which reviews some articles created via the Article wizard.


 * AfD, AFD
 * The TechInfoDepot:Articles for deletion page. The AfD of an article refers to the discussion wherein TechInfoDepotns consider whether an article should be kept or deleted. See TechInfoDepot:Guide to deletion for explanation of some terms used on AfD.


 * AGF, WP:AGF
 * Abbreviation for "assume good faith", a guideline whereby one should not assume that an unwanted or disputed edit was done maliciously. See also Hanlon's razor.


 * AIV
 * Abbreviation for "Administrator intervention against vandalism", a place and procedure for notifying TechInfoDepot administrators about chronic vandalism.


 * AMA
 * Abbreviation for "Association of Members' Advocates", an advocacy scheme by and for TechInfoDepotns. It failed to achieve widespread acceptance and was closed down.


 * AN
 * Abbreviation for "TechInfoDepot:Administrators' noticeboard", a discussion location for TechInfoDepot administrators.


 * ANI
 * Abbreviation for "TechInfoDepot:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents", where TechInfoDepot administrators discuss issues which may or may not need urgent administrator attention.


 * Anchor
 * An HTML term for code that lets you link to a specific point in a page, using the "#" character. You can use them to link to a section of a page, e.g., TechInfoDepot:How to edit a page.


 * Anon
 * Abbreviation for "anonymous user". As a user does not necessarily lose his or her anonymity by registering or logging in, this term should be avoided. See IP user.


 * AOTW, AotW
 * Abbreviation of TechInfoDepot:Article of the week, the former appellation of TechInfoDepot:Collaboration of the week.


 * ArbCom, Arbcom, ARBCOM
 * Abbreviation for TechInfoDepot:Arbitration Committee


 * Arbitration
 * The final step in the dispute resolution process. See also TechInfoDepot:Arbitration Committee (ARBCOM).


 * Arb
 * Short for arbitrator – a member of the TechInfoDepot:Arbitration Committee.


 * Archive
 * A subpage of a Talk page to which some parts of the discussion are transferred, to reduce the size of the Talk page. Rarely, the term may refer to the TechInfoDepot:Historical archive page, for outdated historical material. See also: Help:Archiving a talk page.


 * Armwaving
 * Same as Handwaving.


 * Article
 * An encyclopedia entry. All articles are pages, but there are also pages that are not articles, such as this one. See also TechInfoDepot:What is an article.


 * Astroturf
 * Used only as a verb, astroturfing refers to attempts at creating the impression of a grassroots movement by the use of sock puppets and meat puppets to make an idea, poll, article, or deletion discussion seem to have more support than it actually has; alternatively, the practice of making entries on sites such as TechInfoDepot to make an idea seem to have more support. In effect, a technique for "stacking the deck".


 * AUSC
 * The Audit Subcommittee. Monitors and oversees CheckUser and Oversight use, and handles complaints concerning use of those privileges.


 * Autoconfirmed
 * A newly registered user is still subject to some of the same restrictions as anonymous users – for example, inability to move articles or edit semi-protected pages, although some restrictions, such as the restriction on anonymous users creating pages, are lifted. When a user is autoconfirmed, these restrictions end. Currently, a new user must make ten edits and wait four days to be autoconfirmed.


 * AWB
 * TechInfoDepot:AutoWikiBrowser, a semi-automated TechInfoDepot editor.

B

 * WP:BAD
 * See BJAODN.


 * Bad faith nomination
 * A bad faith nomination is the nomination of a page, or more pages (usually for deletion at AFD) for disingenuous reasons such as making a point or vandalism.


 * Ban
 * Banning is the last-resort action by which someone is prevented from editing TechInfoDepot for a certain length of time, limited or unlimited. Typical reasons for banning include a long history of biased edits (violation of NPOV), persistent adding of incorrect or doubtful material, refusal to cooperate with others, or extreme incivility and threats. Banned users are not necessarily blocked, however, it is one mechanism to enforce a ban. Any username or IP judged to be the same person can be blocked without any further reason. See also: Block.


 * Balancing the Main Page
 * Copy editing the content on various Main Page sections so the text on both the left Today's featured article/Did you know column and the right In the news/On this day column are roughly about equal ("balanced"), so there are no large blank spaces at the bottom of either column. Depending on the circumstances, this may also involve temporarily posting an additional hook or event onto one of the Main Page sections, beyond what the maximum number is stated on that particular section's guidelines.


 * Banner
 * A banner is a template that is placed across the top of an article's talk page or at the top of a category to indicate specific details relating to the article or category's maintenance. They are often specifically linked to a WikiProject to indicate that the article or category falls within the jurisdiction of that project, but may also be related to article maintenance or protection. "Banner" may also simply mean the administrator who bans a troublesome editor.


 * Bar
 * A placeholder name. See Foo


 * Barnstar
 * Barnstars are a light-hearted system of awards given to TechInfoDepotn editors by other editors to acknowledge good work or other positive contributions to TechInfoDepot. They take the form of an image posted to an editor's talk page, usually in the form of a five-pointed star. There is a wide variety of different types of barnstar, each indicating a different reason for the award having been given.


 * BASC
 * The Ban Appeals Subcommittee, where users can appeal against their ban (or long-term block) after all other appeal processes have failed for them.


 * Be Bold, be bold, BOLD, WP:BOLD
 * The exhortation that users should try to improve articles and fix mistakes themselves by editing, rather than complain about them. See TechInfoDepot:Be bold in updating pages.


 * BEANS, WP:BEANS
 * A reference to the essay on not warning people to do things they wouldn't have thought of doing (it just gives them ideas): Don't stuff beans up your nose


 * Bit, the bit, admin bit
 * Most often refers to an account being given the administrator rights. When a user "gets the admin bit" they have just become an administrator. Also known as a "flag" or the "admin flag". See TechInfoDepot:User access levels for more further information.


 * BJAODN
 * Abbreviation for TechInfoDepot:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense, a now-inactive page. The verb, BJAODNed, refers to the act of something being posted on the page with that name, and was often used at TechInfoDepot namespace articles involving heavy user participation, such as the Reference desk or AfD/TfD pages.


 * Blanking
 * Removing all content from a page. Newcomers often do this accidentally. On the other hand, if blanking an article is done in bad faith, it is vandalism. If blanking is done to a vandalized brand-new page, it is maintenance, and the page will be deleted by an administrator within a few hours if no dispute arises. Delete should be added to the blanked page to draw attention to it, rather than just blanking it. Newcomers often mistake blanking for deletion.


 * Block, WP:BLOCK
 * Action by an administrator, removing from a certain IP address or username the ability to edit TechInfoDepot. Usually done against addresses that have engaged in vandalism or against users who have been banned – see TechInfoDepot:Blocking policy. See also: Ban.


 * BLP, WP:BLP
 * Abbreviation for TechInfoDepot:Biographies of living persons—official TechInfoDepot policy, whereby articles about living people must be handled with great care.


 * Blue link, bluelink
 * A wikilink to an article that already exists shows up blue (or purple if it has been recently visited by that reader/editor). See also Sea of blue, red link, and WikiProject Red Link Recovery.


 * Blurb
 * A one-sentence summary of a recent news item for ITN.


 * Boilerplate text
 * A standard message which can be added to an article using a template. For example, stub is expanded to the following: "This article is a stub. You can help TechInfoDepot by [ expanding it]." See TechInfoDepot:Boilerplate text, and Boilerplate (text).


 * Bot
 * A program that automatically or semi-automatically adds or edits TechInfoDepot-pages. See TechInfoDepot:Bots, Rambot, Vandalbot.


 * Broken link
 * A link to a nonexistent page, usually colored, depending on your settings. May also refer to dead links. See also: edit link, red link, and TechInfoDepot:Red link.''


 * Broken redirect
 * Redirect to a non-existing page. Common opinion is that these should be removed.


 * Bureaucrat
 * A TechInfoDepot Administrator who has been entrusted with promoting users to Administrator status. See also Crat, TechInfoDepot:Bureaucrats.


 * BURO
 * NOT:TechInfoDepot is not a bureaucracy

C

 * Cabal
 * Sometimes assumed to be a secretive organization responsible for the development of TechInfoDepot, the word is usually used as a sarcastic hint to lighten up when discussions seem to become a little too paranoid. Discussions involving the term may have links to POV / NPOV issues, admin problems, or pretty much anything to do with the foundation of TechInfoDepot. The term TINC ("There Is No Cabal") is occasionally encountered, used humorously in such a way as to suggest that maybe there is a cabal after all. The term is comparable to the use of the term SMOF in science fiction fandom. Compare Troll. See also Cabal, There Is No Cabal, TechInfoDepot:Mediation Cabal.


 * CamelCase
 * CamelCase (camel case or camel-case)—originally known as medial capitals—is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter is either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", BackColor, "McDonald's" or "iPod". See also TechInfoDepot:CamelCase and TechInfoDepot.


 * Canvassing, WP:CANVAS
 * Canvassing is sending messages to multiple TechInfoDepotns with the intent to inform them about a community discussion. Under certain conditions, canvassing is acceptable to notify other editors of ongoing discussions (see Friendly messages), but inappropriate messages, written to influence the outcome rather than to improve the quality of a discussion, are considered disruptive since they compromise the consensus building process. See TechInfoDepot:Canvassing.


 * Cat, cat.
 * "Category" or "categorize". Often pluralized as "cats" or "cats."


 * Category
 * A category is a collection of pages automatically formed by the TechInfoDepot servers by analyzing category tags in articles. Category tags are in the form Category:Computers. The part after the ":" is the name of the Category. Adding a category tag causes a link to the category and any super-categories to go to the bottom of the page. As stated, it also results in the page being added to the category listing. A list of basic categories to browse through can be found at Category:Fundamental categories, though a more user-friendly way to find a category is at TechInfoDepot:Browse.


 * Category declaration
 * A category name placed at the bottom of any page. Pages are made members of categories by the use of the category declarations. Some people refer to category declarations as category tags. A category declaration looks like where foo bar is the title of the category page.


 * CC-BY-SA
 * Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. TechInfoDepot's articles are released under this license. See also TechInfoDepot:Copyrights.


 * CCI
 * Contributor copyright investigations


 * CDT
 * Current date and time


 * CE
 * Copy-edit


 * CfD, CFD
 * The TechInfoDepot:Categories for discussion page (previously known as TechInfoDepot:Categories for deletion)


 * CFM
 * Category for merging


 * CfR
 * Category for renaming


 * Chatty
 * A term used for articles which seem to present their content in the manner of a casual conversation with the reader. Chatty articles may need cleanup.


 * CheckUser
 * An access level with which a user can see the IP addresses of logged-in users, usually to determine if someone is using sockpuppets to violate policy. Currently only granted to certain members of the Arbitration Committee and other trusted users.


 * Child
 * A subpage or (more often) subcategory. Compare Parent.


 * Circular reference
 * An invalid reference which cites another page within TechInfoDepot.


 * Civil
 * Civility


 * CLS
 * Cats, lists, boxes


 * Cleanup, cl
 * The process of repairing articles that contain errors of grammar, are poorly formatted, or contain irrelevant material. Cleanup generally requires only editing skills, as opposed to the specialized knowledge that is more often called for by pages needing attention. See also: TechInfoDepot:Cleanup process.


 * Climbing the Reichstag
 * A humorous way of indicating that an editor has over-reacted during an argument such as an edit-war in order to gain some advantage. This has similar consequences to – and is as unwelcome as – WP:POINT (qv). See also: Activities of "Fathers for Justice", TechInfoDepot:No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man.


 * cmt
 * Comment.


 * CNR
 * Same as XNR.


 * COI
 * Acronym for TechInfoDepot:Conflict of interest.


 * COIN
 * Acronym for TechInfoDepot:Conflict of interest noticeboard.


 * Comment out
 * To hide from normal display whilst retaining the material for editors to see. This is done by inserting the characters at the end. These character strings are used to delimit comments in HTML code.


 * Commons
 * Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files.


 * Community Portal
 * One of TechInfoDepot's main pages. It can often be found on the sidebar (on the left side in most skins), and is a page that lists important notices, the collaboration of the week, outstanding tasks that need to be addressed, and several other useful bits of information and resources. The Community Portal is useful for picking an article or topic to work on or read.


 * Consensus, WP:CON
 * The mechanism by which all decisions on TechInfoDepot are nominally made. Not the same as a "majority vote" (cf Polling is not a substitute for discussion).


 * Contribs, contributions
 * Short for contributions. A user has made these edits. See Help:User contributions.


 * Contributor
 * See Editor.


 * Convenience links
 * Links to unofficial copies of reliable sources (not to the original publisher) in addition to a formal citation of the reliable source. Has the advantage over books, paid websites, and websites that need registration of easy accessibility. Sometimes disputed because of violations of copyright, linking to partisan websites, possible distortions or those reliable sources, or because it may contain comments on the reputable sources that other editors do not like.


 * Copyedit
 * A change to an article that only affects formatting, grammar, and other presentational aspects. See also TechInfoDepot:Basic copyediting.


 * Copyvio, CopyVio, copy vio, copyviol
 * Copyright violation. Usually used in an edit summary when deleting copyrighted material added without complying with TechInfoDepot copyright verification procedures. See also CV, TechInfoDepot:Copyrights.


 * COTW
 * Collaboration of the week, an article needing improvement that is selected by vote to be the subject of widespread cooperative editing for a week.


 * 'Crat
 * Short for Bureaucrat, used only occasionally.


 * Cross-namespace redirects
 * A redirect which links from one type of namespace to another. Examples include words in the article namespace which redirect to project pages in the TechInfoDepot namespace. Although they are not considered standard practice, some are created to facilitate searching, especially for new users. See also XNR, CNRTechInfoDepot:Namespace and TechInfoDepot:Cross-namespace redirects (essay).


 * Cruft
 * A somewhat dismissive term used to describe an article or group of articles that are too focused on a specific topic, covering it in too much detail for a general encyclopedia. The term is often used as a suffix for terms such as Pokécruft (Pokémon-cruft) and Roadcruft (cruft articles about roads). Cruft articles are often on topics such as minor characters from television series, or very specific lists of songs (such as "List of songs which includes the word 'death' in the lyrics"). Cruft is often deleted or merged into other articles by the TechInfoDepot community.


 * CSB
 * WikiProject Countering systemic bias or, more rarely, an adjective for a topic of concern to the WikiProject, e.g., "This does not seem to be a CSB article." Systemic bias is the tendency for TechInfoDepot articles to be biased towards a European or American view of things, simply because most editors are European or American.


 * CSD, WP:CSD
 * Criteria for speedy deletion, a policy detailing the circumstances when articles etc. can be removed from TechInfoDepot without discussion. Also lists the templates needed to nominate something for speedy deletion.


 * Current
 * On a user's list of contributions, (current) indicates that the article has not been edited by anyone else since the user last edited it.


 * Cut-and-paste move, cut and paste move, cut 'n' paste move, cut-n-paste move, etc.
 * Moving a page by taking the text of the page, and putting it into the edit window for the second page. Generally considered worse than the 'move page' option, because it splits the page and its edit history. Cut and paste moves can be fixed by administrators. See also TechInfoDepot:How to fix cut and paste moves.


 * CV, cv
 * Abbreviation of Copyvio.


 * CVG
 * Computer and video games.

D

 * Dab, WP:D
 * Abbreviation of Disambiguation (or disambiguate[d]) (from the TechInfoDepot:Disambiguation shortcut WP:DAB).


 * Dablink, DAB link, etc.
 * 1. Abbreviation of "disambiguation link"; a link that leads to a disambiguation page
 * 2. To disambiguate a link within the text of a page
 * 3. A link at the top of an article to one or more other articles with similar titles (a hatnote), or the addition of such


 * DAB page, dab page
 * Same as disambiguation page.


 * Data dump
 * To import material from outside sources into TechInfoDepot without editing, formatting and linking (Wikifying). This is frowned upon by most TechInfoDepotns, and is often a copyvio.


 * Db, DB
 * 1. An abbreviation for "delete because". Almost all templates that are used to request speedy deletion according to the procedure have this prefix (e.g., db-advert, db-nonsense, db-band. See also Speedy.
 * 2. TechInfoDepot's database


 * Dead-end page
 * Page that has no links to existing other pages, except interlanguage links. Special:Deadendpages lists them, but this function is disabled in some Wikimedia projects for performance reasons.


 * De-admin
 * See De-sysop.


 * De-bold
 * To remove a phrase's bold typeface, because it is not the first reference to the title or a synonym of the topic (which should be bold), or that it is not the topic of the article at all. Common situations when one would de-bold include: bold foreign words (should instead be italicized) and bold Wikilinks (which, according to current Manual of Style, should be plain). See also un-bold.


 * Deleted edit
 * An edit that is no longer listed in an editor's contributions because the page has subsequently been deleted.


 * Deletionist
 * Someone who actively attempts to delete pages that others prefer to keep. Deletionism is the idea that TechInfoDepot should follow the same rules for inclusion as existing paper encyclopedias (mostly Encyclopedia Britannica). Often used as a derogatory term. The term 'inclusionist' for the opposite party is less used. See also deletionism, inclusionism, and Deletionism and inclusionism in TechInfoDepot.


 * Delrev, DRV
 * Abbreviation for Deletion review.


 * Deorphan, De-orphan
 * To make a page no longer an orphan. See also TechInfoDepot:Orphan


 * Deprecated
 * 1. Techie-speak for "tolerated in or supported by a system but not recommended (i.e., beware: may well be on the way out)".
 * 2. The term is also used to refer to pages, templates or categories that have been orphaned or are no longer used.
 * 3. In non-technical English, the word means, "deplored or strongly disapproved of".


 * Desc
 * Abbreviation for "description". Often used in edit summaries.


 * De-sysop
 * Take away someone's sysop (Administrator) status. Used very rarely, in cases where someone has voluntarily elected to resign such status, or is judged to have misused their admin powers. See also TechInfoDepot:Requests for de-adminship.


 * Developer, dev
 * Usually capitalized. A user who can make direct changes to TechInfoDepot's underlying software and possibly also the database, often being one of the MediaWiki developers (see next definition) or other Wikimedia Foundation technicians. Technically, it is the highest user access level, but Developer privileges are generally only used at request. Sometimes referred to by other terms such as "system administrators" or "sysadmins", to distinguish from MediaWiki developers. See also Developers for a list of developers and further information.
 * Usually not capitalized. One of the developers of the MediaWiki software; often but not always a TechInfoDepot Developer (in the above sense).


 * De-wikify, dewikify
 * To remove (de-link) some of the wikification of an article. This can be done to remove self-references or excessive common-noun wikification (also known as the sea of blue effect).


 * Dicdef, dictdef, dic def, dic-def
 * Short for a dictionary definition. This term is commonly used on TechInfoDepot:Articles for deletion when referring to an article that is more similar to a dictionary article than an encyclopedia one. Usually a reason for transwikifying to Wiktionary. See also TechInfoDepot:TechInfoDepot is not a dictionary.


 * Diff
 * The difference between two versions of page, as displayed using the Page history feature, or from Recent Changes. The versions to compare are encoded in the URL, so you can make a link by copying and pasting it – for instance when discussing a change on an article's talk page.


 * Disambiguation, disambig
 * The process of resolving the conflict that occurs when articles about two or more different topics have the same natural title. See also dab


 * Disambiguation page, DAB page, dab page
 * A page that contains various meanings of a word, and refers to the pages where the various meanings are defined. In cases when there is a prevailing meaning of the term, disambiguation pages are named "subject (disambiguation)".


 * Double redirect
 * A redirect which leads to another redirect. Counterintuitively, this will not bring one to the final destination, so it needs to be eliminated by linking directly to the target redirect. Double redirects are generated when moving a page that has redirects leading to it. See also Repoint.


 * Duck
 * See the duck test


 * Dupe
 * Short for a duplicate article. Often used when identifying a duplicate page that needs to be merged with another.


 * DRV
 * See Delrev.


 * DYK
 * An abbreviation for Template:Did you know.

E

 * EC, ec, e.c., Ec, (e/c), etc.
 * Same as Edit conflict.


 * Edit conflict
 * Also, rarely "edconf". Appears if an edit is made to the page between when one opens it for editing and completes the edit. The later edit does not take effect, but the editor is prompted to merge their edit with the earlier one. Edit conflicts should not be confused with edit wars.


 * Editcountitis
 * A humorous term for having an unhealthy obsession with the number of edits that a person makes to TechInfoDepot, usually applied to one trying to make as many edits as possible. Often cited on Requests for Adminship regarding people who judge people on sheer edit count rather than personal merit.


 * Edit creep, editcreep, edit-creep
 * The tendency for high quality articles to degrade over time. Articles usually achieve good article or featured article recognition because a small core of people knew the subject well and researched it carefully. Subsequently, new readers continue to alter the page. The average contribution may weaken the piece through bad copyediting, poor syntax, recitation of popular misconceptions, or giving undue weight to a subordinate topic. (By way of analogy to scope creep.)


 * Edit link
 * See Broken link.


 * Edit summary
 * The contents of the "Summary:" field below the edit box on the "Edit this page" page.


 * Editor
 * Anyone who writes or modifies articles in a TechInfoDepot. That includes you. Other terms with the same meaning: contributor, user.


 * edit war
 * Two or more parties continually making their preferred changes to a page, each persistently undoing the changes made by the opposite party. Often, an edit war is the result of an argument on a talk page that could not be resolved. Edit wars are not permitted and may lead to blocks. Sometimes termed "revert war"', see also the three revert rule.''


 * Emphazi
 * See Suitly Emphazi.


 * Eponymous
 * An eponymous category is a category that has the same name as an article and vice versa. For example George W. Bush and the eponymous Category:George W. Bush. See also key article.


 * Esperanzify
 * Motion to close a process or other "TechInfoDepot:" namespace page by preserving the page itself, tagging it historical (and adding explanation on why the page was closed), and redirecting (or deleting) subpages. This is the solution that was implemented to close TechInfoDepot:Esperanza, a goodwill "club" that was shut down.


 * External link, ext. ln., extlink, ext lk, EL, etc.
 * A link to a website not owned by Wikimedia. The alternatives are an internal link, wikilink or free link within TechInfoDepot, and an interwiki link to a sister project. See also TechInfoDepot:External links, TechInfoDepot:Spam.

F

 * FA
 * Featured article, an article that has been selected as representing "the best of TechInfoDepot". Articles become featured articles when a FAC gets consensus for promotion.


 * FAC
 * Featured article candidate, an article that has been proposed for consideration to be featured as one of the best in TechInfoDepot.


 * Fancruft
 * See Cruft.


 * FAR
 * Featured article review, a process for the improvement or delisting of featured articles that no longer meet the quality standards for "featured" status, either because the featured article criteria or the article itself changed.. The process begins with a discussion on the article's talk page. If the issues are not resolved, a user may list the article on FAR, where a discussion takes place to help identify and address areas where improvement may be needed. After the discussion, if no consensus emerges to keep the article featured, the review moves on to the next stage, featured article removal candidates (FARC). Here, the article's "featured" status is considered for removal.


 * FfD, FFD, IfD, IFD
 * An abbreviation for Files for deletion (previously Images and media for deletion).


 * FIST
 * Free Image Search Tool, which will look for free images for articles, either manually listed or by category


 * Float, floating
 * To add coding to a template, image, or other feature so that it appears in a specific position on the page. See TechInfoDepot:Picture tutorial, Help:Table, and Help:Section for examples.


 * Foo
 * A placeholder name, used to provide a generic example. Thus, "an article on the culture of Foo", means "an article on the culture of any of the places under discussion, or any that it may also apply to". When two placeholders are required, Bar is usually used as the second (e.g., "an article on the Foo of Bar"). See also Foobar.


 * Forest fire
 * A flame war which spreads, seemingly uncontrollably, beyond the pages where it began into unrelated articles' talk pages. A forest fire becomes progressively more difficult for any user to keep track of. On TechInfoDepot, this is less of a problem than on other wikis, due to well-established boundaries for user conduct, clear guidelines for article content, and a formal dispute resolution process. See also wildfire and ForestFire.


 * Fork
 * A splitting of an entity to satisfy different groups of people – in TechInfoDepot, this can either mean a project-wide split, in which a group of users decides to take a project database and continue with it on their own site (which is perfectly legal under the GFDL, and one of an editor's least disputed rights), or the split of an article, usually to accommodate different POVs. The latter is often called a POV fork and generally regarded as highly undesirable.


 * fmt
 * Format. Abbreviation commonly used in edit summaries to signify formatting of the page, or wikification.


 * FP
 * Featured pictures, a picture that has been selected as representing "the best of TechInfoDepot". Pictures become featured pictures when a FPC gets consensus for promotion.


 * FPC
 * Featured picture candidate, a picture that has been proposed for consideration to be featured as one of the best in TechInfoDepot.


 * Free link
 * A link pointing to another page within TechInfoDepot or its sister projects by using the wiki markup double square-brackets "" and "" . Sometimes they are referred to as wikilinks or internal links. Unless otherwise specified in a user's monobook.css, these links usually show up as blue if they are working and you haven't visited them before, red if they are broken, and purple if they are working and you have visited them before; note that they do not have the arrow symbol characteristic of an external link.


 * Friendly notices
 * A contributor who sends friendly notices as a means of canvassing appropriately must ensure that these neutrally worded notifications are sent to a small number of editors, intending to improve rather than to influence a discussion and while avoiding excessive cross-posting. See TechInfoDepot:Canvassing.

G

 * GA
 * Good article.


 * Gadget
 * A gadget is a JavaScript tool that can be enabled from your TechInfoDepot preferences.


 * Gdanzig
 * An edit war over which of several possible names should be used for a place. The word is a portmanteau of Gdańsk and Danzig, the two names about which a venerable edit war ensued. See Talk:Gdansk/Vote.


 * Geogre's Law
 * A law attributed to User:Geogre (although he may not have been the first person, and has certainly not been the only person, to observe this correlation), and most frequently referred to in TechInfoDepot:Articles for deletion. Paraphrased, the law states that there exists a strong correlation between the lack of proper capitalization of a person's name in the title of a biographical article, and the failure of the subject of that article to satisfy the criteria for inclusion of biographies.


 * GF
 * Good faith, a tenet of TechInfoDepot.


 * GFDL
 * GNU Free Documentation License. Many of TechInfoDepot's articles are released under this license. See also TechInfoDepot:Copyrights.


 * GFE
 * A good faith edit
 * A good faith editor. ''See also giffee


 * Ghits, G-hits, GHits
 * "Google hits" – the number of successful searches for a particular word or phrase using the Google search engine. Sometimes used as a very rough assessment of notability on AFD. See also Google test.


 * Giffee
 * Same as GFE, definition 2.


 * gloss, glosses, glossing
 * In editing, a gloss is brief explanation that accompanies a text. It can also refer to the addition, modification, or deletion of hyperlinks like this one.


 * Godwin's Law
 * Godwin's Law is particularly concerned with logical fallacies such as reductio ad Hitlerum, wherein an idea is unduly dismissed or rejected on the ground of it being associated with persons generally considered "evil". Godwin's Law is: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." It is often cited as soon as it occurs as a flag that discussions have gone on too long or gotten out of hand on a particular topic.


 * Google test
 * Running sections or titles of articles through the Google search engine for various purposes. The four most common are to check for copyright violations, to determine which term among several is the most widely used, to decide whether a person is sufficiently notable to warrant an article and to check whether a questionable and obscure topic is real (as opposed to the idiosyncratic invention of a particular individual). See also Ghits, TechInfoDepot:Google test.


 * GPL
 * GNU General Public License. TechInfoDepot's software is released under this license.


 * gr
 * Grammar, used in edit summaries to indicate that a grammar problem is being corrected

H

 * Hagiography
 * Wording that is excessively fulsome, adulatory or glowing in a biographical article, to the point of violating NPOV.


 * Handwaving, armwaving
 * An assertion not supported by evidence; most frequently seen in articles for deletion discussions, when editors may assert that a subject is notable, but fail to make a convincing case. Such arguments are usually given less weight. See also Handwave.


 * Hatnote
 * A short note placed at the top of an article before the primary topic.


 * Hatted, Hatting
 * Refers to using (Template:Hidden archive top) to close and collapse a discussion to discourage further editing, without removing it completely from the page.


 * History
 * All previous versions of an article, from its creation to its current state. Also called page history. See also: Help:Page history.


 * Hook
 * A short entry at TechInfoDepot:Did you know.


 * Hopelessly POV
 * Describing an article which, in the opinion of some TechInfoDepotns, is so closely tied to a particular point of view as to be inherently in violation of TechInfoDepot policy and unable to be made neutral. Other TechInfoDepotns consider the accusation "hopelessly POV" as being merely an excuse to suppress certain points of view.

I

 * IANAL, IANaL
 * An abbreviation for "I Am Not a Lawyer", indicating that an editor is about to give their opinion on a legal matter as they understand it, although they are not professionally qualified to do so, and may not fully understand the law in question. May be generalized to other fields, e.g., IANAA (administrator), IANAD (doctor).


 * IAR, Ignore All Rules
 * A policy which states simply "If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining TechInfoDepot, ignore it." There are several essays on what this means, including TechInfoDepot:What "Ignore all rules" means.


 * IAW
 * An abbreviation for "in accordance with", as in "IAW WP:RS "


 * ICBH
 * An abbreviation for I couldn't be happier.


 * FfD, FFD, IfD, IFD
 * An abbreviation for Images and media for deletion, the old name for Files for deletion.


 * Inclusionist
 * A user who is of the opinion that TechInfoDepot should contain as much information as possible, often regardless of presentation or notability. There are varying degrees of Inclusionism – radical Inclusionists vote "Keep" on every AfD they come across, while more moderate ones merely express their desire for a wide variety of topics to be covered, even if they do not fit the standard criteria for inclusion in an encyclopedia, or if the articles in question have quality problems.


 * Infobox
 * A consistently formatted table which is present in articles with a common subject. See Help:Infobox and TechInfoDepot:Manual of Style (infoboxes) for a how-to guide. See also: navbox, taxobox.


 * Internal link
 * See free link, wikilink.


 * Interwiki
 * A link to a sister project; this can be an interlanguage link to a corresponding article in a different language in TechInfoDepot, or a link to a project such as Wikibooks, Meta, etc. The abbreviations iw or i/w are often used in edit summaries when an interwiki link has been added or changed.


 * IP, IP contributor, IP user, IP editor
 * An editor who contributes without an account. See also: anon.''


 * IPA
 * International Phonetic Alphabet, widely used on TechInfoDepot to indicate pronunciation. See also Help:IPA, Help:IPA for English, the more detailed IPA chart for English dialects, and TechInfoDepot:Manual of Style (pronunciation).


 * IRC
 * Internet Relay Chat.


 * IRL
 * Abbreviation for "In real life"


 * Isolated, isolated article
 * An isolated article is an article that cannot be reached via a series of links from the Main Page. See also Orphan.


 * ITHAWO
 * I thought he already was one. Used about people listed in 'admin' requests.


 * ITN
 * Abbreviation for TechInfoDepot:In the news


 * i/w, iw
 * See Interwiki.

J

 * Janitor
 * See Admin.


 * Jimbo
 * Jimmy Wales, co-founder of TechInfoDepot

K

 * Key article
 * A category's eponymous article, or any other article which deals directly with the subject of a category.


 * Kill / Kill with fire / Kill with a stick
 * Dysphemisms for "deleting" a page, expressing some disgust for the existence of the page.

L

 * Language link
 * See Interwiki.


 * Laundry list
 * See TechInfoDepot:Embedded list and TechInfoDepot:WikiProject Laundromat.


 * Lead, Lede
 * The introduction or "lead paragraph" of a TechInfoDepot article; the section before the table of contents and first heading.


 * LGV
 * Edit summary abbreviation for Last Good Version (typically after a series of problematic edits)


 * Link
 * See Help:Contents/Links.


 * Link farm
 * Link farms are articles or sections of articles consisting entirely of external or internal links. Some pages consisting of internal links are acceptable (such as disambiguation pages and list articles); others are likely to be candidates for deletion, as are any consisting entirely of external links.


 * Link rot
 * Because websites change over time, many external links from TechInfoDepot to other sites cannot be guaranteed to remain active. When an article's links becomes outdated and no longer work, the article is said to have undergone link rot.


 * List
 * See TechInfoDepot:Lists.


 * Listify
 * To delete a category and turn the contents into a list. Sometimes used in CFD discussions as shorthand for saying that "this group of articles would be better if presented as a list, rather than as a category."


 * Lk
 * Landmarks: Major landmarks; also used as an abbreviation for "link" (see above)


 * Lugo
 * A meme associated with stagnation or the lack of sufficient updates on the Main page. It originated from an incident in 2008, when an image of President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo stayed up on the In the news section for well over a week. See also: TechInfoDepot:TechInfoDepot Signpost/2009-01-31/Dispatches – TechInfoDepot Signpost article on the process and history of In the news.

M

 * m
 * On the Recent changes page, m (lower case, bold) indicates a minor edit.


 * Magic word, magicword, magic-word
 * a symbol recognized by the MediaWiki software and which when seen in the non-commented text of the page, triggers the software to do something other than display that symbol, or transclude a page with that name, but instead to use the symbol directly.


 * Main Page
 * The page to which every user not specifying an article is redirected. The Main Page contains links to current events, presents certain articles (like a featured article of the day and links to TechInfoDepot's newest articles), and serves as an entry point to browsing all articles by topic or other classification. Links to sister projects and other-language TechInfoDepots are also a prominent feature on the Main Page. Due to its high exposure, all content on the Main Page is protected.


 * Main Page balance
 * See Balancing the Main Page.


 * Mainspace
 * The main article namespace (i.e., not a talk page, not a "TechInfoDepot:" page, not a "User:" page, etc.)


 * Mastodon
 * Refers to the fight or flight reflex that sometimes happens while editing TechInfoDepot. Generally mentioned to request for calm. "Nobody ever got trampled to death because they were editing an encyclopedia." Frequently misspelled "mastadon". See also the essay no angry mastodons.


 * MC
 * The Mediation Committee. See TechInfoDepot:Mediation Committee.


 * Meat puppet
 * An account created only for the illegitimate strengthening of another user's position in votes or discussions. Unlike a sock puppet, the account is used by another person. Meat puppets are treated exactly like sock puppets in most cases, making the distinction between them largely academic.


 * MedCab, Medcab, MEDCAB
 * The Mediation Cabal. See TechInfoDepot:Mediation Cabal.


 * MedCom, Medcom, MEDCOM
 * The Mediation Committee. See TechInfoDepot:Mediation Committee.


 * Mediation
 * An attempt by a third party to resolve an edit war or other conflict between users. There exists a TechInfoDepot:Mediation Committee which can do so on a more or less official basis as the penultimate step in the TechInfoDepot:dispute resolution process, and a TechInfoDepot:Mediation Cabal which acts as an informal alternative. See also: TechInfoDepot:What is mediation?; TechInfoDepot:Mediation.


 * MediaWiki
 * The software behind TechInfoDepot and its sister projects, as well as several projects not related to Wikimedia, and a namespace. Contrast Wikimedia. See also TechInfoDepot:MediaWiki, TechInfoDepot:MediaWiki namespace.


 * Meh
 * Common edit summary used by many TechInfoDepotns. Generally used for minor edits that no one is expected to care about. Also use (in edit summary or directly in talk page posts) in response to posts that the editor feels are uninteresting or pointless, or proposals not worth considering.


 * Merge
 * Taking the text of two pages, and turning it into a single page. ''See Help:Merging


 * Mergist
 * A user who adheres to the principle of Mergism, which is a compromise between the Inclusionist and Deletionist principles. A Mergist is of the opinion that while many topics merit inclusion, not every topic deserves its own article, and tries to combine these "side" topics into longer, less specific articles.


 * Meta
 * A separate wiki used to discuss general Wikimedia matters. In the past, this has been called Metapedia, Meta TechInfoDepot, Meta Wikimedia, and many other combinations.


 * Meta page, meta-page
 * A page that provides information about TechInfoDepot. Meta pages are more correctly referred to as project namespace pages. Meta pages should not be confused with a page on Meta-Wikimedia.


 * MfD, MFD
 * TechInfoDepot:Miscellany for deletion.


 * Minor edit
 * A minor edit is one that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute. An edit of this kind is marked in its page's revision history with a lower case, bolded "m" character (m).


 * Mirror
 * A website other than TechInfoDepot that uses content originally from TechInfoDepot as a source for at least some of its content. See also TechInfoDepot:Mirrors and forks.


 * Mop
 * A term used to refer to administrator duties (compare Janitor). Often seen in the phrase to give someone a mop (i.e., to make someone into an administrator).


 * MOS, MoS
 * Found in edit summaries to indicate that a change has been made to make an item comply with TechInfoDepot's standard writing style ("Manual of Style"). Often found in compound forms such as "MOSNUM" ("Manual of Style/Dates and numbers") and "MOSCAPS" ("Manual of Style/Capital letters"). See also NC, TechInfoDepot:Manual of Style.


 * Move
 * Changing the name and location of an article because of a misspelling, violation of naming convention, misnomer, or inaccuracy. Involves either renaming the page or moving it and constructing a redirect to keep the original link intact. See also Help:Renaming (moving) a page.

N

 * N
 * On the Recent changes page, N (upper case, bold) — with a red exclamation mark — N !  indicates a new page or article that has not yet been patrolled.


 * N/a
 * An abbreviation for new article, often used in edit summaries. Easily confused with the common non-Wiki use, "not applicable" or "not available".


 * Namespace
 * A way to classify pages. TechInfoDepot has namespaces for encyclopedia articles, pages about TechInfoDepot (project namespace), user pages (User:), special pages (Special:), template pages (Template:), and talk pages (Talk:, TechInfoDepot talk:, and User talk:), among others. See also TechInfoDepot:Namespace.


 * Navbox, Navigation template
 * A navbox is a type of template placed at the bottom articles to enable the reader to navigate easily to other articles on related topics. See also: Infobox, taxobox.


 * NC, NCs
 * Found in edit summaries to indicate that a change has been made to make an item comply with TechInfoDepot's standard naming conventions. See also MOS, TechInfoDepot:Article titles.


 * Newbie test, noob test, newb test
 * An edit made by a newcomer to TechInfoDepot, just to see if "Edit this page" really does what it sounds like. Newcomers should use TechInfoDepot:Sandbox for this purpose. See also TechInfoDepot:Introduction.


 * NN, nn
 * Abbreviation found in comments at TechInfoDepot:Articles for deletion and in edit summaries, indicating that the article's subject is not notable enough for a TechInfoDepot entry.


 * nom
 * Short for "nomination" or "nominator". Often found on deletion process pages as part of the phrase Delete per nom, indicating a voter's assent to and/or agreement with the main nomination for deletion.


 * NOR
 * The TechInfoDepot policy that No Original Research is allowed in citing sources in articles.


 * Notice board, noticeboard
 * A page that acts as a forum for a group of users, who use it to coordinate their editing. Most notice boards are by geographic location, like the UK TechInfoDepotns' notice board; a notable exception is the Administrators' noticeboard.


 * NPOV, NPoV
 * Neutral point of view, or the agreement to present possibly subjective content in an objective, neutral, and substantiated manner, so as not to cause edit wars between opposing sides. As a verb, to remove biased statements or slanted phrasing. As an adjective, it indicates that an article complies with TechInfoDepot's NPOV policy.


 * NPP
 * TechInfoDepot:New Pages Patrol.


 * Null edit
 * A null edit is made when an editor opens the edit window of a document then re-saves the page without having made any text changes. This is sometimes done as a lazy way to purge – to update the functioning of templates (which require articles containing them to be edited in order for any changes to take effect). The term also applies to making a very small, non-substantive change (e.g., removing an unneeded blank line or adding one) in order to get the article history to register a change, for the purpose of leaving an edit summary that responds to a previous one.


 * Nupedia
 * A TechInfoDepot predecessor project that shut down in 2003. It is currently inactive and there are no plans to resurrect it. See also: TechInfoDepot:Nupedia and TechInfoDepot.

O

 * OAS
 * Abbreviation for On Another Subject.


 * OBE
 * Abbreviation for Overcome By Events or Overtaken By Events.


 * OP
 * Abbreviation for Original post (or "Original poster"). Can also stand for Open Proxy. Or, in the context of IRC, "op" can refer to "ChanOp" (Channel Operator), and to "get ops" or "be opped" means to attain a higher access level within a channel.


 * Open tasks
 * A template (found at opentask) that lists several more or less janitorial tasks that are pending or needed. It is found on the community portal as well as on many user pages. The term is also occasionally used within individual WikiProjects to refer to work which has been discussed but which still needs to be completed.


 * Open Ticket Request System
 * Refers to the people and software that surround the handling of email sent to the Wikimedia Foundation.


 * Original post, original poster
 * In a discussion thread, refers to the topic/person/message which started the discussion. Depending on context, OP may stand for either "original post" (the message which started the thread), or "original poster" (the person who started the thread). Often used on TechInfoDepot's discussion pages and commonly seen on the TechInfoDepot:Reference desk.


 * Original research
 * In TechInfoDepot, original research (sometimes abbreviated OR) is material added to articles that has not been published already by a reputable source. As an encyclopedia, TechInfoDepot is not the appropriate place to publish original research, nor can it be used for substantiation of article content.


 * Orphan, orphan article, orphaned article, orphan image, orphaned image
 * An orphaned article is an article with no links from other pages in the main article namespace. An orphaned image is an image with no links from any pages at all. You can view lists of orphaned articles and images. contains orphaned articles organized by month. See also Wikiproject Orphanage.


 * OTRS
 * Abbreviation for Open Ticket Request System. See also TechInfoDepot:Volunteer response team.

P

 * Page
 * Any individual topic within TechInfoDepot; the web page without the top, bottom and sidebars. Pages include articles, stubs, redirects, disambiguation pages, user pages, talk pages, files, documentation and special pages.


 * Parent; Parent category
 * A larger, more general category of which the category under discussion is a subcategory (for example, Category:Aquatic organisms is a parent category of Category:Fish). Compare Child. See also Help:Categorization.


 * Parent-only category
 * A category which only contains subcategories


 * Patent nonsense
 * A humorous pejorative applied to articles that are either completely unintelligible or totally irrelevant.


 * Patrol
 * TechInfoDepot:Recent changes patrol and/or TechInfoDepot:New page patrol. May also be used as a synonym for "review closely".


 * PD
 * Material not presently under copyright and thus available for use without permission. Public domain


 * Peer Review
 * A request to have fellow TechInfoDepotns review and help improve an article. TechInfoDepot has a page specifically for posting such a request and offering up your work for review.


 * Permastub
 * Any stub article which is unlikely to grow to a more respectable size; an article on a subject about which little can ever be written. These articles are often potential candidates for merging into larger articles.


 * Permcat
 * A permanent category – that is, a category into which an article is assigned to aid reader navigation, as opposed to a temporary assignment relating to a process such as cleanup or stub sorting.


 * Permalink, permanent link
 * A link to a specific version of a TechInfoDepot page, which will not reflect later edits to the page.


 * Per, per nom, per X
 * A comment on a page such as RFA or AFD may be accompanied by the note "per nom", which means "for the reasons given by the nominator". Similarly, a comment may be noted "per X" where X is the name of one of the other commenters, or a reference to some page that explains the reasoning. See also TechInfoDepot:What does 'per' mean?.


 * Personal attack
 * A comment that is not directed at content, but rather insults, demeans or threatens another editor (or a group of editors) personally, with obvious malice. To maintain a friendly and productive atmosphere, personal attacks are forbidden per TechInfoDepot policy and may be grounds for blocking in serious and/or repeated cases. See also: TechInfoDepot:No personal attacks, TechInfoDepot:Remove personal attacks.


 * Phase I
 * The wiki software UseModWiki. TechInfoDepot used this software before January 25, 2002.


 * Phase II
 * The wiki software written by User:Magnus Manske and adopted by TechInfoDepot after January 25, 2002 (Magnus Manske Day).


 * Phase III
 * A rewritten and improved version of the Phase II software. It was eventually renamed to MediaWiki. TechInfoDepot currently uses MediaWiki version (see also Special:Version). See also TechInfoDepot:MediaWiki, MediaWiki.


 * Phase IV
 * A dream proposal for the next generation of TechInfoDepot software made back when complete rewrites were in vogue. Development is now focused on incremental progress. See also TechInfoDepot4.


 * Pipe, Piped link
 * A link where the text displayed in the article is not the name of the link target. Such links are created using the pipe character "|" e.g., Displayed text . The pipe trick is a software feature that generates the displayed text for the editor in certain circumstances. Piped links may also be used to sort pages in categories by other than their name, e.g., if is placed on an article, the article will be listed alphabetically at "Bar" in category "Foo", irrespective of its title. See also Help:Pipe trick, and m:Help:Piped link.


 * POINT, WP:POINT
 * "Thou shalt not deliberately skew any page, nor create or nominate for deletion any page, nor in any other way vandalize TechInfoDepot, in order to try to prove your point!". See also TechInfoDepot:Don't disrupt TechInfoDepot to illustrate a point.


 * Pokémon test
 * A heuristic for assessing the relevance or legitimacy of prospective article topics, which holds that any topic more notable than the most obscure species of Pokémon may deserve a TechInfoDepot article. '''


 * Portal
 * Portal


 * POTD, PotD
 * Picture of the day


 * POV, PoV
 * Point of view. Originally referred to each of many perspectives on an issue, which may need to be considered and balanced in an encyclopedic article. Today, more often used as a synonym for "biased", as in "That reply was POV, not neutral".


 * POV warrior, PoV warrior
 * An editor who aggressively distorts coverage of certain topics to suit his/her biases despite community norms of neutrality and the TechInfoDepot policy of NPOV.


 * Prejudice
 * As in, "delete without prejudice" and variations, based on the legal term. Deletion without prejudice indicates that there is a problem with the present version of the article (e.g., lack of sources) and that recreation of the article is viable if that problem is fixed. Deletion with prejudice indicates that there's a problem with the subject of the article, and that it should not be recreated in any form (although deletion review can overturn this).


 * Process page
 * A wikispace page dedicated to discussion and (usually) voting on specific pages or users, or for similar administrative reasons. Examples include CFD, RFA, and AFD.


 * Prod, PROD
 * Proposed deletion. A process by which articles that do not qualify for speedy deletion but are able to be uncontroversially deleted can be removed from TechInfoDepot without going through a full AfD process. Can be used as both a noun and a verb (To prod an article). See also TechInfoDepot:Guide to deletion.


 * Project namespace
 * The project namespace is a namespace dedicated to providing information about TechInfoDepot. Pages in the project namespace always start with "TechInfoDepot:".


 * Proseline
 * From "prose" and "timeline": chronological list of events narrated in a prose form, usually a lot of paragraphs that begin with a date or time ("On January 21, 2008, 'proseline' was added to the TechInfoDepot glossary page..."). Usually occurs in articles about ongoing events where editors are adding information as it becomes available. Generally seen as bad style that should be avoided.


 * Protected page
 * This term indicates a page that cannot be edited except by administrators, or in some cases, established users. Usually this is done to cool down an edit war. See also TechInfoDepot:This page is protected.


 * Protologism
 * A word that is created and used in the hope that it will become widely used and an accepted part of the language. A successful protologism becomes a neologism. The term protologism has been adopted as jargon for use within Wiki communities, but is not in common usage outside this context. "Protologism" itself can be considered either a protologism or neologism. Coined by Mikhail Epstein from Greek protos, first + Greek logos, word. See also protologism and list of protologisms.


 * The Pump
 * A nickname for TechInfoDepot:Village pump. See also VP.

Q

 * Quack
 * See duck


 * Quarto
 * Wikimedia Quarto is a multilingual quarterly newsletter published by the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

R

 * RA
 * TechInfoDepot:Requested articles, a place to ask people to create articles that should exist but do not.


 * RAA
 * Request for Administrator Attention


 * Random page
 * The Random page link is on the left of each page for most skins. It will take you to a TechInfoDepot article that is chosen by a computer algorithm without any deliberate pattern or meaning to the choice.


 * Randy in Boise
 * A generic name for editors who don't give enough deference to experts.


 * RC
 * An abbreviation for Recent changes


 * RC Patrol
 * A group of volunteer editors who examine Recent changes logs for vandalism and other undesirable edits.


 * Re
 * Abbreviation for: Remark, Reply, or Regarding


 * Reader-facing template
 * See: TechInfoDepot:Neutral point of view.


 * Re-creation
 * A posting of the same or substantially the same text as a deleted article by a new user, or of the same text or different text of a deleted article by the original creator. Sometimes misspelled "recreation".


 * Recent changes
 * A dynamically generated page (found at Special:Recentchanges) that lists all edits in descending chronological order. Sometimes abbreviated as RC. Recent changes are checked regularly by editors doing RC patrol, which means checking all suspicious edits to catch vandalism as early as possible. Other ways of watching recent changes are the Recentchanges IRC channel, or CryptoDerk's Vandal Fighter, which announce changes in realtime.


 * Redirect, redir
 * A page title which, when requested, merely sends the reader to another page. This is used for synonyms and ease of linking. For example, impressionist might redirect to impressionism. For an introduction to what a redirect is, see Help:Redirect. For the guidelines on handling redirects on TechInfoDepot, see TechInfoDepot:Redirect.


 * Red link, redlink
 * A wikilink to an article that does not exist shows up red. See also blue link, WikiProject Red Link Recovery, and TechInfoDepot:Red link''.


 * Refactor
 * To restructure a document, usually applied to the ordering and summarizing of talk pages. See also: TechInfoDepot:Refactoring talk pages


 * Reincarnation
 * A new user account created by a banned user to evade the block. See sock puppet.


 * Reliable source
 * A source with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. TechInfoDepot articles must be based only on reliable sources; see TechInfoDepot:Identifying reliable sources (shortcut: WP:RS).


 * Rename
 * "Renaming" may refer to a variety of operations on TechInfoDepot - see Help:Rename.


 * Render
 * In the context of the World Wide Web, rendering is the operation performed by the user's browser of converting the Web document (in HTML, XML, etc. plus image and other included files) into the visible page on the user's screen.


 * Repoint, re-point
 * To change the destination article of a redirect, either to avoid a double redirect or to change the redirect so that it leads to a more appropriate article. The term retarget is also frequently used.


 * Req
 * Abbreviation for "Request".


 * Rescope, re-scope
 * To change the subject matter of an article, a template or – most frequently – a category to one that is more acceptable for editorial or encyclopedic purposes. If by doing so the subject area is broadened, the term upscope is sometimes used.


 * Retarget, re-target
 * See Repoint.


 * Revdel
 * Abbreviation for Revision deletion. Not to be confused with Delrev, which is short for Deletion review, a completely different process.


 * Revert
 * An edit that reverses edits made by someone else, thus restoring the prior version. See also Help:Reverting


 * Revert war
 * See Edit war.


 * RfA, RFA
 * Can mean TechInfoDepot:Requests for adminship or (rarely) TechInfoDepot:Requests for arbitration, depending on the context. The latter is frequently abbreviated RfAr to avoid the ambiguity.


 * RfA Cliché #1
 * Sometimes used in support at TechInfoDepot:Requests for adminship, to indicate that one thought the candidate already was an admin. See also ITHAWO.


 * RfAr, RFAR
 * TechInfoDepot:Requests for arbitration.


 * RfB, RFB
 * TechInfoDepot:Requests for bureaucratship


 * RfC, RFC
 * TechInfoDepot:Requests for comment, part of the dispute resolution process. A request for comment is an informal process for soliciting input from TechInfoDepotns about a question of article content or a user's conduct.


 * RfD, RFD
 * The TechInfoDepot:Redirects for deletion page.


 * RfM, RFM
 * Request for mediation, part of the dispute resolution process. See also: TechInfoDepot:Requests for mediation.


 * RHS
 * The right-hand side of the main page. On en-wiki, includes ITN and OTD (also known as SA).


 * RL
 * See IRL


 * Rm
 * Remove. Used in edit summaries to indicate that a particular piece of text or formatting has been deleted.


 * Rmv
 * 1. Remove (Rm) vandalism. Used in edit summaries when good edits were made after vandalism, requiring the editor to sort out the vandalism, as opposed to a simple reversion. See also rvv.
 * 2. Same as Rm.


 * Rogue admin
 * Accusatory term for a TechInfoDepot administrator, suggesting that the accused person systematically abuses their administrative access. Such accusations are rarely found to be justified or particularly productive. See also rouge admin.


 * Rollback
 * To change a page back to the version before the last edit. Administrators and rollbackers have special tools to do this more easily. See TechInfoDepot:Rollback feature


 * Rollbacker
 * A class of users who can use the rollback feature. This feature is automatically enabled for all administrators.


 * Rouge admin
 * A misspelling of "rogue admin" occasionally used by vandals and trolls. Now used jokingly by many TechInfoDepot administrators, usually to describe themselves performing actions that the affected users may not like (such as blocking vandals and deleting bogus pages).


 * RS
 * TechInfoDepot:Reliable sources – a guideline that articles should be based on reliable published sources.


 * Rv
 * Revert. An edit summary indicating that the page has been reverted to a previous version, often because of vandalism. See also Help:Reverting.


 * Rvt
 * Same as Rv.'''


 * Rvv
 * Revert of vandalism. ''See also Rv.

S

 * s
 * Used in edit summaries to indicate that an editor has added a comment to support a proposal on a discussion page or process page where a consensus is being sought.


 * s/ word1 / word2 /
 * Replace word1 with word2 . Used in edit summaries. It is a reference to the command for "find and replace" in languages such as sed and Perl. "s/ word1 / word2 /" means "replace all occurrences of word1 with word2 " (s stands for "substitute").


 * Salt
 * (from "salt the earth") Administrators can prevent the creation of a page through the protection interface. This is useful for articles that have been deleted but repeatedly recreated. See also WP:SALT.


 * Sandbox
 * A sandbox is a page that users may edit however they want. Though it is meant to help users experiment and gain familiarity with Wiki markup, the public sandbox at TechInfoDepot:Sandbox is often filled with strange things and patent nonsense. In addition to the public sandbox, users may create private sandboxes on subpages of their user page.


 * Scap
 * A scap occurs when MediaWiki, the software that runs TechInfoDepot, is updated. Scap stands for "sync-common-all-php", the internal script used to deploy the update.


 * Sea of blue
 * The hard-to-read effect of far too many blue links in an article, caused by over-wikilinking. See also De-wikify.


 * Section editing
 * Using one of the '[edit]' links to the right of each section's title, one can get an edit window containing only the section of the page that's below the [edit] link. This makes it easier to find the exact spot where one wants to edit, and helps you avoid an edit conflict. You can turn section editing off in your preferences under the "Enable section editing via [edit] links" option.


 * Self-link
 * A Wikilink contained in an article that points the reader to that same article, e.g., linking Vice President in the article "Vice President". Such links are automatically displayed as strongly emphasized text rather than links, but the more complex case of a link which redirects to the same article is not, and should be de-wikified.


 * Self-ref, selfref, self-ref
 * When used in terms like "no self-refs", this refers to the guideline TechInfoDepot:Self-references to avoid whereby articles should generally not refer to the TechInfoDepot project directly or implicitly. Self-ref can also refer to the template.


 * Self-revert
 * An editor self-reverts when he or she reverts or undoes an edit that he or she had previously made. This may be because the editor was merely making a test, or because the editor later realised his or her edit was faulty, or because he or she wishes to show good faith after a three-revert rule violation. See Revert.


 * SfD, SFD
 * The TechInfoDepot:Stub types for deletion page.


 * Sharpen cat
 * To place an article within a more specific category, e.g., placing a biography article from Category:Kenya into Category:Kenyan people. In addition, sh cat in edit summaries.


 * Sheep vote
 * A vote on TechInfoDepot that seems to be cast just to go along with the flow. E.g., on RfA, this can typically be a vote such as "Support because x, y, and z are supporting." The opposite is called a wolf vote.


 * Shortcut
 * A redirect used within Wikispace to enable editors to get to a project page more quickly. See also TechInfoDepot:Shortcut for the policy on these redirects, and TechInfoDepot:List of shortcuts for a complete list.


 * Skin
 * The appearance theme in Special:Preferences. Currently, nine are available: Chick, Classic, Cologne Blue, Monobook, Modern, MySkin, Nostalgia, Simple, and Vector.


 * SME
 * An acronym for subject matter expert.


 * Smerge
 * A contraction of "slight merge" or "selective merge", sometimes used in Articles for deletion discussions. This is for when a topic deserves mention in another article, but not to the extent and detail that is already included (a partial merge and redirect).


 * Snap
 * Retarget a double redirect to point to the ultimate target.


 * SNG
 * A Subject specific Notability Guideline, see Category:TechInfoDepot notability guidelines


 * Snowball clause
 * Sometimes entries on process pages are closed early when it becomes obvious that they have "a snowball's chance in Hell" of passing the process. This removal is "per the Snowball clause". The verb "snowballing" is sometimes used for this action.


 * Sock puppet, sock
 * Another user account created secretly by an existing TechInfoDepotn, generally to manufacture the illusion of support in a vote or argument. Also, particularly on AfD, a friend of an existing TechInfoDepotn who has created an account solely for the purpose of supporting that TechInfoDepotn in a vote (this special case is often called a meat puppet). It is not always possible to tell the difference.


 * Soft redirect
 * A very short article or page that essentially points the reader in the direction of another page. Used in cases where a normal redirect is inappropriate for various reasons (e.g., it is a cross-wiki redirect).


 * Sort key
 * A device to make an article file alphabetically (in a category or other list of articles) other than by the article title, e.g., "John Smith" under "Smith, John", or "The Who" under "Who, The". Can be assigned to a specific category, or as a . See also Help:Category.


 * sp
 * Short for spelling correction or space. Used in edit summaries.


 * SPA
 * Short for Single Purpose Account. If that single purpose is disruptive (e.g., vote stacking, or attacking some user) the account tends to be indefinitely blocked.


 * Spamectomy
 * Removing spam from an article so that it is less of a POV issue.


 * Speedy
 * Abbreviation for Speedy delete (or "speedy rename" as appropriate). Can also be used as a verb – e.g., "I think the article should be speedied". "Speedy" on TechInfoDepot does not mean "now, immediately", but rather something that can be done without further discussion.


 * Speedy delete
 * Deletion of a page without prior discussion. Pages can be speedily deleted only under very specific circumstances; see TechInfoDepot:Criteria for speedy deletion for those.


 * Speedy keep
 * The closing of a vote on a deletion wikispace page (like AFD) before the normal end of the voting period. This happens when the nomination has been faulty (e.g., a bad faith nomination) or when there is overwhelming evidence that the page should be kept (e.g., overwhelming support for keeping it, or a history of deletion attempts that have ended in the same way).


 * Split
 * Separating a single page into two or more pages.


 * Sprot, sprotect, sprotection
 * Short for semi-protect [ion]. Articles that are semi-protected cannot be edited by unregistered or newly registered users.


 * Steward
 * An Administrator who has been empowered to change any user's status on any Wikimedia Foundation project, including granting and revoking Administrator status and granting bureaucrat status. See also TechInfoDepot:Administrators.


 * Strike out, strike-through, strikethrough, etc.
 * To place text in strike-through (HTML,  , or  ) tags. This is very rarely used in articles, but is relatively common in votes and discussions when a contributor changes his or her opinion. As not to cause confusion, the outdated comments are struck out ( like this ). The inserted material (HTML  ) tag is sometimes used with it to show a replacement for the struck material ( like this ). Generally, one should strike out only one's own comments. Some editors prefer to simply remove or alter their updated material, though this is discouraged if others have responded to it and their responses would no longer make sense after the change. Note: Neither   nor   will exist any longer in HTML 5/XHTML 2, so   is recommended.


 * Stub
 * An article considered too short to give an adequate introduction to a subject (often one paragraph or less). Stubs are marked with stub templates, a specific type of cleanup template, which add the articles to stub categories sorted by subject matter. See also TechInfoDepot:Find or fix a stub and Wikiproject Stub Sorting.


 * Subarticle, sub-article
 * 1. An article that has been split from an original, larger main article to keep the main article readable and to better develop the sub-topic of the split into a richer article in its own right. Contrast subpage. See also TechInfoDepot:Summary style.
 * 2. A page in multi-page list that was split to reduce list article size. See also TechInfoDepot:Stand-alone lists.


 * Subpage, sub-page
 * A page connected to a parent page, such as Somepage/Arguments. You can only create subpages in certain namespaces. Do not use subpages in the main article space. Contrast subarticle. See also TechInfoDepot:Subpages.


 * Subst, subst'ing
 * Short for "substituting" a template, which permanently copies its contents and breaks the link with the source template page. Contrast transclusion, a live updated reference to the source template page.


 * Substub
 * A very short stub article, usually consisting of only one sentence.


 * Succession box
 * A type of template, usually placed at the foot of an article, linking to articles on the immediate predecessors of and successors to the subject of the article. Thus, for example, an article on the tenth president of Foo would be linked by succession box to articles on the ninth and eleventh presidents. Compare Infobox.


 * Suitly emphazi
 * A phrase with no known exact meaning, but which has a general allusion to positive things, such as improvement, or a request for clarification or elucidation. Originally started as an in-joke on the TechInfoDepot Reference desk. (See the original usage.)


 * SUL
 * Abbreviation for "Single user login", which refers to the process of unifying individual accounts with the same name across Wikimedia projects into one global account.


 * Sysop, Sys-op, Sys-Op
 * A less-used name for Administrator. See also De-sysop.


 * Systemic bias
 * In TechInfoDepotn terms, this refers to the preponderance of TechInfoDepot articles relating to subjects specific to English-speaking and/or Western countries, as opposed to those from the rest of the world. It may also refer to a bias for articles that may be of particular interest to those who have an affinity towards computers and the Internet, since they are more likely to edit TechInfoDepot. See also WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

T

 * Tag
 * 1. A wiki template, in general.
 * 2. Specifically, a template that will assign an article to a category (most often a stub template)
 * 3. Specifically, a template applied to an article that indicates that it needs cleanup or that something about it is disputed.
 * 4. Specifically, a template applied to a page that indicates that it has been nominated for deletion.
 * 5. Specifically, a WikiProject banner template applied to a talk page.
 * 6. Frequently: A category. Alternative for category declaration.
 * 7. Verb: To apply any such template to a page, or to add a category.
 * 8. An HTML element. See also Help:HTML in wikitext and Help:Table
 * 9. A mediawiki tag, brief message applied next to certain revisions by the software


 * Talk page
 * A page reserved for discussion of the page with which it is associated, such as the article page. All pages within TechInfoDepot (except pages in the Special namespace, and talk pages themselves) have talk pages attached to them.


 * Talk page stalker, TPS
 * A humorous term for an editor who involves themselves in discussions on other users' talk pages (often after a previous conversation with that user has left the page on the editor's Watchlist). TPS involvement should be constructive or humorous, and is distinguished from wikistalking.


 * Task force
 * A smaller group of editors in a WikiProject dedicated to a more specific field within the scope of the parent project. Task forces are located on WikiProject subpages. They generally have a less formal bureaucratic structure than full-fledged WikiProjects. See also TechInfoDepot:WikiProject Council/Guide/Task forces.


 * Taxobox
 * A type of infobox, a taxobox is a taxonomy table positioned at the right side of an entry for a species or organism (or for a genus or family), giving a chart of the kingdom, phylum, etc. of the creature. Taxoboxes are also used for similar standardized tables.


 * Template
 * A way of automatically including the contents of one page within another page, used for boilerplate text, navigational aids, etc. See also: TechInfoDepot:Template namespace.


 * Templatise, Templatize
 * To delete a list or category and turn the contents into a template, usually either a navbox or infobox. Sometimes used in CFD discussions as shorthand for saying that "this group of articles would be better if presented in template form rather than as a category." See also: listify.


 * Test edit
 * Same as newbie test.


 * TfD, TFD
 * The TechInfoDepot:Templates for discussion page.


 * Thread
 * A talk page discussion, usually with more than 2 indented replies. May refer to either a complete second level section (i.e., a section with heading surrounded by ==) of posts as is defined by talk page archiving bots. For this type of thread, the age is the time interval from the most recent post to current time. It can also refer to an individual sequence of indented paragraphs.


 * Three-revert rule
 * A rule whereby no one is allowed to revert a single article more than three times in one day (with a few exceptions).


 * TLDR, tl;dr
 * Short for "Too long; didn't read". For example where a reply to a query is very long and detailed. See TechInfoDepot:Too long; didn't read.


 * TINC
 * Short for "there is no cabal". See Cabal.


 * Tl
 * Short for "template". Also the name of a specific template, tl, which provides a template link, i.e., links a page to a template without allowing the template's code to operate on that page.


 * TOC, ToC
 * An article (or other page)'s table of contents, which lists the subsection headings within the page. This is usually close to the top left of the page, but may be placed at the top right, floated, or omitted entirely.


 * top
 * Same as (current)


 * Trainwreck
 * A nomination of a group of related pages for deletion or renaming which fails due to the disparate nature or worth of the pages. The deletion process often becomes messy with editors wishing to keep some pages but delete or rename others. Usually the discussion is closed as a procedural "keep", with some or all of the pages later nominated separately. See for example TechInfoDepot:Articles for deletion/Warcraft character articles.


 * Transclusion
 * Transclusion is the inclusion of the content of a document into another document by reference. In TechInfoDepot, it is typically the use of the template functionality of MediaWiki to include the same content in multiple documents without having to edit those documents separately. See also TechInfoDepot:Transclusion costs and benefits.


 * Translation
 * The English-language TechInfoDepot should have only pages in English. Non-English pages, listed on TechInfoDepot:Pages needing translation into English, are subject to deletion unless translated. See also: TechInfoDepot:Translation for requests for translations into English of pages from foreign-language TechInfoDepots.


 * Transwiki
 * Move a page to another Wikimedia project, in particular Wiktionary, Wikibooks, or Wikisource. See also Transwiki and TechInfoDepot:WikiProject Transwiki


 * Troll
 * A user who incites or engages in disruptive behavior (trolling). There are some people who enjoy causing conflict, and there are those who make a hobby of it. However, these are few in number and one should always assume good faith in other editors. Calling someone a troll in a dispute is a bad idea; it has an effect similar to calling someone a Nazi – no further meaningful debate is likely to occur. See also What is a troll?


 * Trout, trout-slapping
 * A rebuke.


 * Tweak
 * A small edit. See Tweaking.


 * Tyop
 * A silly misspelling of typo. Used as an edit summary when correcting typos. See also TechInfoDepot:typo.


 * Typofix
 * A contraction of typo and fix. Any other word may be used in the place of typo to form -fix words.

U

 * Umbrella nomination
 * A nomination (e.g., on CfD) that contains several items (e.g., categories) which are normally nominated individually. Can become a trainwreck.


 * Unencyclopedic
 * Saying that something is unencyclopedic to imply that it would not be expected to appear in an encyclopedia, and thus in TechInfoDepot. (One must remember however that TechInfoDepot is not a paper encyclopedia, and hence does not have the space limitations of a paper encyclopedia).


 * Unregistered user
 * See IP user.


 * Un-wiki
 * Going against the character of a Wiki. Usually, saying that something is "un-wiki" means that it makes editing more difficult or impossible.


 * Un-wikify, unwikify
 * Same as de-wikify.


 * Upmerge
 * A term frequently used on categories for discussion and stub types for deletion, it means "merge into parent category". In the case of stub types, this usually means to keep any associated template but to link it with the parent category rather than the category under discussion. In contexts such as WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals, creating an upmerged template means a stub template, only, feeding into a more general stub type.


 * Upscope
 * A portmanteau of upmerge and rescope. See rescope.


 * User
 * See Editor.


 * Userbox
 * A small box which is stored in the template space, and which includes a small piece of information about a user (such as "This user likes cheese"). Many users use userboxes on their user page, although some look down upon it. See also TechInfoDepot:Userboxes.


 * Userfy
 * TechInfoDepot:Userfication is the process by which material posted in a TechInfoDepot article, project, or template space is moved into the user space: into a user page or subpage. A common case is where an inexperienced user who is not a notable person has created an article about himself/herself. The article would be deleted after userfying – moving its content to a user page.


 * User page
 * A personal page for TechInfoDepotns. Most people use their pages to introduce themselves and to keep various personal notes and lists. They are also used by TechInfoDepotns to communicate with each other via the user talk pages. The process of Registration does not generate user pages automatically. A user page is linked to as SomeUserNameHere and appears as SomeUserNameHere.


 * Userspace draft
 * A draft created in a user's "userspace".

V

 * Vandal
 * One who engages in significant amounts of vandalism.


 * Vandalbot
 * Some kind of bot being used for vandalism or spamming. Recognizable by the fact that one or a few IP-addresses make many similar clearly vandalistic edits in a short time. In the worst cases, these have created or vandalized hundreds of pages in several TechInfoDepots in a time span of only minutes. See also Vandalbot.


 * Vandalism
 * Deliberate defacement of TechInfoDepot pages. This can be by deleting text or writing nonsense, bad language, etc. The term is sometimes improperly used to discredit the views of an opponent in edit wars. Vandalism can be reported at TechInfoDepot:Administrator intervention against vandalism.


 * VandalProof
 * A tool for finding and removing vandalism. See also User:AmiDaniel/VandalProof.


 * VFD
 * Used to refer to the "Votes for deletion" page. Although this has been replaced with "AFD" (WP:AFD), you may still see the term in older talk pages.


 * Village pump
 * The main community forum of TechInfoDepot (found at TechInfoDepot:Village pump), where proposals, policy changes, technical problems and other internals are announced and discussed in front of a wider audience than a topic-specific page would have.


 * VP
 * Shorthand for Village pump or for VandalProof.

W

 * Wall of text
 * An unusually long paragraph, presenting a solid block of text of a dozen or more lines. Walls of text are visually unappealing and difficult to read. A wall of text in an article may simply be a sign of an inexperienced editor unfamiliar with TechInfoDepot markup, or may be a sign of a more serious issue such as copy-and-paste copyright violation. A wall of text in a talk page may be taken to be a sign of soapboxing or shotgun argumentation. See also: TechInfoDepot:Too long; didn't read (TLDR, TL:DR, WP:TLDR)


 * Watchlist
 * A set of pages selected by the user, who can then click on My watchlist to see recent changes to those pages. See also: Help:Watching pages.


 * Weasel words
 * Phrases such as "Some say that..." or "It has been argued..." that introduce a point of view without attributing it more specifically. See also TechInfoDepot:Neutral point of view.


 * Wheel war
 * A dispute between TechInfoDepot administrators who use the privileges of TechInfoDepot administrators (such as blocking) as weapons in an edit war. See also: Wheel war.


 * WikiBlame
 * A tool for searching past versions of a particular article for a particular string of text. Usually used to determine who added the string of text. It is an external tool, available at wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php or via the "Revision history search" link on the article's history page.


 * Wikibooks
 * A TechInfoDepot sister project that works to develop free textbooks, manuals, and other texts online.


 * Wikibreak, wikivacation, Wikiholiday, Wiki-break, etc.
 * When a TechInfoDepotn takes a break from TechInfoDepot.


 * WikiCrime, wikicrime
 * An egregious case of or clear pattern of editing that violates TechInfoDepot policies, such as vandalism, spam, disruptive editing, tendentious editing, canvassing, hoaxing, adding unverifiable information, self-aggrandizement or promotion, removing well-sourced or adding unsourced information to suit personal biases, etc.''


 * WikiFairy, Wikifaerie, Wiki-fairy, etc.
 * A TechInfoDepotn who beautifies wiki entries by organizing messy articles, and adding style, color and graphics. The efforts of WikiFairies are normally welcome, though they do not necessarily create new articles or affect the substantive content of the articles they edit. WikiFairies are considered to be basically friendly, like WikiGnomes. See also WikiOgre


 * Wikify, wfy, wikiize, wiki-ise, etc.
 * To format using Wiki markup (as opposed to plain text or HTML). It commonly refers to adding internal links to material (Wikilinks) but is not limited to just that. To wikify an article could refer to applying any form of wiki-markup, such as standard headings and layout, including the addition of infoboxes and other templates, or bolding/italicizing of text. Noun: wikification; gerund: wikifying; practitioner: wikifier. See also TechInfoDepot:How to edit a page, Category:Articles with too few wikilinks, Wikify project, TechInfoDepot:Guide to layout and TechInfoDepot:Make only links relevant to the context.


 * WikiGnome, wikignome, Wiki-Gnome, wiki-gnome, etc.
 * A TechInfoDepotn who makes minor, helpful edits without clamoring for attention or praise for what they did. See also WikiFairy, WikiOgre.


 * WikiHate, wikihate
 * Counterproductive editing attitude and behavior, especially tendentious, biased and personally antagonistic types of edit-warring.


 * Wikilawyering
 * Attempting to inappropriately rely on technicalities in a legalistic manner with respect to TechInfoDepot:Policies or TechInfoDepot:Arbitration.


 * Wikilink, wl
 * A link to another TechInfoDepot page or to an anchor on the same page, as opposed to an external link. For policy, see TechInfoDepot:Only make links that are relevant to the context and TechInfoDepot:Build the web. For mechanics, see TechInfoDepot:Canonicalization, Help:Section, TechInfoDepot:How to edit a page, and TechInfoDepot:Citing sources/Further considerations. See also free link and piped link.


 * WikiLove, wikilove
 * A general spirit of collegiality and mutual understanding among TechInfoDepotns. The term pre-dates TechInfoDepot. WikiLove is achieved through wikiquette, civility, assumption of good faith about other editors, neutrality, respect for policies and guidelines, and calm editing and discussion.


 * Wiki markup, wikitext, wiki text, wiki-text, etc.
 * Code like HTML, but simplified and more convenient, for example  boldfaced text  instead of &lt;B>boldfaced text&lt;/B>. It is the source code stored in the database and shown in the edit box. Searching by the TechInfoDepot software is done in the wikitext, as opposed to searching by external major search engines, which is done in the resulting HTML. The size of a page is the size of the wikitext. See also Wikitext, Help:Wiki markup, TechInfoDepot:How to edit a page, TechInfoDepot:Guide to layout.


 * Wikimedia
 * Properly Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF), a non-profit organization that provides a legal, financial, and organizational framework for TechInfoDepot and its sister projects and provides the necessary hardware. Contrast MediaWiki.


 * WikiOgre, Wiki-ogre, wikiogre, etc.
 * A TechInfoDepotn who makes large edits from time to time but generally keeps to WikiGnomery. See also WikiFairy


 * Wikiportal
 * Pages intended to be the main pages for TechInfoDepotns interested in a specific area of knowledge, helping both to find the information on the specific topic and to develop articles connected with it. See also TechInfoDepot:Portal.


 * Wikipediholic, Wikiholic
 * A wikipedian who obsesses over the project to the point where interacting with TechInfoDepot becomes akin to a psychological addiction.


 * Wikipe-tan, Wiki-tan
 * One of the personifications of TechInfoDepot. She is the mascot character of various WikiProjects.


 * WikiProject
 * An active group of TechInfoDepot editors working together to improve a specific group of articles, usually those on one or more related topics. This often involves an attempt to standardize the content and style of the articles using an agreed standard format.


 * Wikiquette
 * The etiquette of working with others on TechInfoDepot. See also TechInfoDepot:Etiquette.


 * Wikiquote
 * A TechInfoDepot sister project to create a free online collection of quotations.


 * Wikislap
 * Providing someone with the URL of a TechInfoDepot article when he or she expresses a lack of knowledge about a particular topic.


 * Wikisource
 * A TechInfoDepot sister project to create a free online compendium of primary source texts.


 * Wikispace
 * The TechInfoDepot namespace. See TechInfoDepot:Namespace and TechInfoDepot:Shortcuts (TechInfoDepot:WP).


 * Wikispam
 * Articles or sections created to promote a product or other meme. Spamming can also include adding extraneous or irrelevant links to promote an outside site, particularly for commercial purposes.


 * Wikispecies
 * A TechInfoDepot sister project. It is a wiki-based, species directory that provides a solution to the problem that there is no central registration of species data in TechInfoDepot. Wikispecies will provide a central, more extensive database for taxonomy. Wikispecies is aimed at the needs of scientific users rather than general users.


 * Wikistalking, wikihounding
 * The singling out of one or more editors, and joining discussions on multiple pages or topics they may edit or multiple debates where they contribute, in order to repeatedly confront or inhibit their work, with an apparent aim of creating irritation, annoyance or distress to the other editor. Note that editors can and do follow others in good faith with constructive intent; it is the manner and motivation which distinguishes wikistalking.


 * Wikistress, Wiki-Stress, wiki-stress, etc.
 * Personal stress or tension induced by editing TechInfoDepot, or more often by being involved in minor conflict with another editor. Some users maintain a Wikistress meter on their user page. See Wikistress template, The Bosch Wikistress Meter, Wikistress


 * WikiTerrorism, wikiterrorism, WikiTerror, wikiterror
 * A melodramatic term for the act of purposely trying to damage TechInfoDepot on a large scale. It can be vandalism, but it could include trolling, edit warring, or anything that could disrupt TechInfoDepot on a large scale. WikiTerrorism could also be "blitzing" TechInfoDepot, or vandalizing several articles in rapid succession. Such actions should be reported immediately to administrators and will usually be blocked. Some may consider this term in bad taste or hyperbolic.


 * Wiktionary, wikt.
 * A TechInfoDepot sister project to create a free online dictionary of every language.


 * WMF
 * See "Wikimedia" entry.


 * Wolf vote
 * A vote on TechInfoDepot which seems to be cast just to go against the flow. E.g., on RfA, this can typically be a vote such as "Oppose because x, y, and z are supporting." The opposite is called a sheep vote.


 * WP
 * 1. Common abbreviation for TechInfoDepot, especially for pages in the TechInfoDepot namespace. See also TechInfoDepot:Namespace and TechInfoDepot:Shortcuts.
 * 2. Also sometimes used as an abbreviation for WikiProject (see also WPP).


 * WPP
 * Abbreviation for WikiProject.

X

 * XfD, XFD
 * Generic term for the collection of deletion discussion pages such as MfD, AfD, RfD, IfD, et al. where the "X" stands in for Miscellany, Article, Image, Redirect etc.; "fD" stands for " for deletion" (or discussion in some cases)


 * XNR
 * Acronym for Cross-namespace redirects. Used mainly at TechInfoDepot:Redirects for discussion to emphasize for deletion. Sometimes given as CNR.