Guide: Discussion

A discussion is a part of a topic. It's a place where users can post their opinions and replies (talks).

A discussion's main page contains the opinions. They are sorted starting from the top rated. The discussion is divided into opinions and each opinion is a place for real discussion with many interactions. Each opinion has its own page with unique address.

This, along with the rating system, guidelines, and layout, creates a unique solution to make big discussions as clear as never before.

An opinion is a direct response to the topic. To add your opinion, use the "Add your opinion" button.

Content. The length is up to you. It can be very long (great), it can be short. Every opinion varies your karma and accordance – it's worth giving your best. It's important to note that OpiWiki is not like other discussion-featuring websites you may know. This is The Encyclopedia of Opinions. One of our priorities is to keep the discussions substantive. A content that focuses on insults is forbidden, as well as a non-descriptive vulgarity is. We don't require anyone to respect other people's opinions, but we believe that insulting does not advance the learning or discourse. Every opinion must add at least a bit to the discussion (no "me too", "I agree", etc.). For some topics, at least one argument or some enriching info/statement is required (no "he is the best", "he is the worst", etc.). Please take care about your opinion's presence. Use a capital letter at the beginning of the sentences, use punctuation, name your links, etc. Altough we care about the quality of our content greatly, we care as much about our users. We're always friendly and willing to assist new users, so don't feel discouraged by all of these guidelines!

Styling. The general rule is to style the opinion only when it's useful. Use the cursive tag for quotes, the underline/bold to mark important parts only.

Every opinion has its own page, which contains the opinion and all replies. Not to be confused with the discussion page, which contains all opinions. To access the opinion page, you can click the "opinion" button (inter alia), next to the username.

A reply is a response to the opinion or a response to another reply. Every rule that applies to the opinion, applies to the reply as well.

A talk is an opinion or a reply. It's a term we use to make things easier. If there's a discussion with 3 opinions and 7 replies (on all opinions together), there are 10 talks.

Every registered user can cast 1 vote on any talk. The vote may be positive (up) or negative (down). Next to every talk, on the left side, there is a number from 0 to 100, representing its rating – the percentage of positive votes. When there are only down votes, the number is negative ("-x" for x down votes). Every talk requires at least a few votes (depends on the discussion's scale) to be counted as rated. If a talk isn't counted as rated yet, the percentage number is light gray. By default talks are ordered by the rating. This helps find the best opinions, and thanks to the rating system, the door to new opinions is always open, even for discussions with hundreds of talks. If your opinion is well-written, it can quickly climb to the top. This rating system is directly related to user karma.

To edit a talk, click the "edit" button on the talk's area.

To flag a talk, click the "flag" button on the talk's area. Here are the most common cases in which a talk can be flagged:

• obvious reasons - spam, vandalism, etc.
• abusive/vulgar content - offensive content, insults, non-descriptive vulgarity, etc.
• off-topic - also when a talk doesn't add anything new to the discussion (e.g. "I agree")
• too much styling - too much Caps Lock, etc.