Mississippi Wiki:About

From Mississippi Wiki

Mississippi Wiki is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia and directory focusing exclusively on the state of Mississippi. Mississippi Wiki was developed by Jackson-based advertising agency, Maris, West & Baker, in 2006 and launched in early 2007.

We have designed our site to have an appearance and function which will be familiar to anyone who has visited Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia with 1.4 million articles and 2.3 million registered users. However, unlike Wikipedia, this site focuses exclusively on Mississippi people, places, and things. (Mississippi Wiki is not affiliated with Wikipedia.)

Like all wikis, Mississippi Wiki is built on the idea of collaborative authoring. Any visitor to this site can add, edit, or improve content, in many cases without registering. Our wiki uses the MediaWiki engine which was developed for Wikipedia and is now available as open souce software to wiki publishers.

While Mississippi Wiki will ultimately grow into the form that is most useful to its users, we envision this project becoming a resource for sharing and accessing information about our state, essentially combining the features of an encyclopedia, travel guide, business directory, and more.

Content Guidelines

What kind of content is appropriate for Mississippi Wiki?

1. Mississippi focus - All articles should be about a Mississippi person, place, or thing.
2. Information should be based on fact, not opinion.

What kind of content is not appropriate for Mississippi Wiki?

1. Offensive content of any kind.
2. Defamatory content.
3. Copyrighted or trademarked material used without stated permission.
4. Personal pages not of broad general interest.
5. Articles that are not about Mississippi people, places or things.
6. Content that is strictly promotional in nature (eg: coupons, sale info, etc).
7. Personal opinion.
8. Unverifiable claims.

Any article violating the Mississippi Wiki's content guidelines may be deleted at the descretion of the site administrators.

Style Guidelines

Mississippi Wiki is an information-driven website used by people who are looking to access information quickly. We don't want to put too much emphasis on doing things the "correct way," since our main goal is just to get people to contribute. However, the following guidelines will help you write articles that are useful to people visiting our site.

1. Use third person (he, she, it, they), impartial POV even if you're writing about yourself or your company.
2. Eliminate fluff. Articles should be information rich and to-the-point.
3. Avoid ad-speak. "Best furniture store in the South!" is an inappropriate claim for Mississippi Wiki because it's simply one person's opinion and therefore not something that could possibly reflect the opinions of the entire Mississippi Wiki community and certainly other similar stores that may be on the wiki. Likewise statements like "Come see us today!" are inappropriate because of the collaborate nature of Mississippi Wiki articles. Who exactly is us? The business? All the people who have contributed to the article? Mississippi Wiki's parent company?
4. Maintain a neutral POV. Instead of saying "We're a really great company," prove it. You could, for example, list all the awards and honors your company has received. You could also link to external articles that talk about your company.
5. Look at related articles before you write your own. In many cases, a format has already been established. Consistency between articles will make Mississippi Wiki info more accessible to new and repeat visitors.
6. Link to other people, places, and things related to your article.
7. Set up lists. If you are writing the first article in a particular category, create a list that includes your article name (e.g. List of Mississippi Caterers).
8. Name your article appropriately. If you have a business, give your article the same name as your business. Don't try to "own" broad categories (eg: an article for a "Acme Pencil Manufacturing Company" should be titled "Acme Pencil Manufacturing Company," not "pencils."