Powerbase:Help Contents
Contents
- 1 What is "wiki"?
- 2 Getting involved
- 3 Editorial policy
- 4 Copyrights
- 5 Inaccuracies and complaints
- 6 Editorial structure of Spinprofiles
- 7 Technical Questions
- 7.1 How do I Edit a page?
- 7.2 How do I make links?
- 7.3 How do I reference?
- 7.4 How do I rename a page?
- 7.5 What is "Recent Changes", and what do the abbreviations used there mean?
- 7.6 What is a minor edit? When should I use it?
- 7.7 How to deal with Images (jpg, gif...)
- 7.8 How to deal with Youtube and video images
What is "wiki"?
A Wiki is a collection of interlinked web pages. (More...)
Getting involved
SpinProfiles welcomes volunteers to help expand the database of material on spin and propaganda. See Getting involved for more information.
Do I have to register to edit pages?
Yes.
Do I have to use my real name?
Yes.
What if someone tries to vandalize or insert disinformation into SpinProfiles?
Currently all people who want editorial access to SpinProfiles must register. This is our first level of security. The SpinProfiles software also includes a number of features that make it possible to detect and manage vandalism.
- As editors to the site are registered, it is easy to track the editing activities of registered user.
- In the case of someone still managing to write malicious material, the software keeps an archive of all past versions of each article, making it easy to undo by reverting to a previous version.
- In addition we have a set of editorial policies (see below) that aim to help people contribute useful and accurate information and will intervene if they repeatedly add inappropriate material.
Editorial policy
SpinProfiles is a collection of data on spin, propaganda, Think Tanks, Front Groups, PR Consultancies, 'Fake Persuaders', Industry Friendly Experts and corporate lobby groups. We want to report the spin not be accused of spinning ourselves. Therefore entries should try and give enough information on a person or group so that a person who knows nothing about them can come away informed. Try to write a profile clearly and logically, including background information, funding, current activities and information on key personnel, if it is an organization. Break the article down into sub-headings that are not sensationalist but try and summarise some of the issues in that section.
See Editorial Policy for full details of SpinProfiles policy on editing.
Tone
When contributing to SpinProfiles it is important to be as factual as possible.
Do not use abusive language or language that is in any way racist, sexist or obscene or could be construed as such. Do not use swear words unless in quotations. Keep any rhetoric or personal comment to a minimum and avoid speculation, innuendo or libel. If comment is provided please be fair. Being fair does not mean not being critical or adding some kind of analysis, though. Just try and strike the correct balance. You want the article to basically contain factual information about the person you are writing about, not your views on the person you are writing about. There is a difference between a profile entry and a blog entry or an opinion piece. Avoid generalizations and unsubstantiated sweeping statements.
If you are making accusations against a person or organization try and support it by as much primary material as possible. Just because someone else has said it is true, it does not mean it is true. Make sure your sources are up to date and relate to present day situation or indicate that they are historical.
See full details of SpinProfiles policy and guidelines on Tone.
Referencing
Our purpose is to expose manipulation of information and therefore we need to be extra careful in what information we use, how we use it and where we get it from. It is extremely important to provide references that are as authoritative as possible. Try and use primary materials where possible – original sources as opposed to secondary reports – and information that is up to date as possible. If the issue is very contentious, try and reference from more than once source.
See full details on SpinProfiles policy and guidelines for referencing.
Libel
Avoid accusations that are libelous. Just because something that is defamatory has been published elsewhere, it does not mean that you are immune from legal action. It just makes it less likely. As above, always try and use primary materials from authoratitive sources. Also make sure that any material you post, including photos does not violate copyright laws.
Complaints and legal threats relating to any content on SpinProfiles should be dealt with as soon as possible.
What is a reputable source?
The evaluation of reputable sources is not always easy. We think that the accuracy of information in published sources is not governed by how 'reputable' the source is or is regarded as. This is in part because many of the sources regarded as reputable in the mainstream are, in fact, often a key part of the problem of spin and propaganda, which this database has been set up to expose. So we have a policy which foregrounds accuracy over reputation of sources.
For full details see SpinProfiles policy and guidelines on Sources.
Copyrights
Never use materials that infringe the copyrights of others.
If you contribute material to SpinProfiles, you thereby license it to the public under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)
See full details of SpinProfiles policy and guidelines on Copyrights
Inaccuracies and complaints
It is the intention of this site to provide factually correct information that is referenced to a high standard. Whilst we undertake our own fact checking and encourage all our users to do so, it is not possible to check all the original references used on this site.
If anyone believes that information on Spinprofiles is not factually correct or contains significant errors, we will try and correct them as soon as possible. Please email with as much detail and supporting material to management AT spinprofiles.org
For more information see SpinProfiles policy and guidelines on Inaccuracies and Complaints.
Editorial structure of Spinprofiles
Managing Editor = Claire Robinson with responsibility for day to day overviews of the site and for gardening and maintaining the structure as well as libel and associated issues. Email: claire.robinson AT spinprofiles.org, management AT spinprofiles.org
Sysop = David Miller with ultimate editorial responsibility for content and for banning users and freezing pages. Email: sysop AT spinwatch.org
Webmaster = Bill Stevens with responsibility for technical issues
Portal/Category editors = responsible for upkeep of their main portal page and the categorisation and structure of the categories associated with the portal. Portal editors will also be the first port of call for queries about their portal and will deal with disputes, etc. as a first line of editorial control. If the problem is not resolved at this stage, then the managing editor and finally the sysop can be consulted.
- Alcohol = Claire Harkins
- Lobbying = Tamasin Cave
- Propaganda = David Miller
- Water = Tommy Kane and Kyle Mitchell
- Terror Experts = Tom Mills
- Spooks = Tom Griffin
- Northern Ireland = Tom Griffin
- Neocons = Tom Griffin
- Israel Lobby = Idrees Ahmad
- Transnational corporations = ?
- Foodspin = ?
- Pharma = Lynn Hill?
- Climate = Andy Rowell
- Nuclear = Andy Rowell
- Think Tanks = ?
- Front Groups = ?
- Scotland = Will Dinan
- GM = Claire Robinson
- LM network = ?
Technical Questions
How do I Edit a page?
- It's quite simple. Simply click "Edit this page" on the bottom or the side of the page, and type away.
How do I make links?
- A link is just the name of the page surrounded by double square brackets. It's also possible to make the link display text that is different to the link:
- [[page name]]
- [[page name]]s -- suffix text will display as part of the link
- [[page name|display name]] -- hide the page name and display something else (but use this sparingly, and never "click here"!)
- [[page name (disambiguation)|]] -- the "pipe trick": the part in parentheses will not be displayed.
How do I reference?
- For referencing please see A Guide to Referencing
How do I rename a page?
- Registered users can move a page; this moves the page content and edit history to a new title, and creates a redirecting page at the old title. This method is better than just copying the content by hand, as it preserves the article's history. Use the "Move this page" link. If you want to move a page, please click the "What links here" and fix the links to the page in question.
What is "Recent Changes", and what do the abbreviations used there mean?
- The notations on "Recent Changes" are "N" for new page (new pages often attract a bunch of copyedits); the "M" stands for "Minor edit" or "minor change", which you can set by checking the check box labelled "This is a minor edit" when you edit a page. If you check your "Preferences", you can suppress minor changes in the Recent Changes List. Checking this box is a courtesy to people who suppress seeing minor changes -- check the box if the change is a simple spelling or grammar change.
What is a minor edit? When should I use it?
When editing a page, one has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and simple rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at--either through substantial additions or reorganisation--or fixes a major error.
This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.
How to deal with Images (jpg, gif...)
See this Wikipedia entry
How to deal with Youtube and video images
from url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHsaDDSF <youtube>xYHsaDDSF</youtube>
- Personal size:<youtube width="100" height="100">xYHsaDDSF</youtube> for a window of 100x100
- Size:<youtube size="small">xYHsaDDSF</youtube> for a small window Other sizes: normal, big.
- Align: <youtube align="right" width="100" height="100">xYHsaDDSF</youtube> for a window of 100x100 on the right. Other aligns: left.
- Caption:<youtube align="right" width="100" height="100" caption"Newsnight">xYHsaDDSF</youtube>
