How to Name a Wiki Topic

This topic is designed to help you choose a good name for your new wiki topic/page. It's easy and will make using the wiki easier for others.

Some simple rules to follow

Read the documentation at WikiWords.

• Don't use generic names that the department may need to use for other purposes (e.g., MiscPlots, ProjectSummary, HelpUsingR, QuarterlyMeetings)
• Try to use at least two words except in special cases of very frequently used topics that are sensibly named.
• Make it meaningful--describe the content of the topic.
• But keep it short enough to remember.
• Use singular instead of plural because wiki automatically links plurals to the singular.
• Avoid abbreviated words and acronyms unless their meaning is obvious.
• Remember to use dates for events when appropriate to avoid conflicts later, if the events are non-recurring. NOTE: for recurring events (e.g., meeting minutes), it is best to include all notes for all events into a single topic and use the TOC directive for automatic generation of navigation aids. If using a date is appropriate, write dates such that alphabetical order = chronological order. For example, AsaSeminar1Oct2004, AsaSeminar12July2005, AsaSeminar20Oct2003 get jumbled up in a topic list. Names like AsaSeminar20041001 would order correctly, though it is unlikely you really need day or even month. In this example, AsaSeminar2004 would be the best choice.

Examples

Good

• ConsultingProcedures
• StaffMeetings
• WritingRExtensions

It is assumed that these are generic topics that apply to the whole department. If they were to refer to personalized procedures or meetings these would be bad names.

Bad

• CE: Short and cryptic; meaningless to the uninformed; is not even a WikiWord.
  • Would be better as ContinuingEducation.
• EmacsLaTeXTools: The title makes it sound like a topic on tools integrating LaTeX into Emacs, but is actually about MicrosoftWindows versions of emacs, LaTeX, and various *Nix tools.
• ASAApr07: Acceptable, but technically violates the basic rules and doesn't automatically get linked.
  • Turn the acronym into a word and expand the year (didn't we learn from Y2K?) to get AsaApril2007. BUT consider putting all ASA meeting notes into a single topic to avoid creating so many wiki topics. (An even better solution of sub-pages would require using better wiki software--WillGray suggests MoinMoin).
• BonnieLaFleurCTSAideas: The last word is not capitalized because of the acronym.
  • BonnieLaFleurCtsaIdeas fixes that.
• September12007: The title makes no mention that it is about the CqiProject AmericanIdiomsSlang. Has been renamed to AmericanIdiomsSlang1Sep2007.
  • AmericanIdiomEmailSep2007 or ADimeADozen would have been a good choice.
• CqiProjects: Plural--see "CqiProject" link above.