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AstrologyNotes:Stub

From AstrologyNotes

AstrologyNotes Astrological Knowledge Base

Stubs are AstrologyNotes entries that have not yet received substantial attention from the editors of AstrologyNotes, and as such do not yet contain enough information to be considered real articles. In other words, they are short or insufficient of information and require additions to further increase AstrologyNotes's usefulness. The community values stubs as useful first steps toward complete articles.

The objective of this article is to provide a general guide for dealing with stubs. It is recommended that all users read the Essential information section, which consists of the first half of the article. Stub types is a list of current categories of stubs on AstrologyNotes.

1 Essential information
2 Stub types
3 References

Essential information

On AstrologyNotes, a stub is an article that's too short, though it may not be useless. A stub is any article that is not up to what could be considered a proper size for the article, or one that is completely blank except for templates. In general, if there is text, the article must be long enough to at least define the article's title, which generally means 3 to 10 short sentences. Note that even a longer article on a complicated topic or important interpretation (for instance, one involving the Sun) may be a stub; conversely, a short article on a topic of narrow scope (for instance, something like Pluto semisextile North Node) may not be a stub.

Another way to define a stub is an article so incomplete that an editor who knows little or nothing about the topic could improve its content after a superficial internet search or a few minutes in a reference library. An article that can be improved by only a rather knowledgeable editor, or after significant research, may not be a stub.

Once a stub has been properly expanded and becomes an article rather than just a stub, you or any editor may remove the stub tag from it. No action on the part of the administration or formal permission is needed.

Categorizing stubs

After writing or finding the short or non-existent article, the editor should insert what is called a stub template, which makes it possible for the article to be flagged as a stub. By convention, these stub templates should be placed near the bottom of the article. Stub templates are composed of two distinct parts: first, a short message stating that said article is a stub of a particular kind and encouraging editors to expand it; second, a category link, which places the article on a stub category, together with other stubs with the same subject as it.

In general, the naming convention for stub templates is topic-stub; for a complete list of these templates, see Stub types, below. When marking articles as stubs, please be as precise and accurate as you possibly can. It saves other editors a lot of work further down the road. If an article overlaps two potential categories, two different stub templates may be used, but using more than two may be discouraged, depending on the article.

Ideal stub article

When you write a short article, it is important to bear in mind that its main interest is to be expanded, and that thus it ideally contains enough information to give a basis for other editors to expand upon. Your initial research may be done either through books or through a reliable search engine such as Google, Yahoo! or MSN Search. You may also contribute with knowledge you have acquired from other sources, but it is useful to conduct a small amount of research beforehand, in order to make sure that your version of the facts is correct and from a neutral point of view.

Begin by giving a definition or description of the topic in question. Avoid fallacies of definition. Since at times definitions are impossible, you should write a clear and informative description of the subject. State, for example, what a person is famous for, where a place is located and what it is known for, or the basic details of an event and when it happened.

Next, you should try to expand this basic definition. The previously mentioned research methods will often fetch you enough information for you to be able to expose the basic points of the subject. Once you have a couple of well-structured and well-written sentences, you should internally link relevant words, so that users unfamiliar with the specifics of a subject can understand what is written on the article. Avoid linking words needlessly; in case you are in doubt, you should use the preview button and try reading the article from the point of view of somebody who has had no exposure to information regarding the subject. If no word seems hard to comprehend or relevant enough, simply don't link anything. Place the desired stub template on the bottom of the page, and you're all set.

Once you have submitted the article, there are a number of courses it may take. An editor might get interested in it and develop it further, or you could expand it yourself once you have found greater information about the subject or once you have more free time on your hands.