Editing policy

Using SM-201

Using the SM-201 is very straightforward. From the main page, you can click any of the links in the introductory article to access a wealth of information. At the top of the page, there's a list of categories that displays all the articles related to each category in the system. Finally, on the left side of the screen, you'll find a search box; simply type in a word or phrase and click search..

Writing style

SM-201 was not designed as a research tool for your doctoral thesis. Its purpose is to address questions about what, how, why, when, and where 'WIITWD' (which stands for 'What it is that we do').

For this reason, I aimed to present the material in a narrative style. I include links to additional sites and articles, providing the reader with an extensive "GalDex" (a gallery of photos) to help identify who is who.

I strive to provide you with concise or abridged content to encourage thought. By using software like Grammarly, I remove non-essential text to enhance readability and perform a grammar check in American English.

Registering as a User

Anyone can browse SM-201 without registering as a user. However, if you want to add or edit articles, you must register first. To register, simply send me your chosen login name via email, and I will set up an account for you. This approach prevents "democratic editors" from altering articles on a whim.

• I posted a 4KB user page to identify myself and provide personal credentials to establish my qualifications.

(Article was deleted by an unknown person because it sounded like a personal ad and/or link farm.)

• I used to work as a Field Service Engineer for Durrum Instruments, where I helped design, build, install, and then train the end-user on the use of the D-500 Amino Acid Analyzer. In January 2007, I wrote an 8KB Wikipedia article with multiple picture files.

(Article was redacted by unknown persons because it sounded like a commercial.)

• I added information about BackDrop, bondage riggers, and fetish photographers.

All information I added was removed.

These examples (and others) guided me to provide "my story" and create a space for my writings, leading me to start SM-201. People who wish to alter or contest any information must do so only after identifying themselves (no screen names allowed).

Editing tools

These are some of the tools I personally use when writing or editing articles.

• WikiEditor - Customized for my site

to write or edit an article

• SnapChatGPT Ai Writing Assistance

to research the topic of an article

• Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance

to change tense, grammar, readability, and spellcheck articles

• IRFanView photo file editor]

Used to crop, resize, rename, and alter the color palette of a photo file

• Notepad++

to edit an existing article

• Voice typer

to input voice to text

• Ztree

file management tool

Editing Existing articles

At the top of every page are a series of tabs, if you click on the edit this page tab you will be presented with a screen that you can type into. At the bottom of the screen are buttons to preview and save the modified article. Before saving please preview the article and correct any minor mistakes before saving. Before making any changes look at a few articles to understand how they are structured. There is a full help system that describes the markup system but to get you going here are a few simple pointers;

Paragraphs should be separated by a blank line

If you want to break your article up into sections use;
==Section One==
==Section Two==
==Section Three==
SM-201 will automatically create a table of contents for you.

If you want to link to another article enclose the link in double square brackets like so

[[link text]]

If you want the different text to appear in the link then is being linked to separate the display text from the link text with a vertical bar

[[link text|Display Text]]

If you want to link to an external site use the following

[http://www.website.com Display Text] or just
http://www.website.com

If you have a word or term that you feel is significant but not directly related to BDSM (medical terms are a good example)

You can create a link to Wikipedia. Note: if the link text consists of more than one word then underscores should be used to separate the words, not spaces: [[wikipedia:link_text|Display Text]]

You can make text italic (useful when quoting or referencing a book or person) by enclosing the text in two single quote marks like so

''italic text''

You can make text bold (mostly only when first using a word which is the topic of the article) by enclosing the text in three single quote marks like so

'''bold text'''

You can make text both italic and bold (use very rarely) by using five single quote marks like so

'''''italic and bold text'''''

If you want to create a bulleted list just start each item with a *

* Item One
* Item Two
* Item Three

Using **

at the start of a line in the middle of a list will indent that line to make a sub-bullet. Lines may be indented without a bullet mark by starting them with :, :: etc. depending on the required degree of indent.

You can also upload pictures to the SM-201.

The process is not complicated but it is beyond the scope of this very basic introduction. There is a separate page on Help:Images

When making changes to articles, try not to make many small changes and save each one separately. Instead, try to make as many changes as possible in one go and then save at the end. This will help reduce the number of history records created for each article and will make it much easier for people to see how an article develops over time.

Adding New Articles

Adding new articles is not difficult. Whenever SM-201 finds a link to an article that does not exist it presents the user with a text input screen so the user can start typing immediately. If the article you want to create does not yet have a link pointing to it you can modify a suitable existing article, add the link, save the article, then click on the link to bring up an edit screen to create the new article. There is also a special page on the SM-201 which shows all the articles with links to them but no content which you can look at to see if there is a suitable link.

Before you create a new article check that there is not an existing article that covers your topic, which could be modified. Capitalization allows articles to be named "Hello there" and Hello There" to be two distinct pages.

Any articles that you write should be linked to one more categories, a list of all the categories can be found here. This list will be expanded and subdivided as SM-201 grows. You can add your article to a category by putting the following at the end of your text;
[[category:BDSM]]

See also [ Moving a page ]

Discussion (Talk Pages)

These are here to allow you to post comments or suggestions relating to an article, to make the flow easier to read, please sign your posts.

Sign your posts: To sign a post, type three tildes (~~~), and they will be replaced with your username after saving, like this: [[User:User0|User0]]. Type four tildes (~~~~), and they will be replaced with your username and time stamp, like this: [[User:User0|User0]] 12:00 Dec 01, 2006 (UTC). On SM-201, we recommend that you try to always Sign your posts on talk pages. You can also use a pseudonym, or just "--anon". Note, however, that anyone can check the history of the page to see who anonymously wrote on a talk page.

Editing Policy

1. This is a community project. Do not create or edit an article without being prepared for others to improve, change, or correct it. Please refrain from edit wars.
2. Articles should be relevant in some way to the BDSM/fetish lifestyle.
3. Articles should be factual in nature. If an opinion is expressed then it should be clearly indicated as such and should be relevant in helping the reader gain a broader understanding of the topic. (There is a template to highlight a topic as being a point of view - just put the text {{POV}} near where you are writing your "personal point of view".) Doing so will automatically insert the following info box: Template:POV
4. Articles about people are generally discouraged except where that person has had a genuine impact on the fetish and BDSM scene. The exception to this is the registered user's home page which can contain (within reason) whatever personal details the user wants to supply.
5. Information on clubs and shops is allowed but should be kept to the specific pages on shopping and clubbing. Attempts to add links to businesses in other articles (advertising) should be considered for removal unless it is agreed that the inclusion is of benefit to the reader.
External links created by people who are suspected of having links to the site concerned will be treated as advertising and will be deleted. It is OK to post a link to a great website that you know about but not OK to over-promote your own website.
6. All articles should be linked to the relevant category to help people navigate the site and find out information on related topics.
7. Please do not add new categories. If you think a new category is needed or feel that the existing system could be improved, then voice your suggestions on Talk:Main Page or message one of the sysops.
8. Copyrighted material must not be submitted without the express permission of the owner.
9. If copyrighted material is supplied with the permission of the copyright holder then an acknowledgment should be given.
10. We are a US site covered by US law. Any images uploaded to the site must comply with US obscenity laws. Basically, no hardcore pornography, please!

See also Edit wars

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