Category:Question pages: Difference between revisions

[Dec 30, 2024]
This category is deprecated. I'm planning to phase it out and make talkpages great instead. I used to use the Comments plugin as a way to "get the ball rolling" for pages that need a lot of discussion; but that just creates a big mess once the ball is rolling. Better to just keep all discussions on the discussion pages.

A question page is similar to how you might ask a question on Quora, Reddit, Stackexchange or any other social media. But the main difference is that there's also a Consensus section which is managed communally. Even for controversial questions, there might still be a few agreed-upon facts that can go in this section (along with a quick overview of what's disagreed upon). Note that we don't allow fake controversy here (i.e. the false balance fallacy - as explained on Wikipedia or on RationalWiki). For most topics, there's plenty of consensus to be had. Opinions should go in the other sections (Answers and More).

Purposes (use-cases)

There are two main reasons you might create a question page:

1. You're working on some other page, and you need to gather specific important missing info to make it work.
   • In this case, just ask the question (in the title) and elaborate on it (beginning of the page). Leave all the sections empty (Consensus, Answers, and More).
2. You have some knowledge to share, and the best way to present it is in question/answer format (i.e. you know the answer already)
   • In this case, you can create the page with the question already answered.
     • If you're very sure that your answer is factually true, you can put it in the Consensus section (and other people may still correct it later).
     • Otherwise, put your answer in the Answers section, and leave the Consensus section empty.
   • Note there are also alternatives to creating a question page in this case:
     • Write the {question & answer} in the FAQ section of some other page. Or,
     • Create a page titled with the answer, and make your case.

Layout

Should follow the general format:

• The page title can be either the question itself, or a title describing the question.
• At the beginning of the page, elaborate on the question; describe what information is needed.
• Heading: "Consensus" (see above).
• Heading: "Answers", to be filled in by users, much like a talk page.
• Heading: "More", where the comments-plugin is enabled. <comments />

When creating a question page, use Template:Question page (via substitution {{subst:Question page}} - not transclusion {{Question page}}). This template contains the headings.