Perfection is not required; just enjoy the writing and editing!
It is a wonderful thing when someone adds a complete, well-written, final draft to Memory Alpha. This should always be encouraged.
However, one of the great advantages of the Wiki system is that incomplete, poorly-written first drafts of articles can evolve into polished, presentable masterpieces through the process of collaborative editing. This gives our approach an advantage over other ways of producing similar end-products. Hence, the submission of rough drafts should also be encouraged as much as possible.
One person can start an article off with an overview or a few random facts. Another person can add a minority opinion. Someone else can round off the article with additional perspectives. Yet another can play up an angle that has been neglected, or reword the earlier opinions to a more neutral point of view. A following person might have facts and figures or a graphic to include.
As all this material is added, anyone can jump in and contribute more information to turn it into a more cohesive whole. Then more text will be added, then more refactoring, and the article will gradually evolve ever-closer to the ultimate final draft.
During this process, the article might look like a first draft — or worse, a random collection of notes and factoids. Rather than being horrified by this ugliness, we should rejoice in its potential, and have faith that the editing process will turn it into "brilliant prose." Of course, we don't have to like it; we even, occasionally, criticize really substandard work, in addition to simply correcting it. The most important thing, though, is to correct it if it can be corrected.
For text that is beyond hope, there is the option of removing the offending article to the corresponding talk page, or, in cases where the article obviously has no redeeming merit whatsoever, deleting it outright. The latter action should not be taken lightly, however.
On Editing Styles
Generally, different people here have different editing "styles." Some people edit lightly, and focus on contributing new content. Others prefer to improve and greatly expand existing "stubs" and articles. Some like to make relatively small copyediting, linking, and page-naming changes. There's room for all of this in Memory Alpha.
There are also different editing styles in the sense of how bold people are willing to be. Generally, most of us think we should be bold in updating pages. Virtually no one behaves as though previous authors need to be consulted before making changes; if we thought that, we'd make rather little progress. Quite to the contrary, some of us think you should not beat around the bush at all — simply change a page immediately, when you see something problematic, rather than to discuss changes that need to be made. Discussion, from this point of view, is a last resort.
Then there is a more intermediate view, according to which dialogue qua dialogue should be respected, but at the same time a minor tweak early on can avoid a flame war. In this view, to edit radically or not will often depend on the context — which seems reasonable enough.
Again, there is a place for all of these attitudes in Memory Alpha.
With large deletions or replacements, it might be better to suggest changes in a discussion, lest the original author get discouraged and quit posting. One person's improvement is another's desecration, and nobody likes to see their work just flushed without warning.
So, whatever you do, try to preserve information. Reasons for removing bits of an article include:
- duplication
- irrelevancy
- patent nonsense
- copyright violations
Alternatives include:
- rephrasing while keeping the content
- moving text within an article or to another article (existing or new)
- adding more of what you think is important to make an article more balanced
If, in your considered judgment, a page simply needs to be rewritten or changed substantially, go ahead and do that. But preserve any old contents you think might have some discussion value on the talk page, along with a comment about why you made the change. Even if you delete something that's just plain wrong, odds are that it got there because someone believed it was true, so preserve a comment that it is in fact wrong to inform later editors.
In any event, whether you decide to edit very boldly or to make inquiries on talk page first, please bear in mind that Memory Alpha is not a discussion forum. Memory Alpha can be a very energetic place, and it's best for the project as a whole if we concentrate our energies on improving articles rather than defending our pet theories, ideologies, religions, etc. Some consideration of Etiquette wouldn't hurt.
See Further
For additional guidelines on editing articles:
Source: Wikipedia: Editing Policy [1] — 2003-12-03, 17:51 UTC.