The Electronic Music Wiki aims to provide a knowledgebase of information on the topic of (surprise) electronic music. Of course, we need contributors to help make this possible but before you contribute, we ask you to read this.
Rules[]
These rules have been updated in accordance with Fandom policy for local admin rules and blocks, effective April 1, 2021.
This Wiki is intended as knowledge base for music synthesis and electronic much. Material that is on topic includes (but is not necessarily limited to): synthesizers and other electronic instruments and signal processors, electronic music artists, inventors, engineers and manufacturers of electronic instruments, components and circuits of synthesizers, synthesis techniques, and institutions and venues that have been important in the development of electronic music. Everything else is off-topic, but in general, we are lenient on anything that is borderline, as long as it has some connection to electronic music. In creating and editing pages, please note the following rules and suggestions:
- You are encouraged to add photos and videos to pages. However, please give credit to the source. Photographers don't like their work to be used without credit any more than musicians do. Usually, the easiest way to do this is to mention the source in the photo caption.
- Don't create empty pages. If you are creating a redirect page, use the mechanism in the editor for creating a redirect; that way, when the article title is clicked on, it will redirect automatically. If you are working on a new page and don't have time to finish it, leave a brief note at the end of the article so that other editors know that you are still working on it.
- This is an English-language Wiki. All pages must be written in English. However, things like names of performers and song titles that are in other languages may be left in the language that they are written in. We are not grammar nazis here, but please try to write well enough so that your writing is understandable. We are aware that there are contributors here for whom English is not their native language. Please don't be offended if we clean up your grammar a bit.
- When you update an article, before you save, please leave a few words in the “Reason for Change” box in the page editor, explaining what changes you made.
- Articles about people should be titled using the pattern “Lastname, Firstname”. This is so that they will alphabetize properly in the page browser.
- Articles about synthesizer models should be titled using the name that is usually used in the electronic music community; generally, this will be the synth's model name or number only, without the manufacturer name. (There are exceptions, such as the Fairlight CMI.)
- Do not copy articles from Wikipedia or other wikis.
- Do not link to Wikipedia or other wikis in the “List of Genres” article. It isn't the purpose of this Wiki to be a link farm for Wikipedia.
- (New rule as of 25 March 2023) Do not add links created by link shorteners. Certain ones like Sniply and Backly allow content to be added to Web sites that is not approved by the site owner, and in ways that are difficult for the average user to detect. These services are widely used to add scammy advertisements to sites. All links created by link shorteners will be treated per se as spam.
Conduct that may result in a block on the first occurrence:
- Posting spam
- Vandalizing a page. (Note: obvious unintentional mutilation caused by editing errors will not result in a ban, but the edit in question will be rolled back.)
- Posting or linking to: pornography, extremist politics, advocation of violence, fraud, or malware. Note that, in general, political discussion is off-topic here and will be removed
Conduct that may result in a block on the second or subsequent occurrence:
- Posting libelous or gratuitously insulting statements. (In determining what might constitute libel, the admin will be guided by United States law, which holds that a statement is not libelous if it can be proven factually true.)
- Making an autobiographical page, or using a page to promote one's own work. (People who have biographical pages here, or those who have a close relationship with such people, are not permitted to create or edit content about themselves. If you are such a person profiled here, and you want to dispute a statement made about you in a page, please contact an admin.)
- Rolling back edits made by others, without a good reason
- Posting content in a language other then English. (The reason for this is that spammers frequently try to disguise their spam by writing in another language, and then including a link. When a post is written in a foreign language and includes a link to a site in a sketchy domain, it is practically guaranteed to be spam.)
- Blatant copyright violations, such as posting an entire copyrighted song not belonging to you. “Fair use” of things like photos, short video clips and song excerpts is permitted
- Posting content that is clearly unrelated to electronic music. Many composers today use sample playback macines or arranger workstations simply as a substitute for conventional instruments. Such are not, by definition, electronic musicians.
- Everything must be released under the GFDL or be public domain.
Tips[]
Here are some tips for you to remember when creating or editing articles.
- Use links.
- Linking, even to pages that don't exist, is key to bringing a Wiki together and building it up.
- Don't overlink.
- Linking is great, but keep in mind you should try not to overlink. Overlinking can become annoying and is unnessary. You must find the balance between linking and overlinking. In general, things that are not on-topic for the Electronic Music Wiki should not be linked. But when it helps to clarify some point, use an external link to an article somewhere else.
- Don't sign articles. (However, if you leave a note on yours or someone else's talk page, do sign that. You sign it by placing four '~' characters at the end of your post.)
- When you write an article, do not sign it. Articles are there for people to learn, and are not comments. Keep in mind that articles, while created by one person, are there for everyone to edit. Save signatures for comments on talk pages or other pages for discussion.
- You don't own the page you created.
- When you create a page, you are simply adding a piece to our puzzle of knowledge. You may be considered the author (or one of the authors) of the page, but you do not own it. It is freely editable by anyone else, and it is released under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you do not like this concept, you should not submit your work, however we encourage you to recognize the benefits of such a setup.
- Register.
- Registration allows you to track your own history, and allows recognition of your existence. It's free, fast, and highly recommended. You don't need an account to participate, but it is easier for everyone including yourself.