Help:FAQ

What is the Overstock.com Guides wiki?

Overstock.com Guides is a place for people with similar interests to find each other and team up to "write the book" on the activities they love. We expect the result of that collaboration to be a vast collection of constantly evolving "guides" intended to teach, edify and (most of all) inspire others.

Who can use the site?

Anybody may read the content here, though to create content, one must be registered.

Can anybody edit a guide?

Overstock.com Guides is built upon wiki software to facilitate collaboration, but unlike Wikipedia and other wikis, permission to edit individual guides can (optionally) be limited to specific teams. Each team is lead by an Editor who can choose who may or may not help. Any registered user may create a new guide and be its Editor. Each Editor is encouraged to build a team of Writers who share the same passion, but it's not required.

How else is Overstock.com Guides different from Wikipedia?

If Wikipedia endeavors to be like an online encyclopedia, our site wants to be like a library, where alternate ideas and opinions are encouraged to exist side by side.

Also, whereas Wikipedia has a policy against incorporating original research, our site hopes to be composed entirely of original research, by encouraging our contributors to draw upon the expertise they already possess.

Finally, on Overstock.com Guides, we use our real names.

What should I write about?

Everybody is uniquely good at something, though very few manage to make a living doing it. Whatever that thing is, that's what you should write about. Think of it this way: if you won the lottery tomorrow and no longer had to work, what would you do all day? That's what you should write about.

Is there anything I may not write about?

Overstock.com Guides is rated PG. Also, this is not the place to write about activities that are illegal or endanger others.

What do I do if I have found a guide I would like to contribute to?

You need to ask that guide's Editor for permission to join the team. You may contact them via the email link on that Editor's user page, or by registering and posting a message on their talk page.

What if an Editor won't let me join the team?

Editors are encouraged to keep their teams small and manageable. If your request has been denied, or if you want to place a slightly different or more specific spin on the same topic, you should start your own guide and create your own team. You can either start from scratch or take any existing content you find on the site and build off of it.

How long do guides need to be?

Feel free to start your guide out with a single sentence or paragraph. From there, you and your team may build at your own pace, recognizing that your guide will hopefully continue growing and maturing along just as your relationship with your niche passions will continue to grow and mature.

Categories: Help