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Contribute - IDobjectWiki

Contribute

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Contribute to IDobjectWiki

All serious contributions to this wiki site are encouraged. Read and understand this entire page before beginning to contribute. The purpose of this wiki site is to provide information related to the determination of an unidentified object(s). ALL reports of unidentified objects need to be submitted to MUFON, as such, for research and analysis.

This wiki site is NOT a forum for the discussion of the existence of intelligent non-human life forms, visitations from off planet identities, alternate realities, unusual phenomenon, etc. and/or opinions on such topics.

Login

Contributors are required to create an account and login to this wiki site. When creating an account, a valid email address is required. An email will be sent to the contributor to verify that the email account is valid before the contributor may add to this wiki site. Contributors who do not follow the guidelines will be sent emails to request that they follow the guidelines or the contributor will be restricted from contributing to this wiki site. In the event the contributor can not be contacted, via any information provided, the account and any questionable contributions will be disabled until the contributor can be contracted to have the issue(s) resolved. If the create account option is not provided on the login page, this indicates that general account creation has been disabled. This is usually a result of immature and/or unprofessional individual(s) causing issues for this wiki site. If account creation is disabled,  eMail   a request, with contact information, to have an account created. Contact will be made and an account will be created.

Professional Behavior

All contributors are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. It is important to realize that in contributing to IDobjectWiki, contributors are expected to be civil and neutral, respecting all points of view, and only add verifiable and factual information rather than personal views and opinions. "The five pillars of Wikipedia" cover this approach and are recommended reading before editing.

Vandals are reported via an  eMail   and may be temporarily or permanently blocked from editing IDobjectWiki.

Copyrighted Material

All material provided within this wiki site is considered free-content unless specifically specified as copyrighted. This wiki site will render pages from other wikis. All material displayed as a result of rendering should be so noted at the top of the page. The user can then check those wiki’s to determine if the material provided is copyrighted. Contributors should not upload any copyrighted material unless permission has been given by the owner and it is so noted in the comments for the material. Any material submitted to MUFON as an unidentified object, is generally considered free-content. QuickTime video clips provided within this wiki site, which are not on a report page, have been purchased for use on this wiki site. These video clips are copyrighted and are so noted on the video's wiki page. The QuickTime video clip can be found by using the search function for “File:*.mov”. Click the right mouse click on the material to open the link to the file's page. When this option is not available, the file may be found in a similar manner as the QuickTime file to determine if a copyright applies.

ManMade and Natural Object Pages

ManMade and Natural Object pages provide descriptive information on an object usually with links to additional information. Wiki sites, such as Wikipedia, already contain a page with this information. As a result, these pages are rendered from Wikipedia rather than duplicating effort. Any changes to these pages need to be done on the Wikipedia wiki site. Generally, only objects that are or have the potential to be misidentified are included. Objects are categorized within groups in order to help reduce the total number of objects listed on a single page and to organize them in a logical methodology. Subcategories exist to further refine the methodology. When a new object, category, and/or subcategory page is needed, a request can be made by email and the new object, category, and/or subcategory page will be created. This usually takes less than 15 minutes to cut and paste from a similar page and then edit the new page to contain the proper information. A contributor may create these pages if they understand MediaWiki, PHP, and the intended design of this website.

Gallery Pages

Gallery pages are classified under ManMade Objects or Natural Objects. This classification is based on what the indentified object is regardless of what the report indicates. The data contained within the report is taken directly from the MUFON database. Only MUFON field investigators have access to this information. As a result, only MUFON field investigators should be creating these pages. Gallery pages are not a way to report unidentified objects as that is not the purpose of this wiki site. Use the proper MUFON webpage to Report a UFO.

To simplify creating a Gallery page, a step by step guide is provided at Create a Gallery Page. The guide indicates how to acquire the template file used to create a gallery page. This is done to give a consistent feel to the report pages. A solid understanding of PHP is not needed when carefully following the step by step guide. Help can be provided for any issue(s) that a contributor may experience creating a gallery page. Once the images, videos, and other material have been uploaded and the report page has been completed and tested, all of the pages can be protected from further changes by sending an email that the pages are complete. This is done to protect against vandalism. The pages can be unprotected if errors or further information needs to be provided. Should other organization’s indentified object reports be allowed, templates will be created for their layout and logo. Send an email request to allow another organization’s identified object reports.

Gallery pages provide more information than the current MUFON database provides to non-field investigators. This allows for a better education on what information is useful in researching an unidentified object(s), how other witnesses have reported objects, how the identified object determination was made, based on the tone of the investigator’s comments, the frustration the investigator experiences dealing with some reports, etc. While detailed camera information is not available in the current MUFON database, it can be useful in determining camera effects when reports are received. Many manufactures designing new products, will use as much of an existing product as possible. This saves hardware and software development time, development cost, part procurement, etc. What this means is that should a camera artifact appear in one model of a camera it may appear in another camera by the same manufacturer.

The template of the gallery page can be adjusted in the future should such a determination be made. Any field investigator who wishes the investigator comments and/or other data be adjusted may request that the page be unprotected so that it can adjust as needed.

Personal and Corporate Identities

Due to the nature and some opinions on this subject matter, all personal and corporate information should be restricted on this wiki site. Personal names should have the first name and a initial for the last name, the witness, the investigator, or some other means to obscure the person. MUFON field investigators may use their full name with the understanding that it may remain on the wiki site for an indefinite time. Physical street address, phone number, and email address should not be used. Corporate identities, address, phone number, and email address should not be used. The exception to this may be individuals and/or corporations that provide services to MUFON and who would benefit from this advertising. Examples of this are image and video analyst, laboratories, doctors, etc. Verify the information which is allowed to be displayed. Any personal and corporate information that was mistakenly entered will be removed by request.

Learning to Wiki

Depending on what you want to do to contribute to this wiki, the process can be relatively easy to very complex. Experts are always welcome as they may be able to help solve some internal issues that we are working on. There are books available on wiki. You can also learn using the internet. This wiki is being developed using the MediaWiki free software wiki package written in PHP, originally for use on Wikipedia. The following are some of the many pages that can be used to learn to wiki.

WikiPedia Tutorial

MediaWiki Help Page
MediaWiki Home Page
MediaWiki Magic Words
MediaWiki Technical Manual
MediaWiki Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Sandbox

For those of us that remember our childhood, sandboxes are play areas where we let our minds come up with all kinds of adventures playing with sand and other toys. Likewise, IDobjectWiki has a Sandbox where contributors can play, learn, and test a wiki page before making it a permanent feature on this wiki site.

IDobjectWiki Sandbox
MediaWiki Sandbox
Wikipedia Sandbox

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