- editme*
How to use the wiki at contribs.org
Join in!
The wiki has been made a core part of contribs.org for a reason: we believe that the more people participate, the more the community will benefit.
So, please, join in! Your unique point of view is valuable. This is what wikis are for.
Linux and open-source software is a key accomplishment of our times, one that could not have occurred, for many reasons, at any other time and space. There is a lot of discussion of this elsewhere, no need to repeat it here, but for this: one principle it is based on is "Do what you need to do, for your own reasons, then share the results back to the community." This is as true for SME Server (designed to be usable even if you don't have a Total Linux Demigod union card) as it is for someone who does and is working upon the kernel's treatment of on cpu cache misses, or something. No matter what level, or how non-technical, someone else may end up having the same issue that you just figured out. So please, participate!
We hope you will do it responsibly.
It makes sense that a distribution designed to be easy to use will attract a lot of people who need a distribution that is designed to be easy to use, because they can't or don't want to deal with one that isn't. We certainly hope so! We still need your input, and we are trying to make it as easy to "give back" as we can.
To help give everyone an idea of how to start and what to do, we have posted some comments below. It's just a start, however. Feel free to find your own way to contribute!
How to
It's easy to participate! Just register for an account, log on and start typing.
A description of wiki syntax is 
here , but, for a sentence or three, it isn't necessary to do anything more than:
- click on the edit button
- scroll to the bottom
- click by the left margin, and hit "Enter"
- start typing
You can add a horizontal line above your comment by using 4 dashes by the left margin: "----"
Please Do's
- Participate! Even a simple "This worked for me - PII 450 - 128MB - 20G HD/SME5.6" comment on a How-to might be just the info someone needs, especially if you include the PC and SME version.
- Link to the Forums - if you have a problem, it's certainly ok to mention it, and a link will let people know that you might be able to use some help.
- If you come up with a fix for an issue with a How-to, post it as a comment on that How-to wiki page (or a link to it). It could be a lifesaver for someone. Please try to label it usefully, so people can find it.
Please Dont's
- Everyone involved at contribs.org is a volunteer. Whether they're developers or first time visitors, they could be watching old Seinfeld re-runs instead of contributing here. They deserve our respect. Flames, slams and the like are not acceptable.
- Edit or erase someone elses' post. If they're wrong, say so. But let them remove or change the text, if they want to.
- The wiki is not a spot for messages and responses - we have several forums for that. If you have a question, please post it in one of the forums, then post a link to the thread in the wiki. You can do that easily with the syntax: ["link name" | "link url"] (without the quotes). Just paste the address in!
Contribs.org reserves the right to remove any trash, flames, disputes, etc., from a wiki page without ceremony. If it seems worth it, we may move the content to one of the forums, and post a message to that effect. It's understandable, and very human, for people to get angry once in a while, but there is generally little reason to keep a permanent record of it.
We promise to treat advice, or serious attempts to help someone (but that seems misleading or incorrect) more respectfully, and someone will simply post another entry nearby, politely stating their point of view. It's just another person's opinion, after all, and we're just as capable of being mistaken, misguided, or miserably wrong as anybody else. It's up to the original poster to decide if they want to change their post in response.
It is possible that the amount of entries associated with a particular page will grow so large as to become unmanageable, or to cause a problem on the back end. We hope we'll have problems like this! If so, we may be forced to remove some, move some to a different linked page, sort them into categories of similar contents, or even do things like count success entries and provide a report so we can delete the original posts. We value your input, however, and we promise to treat it with respect, and to preserve the information you have given us for the use of the community.