Talk pages
Starting a conversation
User talk pages
Messages for you
Layout
Making discussions easy to follow
Examples
More examples of layout
Drawing attention
Fetching others to help
Summary
Review what you've learned
A talk page stays easy to read when every discussion follows the same layout. Three habits do most of the work.
One topic, one section. Every new topic gets its own section, started at the bottom of the page under a clear heading. Replies to that topic stay inside its section, so readers can follow one conversation at a time.
Indent your replies. A reply goes directly underneath the comment it answers, and starts with one more colon than the comment above it. In the source text, colons at the start of a line look like this, and this is how they appear on the page:
The first comment starts at the edge of the page.
- This reply is indented once.
- This answer is indented twice.
- Each extra colon moves the comment one step further in.
- This answer is indented twice.
Sign every comment. Ending with ~~~~ puts your name and the time on the comment, which keeps it clear who is answering whom.
When a thread has been indented so many times that the text becomes hard to read, start your next reply back at the edge of the page and say that you are continuing the same point. Never change another editor's signed words: if you disagree, add your own signed reply instead.