User talk:Blueturtle79

Welcome!

Your edits to Serial port

Hi, I'm jeh (talk · contribs). I'm afraid I just reverted your changes to Serial port. Please allow me to explain why.

First, simple things. One, although almost every lede starts with a definition of the term for which the article is named, we don't use a "definition" heading on the lede. And Two: DE-9 connectors and serial ports are not synonymous. Not even on PCs. So the terms should not be juxtaposed in a manner that suggests they are.

Inline web links like the ones you used to computerhope.com and answers.com are acceptable in WP talk pages. But in articles, where a web link is used as a source, long sequences of words should not be simply linked in the manner you did. Rather, use the source as a reference for your own wording, and use the link as a reference. Take a look at how the reference to webopedia.com is done. Speaking of which, I don't think computerhope.com nor answers.com can be regarded as a WP:RS.

WP does not use "inband" markup like "/?" or "/date?". The best thing is to reword to omit the missing info and call for help on the article talk page. If you absolutely must write a sentence that needs to be completed with an unknown (or even vague) point of fact you can use something like the {{when}} template. For example,

Serial ports have been used in computers for many decades.{{when}}

displays as

Serial ports have been used in computers for many decades.

For more information on that template, see template:when. There are other similar templates intended to mark up an article with "this needs to be improved". You can find them in the "inline tags" infobox at the bottom of that page.

But even there, I would say that if the author of the text knows that it is incomplete or needs to be significantly improved, posting it in that state and saying "ok, other people, please finish what I started" is a sloppy way to contribute. (These markup templates are really for use when you find text already in articles that needs improvement, and you recognize that improvement is needed but you don't have the knowledge to do it yourself.) Although every WP article is a work in progress, it should not be written so as to call attention to that fact. Instead, start a section on the article talk page, put what you have there, and invite others to contribute. When it is more complete it can be moved to the article. Jeh (talk) 21:28, 14 September 2013 (UTC)