Editorial policy

Introduction

Designing Buildings Wiki is an open-access platform. You are free to write articles about anything to do with the construction industry, from business planning and design to construction, operation and decommissioning. You can write about theory, practices, procedures, products, services, projects and even companies. All we ask is that articles are factual and balanced (ie they are not promotional pieces) and they are encyclopaedic in style (ie they are not blog posts).

Articles you create will be live on the site from the moment you click 'Save'. We do not have submit and approve process, however, we will check all new articles and all subsequent edits to ensure they comply with our guidelines. Articles that do not comply may be edited, or in extreme cases may be deleted, and inappropriate edits will be undone.

If you are an expert who does not want other people to be able to change your article, then you can protect it. If we receive requests from other users wanting to contribute to the article, we may un-protect it, but we will discuss this with you first.

Think 'encyclopedia' not 'magazine'.

• Stick to the facts. Adopt a neutral position. Do not express your own opinion.
• You don't need to be 'friendly' - this is not a blog.
• Articles are not an opportunity for self promotion. You can include as much self promotion as you like in your 'page about me', but not in your article. To stay impartial, ask yourself what someone else would write about the subject.
• Even if you are writing about your own products or projects, write about them in the third person. You should never need to write 'I' or 'we' in an article.
• Be balanced. If you list the pros, also list the cons.

Make your article accessible.

• Give your article a simple, plain language title. Just say what it is.
• Introduce your subject. What is the background?
• Explain specialist terms and acronyms.
• Avoid long paragraphs, they are difficult to read.
• Use bullet point lists to make information clear and accessible.
• Don't use capital letters unless they are absolutely necessary. Capitalisation makes text difficult to read.
• For more general guidance about writing see Writing Technique.

Terms and conditions

Your article must comply with our terms and conditions. It must not for example include content that infringes intellectual property rights.

Duplicate content

• Your article will get more traffic if it is unique, and tailored to the specific requirements of the Designing Buildings audience.
• We do allow you to post content that already appears elsewhere on the internet, such as articles that appear on your own website. However, search engines may not include the duplicate version in search results. This will significantly reduce the amount of traffic the article receives.

How to use the text editor

• Keep your formatting as simple as possible. Plain text, headings and bulleted lists. Pasting text with more complex formatting can confuse the text editor.
• Save your work regularly just in case.
• For more information see our Help page or watch our video tutorial on YouTube.

Click here to find out how to create an article.