Rewriting pages
Welcome to Tolkien Gateway and thank you for your interest in contributing to its pages. Please keep in mind that the main priority should not be to rewrite pages to suit one's personal preferences or taste, because what sounds "better" is a matter of personal preference. While replacing words with synonyms is fine, we should remain cautious not to change the meaning of what is said in the text in the original publication. When editing a page on Tolkien Gateway, it is good to have the original source open (in paper or as an e-book) next to the screen or in another window to verify that the current text on the page corresponds in meaning to what is said in the original source and that it or any changes are supported by references that point to the original source. I recommend you to read the Tolkien Gateway:Manual of Style, Help:References and to have a look at various pages for templates for references (e.g. Template:FR, Template:TT, Template:RK, Template:App, Template:H, Template:UT, Template:S, etc.). Akhôrahil (talk) 13:49, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
- Also, I noticed there was a note at the top about the article needing to be cleaned up. Thingol (talk) 17:11, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
Yes, I agree. I guess "better" was the wrong word. I meant "clearer." Some of the writing was very unclear or did not follow the templates in the style guide, so I made it clearer and changed up things which didn't follow the guide.
- It is great that you want to help with improving articles on Tolkien Gateway. It would help us to assess on which articles you could help if you could provide a list of books and/or journals with content, which was written by J.R.R. Tolkien or Christopher Tolkien to which you have access. You will have a hard time checking on articles if a content is correct if that content is based on books or issues of journals to which you do not have access to. Cross-checking if the information in an article is supported by what is written in the books or journals is time-consuming, but a necessary and helpful task. I still find errors on pages when I check the sources. --Akhôrahil (talk) 13:56, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
- I currently own these books by the Tolkeins:
- - The Lord of the Rings (all three unabridged)
- - The Hobbit
- - The Silmarillion
- - The Children of Húrin
- - The Book of Lost Tales
- - Unfinished Tales
- That is the extent of my physical collection, though I’m sure I could find online copies or copies at my library if I needed to have other books. I also believe I own Beren and Lúthien, but I’m not certain of its current location if I do… Thingol (talk) 23:50, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
- Definitely if you can get books online do that. I own a lot of the paper books but often use the online ones because it's a lot easier for research, especially if you need to look for specific things in the book since a lot of ebooks have search features. Aragorn II (talk) 01:57, 21 January 2024 (UTC)
- I tend to prefer paper books no matter what I’m doing, even if they’re less efficient, but I’d be willing to use online versions if I didn’t own the paper ones. Thingol (talk) 01:58, 21 January 2024 (UTC)
- Definitely if you can get books online do that. I own a lot of the paper books but often use the online ones because it's a lot easier for research, especially if you need to look for specific things in the book since a lot of ebooks have search features. Aragorn II (talk) 01:57, 21 January 2024 (UTC)
Undoing of edit?
May I ask why you reversed my edit of Glorfindel when all I did was correct two typos? JR Snow (talk) 18:26, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Yeah sorry it was an accident. I thought I put it back how you had it though, didn’t I? Thingol (talk) 18:28, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- No worries, I’ve re-fixed them (and a third I found)! JR Snow (talk) 18:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- I see that, great spot! Also, just a note, “leveled” technically isn’t a typo, it’s just American English. I understand that this wiki is supposed to be primarily British English (correct me if I have the term wrong), to keep in style with Tolkien’s original work, so it’s still a great fix. I just wanted to mention that. 😊 Thingol (talk) 18:51, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- I know it’s such a minor thing, correcting words into British English, but it’s really a bug bear of mine.
- Not important, but impossible for me to ignore once noticed. JR Snow (talk) 19:22, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Yeah, I get that. Well, I normally can't tell if something should be British English, but if I saw it, I'd have to fix it. What is a “bug bear," by the way? Is that British English…? I’m American, unfortunately. Thingol (talk) 19:26, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Bugbear; a cause of obsessive fear, anxiety, or irritation. JR Snow (talk) 19:31, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Ah, thanks. Love it, new favorite word! Thingol (talk) 19:41, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Bugbear; a cause of obsessive fear, anxiety, or irritation. JR Snow (talk) 19:31, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- Yeah, I get that. Well, I normally can't tell if something should be British English, but if I saw it, I'd have to fix it. What is a “bug bear," by the way? Is that British English…? I’m American, unfortunately. Thingol (talk) 19:26, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- I see that, great spot! Also, just a note, “leveled” technically isn’t a typo, it’s just American English. I understand that this wiki is supposed to be primarily British English (correct me if I have the term wrong), to keep in style with Tolkien’s original work, so it’s still a great fix. I just wanted to mention that. 😊 Thingol (talk) 18:51, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
- No worries, I’ve re-fixed them (and a third I found)! JR Snow (talk) 18:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)