Wikipedia:Talk page layout

Talk page layout in the Wikipedia is even more free form than article layout, but there are a few commonly used styles and conventions that make talk pages more useful:

Sign contributions, not required, but useful: You can easily sign by typing three tildes, that is, the ~ character, at the end of your contribution. This will supply your user name or IP address. If you sign with four tildes, the date and time is also filled in. If you prefer not to be automatically signed, you can type in a temporary identification. Or, you can leave your note unsigned, but that makes it hard to figure out who is saying what.
Use indenting to keep the conversation straight: The first contributor is all the way to the left, the next person starts with one colon (:), the next person starts with two colons. Then, when the first contributor responds, she starts at the left margin again, and the second and third persons continue to mark themselves with one and two colons respectively, In that way, who is saying what is clear.
Separate discussion topics: Use a solid horizontal line, ---- to change the subject.
Feel free to ignore typographical conventions: Do as you please to make your points clear. The Manual of Style is for articles.
Proceed vertically: The further down the contribution to talk, the later it was made.
Make links freely: Links to articles are as useful on talk pages as anywhere else, and links to non-existent articles can help get them onto the most wanted pages list.
Don't edit other people's words: Ever. Editing or deleting your own words is up to you.
Archive rather than delete: When pages get long, cut and paste to an archive.
Keep to the topic: Not layout, but worth keeping in mind. Talk page discussions can be much more humorous and POV than the typical article, but flaming, trolling, and insults don't do much to make articles better.

Example

This article is great. Ortolan88 18:20 Jan 30, 2003 (UTC)

No it isn't! <fish>

Yes it is! <wojahowicz>

I was talking to Ortolan88! <fish>

I like <wojahowicz> better. Ortolan88

Now, now. <barney_miller>

We need an article on kindnesss more than we need this mess. <alfred_the_butler>

Yeah, but what about rubber baby buggy bumpers? <comissioner_gordon>