A Closer Look On Syria:Community portal

Hi there!
We are looking for more people to contribute to this research wiki. If you remotely agree with our mission statement on the start page and think you have something of value to add, please register an account and go ahead. We try to keep the article pages neutral in language and sharp in research. When in doubt, add the information first to the Talk page of an article and it will get picked up from there. If you are not familiar with the workings of Wiki software in general and/or MediaWiki in particular, get help here. The fastest way to get familiar with the basic formatting is to look at how the others do it, by clicking "Edit" at the top right of an article and analyzing the "source code". Try it with this very basic conversation I pretend to have had with myself:

Hi there!
 * Same to you. This line is indented and I will sign it, it's just good form although I can see who you are when I "View History". --CE 11:20, 12 September 2012 (EST)
 * Yes, yes, I know, you must have read this article where you learned how to sign. --~
 * Hahaha, that didn't parse, did it. If I were you I'd try again in the Sandbox! --CE 11:27, 12 September 2012 (EST)

Facts and Neutrality
CE said above "We try to keep the article pages neutral in language and sharp in research." We do try, but we, mostly I, have slipped from overly-neutral language into some sharp sarcasm in spots. Facts and evidence and likelihoods must, however, be kept paramount, and are, I think. Then the snark can be applied to a solid platform that'll hold it. --Caustic Logic (talk) 00:03, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Don't be Intimidated!
Or else! Kidding. We pull some fancy tricks around here, especially with video analysis and map placement, but also with finding and translating foreign-language sources, compiling and comparing sometimes obscure information with extreme details, etc. Perhaps it's ego that makes me imagine people might be intimidated by that. Anyone with such skills can be of great use here, and I dare you to try and intimidate us with excessive brilliance. But mainly it's not specific skills, but inspiration to help find and develop the truth (and then registering) that makes a wiki member. There are plenty of simpler activities that need done -starting pages based on one interesting article on an incident not yet covered, Googling up a new source for an existing page, fixing typos and grammar errors you see (two core members are not native English speakers, and the other can be sloppy), etc. In short, if you feel like you have something to contribute, you probably do, and will be appreciated by our still-too-small community. --Caustic Logic (talk) 00:03, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Community Chatter
Hi there, I'm CE and created this wiki. Feel free to mess around but do it reasonably. If you're not familiar with how things work here, read the links offered on the Help page and try it out in the Sandbox. A statement like this is signed in the software MediaWiki by four tits like this: CE 07:27, 25 June 2012 (EST)

Hi, I'm CL, member #2 (in order of appearance). PK is #3. Is this how we talk here? Or am I typing in the wrong box? Whoever is most familiar with wiki formatting can feel free to tell me how to best do it here. My starting format like [BW] is only temporary, from habit, but I'm not sure what to replace it with. SOurces per page, at the bottom, simply numbered, maybe? Hyperlinks within the page like Wikipedia has? One big page for all sources? I don't know. Can i fix others' spelling like I just did? Or put words in their mouths? Too many questions. Do I have to type in my signature or does it just appear? Let's see.


 * I have put a link to basic formatting help on the help page in the navigation on the left. Every created page automatically has a "talk" page (see second tab top left) where discussion normally can take place.
 * An external link looks like this: [URL description] One set of brackets.
 * Two sets of brackets create an internal link: NewPage
 * I have used the "nowiki" tag in the lines above, which tells it not to parse what is in between.
 * Here is an external link being parsed (look in the "edit" code how I did it, the colons make my lines indent): A link to a description of talk pages and how to sign comments
 * Here is an internal link with double brackets: NewPage Notice that the link is red, which means that the page does not yet exist. If you click on it it takes you directly to edit mode and asks you to create the page.
 * Signing is always good on talk pages but we can see who edited what and when in any case, because everything is remembered and can be restored in the history top right of every page.
 * more later, thinking about how to collect the sources.--CE 01:34, 27 June 2012 (EST)


 * I see you have already figured out most of that. I remembered how to use the references properly and re-formatted the Rebel Witness page. Our friend is the tag "ref". Format:




 * It does numbering and anchors automatically and collects all references at a place on the site where a -Tag is. If that doesn't exist, it complains. --CE 02:30, 27 June 2012 (EST)


 * Thanks, CE! I'm starting to get it. May take a while to update things and get more up.--Caustic Logic 08:21, 27 June 2012 (EST)


 * I've added some observations about the rebel attack sources on the talk page there. Please check that out.CE 02:10, 28 June 2012 (EST)
 * Reusing my reference here without repeating the content.

Could you please upgrade my account so I get rid of the captcha. -- Petri Krohn 22:59, 10 August 2012 (EST)
 * What do you mean, when do you have to fill out a captcha? --CE 05:34, 11 August 2012 (EST)
 * When saving an edit with links. -- Petri Krohn 06:13, 11 August 2012 (EST)
 * Oh, that must be annoying. The user rights management is limited here in the free version, can't create new user groups or really finetune the rights. Seen that there is a group called "bots" which includes the "skipcaptcha" rights and seems to be appropriate here. Added you and CL, tell me if it solves the issue. --CE 06:40, 11 August 2012 (EST)
 * Problem solved. -- Petri Krohn 18:16, 12 August 2012 (EST)
 * I notice that your edits now don't show up by default on the "recent changes" page anymore. One has to click "show bots" in the menu at the top. Unfortunate. See no other possibility - either captcha or no default registration of edits.--CE 02:05, 16 August 2012 (EST)
 * CL decided that the lesser evil is captcha's so I undid the group addition for him. Your call for yourself. Hope you were ok with my undo of your edit yesterday - if you insist feel free to put it back.--CE 09:02, 17 August 2012 (EST)

Article Ideas
When CE first started this wiki in late June, I took off quickly with two investigations spawning two articles I got published at Syria News.cc in July (Syria: Houla Massacre Star Witness Reconsidered and The Troubling Story Behind one of those Dead Syrian Child Videos). That's an avenue that remains open, but I have never yet done an article #3. At this point, there's more of a team pattern developed, and I'd like to invite CE, Petri, and any lurking members waiting to do something, to collaborate on (or modify) my new idea for a four-part series of fairly short articles. The idea can be hashed over and even worked out best on its own page, say Houla Massacre Mysteries. That'll be filled in a bit shortly. --Caustic Logic 19:45, 12 October 2012 (EST)


 * No, especially this late, we need one good article on how the rebels took over Taldou right before the massacres. It can and should include supporting information in passing. I'll probably just work this out myself sometime, after the Who was in Control page is finished.

Report Ideas
The CIWCL has put together (I have, with CIWCL research) two major PDF reports on Libyan war crimes. Syria desrves this even more. The readership of the past ones makes it hard to justify doing again, but man... the stories that could be told. One just on Houla? Or a more ambitious one that lays out Houla, follows the repeat patterns and changes through Qubeir, Tremseh, Daraya, then Aqrab and maybe Maan? The former with a compressed narrative of the latter attached? New platforms and audience targets and authors are all open at the outset, until some decisions are made to solidify things on one track, set for completion. --Caustic Logic (talk) 01:05, 6 January 2013 (UTC)