Help:Fix or report an error
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Contents |
What constitutes an error
An error, as the term applies to wiki articles, is usually grammatical, typographical, or factual; more complex errors are discussed below. Lack of relevant information does not usually constitute an error. There are many stub pages on Ballotpedia with much less information than would be ideal, and even well-developed pages can nearly always be improved by the addition of more information. If you find an article that you think should be expanded, or if you have information which you think belongs in some article(s) on Ballotpedia, please refer to our help articles for tips on how to get that information onto the wiki. Building a comprehensive, up-to-date almanac about the subjects we focus on is the aim of this wiki, but it is and always will be a work in progress. If you have a question about adding to a particular article, and can't find the answer on the wiki itself, the best person to talk to is someone who has worked on that particular article; accordingly, you can go to the "history" tab on the article in question, find a user who has done a lot of work on that page, and post your question or comment on that user's talk page.
First and best option
The first option to take when you notice an error is to try to fix it yourself. See Getting Started or this tutorial to learn how to edit (fix/improve) articles.
Note about registration
- On June 6, 2011, the ability of new users to register a user account on Ballotpedia was temporarily turned off.
These steps were taken for the second time in 2011 because the Captcha system in use on Ballotpedia to ensure that new users are real people, as opposed to spambots, was at least temporarily overwhelmed by a particularly aggressive spambot program that was creating hundreds of new fake users, and new inappropriate articles, every day.
Ballotpedia's staff is monitoring the situation, and eventually one of these options will ensue:
- Captcha will find a security patch that guards against this new breed of spambot, at which point registration will be re-opened.
- Captcha will not find a security patch within a few weeks, in which case, we will evaluate other anti-spambot software and test different options.
One way or another, eventually Ballotpedia will re-open for new users to register.
In the meantime, if you want to register at Ballotpedia but you have been blocked from doing so by this new policy, we can add you as a new user manually. To cause that to happen, email newuser@ballotpedia.org with your request. In the email you send, be sure to say what you want your user name to be.
Updates:
- On February 4, 2011 at 3:00 a.m., the ability of new users to register was turned back on on an experimental basis.
- On February 4, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. (CST), the ability of new users to registered was once again temporarily turned off because of a new infestation of spambots.
- On February 13-14, 2011, we conducted a test on Ballotpedia's sister site (Judgepedia) for 24 hours with allowing new users to once again register. This test indicated that many spambots were still able to get through Captcha's defenses and, as a result, we turned off new user registration on Judgepedia and are not going to turn it on again on Ballotpedia.
- On February 23, new registrations were again enabled on Ballotpedia.
- On June 6, we dis-enabled new user registration again because the problem had once again grown to be a significant level.
Complicated errors
Not all errors are errors of simple fact, grammar or typography. More complicated concerns are about balance, context, tone and fairness. Here are some suggestions for dealing with those concerns.
- Post a note on the article's 'talk' ('discussion') page describing the error or inaccuracy and saying what you think should be done about it. This is an especially good step to take if your objection to the article is not that it has a fact wrong, but is about the tone or balance (fairness) of the article.
- If no one has responded to your talk page comment within a reasonable amount of time, then make the change you feel best addresses your concern on the article itself.
- If your proposed change is likely to be controversial, it is especially helpful to try to talk it through on the talk page first, rather than getting into an "edit war".
- If you get into an edit war and would like some help resolving the dispute, you can post a note on Ballotpedia:Editorial discussions and questions and ask for someone to weigh in who has a more detached perspective.
- If you've taken these steps without success in resolving your concerns about bias, you can also send an email to Ballotpedia's executive editor, at editor@ballotpedia.org
Report an error
If you can't fix an error yourself, you can report it. You can:
- Post it on the Ways you can help page. This allows any editor who is around to see it and fix it.
- If the error relates to:
- A ballot measure, or related content, contact Bailey Ludlam.
- A state legislature, state legislator, state legislative candidate, or related content, contact Geoff Pallay.
- Governor or Lieutenant Governor or related content, contact Lauren Rodgers.
- Attorney General or Secretary of State or related content, contact David Godow.
- Down-ballot state executive offices including Insurance Commissioner, Treasurer or similar, contact Greg Janetka.
- For other content areas, contact Ballotpedia's executive editor Editor@ballotpedia.org.
Complaints
Significant complaints relating to the content of Ballotpedia articles or about such serious matters as copyright infringement are matters of high priority. Any such complaints or concerns should be communicated to:
