Dharmawiki Editor

Narratives on DharmaWiki are built by an ever growing team of qualified authors and editors coming from diverse educational, spiritual and cultural backgrounds yet have sound technical knowledge. Dedicated to the core idea of this project, each of them actively research and delve into the subject matter, consult with scholars and peers, engage in verifying content and present the ideas within the scope of the DharmaWiki project. This article describes the guidelines for DharmaWiki authors and how articles are created.

Articles or Narratives

The articles or narratives are not a random collection of topics. They are carefully thought out reflections of topics pertaining to present day with references in our age old tradition. Narratives present the foundational aspects of ancient texts and explain their relevance to contemporary days. The structure is built in lines of Wikipedia to enable easy categorization and organization of the subject matter. Several books both ancient and contemporary are consulted for their views. Since presenting a huge amount of information is difficult for one person, the team selects and works on the individual topics as per their flair and competence. Many articles are written by one person which are modified, in the next step, by perhaps 5 other people, to supplement and complement with necessary citations and Samskrit references.

Articles consist of compilation of viewpoints of authoritative scholars of the subject (Maharshi Vedavyasa, Philosophy given by Rishis, different Vedanta interpreters etc) and ideas presented do not belong to the author of the article. Oftentimes, a long time, perhaps running into years, after the base article is made by the original author, additions and fine tuning of the article takes place. Although numerous subjects and topics are dealt with under the vast umbrella of Sanatana Dharma, the primary focus, in this phase of the project, is to present as many foundational articles as possible to build a platform where scholars and novices can interact on a topic, discuss, learn, practice and disseminate.

Articles are of three categories, complete, partially complete and those having a scope for expansion. Fair representation, is made of the philosophies and ideologies of different sampradayas of Bharatavarsha and their congruence in the ocean of Sanatana Dharma in these articles.

DharmaWiki Point of View

DharmaWiki articles are written from a traditional dharmika point-of-view (POV) fairly and proportionately, as far as possible, representing the scholarly views in the primary texts and recent publications on numerous topics presented in the ancient texts of Sanatana Dharma. Open source material is used within the framework of DharmaWiki policies.

Guidelines for Authors and Editors

Authors on this portal are essentially like-minded registered users with a passion to contribute their role in maintaining Sanatana Dharma for the generations to come.

Unregistered IP addresses are unregistered users who are usually visiting the site either to learn or engage in debate about a topic on the Discussion and Talk tabs of that topic. Unregistered users, at this juncture, are restricted to edit the article or narratives. To preserve the original writing style and line of thought of the author, to reduce insertions and duplication of data, to prevent vandalism, restriction of editing rights to unregistered users is practiced. Users can however, present their thoughts, views, references, video links, blog references, images etc on the Discussion or Talk pages. Users can potentially become Guest Authors on the site by sending an email to the moderators of DharmaWiki portal with such request. Upon acceptance they can contribute articles or narratives within the framework of Dharmawiki policies.

With reference to the quality of the articles, following guidelines are to be adhered by DharmaWiki authors and editors

• content should be crisply summarized and verifiable by referencing reliable sources
• hearsay and personal opinions are not factual evidences, attribution to the authoritative source is important
• unpublished work is not to be produced here
• topics should be related to Vedas, Hindu traditions, shastras etc. Subjects such as films, fiction books, novels, games, politics, stocks and investments, biographies etc are not included on this portal
• copying and closely paraphrasing a copyrighted material is not allowed
• all copyrighted material should be presented after taking permission from the appropriate author or contributor
• controversial and contentious statements about any topic should be avoided
• personal and pointed reference to any other faith or community is not allowed 
• refrain from spending excessive time to achieve perfection of the article as the subject is vast  
• check the article for appropriate format, editing and technical specifications 
• be mindful of the language, choice of words used, clarity of thought presented as this forum reaches all parts of the globe 
• subject and topics are presented after discussions within the team 
• political and religiously inflammatory statements, videos, images are not allowed 
• differences in the philosophical views between different sampradayas are to be presented in a unbiased, nonjudgemental manner  

We welcome like-minded scholars, academicians, research students, philosophers, and other general users to participate in our endeavors to reclaim our heritage and bring back tradition into mainstream focus. We request one and all to contribute to the topics by giving their views and debating on the Talk and Discussion tabs of a particular page.