Welcome

Welcome to the Law for the Commons Wiki. The Law for the Commons Wiki is a Commons Transition project and resides within the Commons Transition Wiki. These wikis are closely interrelated, but there are some differences. If you want to contribute, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the contribution guidelines of the Commons Transition Wiki. You will find additional resources, links for wiki help, templates and detailed guidelines specific to the Law for the Commons Wiki in the sections below.

Differences between the Commons Transition Wiki and the Law for the Commons Wiki

Once you are familiar with the guidelines for the main Commons Transition Wiki, we can address the distinguishing features of the Law for the Commons Wiki. These can be roughly divided into two main areas: Categorization and Formatting.

Categorization

Overall and Main Categories

All entries in the Law for the Commons Wiki are contained within its main category "Law and the Commons".

Following that, there are two main categories. For historical examples of Commons Laws:

• Law and the Commons: Premodern Sources

For contemporary examples of Commons Laws:

• Contemporary Commons Law

Cluster Pages

Within the main two categories, we have 9 cluster pages containing most of the overview of Law for the Commons. These entries feature a number of concise subsections exploring different examples of the contents of the cluster. Here is the full list of clusters:

1. Indigenous Commons
2. Subsistence Commons in the Global South
3. Stakeholder Trusts
4. Cooperative Law
5. Urban Commons
6. Localism
7. New Organizational Forms
8. Re-imagining State Policy to Empower Commons

If you want to add a new, concise subsection to any of the clusters, please go ahead. If you'd like to expand on any of the subsections, it's preferable to make a new entry. We'll talk about this below.

Expanding Cluster subsections in new entries

To expand on a cluster subsection, please make a new entry, format it according to the Law for the Commons template (see below), and add the text contained in the cluster subsection under the "Overview" heading. You can expand on the entry below.

Here is an example of that:

• Common Wealth Trust subsection under the "Stakeholder Trusts" cluster
• Common Wealth Trusts entry

As you can see, the entry retains the cluster text as an introduction and then adds more material from several sources. New entries will follow the Law for the Commons Wiki formatting conventions, explained below.

Of course you can also link to other articles on the Commons Transition Wiki or elsewhere.

Formatting

All entries in the Law for the Commons Wiki are distinguished by the following features:

• The "Law for the Commons" banner, hyperlinking to the Wiki's front page
• A salmon-coloured background
• A lead image
• A left-justified Table of Contents.
• A credit for the lead image

Rather than go into how this is formatted, we've provided a template which you can copy and paste in all new entries.

{| class="plainlinks" width="99%" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;"
 | valign=top style="width:50%; padding: .5em; border: 1px solid #c9c9ff; color: #000; background-color: #FFDDA2;"|
 [[image:Page headertes9.png|center|link=Law for the Commons]]
  
 [[image:XXXXXXX|center]]
  
 <div style="float:left; margin-right:20px;">__TOC__</div>
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-----
* Lead Image by XXXXXXXX</nowiki>

After copying and pasting the template make sure to:

• Substitute the "XXXXXXX" placeholder in the line that reads

[[image:XXXXXXX|center]] 

with the filename of the lead image you choose.

• Substitute the "XXXXX" placeholder at the bottom, which reads

* Lead Image by [https://XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX] 

with a hyperlink to the image source and the image creator's profile.

• The text for the new entry should replace the placeholder marked by the three blocks of "XXXXs" in the middle.

Conclusion

We hope this has provided a clear understanding of the categorization and formatting idiosyncrasies of the Commons Law Wiki. Again, please do check the general posting protocols for the Commons Transition Wiki for more information. Following these guidelines will make for a richer Law for the Commons Wiki experience.

If this is your first time working with a wiki, we recommend also the following links:

The Commons Transition Wiki Wiki help page is an excellent place to start. We then suggest you follow this 5 minute wikitext tutorial in our Sandbox, with our cheat sheet.

Still confused? Please get in touch with us and don't be afraid to ask for help.