How should topics be named on Experts123?
Topics should be named according to established conventions. We believe that if topics are named in a consistent agreed upon manner, they are more likely to fulfill their purpose in connecting people and knowledge.
These are the established Experts123 guidelines on how to name topics:
Proper Capitalization
Capitalize topic names as you would a title.
Examples:
- Vegetarian Food (not “Vegetarian food” or “vegetarian food” )
- Seven Wonders of the World (prepositions, articles, and conjunctions less than five letters are not capitalized)
- The Universe (always capitalize the first and last words)
“I’m talking about _______.”
In general, if you fill in the blank you will end up with a good topic name. As a result, you will find that most topic names are nouns in their plural form. For example, “I’m talking about Topics on Experts123.” There are some cases where the plural form is not used. For example, mass nouns such as Technology or Google.
When clarification is needed
Sometimes you need to clarify what you’re talking about so as to avoid ambiguity. For example, if you said “I’m talking about Facebook” you are probably talking about the social networking web site because that is what is most commonly associated with the term “Facebook.” But what if you were talking about the company? For example, the question “When will Facebook go public?” and a multitude of other questions may be asked specifically about the company, so it should be a different topic. In such a case, a parenthetical clarification is used to disambiguate the topic: Facebook (company). Title capitalization shouldn’t be used in clarifications.
Wide Acceptance
Try to avoid slang or controversial or inflammatory language in topic names. A topic name should be neutral and ideally accepted by everyone.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
When deciding whether to use an abbreviation or acronym, choose the form by which the topic would be most easily recognized. For example, it would make sense to use UCLA instead of University of California, Los Angeles, but AA is less recognizable in place of the more appropriate Alcoholics Anonymous.
