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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

What is Opus? questions and answer thread. (1 Viewer)

How do you upload equipment reviews on Opus? What happened to the dates of previous reviews? I can't seem to find information as easily as I could.

On the front-page of the Opus there is a large search box, more or less in the center. You can either do an exact search if you know exactly what you're looking for, or a more general search (e.g. "Canon"). Otherwise, if going a bit down the page, there's a photo of a camera with a clickable "Equipment" right above, which will take you to a page with a number of sub-sections. If the exact equipment you're looking for doesn't give any results in the search, it is very easy to start a page on it. The very first page in the search will say:

"There is no page titled "WHAT YOU SEARCHED FOR". You can create this page."

The last part is clickable, and allows you to create a page. If the equipment you're looking for already has a page, and you have more to add to it, just click "edit" (see attachment). Pretty straight forward when you've tried it once, and the format of the Opus means that any mistakes made in an edit easily can be corrected (so no need to be afraid of messing things up).
 

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May/should we create redirects for species with one or more vernacular names? One of the countless examples is Cocoi Heron and White-necked Heron (both Ardea cocoi), but only the former is present in the Opus.
 
May/should we create redirects for species with one or more vernacular names? One of the countless examples is Cocoi Heron and White-necked Heron (both Ardea cocoi), but only the former is present in the Opus.

I'd suggest doing it, as I already have on several occasions. Just make sure that:

1) You spell the new name correctly (small typos are easily made, e.g. Cocoi Heron could easily become Cocoo Heron if not paying attention; always a good idea to check it twice before starting a completely new page).
2) Make sure the name isn't more commonly used for some other species. For example, Oriolus flavocinctus is commonly known as the Yellow Oriole in Australia, but if creating that as a forward page, it would cause trouble as the species called the Yellow Oriole on a worldwide basis is Icterus nigrogularis. It can easily be checked if several species are referred to by a certain name by searching for it on Avibase (http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/). If that's the case, you can make a small intro similar to the one I've made for the White-naped Tit:

http://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-naped_Tit
 
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Not too sure about this, the external links was intended for links external to opus but still on birdforum i.e. the media links to song. The idea of opus is about members contributing and to have as much in Opus as possible rather than sending people off to personal websites but you're more than welcome to upload a photo where relevant. The prospect of broken links in the future isn't too appealing either.
Hi Andy,

You might consider the inclusion of a "References" section, when an author wishes to cite a source of information used within a page or in backing up a stated fact. Particularly when authors disagree on information presented on an Opus page.

One of the benefits of wiki-like editing is that broken links are easily removed, and over time, only stable links with long life-spans remain.

Andy Bright said:
We're still considering the 'discussion' tab's future.

Personally, I think the "discussion" tab is great for resolving the above type of issues. It's just a case of knowing when it should and shouldn't be used.

Will there be any policy on pages containing fact versus personal opinion, and neutrality of information?
 
Personally, I think the "discussion" tab is great for resolving the above type of issues. It's just a case of knowing when it should and shouldn't be used.

I agree, except that it seems a lot of people press it without the intention of actually starting a discussion about the page, despite the warning they get when clicking "discussion". A fast look at the Opus Discussion Area will reveal that the vast majority of threads are discussions started seemingly without the intention of actually discussing the specific page:

http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=623

I'm not entirely sure how that can be avoided. The best I can come up with is that "discussion" simply links to a page, e.g. stating that discussions about page X can be started in the "Opus Discussion Area" and then a link to this section of the forum. Or perhaps this is only starting difficulties and the number of mistakenly started discussions will diminish?
 
Yesterday I noted that the 'Help' tab in Opus took me to a species account and was nothing to do with Help at all. This appears to be fixed today in that the 'Help' tab has disappeared and the help facility in now an option in the sidebar. 'Watch/Unwatch' has now appeared as a tab and the instructions mention using the watch/unwatch in the sidebar. There is no such thing as far as I can see. Just a cosmetic change required here to indicate that watch/unwatch is now a tab not a sidebar option.
 
Also noted that if you click the 'Get Involved' link on the Opus main page, I was expecting an introduction as to what Opus was all about and what to do to access it and contribute to it. However, all I get is some information on a nature reserve called Rodley in the north of England. Maybe the link has gone awry.
 
There is obviously something wrong and I will leave you to sort out the teething troubles which I am sure is all that it is in what could be a valuable resource. I note that the help tab is back, this time as the left most tab. Also, when I click on the history tab, 2nd from the right, I get the help contents page. I think that I remember the help tab last night was 2nd from the right which might explain that.
 
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