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Start new topics at the bottom of the page: If you put a post at the top of the page, it is confusing and can easily be overlooked. The latest topic should be the one at the bottom of the page. Then the next post will go underneath yours and so on. This makes it easy to see the chronological order of posts. A quick way to do this is to use the + tab next to the edit button on the talk page you are on.
Separate multiple points with whitespace: If a single post has several points, it makes it clearer to separate them with a paragraph break (i.e. a blank line). Whitespace is not necessary if your post is indented with colons, simply starting another line with the same indentation level will have an appropriate gap in the output. Whitespace is also not necessary between any lines within an indented or bulleted list, and actually increases the complexity of the generated HTML code, which can have accessibility implications.
Thread your post: Use indentation as shown in WP:TP (or, more specifically, Misplaced Pages:Indentation) to clearly indicate who you are replying to, as with usual threaded discussions. Normally colons are used, not bullet points (although the latter are commonly used at AfD, CfD, etc.).
Start new topics at the bottom of the page: If you put a post at the top of the page, it is confusing and can also get easily overlooked. The latest topic should be the one at the bottom of the page.
Make a new heading for a new topic: It will then be clearly separated into its own section and will also appear in the TOC (table of contents) at the top of the page. A heading is easy to create with == either side of the words, as in == Heading ==. The "Post a comment" feature can be used to do this automatically. (If you are using the default Misplaced Pages:Skin, you can use the "+" tab next to the "Edit this page" tab instead.) Enter a subject/heading in the resulting edit page, and it will automatically become the section heading.
Keep headings on topics related to the article. It should be clear from the heading which aspect of the article you wish to discuss. Do not write "This article is wrong" but address the specific issue you want to discuss.
Keep headings neutral: A heading should indicate what the topic is, but not communicate a specific view about it.
Do not praise in headings: You may wish to commend a particular edit, but this could be seen in a different light by someone who disagrees with the edit.
Do not be critical in headings: This includes being critical about details of the article. Those details were written by individual editors, who may experience the heading as an attack on them.
Never address other users in a heading: A heading should invite all editors to respond to the subject addressed. Headings may be about a user's edits but not specifically to a user.
Never use headings to attack other users: While NPA and AGF apply everywhere at Misplaced Pages, using headings to attack other users by naming them in the heading is especially egregious, since it places their name prominently in the Table of Contents, and can thus enter that heading in the edit summary of the page's edit history. Since edit summaries and edit histories aren't normally subject to revision, that wording can then haunt them and damage their credibility for an indefinite time period, even though edit histories are excluded from search engines. Reporting on another user's edits from a neutral point of view is an exception, especially reporting 3RR violations or other incidents to administrators.
Create subsections if helpful. Talk page discussions should be concise, but if a single discussion becomes particularly long, it may be helpful to add a subsection (such as ===Arbitrary break===) for ease of editing. This is preferable to using templates like {{hide}} and may facilitate the involvement of editors with slower computers and Internet connections.
Links, time and page name
Make links freely: Links to articles are as useful on talk pages as anywhere else, and links to non-existent articles can help get them onto the most wanted articles list.
Use UTC when referring to a time, e.g. the time of an edit or page move.
When mentioning the name of the page, cite the current name: This applies when a page is moved (i.e. retitled). In such a case, the Talk page is usually also moved. If you continue to use the old name, it will be confusing, especially for new editors to the article.
When pages get too long
Archive—do not delete: When a talk page has become too large or a particular subject is no longer being discussed, do not delete the content—archive it. See Help:Archiving a talk page for details on why and how to.
Users may freely remove comments from their own talk pages, though archiving is preferred. They may also remove some content in archiving. The removal of a warning is taken as evidence that the warning has been read by the user. This specifically includes both registered and anonymous users.
Notes
URLs of edit histories and revision differences begin with http://en.wikipedia.org/w/, and Misplaced Pages's robots.txt file disallows /w/.
