# Documentation contribution opportunities
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614
**Category:** Site feedback
**Tags:** documentation, contribution
**Created:** [September 17, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614 "2024-09-17T01:05:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hugh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hugh)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/1 "2024-09-17T01:05:23Z")
Discourse documentation is the primary location for administrators, moderators, users, and sysadmins to find help with using Discourse and managing their sites.
While this documentation is robust and covers a lot of ground, there are some missing areas that we do not have documented yet. This is a great opportunity for the community to get involved in helping to refine this important part of the Discourse project.
We would love to see more people getting involved in creating documentation content for Discourse, and want to make it as easy possible for anyone to do so. To that end, below is a list of Discourse features or use-cases that we have identified as requiring new or improved documentation.
## š Documentation locations
Anyone of trust level 2 or above can create new documentation topics in #Wiki - this is the home for all community-contributed documentation content. If a topic in the community wiki is considered relevant or important, it may be moved to #Documentation - the home for all official Discourse documentation. You can read the [documentation policy](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-documentation-policy/322621) for more details about that.
## š Badges for documentation contributors
Anyone who creates a new topic in the #Wiki category will automatically be assigned the bronze Scribe badge:
If the topic is considered valuable enough to move to the official #Documentation category, someone on the Discourse team will do this manually, credit the original author in the topic content, and assign them the silver Ghostwriter badge:
## š Documentation that needs to be written
While we ultimately want to see every part of Discourse thoroughly documented, these are the areas we have identified with the most pressing need (crossed out items indicate topics that have been written since this post was first published):
- A general getting started tutorial for admins
- Custom topic redirects
- Explanation of what different user levels can do
- Social login options
- Post notices ([official doc](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-and-managing-post-notices/326962))
- More documentation about how trust levels work
- How to write a good feature request for Discourse ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/writing-an-effective-feature-request-a-step-by-step-guide/327385))
- A reference for how Discourse markdown and formatting features look when included in emails
- User statuses ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-user-statuses/327163))
- Explanation of dark mode, how to select it, and how to enable switching ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/explanation-of-dark-mode-how-to-select-it-and-how-to-enable-switching/327397))
- General documentation covering managing user preferences ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/managing-understanding-user-preferences/327479))
- Docs explaining how categories and hierarchy work in Discourse
- A general guide for topic settings
- A general guide about plugins - what they are, how they work, and how to use them
- Custom homepages
- Changing default categories and topics
- Using image grids in posts ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/image-grids/329982))
- Post approval settings ([wiki topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-automatic-post-review-triggers/328584))
_Some of these may require multiple topics to be effectively documented._
## ā How to write documentation
In order to ensure Discourse documentation is as effective as possible, we have [a style guide](https://meta.discourse.org/t/writing-effective-documentation-for-discourse/309628) for how to write this content. While it would be helpful for everyone to follow the guide, if youāre contributing to #Wiki, itās not a problem if you donāt stick to it completely. Any topics that are moved over to #Documentation will be updated by Discourse staff to match the style guide as needed.
## š” Interested?
Jump into #Wiki and start documenting today. If you want to discuss any of this, feel free to reply to this topic to talk about it.
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 3:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/8 "2024-09-17T03:29:04Z")
What about the existing topics? Like for example
> [@hugh](#):
>
> How to grant admin or moderator privileges to users
[Promoting a User to Admin or Moderator Status](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grant-admin-or-moderator-privileges-to-a-user/284754)
> [@hugh](#):
>
> How to write a good feature request for Discourse
[Requesting new features for Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requesting-new-features-for-discourse/32986)
---
### Author:  [@hugh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hugh)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 3:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/9 "2024-09-17T03:50:11Z")
For this one:
> [@Moin](#):
>
> > [@hugh](#):
> >
> > How to write a good feature request for Discourse
>
> [Requesting new features for Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requesting-new-features-for-discourse/32986)
The existing documentation talks about how to request new features, but not how to format a good request to make it more effective. We currently link to [this page](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/258136/how-do-i-write-a-good-feature-request), but it would be good if we could have that kind of content on Meta instead.
And for this one:
> [@Moin](#):
>
> > [@hugh](#):
> >
> > How to grant admin or moderator privileges to users
>
> [Grant Admin or Moderator Privileges to a User](https://meta.discourse.org/t/grant-admin-or-moderator-privileges-to-a-user/284754)
Good catch! Iāll remove that from the list in this topic š
---
### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/10 "2024-09-17T13:37:40Z")
> [@hugh](#):
>
> How to write a good feature request for Discourse
There is this topic covering feature requests already
> [@Requesting new features for Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requesting-new-features-for-discourse/32986):
>
> bookmark This guide explains how to request new features for Discourse, check existing plans, and increase the chances of your feature request being prioritized. person_raising_hand Required user level: Anyone can submit a feature request Got a great idea for a Discourse feature? Thatās fantastic! Hereās how you can share it with the team effectively. Make sure your feature isnāt already made or planned Before submitting a new feature request, ensure itās not already available or plannā¦
Unless it needs to look like this but for a feature request? š š
> [@Writing an effective bug report](https://meta.discourse.org/t/writing-an-effective-bug-report/183671):
>
> bookmark This is a guide for writing effective bug reports in Discourse to maximize the chances of getting bugs fixed. person_raising_hand Required user level: Any can report a bug Writing a good bug report is essential to help the Discourse team fix issues efficiently. This guide will walk you through the steps and best practices to ensure your bug report is clear, concise, and actionable. Summary In this documentation, weāll cover: The importance of providing reproducible steps andā¦
---
### Author:  [@HamMan2118](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HamMan2118)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/11 "2024-09-17T20:11:57Z")
> [@hugh](#):
>
> Post notices
Does this mean Staff Notice or something different?
---
### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/12 "2024-09-17T20:30:26Z")
I assume this is a post notice since its in the title
> [@Post notices for first-time and returning users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-notices-for-first-time-and-returning-users/112078):
>
> To encourage kindness towards users who are posting for the first time or may not have posted in a while weāve created a new feature that calls special attention to these new/returning users. These banners are visible to other users, but not the poster they apply toā¦ and by default are only visible to community members who have been active enough to achieve [Trust Level 2](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/). Hereās what they look like: How can I configure this feature? Admins can adjust these options in theirā¦
Staff notices are basically the same I guess?
---
### Author:  [@hugh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hugh)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/13 "2024-09-17T20:54:57Z")
> [@ondrej](#):
>
> Unless it needs to look like this but for a feature request? š š
Yeah thatās what weāre looking for there š
> [@HamMan2118](#):
>
> > [@hugh](#):
> >
> > Post notices
>
> Does this mean Staff Notice or something different?
As @ondrej linked to, post notices are what are outlined in [this announcement](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-notices-for-first-time-and-returning-users/112078). We have that announcement topic, but not actual documentation about it.
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/16 "2024-09-18T22:34:36Z")
I Hugh, this is great idea.
I have been meaning to present an idea for the community wiki to have some kind of tag for say forum templates.
The idea I have for this. Is often we have folks asking about using discourse for things like a Support Forum, Learning Platform etc.. Even sometimes more obscure uses like a Table Top RPG.
Collecting content from topics like those & even thinking of various uses. We could create a new resource with a master Topic used as an index.
- Support Forum Templates
- Learning Platform Templates
These Topics can house Hosted by Discourse, Communique(so?) etc.. with recommended plugins & Theme components etc . As well as a post for Self-hosted.
Hosted templates would focus on the plugins & reference what plans are needed for a particular plugin for use.
With tips & tricks and even point folks to the #Marketplace if they need a custom layout, plugin, etc..
---
### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2024, 6:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/18 "2024-09-19T06:44:32Z")
> [@hugh](#):
>
> User statuses
Made:
> [@Custom User Statuses](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-user-statuses/327163/1):
>
> Summary This document covers: What a Custom User Status Is How to add, modify, and remove a custom user status. Custom User Status Description A Custom User Status is a feature where users can set a custom status and icon to appear in their profile and next to their avatar at posts. This can be used, as a member, to let the community know if you are unavailable, on vacation, or want to share how you are feeling. A custom user status appears like this in a post:
---
### Author:  [@hugh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hugh)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2024, 6:46am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/19 "2024-09-19T06:46:44Z")
I saw that š Great to see these coming in!
---
### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/21 "2024-09-19T23:01:52Z")
Working on the one for dark mode.
---
### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/22 "2025-05-18T23:20:34Z")
These guides have aleeady been made but not yet ticked off:
> [@hugh](#):
>
> User statuses
> [@Custom User Statuses](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-user-statuses/327163/1):
>
> Summary This document covers: What a Custom User Status Is How to add, modify, and remove a custom user status. Custom User Status Description A Custom User Status is a feature where users can set a custom status and icon to appear in their profile and next to their avatar at posts. This can be used, as a member, to let the community know if you are unavailable, on vacation, or want to share how you are feeling. A custom user status appears like this in a post:
> [@hugh](#):
>
> Using image grids in posts
> [@Image Grids](https://meta.discourse.org/t/image-grids/329982/1):
>
> bookmark This guide explains what Image Grids are and how to apply them in your posts. person_raising_hand Required user level: Trust Level 0 Summary This document covers: Description of image grids How they can be applied in posts and how to modify them Basic Layout of image grids Image Grids Description An image grid places all of the images in your post into a neat, organized grid - rather than in a list. Below is an example of an image grid.
> [@hugh](#):
>
> Custom homepages
This one is a bit blurry. Does it refer to custom homepage content? If so, then maybe [Add custom content that only appears on your homepage](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-custom-content-that-only-appears-on-your-homepage/131415). Otherwiseā¦ it hasnāt been written yet.
---
### Author:  [@hugh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hugh)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/documentation-contribution-opportunities/326614/23 "2025-05-20T01:09:24Z")
Thanks for circling back here - I have updated the OP with these links.
> [@NateDhaliwal](#):
>
> This one is a bit blurry. Does it refer to custom homepage content?
This is a fairly niche thing and refers to creating a custom homepage, so not really something that most Discourse admins will be using. Itās not a primary feature, as it isnāt something that is fully polished at this stage.