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General Principles

An annotation can be attached to an Artist, a Label, a Release, or a Track. Everything said below about artist annotations apply to all types of annotations.

Each artist can have either no annotation at all:

... or up to one annotation (along with its last modification date):

Editing

When logged in, you can create a new annotation (if the artist doesn't have one already):

... or if an artist annotation already exists, you can additionally edit it (by clicking "Edit"), or view its history page (by clicking "Show history"):

As the annotation is edited, new versions are created. Only the most recent version is shown on the artist page.

Adding a new annotation where there was none before uses exactly the same mechanism as editing an existing annotation to create a new version. For a new annotation, the text starts off blank. For editing an existing annotation, the text starts off as a copy of the previous annotation:

When you save, a new version of the annotation is created. When editing / adding an annotation, you can optionally also enter a one-line change log; if provided, this is shown both on the annotation's "Show History" page, and also in the details of the edit (e.g., on the "show edit detail" page):

If you like, you can choose to edit a version other than the most recent (from the expanded annotation history page)

In this case, you still end up creating a new, most-recent version, just using different text as your starting point (you probably want to do that as to revert some undesired modification - eg: spam).

Currently all annotation edits are always auto-edits.

It is not possible to delete annotations, except by deleting the host artist, though you can (of course) delete all the annotation content.

Wiki formatting

You may use some wiki formatting in your annotations. The following snippets will work just the same as in MoinMoin :

• ''italics''
• '''bold'''
• '''''bold italics'''''
• ---- (for an horizontal rule)
• = Title 1 =
• == Title 2 ==
• === Title 3 ===
• * for bulleted list
• 1. or a. or A. or i. or I. for numbered list
• url or [url] or [url|description] for links (note the pipe "|")

Note that as square brackets are used for hyperlinks, you have to use the encoded html equivalents ([ for [") and (] for ]) if you want them not be converted into hyperlinks. Example: If you want to use [unknown] in the annotation, you'll have to write [unknown].

Also note that anything else won't work - especially not interwiki links, and not html markup.

Merging and Deleting

When an artist is deleted, all versions of the annotation attached to it are lost.

When artist "A" is merged into artist "B", creating artist "BA", the behavior is as follows:

• if neither A nor B had an annotation, then nor will BA.
• if A had an annotation but B did not, then that annotation will get moved to artist BA.
• if B had an annotation but A did not, then that annotation will get moved to artist BA.
• if both A and B had annotations, then the behavior is as follows:
  • all versions of A's annotation and all versions of B's annotation are attached to BA.
  • this effectively merges the two annotations together, with an intertwined "history".
  • then, a new annotation version is created:
    • where the text is: the text of B's most recent annotation, plus some space, plus the text of A's most recent annotation
    • the change log is: "Result of artist merge"
    • the ModBot enters an Add Artist Annotation edit accordingly.

Exceptions

Annotations cannot be attached to:

• Various Artists
• The Deleted Artist
• The Deleted Label

Annotations suggested readings

You can consult:

• for suggestions and recommendations about annotations content, depending on the context:
  • Artist Annotation
  • Release Annotation
  • Label Annotation
  • Track Annotation

• How Annotations Work for details about the annotations mechanism, and how to edit them.
• Annotation FAQ, for some quick answers to common questions.
• The Users Mailing List, the MusicBrainz Forum, the IRC channel, or the annotation discussion page, to discuss the current system or documentation, ask new questions, or suggest style enhancements.

If you're interested in either the future or the past, you may additionally consult/contribute to Annotation Future (suggest enhancements, list problems and limitations, or propose a new masterplan), or Annotation History (for a list of fixed tickets and some interesting insight into the old days)