Difference between revisions of "AchaeaWiki:Contributing Guidelines"
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Articles are generally snippets of information on a specific topic. They may contain sections and subsections if it's a particularly long topic, but it must not be overly broad and contain lots of factual information. Be '''objective''' in all things when authoring a bit of lore. This is a compendium of all the facts related to Achaea, so make sure you remain objective in tone and phrasing. | Articles are generally snippets of information on a specific topic. They may contain sections and subsections if it's a particularly long topic, but it must not be overly broad and contain lots of factual information. Be '''objective''' in all things when authoring a bit of lore. This is a compendium of all the facts related to Achaea, so make sure you remain objective in tone and phrasing. | ||
The articles in the "Help:" namespace are all imported directly from Achaea's help system. They are here for reference purposes, but are not meant to be the be-all and end-all of information about the subjects they touch upon. If you want to create, for example, an [Ashtan] page that lists more information about Ashtan than in [Help:Ashtan], go ahead. An Achaean Lore [Ashtan] page might list previous Overseers, Archons, and Divine Patrons of Ashtan, delve deeper into its history, link to a map, discuss its restaurants and shops, et cetera, information [Help:Ashtan] would not have. | |||
==Article Naming== | ==Article Naming== | ||
Articles are referenced by their names, so choosing an appropriate one is very key. Most information can be referred to by its proper name, such as "Vampires" or "Azdun". Sometimes, it's helpful to further qualify a name if it's possibly ambiguous we do this by appending a parenthetical to the end. For example: "Twilight (time of day)" could differentiate between "Twilight" (referring to the God). | Articles are referenced by their names, so choosing an appropriate one is very key. Most information can be referred to by its proper name, such as "Vampires" or "Azdun". Sometimes, it's helpful to further qualify a name if it's possibly ambiguous we do this by appending a parenthetical to the end. For example: "Twilight (time of day)" could differentiate between "Twilight" (referring to the God). | ||
===Namespaces=== | ===Namespaces=== | ||
When choosing a name, do not include a colon (':') in the name. This is reserved for 'namespaces' a feature of the wiki system and used only in very special circumstances. Do not change pages that already have a namespace on them. For example, "Help:" and "AchaeaLore:" should not be removed or changed to a different namespace. | When choosing a name, do not include a colon (':') in the name. This is reserved for 'namespaces' a feature of the wiki system and used only in very special circumstances. Do not change pages that already have a namespace on them. For example, "Help:" and "AchaeaLore:" should not be removed or changed to a different namespace. At this time, please do not change any pages in the "Help:" namespace. | ||
==Categories== | ==Categories== | ||
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* Always remember to add a category to the article. | * Always remember to add a category to the article. | ||
* Do not include OOC comments in the body of the page. If you need to share information or comments about an article, use the "Talk"/"Discussion" tab for that page. | * Do not include OOC comments in the body of the page. If you need to share information or comments about an article, use the "Talk"/"Discussion" tab for that page. | ||
==Privileged Information== | |||
*The same rules go here as for the Forums. Please do not share quest or skills information. | |||
Revision as of 23:59, 29 June 2005
Articles entered into the Achaean Lore archives need to have a certain structure and format in order to ensure readability and consistency throughout. Plus, there are just certain ways of formatting the information such that it flows well within the online system used to present it.
Articles
Articles are generally snippets of information on a specific topic. They may contain sections and subsections if it's a particularly long topic, but it must not be overly broad and contain lots of factual information. Be objective in all things when authoring a bit of lore. This is a compendium of all the facts related to Achaea, so make sure you remain objective in tone and phrasing.
The articles in the "Help:" namespace are all imported directly from Achaea's help system. They are here for reference purposes, but are not meant to be the be-all and end-all of information about the subjects they touch upon. If you want to create, for example, an [Ashtan] page that lists more information about Ashtan than in [Help:Ashtan], go ahead. An Achaean Lore [Ashtan] page might list previous Overseers, Archons, and Divine Patrons of Ashtan, delve deeper into its history, link to a map, discuss its restaurants and shops, et cetera, information [Help:Ashtan] would not have.
Article Naming
Articles are referenced by their names, so choosing an appropriate one is very key. Most information can be referred to by its proper name, such as "Vampires" or "Azdun". Sometimes, it's helpful to further qualify a name if it's possibly ambiguous we do this by appending a parenthetical to the end. For example: "Twilight (time of day)" could differentiate between "Twilight" (referring to the God).
Namespaces
When choosing a name, do not include a colon (':') in the name. This is reserved for 'namespaces' a feature of the wiki system and used only in very special circumstances. Do not change pages that already have a namespace on them. For example, "Help:" and "AchaeaLore:" should not be removed or changed to a different namespace. At this time, please do not change any pages in the "Help:" namespace.
Categories
All (or almost all) articles should contain at least one category. Categories are added at the end of an article and usually refer to a group or classification for that article. For instance, the page "Zsarachnor" is in the "Vampires" category. There are in fact sub-categories as well (clicking on Category:Vampires will bring you to that page, which lists articles in that category -- but you can see that even that page is in the "Creatures" category).
Content
When writing the actual article body, please keep the following in mind:
- Refer to factual items using the wiki link markup (e.g. [[foo]]), but only in the first reference (or if it's not obvious). No need to make every word in the body a link.
- Always remember to add a category to the article.
- Do not include OOC comments in the body of the page. If you need to share information or comments about an article, use the "Talk"/"Discussion" tab for that page.
Privileged Information
- The same rules go here as for the Forums. Please do not share quest or skills information.