Guide to contributing to the wiki
Welcome
We're happy you've shown interest in contributing to the wiki. We welcome all editors and assume good faith for all edits made, so there are very few protected pages. Don't be afraid to jump in and start creating and modifying pages.
Getting started
You will need to link your byond account to your forum account to be able to edit the wiki. Instructions can be found here. In summary:
- Create a Byond account (if you haven't).
- Create a tgstation13 forum account.
- Link those accounts. There are multiple ways of linking accounts:
- Connect to a normal /tg/ server and click the "Link Forum Account" button under the OOC tab
- Join a dedicated Byond server for account linking. byond://byondoauth.tgstation13.org:31337
- (Experimental/Buggy) Use the link https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/linkbyondaccount.php?go=1&
You should now be able to see "edit" buttons on the wiki.
Important notes
- Please summarize your edits. You will see a textbox for a summary near the 'Save page' button when making an edit. It provides detail and clarity to a page's history and the Recent Changes log
- Editing any page with tabs may require manual flushing of the page's cache. See Tabs for more details
- The wiki, for the most part, should be tailored to new players. If you are a veteran and you want to share more advanced tips and tactics, please create a clear divide between that and the other content. For example, create a new header titled "Advanced (subject)"
- The "Edit" button utilizes Mediawiki's Visual Editor, which provides a fancy interface for users who may be less proficient with wikicode. The "Edit Source" button uses the old-fashioned but versatile source editor.
Wikicode
Wikicode is the strange syntax used by all wikipedias, including this one. Our wikicode page provides good examples on how to insert headers, templates, tables, images, and more. If we don't have what you're looking for, try the Wikipedia page here. Learning wiki markup is not mandatory, you can still help without even using it.
What needs doing?
A to-do list for the wiki is on the /tg/ forums, and can be found here.
New pages
New content is constantly being added to /tg/station 13 which needs tutorials and documentation. Make sure the page you want to write does not already exist before composing a new one. We welcome all contributions to the wiki and trust all edits to be made in good faith. As a recommendation, if you wish to work on a page uninterrupted and not worry about other users' edits while working, make it in your personal sandbox area or anywhere in your own pages. If you don't know wikicode, you can create an unformatted page and ask someone else to format it for you.
Existing pages
A list of pages that need revisions can be found here.
Updates are frequent and we need people to update the information on the wiki. To do this, simply edit the page with new information. If you don't know wikicode, you can write the new and/or updated content on the discussion page without formatting.
Marking for revision and deletion
If a page is out of date or doesn't have a reason for existing, add one of the following tags to the top of the page:
{{Needs revision}}
{{Needs revision | reason = Out of date.}}
or
{{delete}}
Images
Uploading new images
If you have new and relevant images, then upload them and add them to the page they're intended for. It is appreciated if the pictures of items you add have a blank background and are in the .gif or .png format. The easiest way to add images of items is to download the source code, open the icons .dmi files, and export images as .gif's or .png's from there.
Then upload them here: https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Special:Upload
Updating existing images
It is possible for an image to become depreciated following an update to the source code. To update an existing obsolete image, you can:
- Visit the upload page and upload your new image with the same filepath as the old image.
- Visit its page on the wiki (by either clicking the image itself or searching for its name using the "File:" prefix in the search bar), click on "upload a new version of this file" under "File history", and select your new image on the upload page.
All depreciated versions of the image will remain on the File's history page for posterity.
IMPORTANT NOTICES: Images can only be updated with files of the same format: .png images cannot be updated to .gif, and vice-versa. This is because files are saved on a page that includes their format in its name. Due to caching issues, updating existing images may take up to a week to actually update.
Tabs
Any page can have tabs added to it through the <tabs> function. This function has the known problem of displaying correctly in a page edit preview, but incorrectly once an edit is applied. To fix this, the page's cache has to be flushed. One easy method is to add ?action=purge at the end of a page's URL. If the problem persists, leave a post on the forum.
Guide to Writing and Revising a Guide
Always keep in mind what these guides are for; they're so newbies can quickly skim across them so they can have half an idea of what they've just been selected for.
A good guide needs, by order:
- A brief one-two paragraph description of what the mode is.
- A bullet point list of short, clear, and concise points of key mechanics; these should be no longer than two sentences each. And remember: key points means the important stuff you need to know to meet minimum expectations at the start of the round. You should be able to read and understand it within 5 minutes.
- A more detailed section describing the game mechanics in depth. This includes more advanced information, but it should still be clear and concise.
- A summary of the key points; yes - one at the start and one at the end. Reiteration helps to hammer things home. This one will more or less be a simple list to remind the reader of important details, it won't explain them.
- Further reading - this is where the reader can get more detailed and advanced information or strategies. If it is to be written on the main page, have a clear divide between this and the rest of the content, like a new header. Otherwise, list the relevant articles for users to sink into the rabbit hole!
- Hyperlinks! Remember to add links to game modes, antagonist roles, jobs, items and guides you mention! It's better to do it during the proofreading stage as to not waste any time actually writing the article.
An example of a bad guide would be a giant wall of text that's overly fluffed up and/or full of uninformative opinions.
This will scare away new and veteran players alike. Try not to overload or intimidate newbies.
So remember:
- Facts good, opinions bad.
- Keep your facts clear of irrelevant fluff.
- Keep the basic guide basic, keep the advanced stuff on a separate section or page.
- Important stuff first; depth, explanation, and unimportant things later.
- White space, tables, sections, and formatting are essential for ease of reading. We're not print media, space isn't at a premium so use it freely.
- Links!
- I just used the above template to write this guide.
Jokes
Some references (and even entire pages) are designed to be entertaining. However, a newbie might not realize something is a joke or sarcasm, even if it's blatantly obvious to the rest of us. This is especially important when writing guides. Think about where jokes fit and where they don't, and if they're actually funny.
Useful pages
Categories: Used, unused and wanted
Templates: Used, unused and wanted
All pages: All existing pages and Wanted pages
Protected pages
Very few pages are protected for their administrative importance, sensitive content, or excessive griefing. Only administrators can edit these pages. A list of protected pages can be found here.
Talk Pages
Within the wiki, articles have a discussion page and users have a talk page. The use of these pages is uncommon, but they are usually used for communication between users (obviously), and suggesting edits, especially on protected pages.
When writing on a discussion or talk page (for example Talk:Main_Page), there are a few things you need to know.
Signature
Always end your message with your signature, so everyone knows who wrote what (without having to check the edit history).
This should be done by writing ~~~~ after your message. You can customize your signature on your user preferences page.
| Code: |
Look. ~~~~ |
|---|---|
| Result: |
Indentation
When replying to another user's message, be sure to indent your message so it is visibly a reply to the above message.
This is done by simply adding : at the start of the line.
| Code: |
Look. - [[User:Deantwo|Deantwo]] ([[User_talk:Deantwo|talk]]) 10:35, 30 November 2013 (CET) |
|---|---|
| Result: |
Headline
If you are starting a new topic, add a headline with the name of the topic. If a talk page is used a lot, it can become confusing if the topics aren't separated with headlines. It also allows for section editing, which makes editing long talk pages a lot easier.
This is one of the most basic and commonly used features on a wiki. It is used by typing ==Topic== on the line above your message. Just replace "Topic" with whatever it is you're talking about.
| Code: |
==Look at this tutorial== |
|---|---|
| Result: |
Look at this tutorial [edit] |