This article provides a starting point for beginner editors. For more help and to answer any questions the #wiki channel in Solar Conquest Discord is highly advised. If you are looking for current Wiki projects and priorities see SolarConquest:Editing Projects.
FAQ
Q: How do I create a page?
Search for the desired page name and press the central red link. You must create an account in order to edit.
Q: How do I upload an image?
Click the Upload file link in the left sidebar. Ensure you include attribution : this can be as simple as providing a link to the original source in the Summary section.
Q: How do I format a page?
There are two methods of editing, pressing 'Edit' or 'Edit source'. 'Edit' opens the WYSIWYG visual editor which is suited for simple edits. It is advised to use `Edit Source` for more complex formatting. The best way to improve formatting is by example : view the source of high quality pages and copy the relevant wikitext and surrounding brackets: e.g. {{infobox ... }}.
Formatting is less important then content. It is better to submit an edit with poor or non-existent formatting than not to submit at all.
Q: How are templates used?
A template can standardize and save large amounts of time. To add a template to a page click 'Edit', then click 'Insert' on editor top bar. Click 'Template' and search for a specified template you would like to add, like "Infobox ...".
Writing standards
Generally Solar Conquest Wiki follows the Wikipedia Manual of Style and Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view. Common academic writing guidelines should be followed such as avoiding the use of first person in articles and references should be used when possible. Nevertheless, Solar Conquest Wiki is not Wikipedia:
- Content that does not take a neutral point of view can remain hosted on Solar Conquest Wiki as long as it is affixed with Template:Neutrality_warning
- The standards for topic verifiability and notability are of necessity much lower on Solar Conquest Wiki
This is not to say that that low quality content is encouraged. All Solar Conquest Wiki content that is not affixed with warnings should follow Wikipedia quality standards to the greatest possible degree.
SolarConquest:Neutral point of view
Solar Conquest Wiki hosts many types of content. Some content is created with no intention of presenting information from a neutral perspective. This is permissible, yet to avoid confusion this content must be marked with template:Neutrality warning. If you wish to have a version of page with a neutral point of view (NPOV) and a version of a page without NPOV, make the NPOV the main page and create a new sub page (without NPOV) by adding '/NW' to the current page url.
SolarConquest:Obsolete
Content that does not make clear it is highly outdated should be marked with template:Obsolete warning
SolarConquest:References
References should be used whenever possible. They can be anything from reddit posts, links to discord messages(screenshots of discord messages are also okay but a link is preferred), imgur albums/pictures, newspapers, or anything that has a name attached to the source which is easily verifiable.
Tips
Page checklist
In addition to content standards consider :
- Relevant images to break up long walls of text
- A short summary at top that can be understood without reading the full article
- Page is not a stub (i.e. pages is too short to provide a relatively encyclopedic coverage of a subject
- Searching Solar Conquest discords for relevant content will often turn up useful information, references and images
- "If an article's title is a formal or widely accepted name for the subject, display it in bold as early as possible in the first sentence" (see here)
Redirects
Create a page with acronym name to redirect (e.g. Page name is SC and redirect
#REDIRECT [[Solar Conquest]])
Categories
To categorize a page, link to the category in the article source
(eg. to add the page to the category "Planets": [[Category:Planets]]). Some useful categories can be found at SolarConquest:Navigation.
File naming
Files should be saved with relevant names and summaries. Files can then be easily searched using Special:ListFiles or Special:NewFiles.
When uploading planet images to the wiki, follow the format
<Planet Name> <subdivision name (if applicable)> <SC1 or SC2>
(e.g. A valid file name would be Havalu SC2.png)
Dating information
Information that may quickly go out of date should be dated. (E.g. the population of X is 40 should be replaced with the population of X is 40, as of January 2020). If you find information that is not dated, affix the template:
{{when}}
Resources
Sandboxes
Use SolarConquest:Sandbox to experiment with formatting
Useful Templates
Template:Neutrality warning
{{Neutrality warning}} or {{Neutrality warning|section}}.
Template:Obsolete warning
{{Obsolete warning}} or {{Obsolete warning|section}}.
Infobox
- Template:Infobox Faction
- Template:Infobox Game
- Template:Infobox Planet
- Template:Infobox Player
- Template:Infobox Structure
- Template:Infobox Vehicle
- Template:Infobox Weapon
- Template:Infobox War
- Template:Infobox Creature
WIP