Welcome To New WoW Wikibase Editors (was forum=82)Follow

Greetings, one and all. I am Bludwyng, the Sr. Wikibase Admin here at ZAM. I have been asked to give you a brief introduction to the Wikibase as I am sure you are all anxious to rack up the points for the drawings!

First of all, let me point you to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): http://wow.allakhazam.com/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions

The FAQ should cover the basics of how to create a link to a DB entry, and how to link an image, and how to make a link to a Standalone wikipage. Also how to make headers or make the text bold or italic.

That said, let me cover a few things with the assumption that you have NEVER seen a wiki before!

How do I start editing?

There are 2 different types of Wiki pages in a wikibase: DB Wikipages and Standalone Wikipages.

DB Wikipages are those that appear as part of the display of database-driven content. At the top of the "wikipanel" (that portion of the text that YOU can edit!) you will see a small "Edit v". The v indicates a pull-down that has some additional options, but ignore those for now. Click on the Edit to start editing.

Standalone Wikipages are entirely wiki and free-form. There is no database filling in some of the data on these pages. Just under the site-wide pulldown menus will be the Wiki menu bar. "View Edit History Media ..." etc, and this is the Edit you need to click.

Now you are in the Wiki edit window. Enter your text into the window, add an edit summary in the line below the edit window, and click Save. You can also use the Preview button to see what it will look like. If you use this, use your browser's Back button to get back to the editor!

2) What should I put in the edit window?

Just about anything! Don't worry too much about wiki formatting. Use what you know, but don't stress over it! If you know how it should look, but do not know how to format it, add {{wikify}} somewhere on the page and one of our helpful team will be along eventually to clean it up and make it look right. The most important thing here is the information, not the formatting.

Also, and this is VERY important... on Standalone Wikipages, you MUST put {{wow}} at the bottom of the page. Why? Because our wikibase has pages for ALL the games we cover, and without being in the correct category, noone will ever find your page via the Search engine! {{wow}} adds the page automatically to :Category:World of Warcraft so it can be found. DB Wikipages do this automatically so the do not need {{wow}}.

One more little note on this topic and we will move on. TRY to always write in 3rd person. Think like a reporter. Avoid words like "I" and "We". This is not intended as a blog or forum. This is the facts (and just the fact's, Ma'am) of how to do what needs to be done. Keep in impersonal.

3) So how am I gonna learn wiki markup?

The BEST way to learn is always to look. Use the Edit button on pages that are laid out well, and see how it is done. Wiki markup is, just like HTML and forum markup, just a restricted way of formating text. Almost anything you can do in HTML, you can do in wiki markup. In fact, many HTML tags (but not all!) will work in wiki. HTML tables work, for instance, but wiki markup is just a little easier to read.

4) I searched for a specific topic and did not find it. Should I just start a new page?

Before you do that, try looking around a bit for pages with a slightly different name. Avoid words like "A", "An" and "The" in your search text. If you still cannot find a page that fits what you want to write about, go right ahead and start a new one! Be sure to look for related pages and add links there, where appropriate, to point to your new page. After all, what good is all your hard work if no one ever finds it?

5) I am committed, intend to stay and help, and want to make a page about me and what I am working on. Where do I put that?

There is a special namespace, called User:, that you can use for this. My user page is at User:Bludwyng. That is the 2 square left brackets, then User:Bludwyng, then the two square right brackets. In URL format, that would be http://wow.allakhazam.com/wiki/User:Bludwyng

6) What are those things in double curly braces?

Those are template calls. A template is like a wiki macro. I can take a lot of wiki code that we are gonna use over and over, give it a name, and then invoke it anywhere I want it's contents to be inserted, interpreted and displayed. In essence (and here comes the techno-babble) the contents of a Template are expanded into the spot where the call appears before the wiki compiler runs, so the contents of the template act as if you had cut and pasted them into the page. There is more to it than that, but Templates are a way for the very wiki-knowledgeable to make tools that everyone can use without having to understand what it does inside. For a complete list of templates for WoW, see WoW Template Users Guide. Complete syntax instructions for the template are on the actual template page so you can follow the links on the Users Guide to see HOW to use the template, and what all the parameters mean.
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And, please feel free to contact me by pm, standard email or by posting in this forum at any time. I will try to answer any questions you have.




Edited, Jun 3rd 2008 9:47pm by Azuarc

Leh gasp, a new admin!

Why do you hate Bludwyng.

Seriously I give him about 2 more months.

I hope you give him/her beer.

(I love the idea of the wiki and am glad to see it but it's so.... easy to have stuff just get so out of control. You DO know the posters on this site, right? )

And before some of you conjure up bad memories of eighth grade where you had to write "300 words or more," please remember that (a) we aren't giving you a requirement for writing a lot of good content, only an incentive -- you still get one contest entry for simply adding to an article -- and (b) this post is not far from 100 words. That's all there is to getting that much content in. So if this had been a wiki article, I'd have gotten two entries. (OK, now it's 100.)

Guess this was the more appropriate place to post in.

Are you guys planning on rivalling WoWwiki.com? Because it'll be hell making articles not look like a complete ripoff of WoWwiki.com. They pretty much covered everything twice and then a third time just for kicks. Or is this just going to be a lite version of a wikibase?

Wouldn't it be better to direct people to WoWwiki.com then?

And THAT is the reason we are HERE today and well said lol.

It's even more fun the other way round. "Wait, hold on, Celcio's a chick???"

And as long as we're sharing:
Even better than that - On my first "main" toon I played a male dwarf. I don't make a point to tell or to hide my gender. To me it's a non-issue in game and I'll usually refer to players as their character gender.

I grouped consistently with 2 other players from about level 14 to 50. I hadn't known them before we just started questing together and never stopped. I remember being, oh I dunno, lvl 45 running RFK with them. They started getting all goofy at the end of the run and were (this was bizarre) acting like they were going to homosexually have their way with me in the instance.

What they didn't know was that instead of creeping me out I'm sitting there in tears laughing at what they would think if I told them I was female. So I did. It was every bit as priceless as I imagined.


ETA: Oh and I like the random insertion of wiki links into your posts. It's second nature for you by now, isn't it.




Edited, Jun 4th 2008 8:00pm by Celcio

Celcio's a chick?

Damn, my world just came crashing down on me.