Help:Editing guidelines
From Mushpedia
Here's some general editing guidelines that you should keep in mind when editing the Mushpedia.
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This guide is still under construction and will gradually be expanded! |
Contents
General ideas
- While it's awesome and preferable that editors follow all the instructions below, adding raw, unformatted and "messy" information (as long as it's correct) to the wiki is better than not adding anything at all! If you have something to contribute, don't be afraid that it might be rejected. At the moment of writing, the wiki has certain people who are more than happy to add "polish" to raw data... as long as there IS something to work with!
- Your vision of the wiki - or an article - may differ from other users'. Try to find a compromise and not create/take offense involving changes! Mushpedia is a cooperative effort, not a competitive one.
- If there's a feature you think the wiki is missing, for example if there's no template for status icons yet, you're free to try and implement it yourself, or at least request it!
- However, there are limits. A rule of thumb is to work with what the wiki gives you; some features or changes may either be long present, unnecessary, or unwanted (see the Tables point under Appearance). Never be afraid to communicate and ask (just like in Mush!) before making big changes.
- Mushpedia is a wiki encyclopedia. The purpose of articles on a wiki is to provide all information on the subject in a structured fashion. While tutorials, tips and advice are within the scope of an article, typically articles aren't just that.
- Example: Instead of creating a "Gardening" article to paste Rain's gardening guide tips&tricks into it, try to also fill the article with general information; what Gardening is, its mechanics, what Skills and NERON Projects are related to Gardening etc. Advice, good gardening practice etc is just one section of the article.
Structure
- An article should have an opening paragraph describing its general purpose. Usually, in that paragraph the title of the article is mentioned in bold. Example: Skills
- Different subjects should be separated with headlines and sub-headlines like == Section 1 ==, === Sub-Section 1 ===, == Section 2 == etc.
Appearance
- Generally try to work with the tools given to you by the wiki. Use "thumb", "right", "frame" etc. parameters to display images in various positions, use wikitables to display information in a table, etc. etc.
- Tables: Please use the regular "wikitable" class and avoid customizing as much as possible. Once we have a design for the site, it will be very very easy to do a global css change to make the wikitable format be whatever color/format/etc looks best down the road. I know it's boring now, but I promise we'll make it better!
Templates
- Familiarize yourself with our selection of Useful Templates before editing. They make adding useful and pretty information much easier! Would you rather read "Phagocyte heals 4 ap and hp" or "
Phagocyte heals 4 
and 
" in an article?
- IMPORTANT: Try not to repeat template usage in the same paragraph or sentence. Once you've referred to an item with a template, you don't need to do so in the rest of the section. This will help cut down on icon spam and help maintain readability of articles.
- Bad example: "You can turn
Standard Ration into 
Cooked Ration to get rid of bacteria, but even Cooked Ration will eventually spoil and need to be refrozen into Standard Ration."
- Good example: "You can turn Standard Ration into Cooked Ration to get rid of bacteria, but even Cooked Rations will eventually spoil and need to be refrozen into Standard Rations. "
- Bad example: "You can turn
- Specifically, Inline info boxes are important for notes, warnings and "to do" information for other editors and readers.
Useful official resources
Since the Mushpedia functions in pretty much the same way as Wikipedia and is based on the same software, a lot of general ideas from Wikipedia's much more extensive, detailed guides also apply here. Check it out!
