Help:Editing primer: Difference between revisions
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This guide is aimed at people who are completely unfamiliar with editing | This guide is aimed at people who are completely unfamiliar with editing on MediaWiki sites (if they even know what that means), but are familiar with traditional editing systems like WordPress, any sort of word document, and so on. This should hopefully knock out a lot of quick vital differences between the 2 systems to allow an easier learning curve. | ||
For information on how the markdown of MediaWiki pages work, see [[mw:Help:Formatting|Help:Formatting]] from the MediaWiki website. | |||
== Terminology == | == Terminology == | ||
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This risk is mitigated by [[mw:Help:Redirects|redirects]], but that's entering a "not-getting started guide" level of detail. | This risk is mitigated by [[mw:Help:Redirects|redirects]], but that's entering a "not-getting started guide" level of detail. | ||
== Page protection == | |||
You may notice that certain pages on this website cannot be edited. Instead of seeing <code>Edit</code> or <code>Edit source</code>, you may see <code>View source</code>. An example would be [[:File:EDCLogo.png]]. This means a page has been protected by a site administrator from editing. Very few pages are given this treatment, since editing is already by it's nature selective given user accounts must be requested before being created, but it does happen. | |||
If you find such a page protected and need it to have some kind of edit done, notify a [[Special:ListUsers/sysop|site administrator]]. | |||
== Footnotes == | == Footnotes == | ||
Revision as of 03:10, 1 November 2024
 | This page serves to assist editors in understanding how to use and work with the MediaWiki software. Nothing on this page relates to the mechanics or narrative of the war game. |
 | This page is currently under construction! Expected information may be missing, sections may be empty, prose may cut off abruptly, etc. |
This guide is aimed at people who are completely unfamiliar with editing on MediaWiki sites (if they even know what that means), but are familiar with traditional editing systems like WordPress, any sort of word document, and so on. This should hopefully knock out a lot of quick vital differences between the 2 systems to allow an easier learning curve.
For information on how the markdown of MediaWiki pages work, see Help:Formatting from the MediaWiki website.
Terminology
So that we share the same language, please commit the following terms to memory.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Wiki | A website that has a system in place to allow collaborative editing rather than a central authority dictating content, such as a blog. Think the Zelda Wiki, or Fandom itself. |
| Wikipedia | More properly known as the English Wikipedia, it is the online encyclopedia that everyone knows of.[1] |
| Wikimedia | A non-profit foundation that performs the administration and systems upkeep of the various language editions of Wikipedia. |
| MediaWiki | A free and open source software that is designed to provide a wiki-style of editing to a website. This software is what runs this very website and the English Wikipedia. |
Renaming pages
Unlike traditional word processing software, MediaWiki is unique in that every edit is logged, along with the information on who did it and when, and every version of a page after every version of an edit is also logged. This makes such websites incredibly resilient as, unless a user is making use of advanced permissions, it is nigh impossible to break anything. Almost every edit can be reversed with a button press.
The above, alongside the fact that the primary purpose of the MediaWiki software is to facilitate the editing of content released under a Creative Commons copyright license — which requires proper attribution of edits to individuals — renaming pages on a whim is simply not feasible. To MediaWiki, page names are not cosmetic, they are crucial database identifiers. Thus, to rename a page, in MediaWiki's language, you move the page to a new page name. This specific process results in all of the metadata, edits, and page history to carry with it.
Due to the setup of the wiki, it is ill advised to move pages unless you are a regular contributor with an intimate understanding of the wiki's construction. Otherwise, please consult Sirdog (sirdog3355) or a known seasoned contributor, that way the navigation of information is not disrupted. To provide perspective, were the page Bogatyr renamed to, say, BogaTyr, all links that lead to Bogatyr would break. As of November 1, there are 7 different pages linking to it. That is a lot of tedious work. This risk is doubled for templates. Were Template:ActionTemplate to be moved, 50 pages would be impacted, and the information on company pages would be completely unreadable.
This risk is mitigated by redirects, but that's entering a "not-getting started guide" level of detail.
Page protection
You may notice that certain pages on this website cannot be edited. Instead of seeing Edit or Edit source, you may see View source. An example would be File:EDCLogo.png. This means a page has been protected by a site administrator from editing. Very few pages are given this treatment, since editing is already by it's nature selective given user accounts must be requested before being created, but it does happen.
If you find such a page protected and need it to have some kind of edit done, notify a site administrator.