Wiki:Getting started
You shrug and make a noncommittal noise, but it's drowned out by a sudden cheer from the spectators of a drunken brawl in the far corner of the chamber. The Irishman leans out of his cubbyhole and bellows, "Quiet down, you rabble!" He then settles back in his seat, muttering a few salty curses about the quality of new recruits these days, and turns his attention back to you.
"So you've not done much wiki editing, then. You're a beginner. I thought as much." He sighs, scratches his chin, and then with a gesture has you follow him out of the noisy outer chamber and into a low-ceilinged back room stacked with parchments, ledgers, confiscated weapons, and teetering piles of assorted papers and artifacts. Messily clearing one away, he reveals a dusty computer terminal which he tidies up with a wet puff of breath and a wipe of his sleeve. "'Ere," he says, "siddown."
You and the Irishman perch in front of the computer on a couple of wooden stools, and he brings the flickering monitor to life with a well-placed slap to its case. The glowing screen slowly reveals a page of flowing text.
"This 'ere's a wiki," he says, and with a crack of his knuckles lays his ample hands on the keyboard and mouse. "Let me show you how it works..."First off
Welcome! Whether you're entirely new to wiki editing, or an experienced wiki contributor who's new to this particular site, this guide should help you get your bearings and quickly become a skilled and active contributor. Please note that this guide is for editors, not for readers in general – those who wish simply to read the wiki don't need an account, and can browse through articles as easily as through any other set of webpages. Editing, though, requires a basic familiarity both with the fundamentals of how a wiki operates and the rules of how this particular wiki operates; get those under your belt and you'll know all you need to start editing Eamon articles!
Also, if you still have questions, please feel free to post them on the talk page – other editors will be happy to respond and help get you started.
Get an account
Before anything else, any prospective editor needs a user account. To get one, first request an account; a wiki administrator will then examine your request, make sure you look like a human instead of a pesky spambot, and then grant your request. You'll then receive an email with a password and instructions on how to log in. Be sure to reset your password to something secure that you can remember.
Please be aware that you're obliged to follow our terms of use, so we strongly recommend giving them a read-through.
To request an account, please email huwmanbeing (at) gmail.com.
Learn wiki syntax
Editing a wiki page is similar in many ways to editing a normal web page, but wikis have their own special kind of markup which they use to handle text formatting, links, images, etc. This site is powered by MediaWiki, the same software that runs Wikipedia (and many other wikis), so if you've ever done any wiki editing before you'll probably find the markup here very familiar.
We recommend checking out the Mediawiki Handbook – it's an excellent reference for anyone using a wiki, and covers all the basics of editing.
Know the policies and guidelines
All wikis have certain policies and guidelines that govern what goes on inside them, and this one is no exception. The basics are covered by the terms of use; more specific guidelines related to particular areas of the wiki are covered in their own policy pages, including the following:
It's also good to remember that a wiki is a collaborative editing project. An article isn't owned by one particular editor, it's owned by the community, and it can be worked on by any editor at any time. Those other editors are also working to improve the encyclopedia, so remember to assume good faith on the part of others and try to find compromise through discussion if there's ever a disagreement.
Pick a place to start
You have an account, you know how to edit, and you've read the guidelines. What next? What should you work on? What should you write? That all depends on your interests and experience. For instance, if you're especially familiar with a particular adventure, you may want to find the article for that adventure and see if there's information you can add to it.
A lot of subjects already have brief placeholder articles (called "stubs"), so if there's a subject you're interested in you may not have to make a new article for it. To see what articles exist, just enter a search term into the search box near the top of the page, or browse for it by going to one of the subject portals listed in the sidebar. If you find an article that you can improve, go for it! If an article needs to be made for a certain subject, go right ahead and make it!
Other tips
- To contact another editor, just leave a message on the editor's talk page. For administrative questions, contact Huw.
- If there's a sizable project you're working on, consider noting it on the tasks page – this will help others see who's tackling what.
- Enjoy!
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