Editing GWS:Wikiquette (section)

== Wikiquette ==

'''READ THIS BEFORE EDITING!'''

''TonyLB speaking'':  We are part of the broad spectrum of the RPGNet Wiki here.  The organization of the Wiki is only going to be as tight as the organization of its members.  I'm not a crusader on this point.  I don't think that we need to go out and "fix" how other people are doing things.  However, I do think that in the context of the Great War Supers game, we should put in a little effort so that people can find our information when they're looking for it, and don't trip over it when they're looking for something else.  I recommend the following:

# All Great War Supers game pages should have their link-names inside the namespace 'GWS'.  This a little work, but quite possible with Wiki's ''piping'' capability:  basically, instead of simply linking with <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><nowiki>[[LandShark]]</nowiki></span> you link with <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><nowiki>[[GWS:LandShark|LandShark]]</nowiki></span>.  The blank pipe in the middle tells the Wiki to '''link''' to the first phrase (<span style="font-variant:small-caps">GWS:LandShark</span>) but to '''display''' the second phrase (<span style="font-variant:small-caps">LandShark</span>).  I wish there were an automated way to make this happen without all the fol-de-rol, but if there is one then I haven't figured out what it is.  I'm pretty new to Wiki though, so this whole recommendation may go away if I can figure out something clever.
# If you write something that has relevance beyond the Great War Supers game, make sure you reference appropriate Categories.  If people fill these in, they can function as a table-of-contents for the whole Wiki.  If nobody fills them in then we'll all be thrown back on keyword search, which (while cool) doesn't really accomplish the same goal.  To include a Category link, simply type <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><nowiki>[[:Category:Whatever]]</nowiki></span>.  If you're creating a new category, give it some structure.  For instance, there simply '''wasn't''' a PBP category when I started writing up this page.  Which, y'know, that's no good.

On a pure "between us" level of etiquette ... 

# I think it's worth signing your edits, just so that people know what's coming from who, and when.  This is dead easy to do:  just type four tildes, "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" and the system will enter your name and a date once you save, like this "[[User:TonyLB|TonyLB]] 12:03, 13 November 2005 (PST)".  Make sure you're logged in, or all we'll get is an IP address, and I for one can't translate those to people.
# I'm not so sure about whether we should leave dangling pages.  As you're writing up a page, you may realize "Hey, this is a term that people might want to define further!"  You can just bracket (say) "Faerie Army" as <span style="font-variant:small-caps"><nowiki>[[GWS:Faerie Army|Faerie Army]]</nowiki></span>, without bothering to actually create any material to link to.  This will let anyone who feels like clicking onto it get a new page to write into.  Is this something we should be making an effort to do?  I've done it on this page ... maybe people can give some feedback about whether they find it helpful or distracting.
# I like to pick up tidbits about real history.  I especially like being able to tell my real history (which I can use in conversations outside the game) from my fake (which, obviously, would lead only to ridicule).  Items from real history should be '''tagged''' somehow ... possibly even put on separate pages and then transcluded into accounts of our totally fictional history.  That way we can be educated while we play!  I'll try to figure out "templates" well enough to give folks some useful tagging tools.