Wikiwrimo:Guide

Welcome to the Wikiwrimo Guide! This page is designed to be a place for editors to find editing tools that aren't necessarily in the most obvious place.

Before getting started, check out the Help pages and FAQ. Ask any questions here or on the Question board or on your admin's talk page. Oh, and you haven't created an account, you should do that before going on.

Editing a page

Help article: Editing pages

When you see a page you want to edit, be bold! Make sure you're logged in and click the Edit button. That's the third button along the top of the page. Then make the edits you want to make and preview your edits before saving.

Note: When adding a link to the NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy website, remove the /eng part of the link. For example, http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/3542 becomes http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/3542. (That link goes to Sushi's profile, if you're wondering.) This prevents language embedding, so Wrimos who browse the site in a language besides English aren't forced to navigate the site in English.

Creating a page

Help article: Starting a new page

If you want to start an article but don't know what to write about, check out the scratchpad and Special:WantedPages. The first is a bunch of articles Sushi has thought of off the top of her head, while the second is a bunch of articles that have been linked to in articles. The first is more usable from a "I don't have to scroll through everything" standpoint, while the second tells you what articles are already linked to and are waiting to be created now. Unfortunately after the first page or two, you'll find a bunch of template stuff. Don't worry about creating those unless you really feel like wasting a whole afternoon tracking everything down. Just find an article and start creating.

If you already have an idea, search for the article first to see if it already exists. This is important because MediaWiki doesn't listen to different capitalizations too well; for example, according to MediaWiki, NaNoWriMo and Nanowrimo are two different articles. Even capitalization in multiword articles get messed up sometimes in redirecting to the proper article, though it appears to be in a way that no one has completely figured out yet. (Don't worry. This took me ages to figure out too.) If you've searched and the article doesn't exist, go ahead and create it.

Images

Help article: Images

Images are awesome. Please upload them if they are relevant and if you have the legal right to do so; that is, if you own the image or if it's released under a license that permits free distribution and reproduction with or without attribution. Official NaNo and Script Frenzy icons are an exception; while they're not released under such a license, they were designed to be distributed. Make sure to give credit to the maker when you upload the image!

Unfortunately, due to safe_mode being enabled with my webhost and my having no way to turn that off, sometimes images turn out a little funny. They still upload fine, but thumbnailing (the shrinking of images to a not-huge format) doesn't always work the way you'd expect. This is especially noticeable with .gif files. If you can shrink your image to a usable size in the article before uploading, that would be awesome. You can also upload the original file and link it with the smaller size so users can connect the two.

Templates

Help article: Templates

Here are some templates we have so far that you'll probably want to use.

• Template:Stub: This goes at the end of an unfinished article. Use {{stub}}
• Template:Ollstaff: This goes at the end of an article for a past or present NaNo/OLL staff member. Use {{ollstaff}}

If you have template-creating skills and would like to create templates, please do!

Categories

Help article: Categories

You can currently find all the usable categories (or at least all the categories I or someone else has remembered) in the category of categories. (Yes, this is a joke. If you get it, many cookies to you.) If none of the categories fit your needs, create a new one! Make sure it'll get enough use to justify its creation, though. Take a look at the uncategorized pages for a look at the kinds of articles that haven't been covered by any of the existing categories yet. If you think they are covered, add them in. If not, and you can think of a good category, create the category by adding it at the end of the article. See Help:Categories for more on categories in general.

Special considerations for regional pages

Some regions have long histories and many traditions, while others are brand new. Whatever the case for your region, here are some things to get your brain going as you hit the edit or create article button.

• How did the region get created? In the case of a region in a major city, the region may have been around almost as long as NaNo has. Some smaller regions may have been created from an ::Elsewhere region as an ML volunteered to lead the region. Ask around if you don't know the answer. Lots of regions have someone who has done NaNo for what feels like forever and could tell you, or you can tell them to edit the page themselves after you put up a draft version.

• On a related note, did parts of the region ever split into smaller region? This is more common in very large regions, mostly ::Elsewheres, whole countries, and major cities, but if you know the answer, it's worth mentioning.

• What's your regional culture like? Are there any traditions in your region? Maybe a mascot or something that happens every year? Maybe an in joke that has made its way to the wider NaNo community? Cliff Brooks and The Book of Tim, I'm looking at you. What makes your region what it is?

• Who are the MLs? Who were the former MLs, if any? Besides mentioning them in the article, they're great resources for the questions you don't have answers to.

• What regions are nearby? List these, especially if your region plans events with these regions.

• Did your region do anything really bragworthy? A top word count or donation region, or a donation derby winner? A really cool NaNo-related project? Definitely include that!

• And finally, include any links to your region's online presence and of course, its NaNo regional lounge and that snippet that appears next to your region's name in the regional directory.

A couple of examples of good regional pages are the USA::Georgia::Atlanta page and the USA::Minnesota::Twin Cities pages.

Each region appears on a subpage of the Region article, so for example, USA::California::East Bay (home of NaNo HQ) will appear on Region/USA/CA/East Bay. US states and Canadian provinces are abbreviated. Any page that is not a final destination region has the subregions listed on that page (examples: East Bay within California, along with San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the other California regions; Toronto, Thunder Bay, and the other Ontario regions on the Ontario page, et cetera).

Regions are mostly written according to the official NaNo regional directory with a few exceptions, mostly because they haven't been written up yet:

• The Elsewhere:: top-level branch hasn't been coded up yet, along with Mexico::, Israel::, and Russia::. That's for a number of reasons, the main one being that Elsewhere:: has a couple of regions that would better fit in one of the top-level regions already created and because we wanted to see what reorganization, if any, happened in 2011.

• There's no Central and South America:: branch yet partly because of the presence of Brazil in Elsewhere::. I'm hoping the directory will be cleaned up before NaNo 2011 so it can be created easily and without a bunch of redirects.

If you want to create a page that falls in one of these branches, then use your good judgment. It can always be redirected later.

Resources

Sometimes you won't know the answer to a question, like how some NaNo tradition started. There are plenty of ways to find out.

1. Search. You may have to turn to Google instead of Goodsearch for this one if you're a regular GoodSearch user. Some queries can be stubborn.
2. The NaNo site archive. It may not be up during the NaNo season, and not all seasons have an archive up (notably 2004 is lost forever), but for those seasons that are up, search to your heart's content.
3. The current NaNo forums. Especially with recurring threads, someone out there is confused and will ask. Take advantage of that.
4. Ask someone. Don't be shy; lots of Wrimos are willing to share their knowledge. Heck, if you don't know something, ask me. If I don't know, I'll do my best to find it.
5. NaNo's Facebook and Twitter pages. They've been very helpful in research endeavors past.

Handy Things That Don't Belong Anywhere Else

The Special Pages section contains most of the not-so-obvious stuff, along with a bunch of really handy stuff you never knew you needed until you found it. This includes stuff like Wanted Pages, Uncategorized Pages (please help out by categorizing things), and other nifty things.