Contributing to the Wiki

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Anyone can modify or add to the Game B Wiki. This is the only way it improves. Every change or addition should make the Wiki more useful for other Game B players. Simple examples include:

  • Adding additional and relevant information to an existing page
  • Adding citations to an existing page
  • Creating a page for a relevant topic
  • Adding relevant categories to existing pages

Small contributions from many people can add up to an extremely valuable whole. You can also choose to watch pages that you have particular expertise on in order to help refine future changes to them by other users.

If this page doesn't answer your questions about how best to contribute the wiki, feel free to reach out to Damien, a wiki admin, on Discord at DamienL#4817.

Editing Pages

To edit any page on the Wiki, first navigate to that page, then select "Edit" from the ribbon at the top.

This brings up the Visual Editor interface, which should feel like traditional document editing software. Use the buttons of the interface to format the contents of the page directly in the preview.

If you want to add information to a page, or do a more extensive edit, please check the template for that type of page for more detailed information. The templates for the four content types are:

Once you're done making your edits, be sure to select "Save changes..." in the upper right. Please include a brief description of the edit to make life easier for other users, and denote whether it was a minor change or not. Minor changes correct typos or formatting errors, while any other type of change should leave this box unchecked.

Advanced users may also wish to use the "Edit Source" tab of the top ribbon. You can read more about how to edit pages like this on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting

As pages are created and edited, they progress through three stages of completion. You can use the categories in the list below to find the kind of page you'd most like to contribute to.

  1. Overview: These pages only contain a brief description of their topic - Category:Page Status - Overview
  2. Expanded: These pages have all relevant sections of their template filled in - Category:Page Status - Expanded
  3. Cited: These pages have all relevant sections of their template filled in with information cited from references - Category:Page Status - Cited

Creating Pages

First, make sure that the page you want to create doesn't already exist. Maybe it has a name you're not expecting, or needs to be listed in additional categories in order to make it more easily discoverable. See Searching the Wiki or Special:AllPages to confirm that it needs to be created. If it already exists by another name, you may want to create a redirect as described in the next section.

If the page you want to create does not already exist, search the title you wish to create in the Wiki search bar. Select the red link in the text Create the page "YOUR TITLE WILL APPEAR HERE" on this wiki! on the search results page.

This will bring up the Visual Editor where you can add content to your new page.

The first step is selecting Insert > Template from the Visual Editor interface. Use the search dialogue to add one of the following four templates, depending on what type of page you are creating:

The template itself will contain more detailed instructions on what to do next, specific to each type of page.

Creating Redirects

If you believe an existing page on the Wiki should be discoverable by an alternate name, you can create a redirect.

To do this, follow the beginning of the previous section in order to create a new page with the alternate name.

Instead of adding any content to this new page, select "Edit Source" from the top ribbon and add the following line of text to the page:

#REDIRECT [[pagename]]

Where pagename is the name of the existing page that you would like this new page to redirect too. Save the new page, and you're done.

For more information see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Redirects

Creating Categories

If you are familiar with the category tree on the Main Page and have a group of at least five pages that you feel represent a new, useful subcategory within that tree you can create the new subcategory yourself. To do this, follow the naming conventions found on the existing categories and create a new page called Category:YourNewCategoryName. On this new page you will need to add a single parent category by going to the options menu of the Visual Editor interface and selecting "Categories". For example, if you wish to add the a new category for "Articles on Education" you will need to create that new page and then add it to the existing subcategory of "Articles by Topic".

This will automatically add the category to the category trees found throughout the Wiki, and enable users to add it to other pages.

Be sure to go add your new category to the five or more pages you wanted to list under it.

Stewards of Knowledge

If you have added to and edited the Wiki, but are still interested in doing more to help it flourish, you may be interested in becoming a Steward of Knowledge.

The stewards are the caretakers of the Wiki, helping to maintain its quality and improve its structure over time in order to maximize its usefulness for the Game B community. Together, the stewards form a culture that carries the principles behind the design of the Wiki forward in time, allowing it to adapt and grow.

If this sounds like a worthwhile pursuit to you, reach out to Damien on Discord at DamienL#4817.