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Can anyone teach me the basics of becoming a Wiki author?


Woftis

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Let me start by saying, I'm a massive fan of the ASoIaF wiki. It really helped me a lot during my first read to keep up with characters.

I'd really like to make a positive contribution to help improve the Wiki but I've not really got any experience. I can comfortably press the edit button and correct a spelling mistake but that's really the extent.

Where I get really confused is with adding new information, providing sources etc.

So..... is there anyone out there that wouldn't mind walking me through the basics?

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A good thing to do is to look at a page and open it up in editing mode (may do an 'open in new window' so you can see the page 'as is' and also in editing mode simultaneously). That then tells you what things you do in editing result in what effects on the page. So you can see that putting double square brackets around things results in links to pages on the same wiki, or single square brackets are external links to other sites, or how many apostrophes you have to put down to get italic or bold effects etc.

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If you want to add a reference to a chapter of the books it is best to use the ref template. See here http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Template:Ref

For other references you should begin the reference with the ref tag: <ref> and end with </ref>. More info can be found here: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Help:Referencing_and_Canon#References

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Thanks. Are references necessary or do they just help to keep the Wiki tidy & accurate?

While I don't think it is mandatory with every content addition you make, I believe you should always reference it on the spot. This because some additions may be questionable and would avoid any revert-confusion in case someone found your additions as false.

Though Scafloc already provided the link I think I could be more explicit about how Refs work.

To book aditions (the ASOIAF novels only) you should use the template:

{{Ref|aGoT|x}} - For "a Game of Thrones"

{{Ref|aCoK|x}}- For "a Clash of Kings"

{{Ref|aSoS|x}} - For "a Storm of Swords"

{{Ref|aFfC|x}} - For "a Feast for Crows"

{{Ref|aDwD|x}} - For "a Dance with Dragons"

X (replace it) - defines the chapter numbers, you should see them here for easy check. Also "0" stands for the Prologue and "last chapter + 1" stands for the Appendix. You don't have to worry about anything else as whoever did this brilliant template made sure that when you insert the number, the chapter's name will appear on the spot.

For the other references you should go with:

<ref>(Insert name and link it, you could also use the link and then provide a written explanation or page numbers still in the reference)</ref>

If you're going to use one same ref more than once, in the first time you put it use

<ref name=X (give it a small name but something you'll remember after)> Your reference </ref>

Then when you use it again you'll only have to put it:

<ref name=X />

And this will avoid duplicates in the reference list.

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While I don't think it is mandatory with every content addition you make, I believe you should always reference it on the spot. This because some additions may be questionable and would avoid any revert-confusion in case someone found your additions as false.

Fair point. One issue I have is, I'm using the kindle edition so page numbers is out for me...

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