Help:Glossary

This is a glossary of terms used on Wikia, and on wikis in general, based on the Wikipedia glossary.

Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

 * Admin
 * Also used: sysop.
 * Short for Administrator. A user with extra technical privileges who does housework such as deleting pages and blocking vandals.


 * Anchor
 * An HTML term for code that lets you link to a specific point in a page, using the "#" character. You can use them to link to a section of a page.

B

 * Blanking
 * Removing all content from a page. Newcomers often do this accidentally. On the other hand, if blanking an article is done in bad faith, it is vandalism. If blanking is done to a vandalized brand-new page, it is maintenance, and the page should be deleted by an admin.


 * Block
 * Action by an admin, removing from a certain IP address or user the ability to edit a single community's site. Usually done against IP addresses that have caused vandalism or against users who have been banned.


 *  Boilerplate text
 * A standard message which can be added to an article using a template.


 *  Broken link
 * Also used: edit link, red link.
 * A link to a nonexistent page, usually colored red. List of such links can be found on Special:WantedPages.


 *  Broken redirect
 * Redirect to a non-existent page. These are listed at Special:BrokenRedirects and should usually be removed or redirected.


 * Bureaucrat
 * A user who can promote and demote other users to the positions of rollback and admin, and promote to bureaucrat. Sometimes just called "crat".

C

 * CC-BY-SA
 * The Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License is the license under which most of the content on Wikia is published.
 * See also Help:Wikia copyrights.


 * Copyvio
 * Copyright violation.
 * See also Help:Wikia copyrights.


 *  Cut and paste move
 * Moving a page by taking the text of the page, and copying it into the edit window for a second page. Generally considered worse than the 'move page' option, because it causes the page and its edit history to be in different places. Cut and paste moves can be fixed by administrators.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:How to fix cut and paste moves.

D

 * dab
 * See Disambiguation.


 *  Data dump
 * To import material from outside sources into Wikia without editing, formatting and linking. This is often not useful and generally discouraged.
 * See also Wikify.


 *  Dead-end page
 * Page that has no links to existing other pages, except perhaps interlanguage links. Special:Deadendpages lists them.


 * De-admin
 * See De-sysop.


 * De-sysop
 * Also used: De-admin.
 * To take away someone's administrator status. Local bureaucrats and Wikia Staff have the ability to do this.


 * De-Wikify
 * Also used: Un-Wikify.
 * To remove (de-link) a wikification of an article. This can be done to remove selflinks or excessive common-noun Wikification.


 * Diff
 * The difference between two versions of a page, as displayed using the Page history feature, or from recent changes. The versions to compare are encoded in the URL, so you can make a link by copying and pasting it - for instance when discussing a specific change to an article.
 * See also MetaWikipedia:Help:Diff.


 *  Dirty Diff
 * When a diff contains unexpected changes to the wikitext markup, unrelated to the user's input.
 * This may occur when pasting rich-text, or when the Visual Editor alters formatting.


 * Disambiguation
 * Also used: dab, disambig.
 * The process of resolving the conflict that occurs when articles about two or more different topics have the same natural title.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Disambiguation.


 *  Disambiguation page
 * A page that contains various meanings of a word, and points to the pages where the various meanings are defined.


 *  Double redirect
 * A redirect which leads to another redirect. Counter-intuitively, this will not bring one to the final destination, so it needs to be eliminated by linking directly to the final target page. Listed at Special:DoubleRedirects.


 * Dupe
 * Short for a duplicate article. Often used when identifying a duplicate page that needs to be merged with another.

E

 *  Edit conflict
 * Two or more parties both attempt to save different edits to the same page at the same time. Usually, if this happens, you will be asked to re-do your edit into a newly modified page.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Edit conflicts.


 *  Edit link
 * See Broken link.


 *  Edit summary
 * The contents of the "Edit Summary:" field on the "Edit this page" page.


 *  Edit war
 * Also used: revert war.
 * Two or more parties repeatedly making their preferred changes to a page, and undoing the changes they do not agree with. An edit war should be stopped, and the disagreement resolved on a talk page.


 *  External link
 * Also used: ext. ln, ext lk, or extlink.
 * A link to a website outside of Wikia. The alternatives are an internal link within the same community site, and an interwiki link to a different community.

G

 * GPL
 * GNU General Public License. MediaWiki, the software that powers Wikia, is released under this license.


 * Guideline
 * A guideline is a recommended best practice for doing something on a wiki, usually having to do with page creation or layout, but can be about almost anything (chat language, images, signatures, templates, etc.). It usually is less strictly enforced than a policy.

H

 * History
 * Also called: page history 
 * All previous versions of an article, from its creation to its current state.
 * See also: MetaWikipedia:Help:Page history 

I

 *  Internal link
 * Also used: wikilink 
 * A link pointing to another page within the same site created (in the source editor) by using the wikitext markup double square-brackets "" and "" . These links usually show up as blue if they are working, and red if they are broken. Note that they do not have the arrow symbol characteristic of an external link.


 * Interwiki link
 * A link to a different community's site on Wikia. Usually links a word or name to a page covering the topic in depth on another site. Also seen at the bottom of pages when the page is available in different languages.

L

 *  Language link
 * See Interwiki link.

M

 * MediaWiki
 * The software that powers Wikia, and a namespace. Originally developed for Wikipedia, and now one of the most frequently used platforms for hosting wikis.
 * See also Help:MediaWiki, Help:MediaWiki namespace.


 * Merge
 * Taking the text of two pages, and combining them into a single page. Also used for the combination of two community sites.


 * Mirror
 * A website other than Wikia that uses content original to Wikia as a source for at least some of its content. This is allowed under CC-BY-SA, provided that attribution is intact.


 * Moderator
 * A user who has special rights over management of a certain type of content. The most common types are Chat Moderators (manage chat content and users), Content Moderators (manage wiki content like pages and files), and Discussions Moderators (manage mobile Discussion threads and users). See Special:ListGroupRights for the rights and types of moderators.

N

 * Namespace
 * A way to classify pages. Wikia has namespaces for the main content, pages about the project (which on many wikis will be in the main namespace), user pages (User:), special pages (Special:), MediaWiki pages (MediaWiki:) and talk pages (Talk:, Wikipedia talk:, and User talk:), and more.
 * See also Help:Namespace.


 * NPOV
 * "Neutral Point of View", or the agreement to report subjective opinions objectively, so as not to cause edit wars between opposing sides. As a verb, to remove biased statements or slanted phrasing. As an adjective, it indicates that an article fits this idea of neutrality. Commonly used at Wikipedia, where NPOV is a primary policy, it is also a local policy on many Wikia communities.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.


 * <div id="Null_edit"> Null edit
 * A null edit occurs when an editor opens the edit window of a document then re-saves the page without having made any text changes. This is sometimes done as a lazy way to purge – such as to update the functioning of templates (which require articles containing them to be edited for any changes to take effect). Moreover, a null edit can more quickly populate the page into a new category. The term also applies to making a slight, non-substantive change (e.g., removing an unneeded blank line or adding one) to get the article history to register a change, for the purpose of leaving an edit summary that responds to a previous one.

O

 * Orphan
 * A page with no links from other pages. You can view lists of orphaned articles and images.

P

 * <div id="Piped_link"> Piped link
 * A link where the displayed text is not the name of the target article. Such links are created (in the source editor) using the pipe character "|" e.g. Displayed text . The pipe trick is a software feature that generates the displayed text for you in certain circumstances.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Piped link.


 * Policy
 * A policy is a wiki rule, usually having to do with page creation or layout, but can be about almost anything (images, signatures, templates, etc.). It is usually strictly enforced and tends to have stronger consequences than not following a guideline.


 * POV
 * Point of view. Often used negatively as an adjective to indicate bias, as in "That reply was POV, not neutral".
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Point of view.


 * <div id="Project_namespace"> Project namespace
 * The project namespace is a namespace dedicated to providing information about a wiki. At Wikipedia, this is used to separate policies from encyclopedia articles. It is less commonly used at Wikia.


 * <div id="Protected_page"> Protected page
 * A page that cannot be edited by all users. A page can be protected against anonymous users and new accounts, or against all users except admins. Often this is done to protect against frequent vandalism or to cool down an edit war.

R

 * RC
 * An abbreviation for Special:RecentChanges


 * Redirect
 * Also used: redir.
 * A page title which sends the reader to another page. This is used for synonyms and ease of linking. For example, copyright redirects to Help:Wikia copyrights.
 * See also MetaWikipedia:Help:Redirect.


 * <div id="Red_link"> Red link
 * See Broken link.


 * Revert
 * An edit that reverses changes made by someone else.
 * See also Help:Reverting


 * Revert war
 * See Edit war.


 * RfA
 * Requests for adminship. A page where users can ask to be made admins on a community.


 * rm
 * Remove. Used in edit summaries to indicate that a particular piece of text or formatting has been deleted.


 * Rollback
 * To change a page back to the version before the last edit. Admins and those with the "rollback" rights have special tools to do this more easily.


 * Root
 * The generally used top level category.


 * rv
 * Revert. An edit summary indicating that the page has been reverted to a previous version, often because of vandalism.
 * See also Help:Reverting.

S

 * Sandbox
 * A sandbox is a page that users may edit however they want. This is for users to experiment and gain familiarity with Wiki markup.


 * <div id="Section_editing"> Section editing
 * Using the 'edit' links to the right of the page, one can get an edit window containing only part of the page, making it easier to find the exact spot where one wants to edit. Javascript is needed for section editing. You can turn section editing off in your preferences under the "Enable section editing via [edit] links" option.


 * Self-link
 * A Wikilink contained in an article that points the reader to that same article, e.g. linking Help:Contents in the article "Help:Contents". Such links are automatically displayed as strongly emphasized text rather than links, but the more complex case of a link which redirects to the same article is not, and should be de-wikified.


 * Skin
 * The site's overall layout and appearance. All wikis display in the Oasis skin by default. Customizations to the colors and other details can be made in a personal CSS file, or, as an admin, by using Special:Themedesigner.
 * See also Help:Theme designer.


 * <div id="Sock_puppet"> Sock puppet
 * Also used: sock, alt 
 * Another user account created secretly by an existing user of the site, often to manufacture the illusion of support in a vote or argument, or to avoid a block.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Sock puppetry.


 * <div id="Soft_redirect"> Soft redirect
 * A very short article or page that essentially points the reader in the direction of another page. Used in cases where a normal redirect is inappropriate for various reasons (e.g. it is a cross-wiki redirect).


 * sp
 * Short for spelling correction. Used in edit summaries.


 * Split
 * Separating a single page into two or more pages.


 * Stub
 * An article usually consisting of one short paragraph or less. A template is often added to mark intended content and invite others to add to the page.


 * Sub-stub
 * A very short stub. For example, an article that is no more than a simple definition ("An airplane is a type of winged flying vehicle").


 * Subpage
 * A page connected to a parent page. You can only create subpages in certain namespaces.


 * Sysop
 * See Admin.

T

 * <div id="Talk_page"> Talk page
 * A page reserved for discussion. Many pages within Wikia (except talk pages themselves!) have talk pages attached to them, though some communities use Help:Comments on article pages.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Talk page.


 * Template
 * A way of automatically including the contents of one page within another page, used for boilerplate text, navigational aids, etc. Templates on Community Central can be used on any other Wikia community site (see Help:Shared templates for details).
 * See also: Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Template namespace.


 * Troll
 * A user who incites or engages in disruptive behavior (trolling), with intent to be disruptive.
 * See also Internet troll, Wikipedia:Wikipedia:What is a troll.


 * Tyop
 * A cute misspelling of "typo". Used as an edit summary when correcting typos.

U

 * Un-wiki
 * Going against the basic concept of a wiki. Usually saying that something is un-wiki means that it makes editing more difficult or impossible.


 * <div id="User_page"> Userboxes
 * A small colored box which allows users to add small messages on their user page. Most people use this to share facts about themselves, such as their interests, hobbies, likes, and dislikes.
 * For more information about userboxes, check out the userbox template on Templates Wiki.


 * <div id="User_page"> User page
 * A personal page for editors at Wikia. Most people use their pages to introduce themselves and to keep various personal notes and lists. They are also used to communicate with other users via the Message Wall or user talk page.
 * See also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:User page.

V

 * Vandalbot
 * A kind of bot being used for vandalism or spamming. Recognizable by the fact that one or a few IP-addresses make many similar clearly vandalistic edits in a short time.
 * See also Help:Blocking, Vandalbot.


 * Vandalism
 * Deliberate defacement of pages on a community with the intent to be disruptive. This can be by deleting text or publishing nonsense, bad language, etc. The term is often incorrectly used to discredit the views of an opponent in edit wars.


 * VfD
 * An abbreviation used at Wikipedia, meaning Votes for Deletion. This is one method users at Wikia might choose to decide which pages are deleted.

W

 * Watchlist
 * A set of pages selected by the user, who can then click on My watchlist to see recent changes to those pages.
 * See also: Help:Followed pages.


 * Wikian
 * A contributor to a Wikia project.


 * Wikibreak
 * Also used: Wikivacation.
 * When a regular editor of a wikia takes a break from the project.
 * See also Wikibreak.


 * Wikify
 * To format using wiki markup (as opposed to plain text or HTML) and add internal links to material, integrating it into the wiki. Noun: Wikification. Sometimes abbreviated wfy.


 * Wikilink
 * A link to another page on the same Wikia community, as opposed to an external link.


 * <div id="Wiki_markup"> Wiki markup
 * Also used: wiki text, wikitext.
 * Code like HTML, but simplified and more convenient, for example bold instead of bold . It is the source code stored in the database and shown in the editor in source mode. Searching by the MediaWiki software is done in the wikitext, as opposed to searching by Google, which is done in the visible text. The size of a page is the size of the wikitext.
 * See also Help:Editing.


 * Wikimedia
 * Properly Wikimedia Foundation Inc., the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia and other projects. Wikimedia is not affiliated with Wikia. The name is often confused with MediaWiki.


 * Wikipedia
 * A project run by Wikimedia to create a free content encyclopedia using wiki software.


 * Wikistress
 * Personal stress or tension induced by editing wikis, or more often by being involved in a conflict with another editor.
 * See also Wikistress.

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