Help:Basic actions

Create an account
Creating an account will allow edits you make to be associated to your user and not to your IP address. You will also be able to do more things than unregistered users such as moving pages.

Log in
Logging in allows you to use the user name that you've created when creating an account.

CAPTCHA
A captcha is a test that protects Wikia from abuse by automated programs. It asks the user to enter in the text shown in the image. The image is designed so that it is hard for a machine to read the text.

Getting to the edit dialogue

 * 1) Navigate to the article you wish to edit
 * 2) Click on the tab near the top labelled "edit".

Potential editing problems
While editing articles you may encounter several problems. The more common problems are covered here, for any problem not covered here please ask a wikia administrator.

Locked Pages
Locked pages are pages that have been protected from editing either by the MediaWiki software or by a Wikia administrator. You can not unlock pages unless you have certain privileges. Please contact a Wikia administrator with a request that the article be unlocked.

Edit Conflicts
An edit conflict occurs when, after you've made a request to edit a page, someone else edits that page before you save your changes. This edit conflict can be resolved by merging the new edits with your own. To merge edits:
 * 1) Examine the new changes
 * 2) If your changes do not conflict with the new changes then:
 * 3) *Copy your changes from the bottom text area to the top text area.
 * 4) If your changes do conflict with the new changes then:
 * 5) *Rewrite the conflicting parts so as to take into account the new edits.
 * 6) Save your changes.

Basic formatting
Wikia wikis utilize standard wikitext to format articles. Wikitext allows editors to specify page formatting using plain text tokens. In most cases simple formatting is accomplished with the apostrophe.

Italics
To emphasize text with italics, use the token '' (double apostrophe). For example: the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog becomes the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Bold
To bold text, use the token ''' (triple apostrophe). For example: the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog becomes the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Combining formatting options
To bold and italicize text, combine their operators to use '. For example: the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog becomes the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Lists
Unnumbered lists use the * operator to define order and layout. For example: becomes
 * Example list
 * List item 1
 * Sub item 1a
 * Sub-sub item 1a1
 * List item 2
 * Example list
 * List item 1
 * Sub item 1a
 * Sub-sub item 1a1
 * List item 2

Numbered lists utilize the # operator. For example: becomes
 * 1) Example numbered list
 * 2) List item 1
 * 3) List subitem 2
 * 4) List subsubitem 1.2.a
 * 5) List item 2
 * 1) Example numbered list
 * 2) List item 1
 * 3) List subitem 2
 * 4) List subsubitem 1.2.a
 * 5) List item 2

List formats may be combined by combining list operators making certain to use proper operator precedence. Example: becomes
 * 1) Numbered list with unnumbered subitems
 * 2) *Unnumbered subitem 1.1
 * 3) *Unnumbered subitem 2.2
 * 4) Numbered list item 2
 * 1) Numbered list with unnumbered subitems
 * 2) *Unnumbered subitem 1.1
 * 3) *Unnumbered subitem 2.2
 * 4) Numbered list item 2

Note: the use of the preceding list operator to specify level is required for combined lists to display properly.

Excluding text from wiki formatting
Text may be excluded for formatting routines by surrounding it with   tags in a manner similar to that of HTML.

Redirects
Redirects are typically used to point users away from pages from which content has been moved to pages where content now exists, or from pages that are synonymous. For example: An article has been moved from Dates to Date. Redirects can be created with the syntax #REDIRECT Pagename where pagename is the title of the page where the user will be redirected.

See Help:Redirect.

Page Moves
Page moves are used when page content is no longer adequately described by the current page's title. Page moves preserve article history and replace current page content with a redirect to the moved article content. The page move function is usually restricted to administrators, for rules and procedures for requesting page moves for individual wikia please refer to each individual wikia wiki's policy.

See Help:Moving pages.

Basic templating
Templates are reusable chunks formatted text. Templates allow for the inclusion of often used text without duplication. Templates may be inserted using the syntax where pagename is the name of the page to be included (this is known as transclusion). Templates should be created in the template namespace to reduce text duplication where appropriate.

See Help:Templates.

Talk pages
Talk pages are used to discuss their associated article's content. Use them for things link suggesting major changes to article content, requesting page moves, or questioning article content. Of course talk page use and protocol will vary between individual Wikia wikis so be sure to check for articles or protocols regarding their use.

When making a remark on a talk page use the --~ syntactical shortcut to sign your messages.

See Help:Talk pages.

Using wiki-forums
See Help:Forums.