Help:Glossary


 * For a list of abbreviations, see Help:Abbreviations.

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

Contents: A B C D E G H I L M N O P R S T U V W

A

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


 * Adoption
 * The process of a user requesting administration rights for a community with no active administrator.
 * See also: Help:Adopting a community


 * 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
 * The act of removing the ability to edit from a certain user or IP address on a single community, usually done by an administrator against users or IP addresses causing vandalism.


 *   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 edited to point to an existing page.


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

C

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


 *   Content Team Member (CTM)
 * Contractor responsible for ensuring that the latest and best content is up on communities as soon as information is available.
 * See also: Help:Content Team Members


 * Contributor
 * Someone that makes useful edits to a Fandom project.


 * Copyvio
 * Copyright violation.
 * See also: Help:Licensing


 * CSS
 * Short for Cascading Style Sheets, a type of style sheet that allows a user to customize their wiki with unique designs, layouts, and fonts.
 * See also: Help:CSS and JS customization


 *   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:Administrators' guide/Fixing cut-and-paste moves

D

 * dab
 * See Disambiguation.


 *   Data dump
 * To import material from outside sources into Fandom without editing, formatting and linking. This is often not useful and generally discouraged.
 * See 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. Demotion. Local bureaucrats and Fandom 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:Disambiguation


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


 * Discussions
 * A social space feature where community members can have conversations about a variety of topics.
 * See also: Help:Discussions


 *   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. These can be found using Special:DoubleRedirects.


 * Dup
 * 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:Help: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 Fandom. The alternatives are an internal link within the same community site, and an interwiki link to a different community. External links have a special arrow symbol appended to the end of the link to warn the reader that the link points to something outside the Fandom domain, like so.

G

 * GPL
 * GNU General Public License. MediaWiki, the software that powers Fandom, 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 (language use, 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: 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.


 * Infobox
 * An infobox is a standard template used on mainspace pages. Infoboxes have "fields", with each field denoting a different piece of information based on parameters set in the template. An example is for a television show, episode pages may rely on an infobox specifically for episodes, and will include information such as name, episode number, season, and director.
 * See also: Help:Infoboxes


 * Interwiki link
 * A link to a different community's site on Fandom. 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.
 * See also: Help:Interwiki link


 * IP address
 * An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g. computer, printer, phone) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.

L

 * <div id="Language_link">  Language link
 * See Interwiki link.

M

 * Mainspace
 * The primary namespace. Pages in "Main" space have no prefix (like  or  ) and are considered the content of the wiki (as opposed to the pages that make the wiki work or how it appears).


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


 * "MediaWiki" is also the namespace for messages that allow customization of the interface of a wiki.
 * See also: Help:System messages


 * 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 Fandom that uses content original to Fandom 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. Fandom has namespaces for the main content, pages about the project (which on many wikis will be in the main namespace), user pages (User:), file pages (File:), special pages (Special:), MediaWiki pages (MediaWiki:) and talk pages (Talk:, Wikipedia talk:, and User talk:), and more. Searching can be done by namespace.
 * See also: Help:Namespace
 * See also: Help:Searching


 * Navbox
 * A navigation box used on mainspace articles that allows the user to quickly navigate from one page to another. Most often put at the bottom of an article.
 * See example: Template:Navbox


 * 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 Fandom communities.
 * See also: 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, uncategorized categories, and unused 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. . The pipe trick is a software feature that generates the displayed text for you in certain circumstances.
 * See also: 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, user conduct, 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:Describing points 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 Fandom.


 * <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 which sends the reader to another page. This is used for synonyms, plurals (thieves -> thief), alternate spellings, and ease of linking.
 * See also: Help:Redirect


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


 * References
 * Also used: ref.
 * References are external sources used to confirm information. A link can become a reference by placing the tags around it. A list of references can be added to the page by adding.


 * Sysop
 * See Admin.

T

 * <div id="Talk_page">  Talk page
 * A page reserved for discussion. Many pages within Fandom (except talk pages themselves) have talk pages attached to them, though some communities use article comments on article pages, which replace talk pages. Each type of talk page is a unique namespace.
 * See also: Help:Talk pages


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


 * <div id="Test_case">  Test case
 * A test case page is one that is a subpage of a template where the parameters of the template are tested. It is sometimes used in conjunction with a sandbox. The common subpage name for these pages is.
 * See also: Wikipedia:Template sandbox and test cases


 * Troll
 * A user who incites or engages in disruptive behavior (trolling), with intent to interrupt or derail. For example, a troll might vandalize a few articles in a wiki, and then eventually get blocked.
 * See also: Internet troll


 * Tyop
 * A misspelling of "typo". Used ironically 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. For example, an administrator or two would create a large amount of rules for editing, or just protect most, if not all pages to prevent edits from most users.


 * User
 * A contributor to a Fandom project.


 * 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. Some userboxes can also have images.
 * 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 Fandom. Most people use their page 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: Help:Profiles

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: 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.


 * VisualEditor
 * An editor feature that provides an interface that reflects how articles will look when published.
 * See also: Help:VisualEditor


 * VSTF
 * See SOAP.

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


 * Wikibreak
 * Also used: Wikivacation.
 * When a regular editor of a wiki 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 Fandom community, as opposed to an external link.


 * <div id="Wiki_Manager">  Wiki Manager
 * Part-time staff member assigned to specific wikis to provide support and help them grow and thrive, as well as serving as a liaison with a direct line of contact to full-time staff.
 * See also: Help:Wiki Managers


 * <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 Fandom. 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


 * Wiki-wide
 * Something that affects a whole wiki like customization edits in the  namespace or changes in Theme Designer or Wiki Features.

Further help and feedback
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