Board Thread:Support Requests - Getting Technical/@comment-27704998-20160604211104/@comment-9605025-20160605160208

I would like to modify what Saftzie suggested.

To learn about #if and other parser functions, I suggest you view this. Unlike traditional programming languages, the #if in MediaWiki markup does not operate on a Boolean input. Rather, it takes a string and executes the default if the string does not exist or is only whitespace. However, if a parameter is not specified, the markup interprets the call for the parameter as the string. For instance, if "drop" is not specified in the template call, than the template will replace all instances of with the literal string "  ". So in your case, rather than producing " Unknown ", #if would produce the redlink "". By adding the vertical bar, you are telling mediawiki to use an empty string if the parameter is not specified. Then, #if recognizes it as an empty string and executes the default action.

As for, it operates on a string. So your want to generate the string first and then turn it into a link.