User:Kirkburn/Advice

Kirkburn's tips on how to make a successful wiki!

As an admin of a popular wiki - the WoWWiki - I have compiled a list of tips and advice for new Wikia wikis. It is purposefully short, covering just the basics of setting up and early days.

I hope it is useful, and please feel free to ask me any questions on User talk:Kirkburn!

What is the wiki's aim?
Perhaps obvious, but still important to consider!


 * Make sure you know what the wiki is for. More importantly, make sure the users know!
 * Similarly perhaps briefly list what topics are and aren't covered by the wiki.

The Main Page
First impressions count. This is the page almost everyone will see when they first arrive at your wiki, and is therefore extremely important. If you have nothing on the Main Page, people will think you have no articles and won't go looking.


 * Give it a clean design - it doesn't need to be fancy. Make sure the code is correct!
 * Link to all the important sections (especially on a smaller wiki) - check out the WoWWiki main page for an example of this.
 * A short intro paragraph telling people what the wiki is, and what it is for will help.

The articles
The "meat" of your wiki, and second only in importance to the Main Page.

For wikis not started by a group, the onus will often be on the creator to create the bulk of the early articles. This may be daunting but remember theres no need for articles to be perfect on the first version, you and others can rewrite articles later!


 * Keep articles tidy and create links to other articles, wikis, wikipedia, etc.
 * Don't specifically avoid red (broken) links, but also don't overlink.
 * Don't make empty pages to get rid of a red link - one or two sentences works wonders.
 * Don't copy wholesale from other sources, unless those sources specifically allow it.
 * Don't let people try and take ownership of pages, or let them sign the articles.
 * Try and keep articles neutral.

Structure

 * Outline a structure for your wiki.
 * Use categories - any easy way to navigate and find info.
 * Create boilerplates (template articles) and style-guides for people to base other articles off.

Templates

 * Copy good examples from elsewhere, Wikipedia can be a good source.
 * Make sure people know which templates exist - make a list, like WoWWiki:Templates.

Administrators/sysops
The guiding hands behind the project.


 * Don't make too many admins - try to choose them based on trust, ability and frequency of visits.
 * Don't make too few admins - otherwise you may be swamped with requests!
 * For a small project, around 5 (reasonably dedicated) admins should be enough.
 * Admins are not a requirement for a wiki to do well. WoWWiki had very few for a long time.
 * Admins should try to avoid acting as unilateral decision makers - they should work with the community.
 * Being an admin does not automatically make your opinions more valued than other people's.

Policies, guidelines and user help
For a new these may not at first seem important, but as it grows, you will find yourself needing them more and more.


 * They do not need to be comprehensive - at first you may wish to just link to another wiki's policies, such as Wikipedia. Next, start creating policies that are specific to your site. As and when they become important you can create policies for most other things, and eventually replace all the offsite policies.
 * Don't make policies to restrictive, and do allow them to be bent. Common sense can often be better than bureaucracy. Admins should not be deterred from taking action against those clearly out to sabotage the project, even if they somehow manage to wriggle around the policies.
 * All the guideline pages must be easy to find and understand - make sure links exist somewhere on the main page. New contributers need to be quickly introduced to how to wiki works. A summary help page will be useful (for example, WoWWiki:How to edit a page).

Branding
For the wiki to be easily identified and to give it a more professional look, a good logo is recommended.

Main logo - the image that appears top-left on most wikis


 * Upload an image called  to create it.
 * You may want to protect the image to prevent vandals changing it.
 * A vote can be a good idea, so the commmunity can choose. Solicit designs before the start of voting.
 * Be prepared for the possibility that the logo may change in the future.
 * Don't use a copyrighted image! If you must, create something based off the logo for your wiki's subject.
 * It should be simple and recognisable.
 * Images can be better than words.

Favicon - the little icon that appears in toolbars


 * Upload an image called  to create it.
 * This should be very simple and easy to see.
 * It may be possible to use a smaller version of the main logo, or some part of it.

Special pages
Personalise the wiki, without editing skins!


 * Wikis have a page called Special:Allmessages with lists all special MediaWiki pages.
 * This page can be used by admins to edit the standard text that appears on the wiki, such as text on the delete, upload and edit pages. To find the one you want it's usually easiest to search for the exact text.
 * One especially useful page to edit is MediaWiki:Sidebar. You can use this to add special links to the left bar - check out WoWWiki's version!
 * Another useful page is MediaWiki:Pagetitle. This is the site name as it will appear in the titlebar and on searches. Make it short and snappy, and include the subject of the wiki in it! For example, "WoWWiki, the Warcraft wiki". Perhaps include some keywords like "quest database".

The community
Your wiki's community and attitude is important. People should feel welcome, free to edit and should be able to have fun! Your wiki exists to help people :)

IRC channel
Having an IRC channel is an excellent way to help a wiki. It allows much easier chatting and discussion, and lets users really get to know each other.


 * Advertise it on the Main Page.
 * Make sure everyone is welcome.
 * Freenode (irc://irc.freenode.net) is an excellent location for your IRC channel. Wikia, Wikipedia, WoWWiki and many other wikis have channels there.
 * Important decisions made on an IRC channel MUST be relayed to the wiki before being put into action - not everyone can, or will, use IRC.

Community teams
Once you have a fair few users, you may want to try creating community teams. For example, a team for the history of the subject, a team for checking for vandalism, basic things.


 * Keep them simple - if the teams are too specific they will fail.
 * Keep definitions 'loose' - teams should not 'own' territory.

Internal Public Relations (PR)
Welcome those who visit!


 * When people do come to edit, consider creating a 'welcome' template to paste on their talk page to introduce them quickly to some of the more important aspects of the wiki.
 * Have private and direct conversation with users, ask them to help, motivate them, introduce them to the wiki concept, and basically make them feel wanted :)

External Public Relations (PR)
Naturally, get the news of your wiki out there - if few places know of your wiki, you are unlikely to attract people.


 * Advertise on related wikis, forums and mailing-lists, announce it in-game, tell your friends, and let them know they can help out.
 * Nominate your wiki to be on Wikia's home page as a Featured Wikia!
 * Submit your site to search engines! This allows you to specify more info about your site, such as sections - for example WoWWiki on Google.
 * If you have some good articles, you can try linking big articles from Wikipedia to your wiki.

Site discussion pages

 * Consider creating a general discussion page for the whole site - e.g. a 'village pump'.
 * WoWWiki talk:Village pump is one good example.

If this all seems like a lot to look at, don't panic! A lot of it you can do very quickly, and if you get one or two helpers it becomes much easier!

Remember, you can find much more in Wikia's Category:Help section!