Admin Forum:What were the first questions you had as a new admin?

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We were all new admins at one point on our wiki adventure. Do you remember what it was like? I am currently making a FAQ article for new admins and founders. Do you want to help me? :) You can by answering the following:


 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?

Please answer below. Feel free to write as little or as much &mdash; I'd like to hear what your experience was so I can help new admins find the answers they need on this new FAQ article. Thanks! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:14, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

Ben's thoughts
Well, just to get us started, here are my three q's I wanted a answer to when I was a new admin:
 * How can I get involved with my fellow users?
 * Who do I turn to when I need help?
 * How do I work all these crazy functions I recently acquired? --22:20, November 7, 2011 (UTC)[ TheBen10Mazter] [ Talk][ Contributions]Ben 10 PlanetBen 10 Answers Wiki
 * Ben these are great. Can you expand more on crazy functions? Like specifically what functions are you referring to. Thanks! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:26, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, rollback, deleting, protecting, deleting, theme designer, and blocking were just self explanatory, what really bugged me was all the MediaWiki, JS, and CSS needed to be done on my wiki, I eventually found great JS/CSS on different wikis and put them into one on my wiki. MediaWiki was self taught (not really self taught, but i figured it out)- the real problem with MediaWiki was there was so many pages of MW and they were hard to find, luckily, Special:AllMessages was here on Wikia so it made it easier. --[ TheBen10Mazter] [ Talk]</li>[ Contributions]</li>Ben 10 Planet</li>Ben 10 Answers Wiki</li></ul></li></ul>22:31, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * Ben, I like that you were driven to find out more. I think for me that is what drew me to creating things online...was that there was so much to learn ALL OF THE TIME. I like that you kept at it. --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks Meighan! Three more questions I'd like to add when I was a new admin, here it is:


 * How can I get new ideas for my wiki?
 * How can I get users to enjoy editing?
 * How do I find a way for users to connect?
 * Like RT's, these questions are more social.[ TheBen10Mazter] [ Talk]</li>[ Contributions]</li>Ben 10 Planet</li>Ben 10 Answers Wiki</li></ul></li></ul>00:46, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

RT's thoughts
For me, it seemed fairly self explanatory when I became an admin, there was a "delete" button, and a "block" button, and a "protect" button, and every edit had a [rollback] link (this was before b'crats could give out rollback rights) and they worked in the way I expected them to work. As we had an experienced team, I had seen how the tools were used before, and I understood how they could be used in the future. So I guess there weren't that many questions, apart from the more social "what's a good way to keep users behaving?" and "how long should I block?" --  Random Time  22:20, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * RT, I like those last questions. Social questions are great and relevant! Thank you! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:26, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

Godisme's thoughts
My experience was much like Randomtime's. Before I became a wiki administrator, I had been a long time administrator on several forums so I knew the basics of using the tools of an administrator. I had been on wikia long enough before I became an admin that I knew the wiki side of things. So I think my only questions were really "How do I get more people to come to my wiki?" and "What can I do to make the wiki better?"--


 * Thanks Godisme, so when you wanted to "make your wiki better" what was it that you wanted to make better? Did you have questions around cosmetic appearances or technical? I know for me, templates kind of blew my mind once I got more into editing, but initially I wanted my wiki to look good (skins, theme, colors). What was it you wanted to make better? Thanks! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:36, November 7, 2011 (UTC)


 * I suppose the main thing I had in mind when I first started as a wiki admin was the look of the site. I adopted Ninja Gaiden Wiki which had been long abandoned. The wiki was without any styling and used infoboxes that were created back in 2008. Nothing on the site looked good so I looked around at other wikis to find what I could do to make the site look presentable. Later came the technical side of things and me asking "How can I make my wiki more functional". During that time I leaned heavily on this wiki to give me some pointers.--
 * Godisme, Thanks for getting more specific. I felt the same way when I discovered BoardWalk Empire -- I looked around at other wikis and ripped what I liked and tweaked it. For the more technical side I turned to the other editors that had just joined as well and asked for their help. What made it more functional for you? --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Jazzi's thoughts

 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * I don't really remember my first questions. I just remember thinking that I didn't know so many people played Zelda games.


 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * How to start from the bottom of the heap.


 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?
 * How stressful it can be when you're juggling school work (extra credit work), a social life, skype conversations and IRC channels. Especially when someone from each wants you at that moment.

–  Jä zz  i  22:48, November 7, 2011 (UTC)


 * Jäzzi, lol on so many people playing Zelda. I think figuring out where the bottom of the heap is -- is super important. For me it's cosmetic, I need things to look good before I want to trick them out. --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Dser's thoughts
--
 * My first question when I started contributing to Wikia was: how do you format things. Before joining Wikia, I had no knowledge of wiki formatting, or HTML for that matter, so I had to learn everything from scratch.
 * When I became an admin on my first wiki, I was mainly thinking of how to set things up. I didn't know what to do, so I borrowed things from other Wikia. Now that I know that there is no set way a wiki should run, I've started making policies from scratch.
 * The first things I learned as an admin were the new features and how to use them. Once again, I had no experience with using such tools, and had no idea when it was proper to use them, but I have since overcome this problem.


 * Dser, it sounds like you have taught yourself a lot. What are the policies you have created? --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Callofduty4's thoughts

 * My first question was asking someone how to make a customised signature and userpage userbox. I remember that quite vividly for some reason, and is one of my strongest memories of using Wikia, even if it was a long time ago. I didn't know how to use wikimarkup at the time, so I had to ask <tt>:)</tt>
 * I wasn't really confused. I had my mind set straight on improving anything I could and as much as I could, through the more in-depth set of tools that one receives with adminship. The only thing I was confused about was how my RfA actually passed, and if you want to find out why, go ahead and research it on the CoD Wiki <tt>:P</tt>. I'm still confused to this day.
 * I taught myself the tricks of the trade when it came to adminship - the first thing I learned was how to use the block interface.
 * A lesson I've learned is to not take anything an editor does for granted. That editor may not be there the next day to help out. Once you start doing that, you begin to view everything with much more respect and value, and believe me, it's something worth doing. A tip I can give to admins is to make sure you let your community know you value them. If you see a user make some really good edits, drop him or her a message on their talk page saying thanks. It will make them feel happy. And if you don't value your community, you shouldn't be an admin, it's really as simple as that. --Callofduty4 23:07, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * CoD, we often hear from newbies that they want a fancy signature. So that makes total sense to me. :) It's so important to let your other editors know how much there edits mean to you (and the wiki), such a good point. Thank you! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

DrkDragonz's thoughts
23:23, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * My first question was asking people how could I help to improve articles. My first wiki, Combat Arms Wiki had a bit of a small community when I joined, and I loved Combat Arms to death, until a few months ago when they made some small HUGE changes. I spent a lot of my time playing the new gamemodes as they got released, taking lots of gameplay images using FRAPS and improving the quality of stubs.
 * You gain so many new abilities when you are promoted, so they were all a bit confusing at first. The main thing that I learned was how to use Special:Block and all of its subfeatures properly (Blocking account creation, allowing the user to edit his/her own talk page while blocked, etc.). Was I supposed to block a user for 3 days, or 3 months? That sort of thing was confusing at first, since we didn't have any sort of guideline. I had to make up my own sort of guideline, which I think is a good thing <tt>:D</tt>
 * To build my wiki(s), i usually borrowed from other wikia's. Snippets from one wiki, snippets from another wiki, and eventually I learned how to edit wikicode and get good at it.


 * DrkDragon, learning how to block and for how long is something that I think is a really valuable thing to learn when becoming an admin. Thanks for sharing that. --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Zam's thoughts
00:10, November 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * The first thing I wondered was "What new pages can I see, and what do they do?" I then proceeded to go to Special:SpecialPages and check through the pages there, and read the info on the intro to those pages. My first logged admin action is deleting one of my sandboxes. :P
 * It lead to asking the other admins just how to do something, and reading our policy pages. Since as an admin, you're supposed to know that stuff. For smaller wikis, I'd suggest making sure you know the social norms around there if the policies are more of an understood thing than actually written in stone.
 * The first thing I learned was that admins really are the "slaves of the community", since you're entrusted to do the bidding of the community. So you have to be willing to fulfill the requests of other users on the wiki.


 * Zam, it's true -- social norms and policies aren't always available in print and often are more understood then written. Good point. Btw SpecialPages cornfused me big time my first few days here. ;) --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Wutwut's thoughts

 * My first thoughts were mostly, how do i use source mode effectively, how i become a helpful member to the community and how i use all this administration stuff.
 * What confused me is what to add to an article, weither it was needed or unneeded, helpful or random. It was usually confusing on what to do.
 * What i learned first is how to use these admin skills effectively and what needs to be used on a wiki or not based on whats in the resources we have to gather information. Being a community member was also a thing i learned, trying to contribute to forums and whatnot to the best of my ability. It was really fun learning this stuff so i could be a better contributor to the wiki and the community as a whole. I hope that helped. --Mylittlewut, Friendship is Questionable 01:00, November 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * Wutwut, these are great. I think it can be really confusing when you show up on a new scene on the Internetz. There are all sorts of rules, guidelines, norms, etc! There is a lot to learn and it takes time to learn everything and be effective and helpful. Thank you! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Andrew444's thoughts
Here were my thoughts: 04L.ANDREW 02:29, November 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * 1) How do I get users?
 * 2) Can I get help attracting contributors?
 * 3) How do I use my admin rights?


 * All good! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 22:32, November 8, 2011 (UTC)

Gardimuer's thoughts

 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * When I first started editing, I jumped into things head first without realizing I might clash with the customs of preexisting editors. When it came to using the editing tools etc. I could find everything I needed to know in the help pages, but I had to improvise when it came to interacting and collaborating with strangers. I had some big ideas for changing and improving articles, but I felt like I had to get permission from an admin first so that I wouldn't unintentionally rub people the wrong way. Then, after I got encouragement from an admin, I just steamrolled ahead, assuming that everyone would have the same opinion the admin did. That led to an unpleasant wake-up call when another editor took offence and started undoing my work.
 * So I guess my first questions were all about to the hard conundrums of wikiquette.


 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * From my perspective, creating pages was the easy part. The confusing part was how to work with other editors on the same project (most of whom were on different waking schedules in different timezones) in order to coordinate goals and set guidelines that everyone could agree to. I was also really confused about how to draw in more editors to the project. We had tons of lurkers, but very few contributors. In retrospect, some of my naive efforts to encourage contributors were rather embarrassing.


 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?
 * Using the admin tools was pretty straightforward for the most part. My first big learning occasions came when I had to use discretion when handling good editors who had broken the rules. Banning vandals is easy, but it is difficult to respond appropriately to a good editor who is edit warring or refusing to communicate. On those occasion I had to ask other admins for advice.
 * The most important thing I learned was that it is important not to cause bad relations with other editors, but at the same time you can't let past good relations stop you from doing what is best for the wiki.

--Gardimuer { ʈalk } 06:44, November 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * Wikiquette! So important. :) --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:30, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

Tm's babblings

 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * I think it was mostly to do with formatting (of references), I just looked the example of others (references on the same article) and followed that. And got help from others correcting my mistakes.


 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * Maybe I'm too old to be confused by that. ):


 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?
 * That most functionality has self-explanory named links, and more info is easily found if bother to look (collected to one place would help though).

I generally feel that as long as people have patience and allows them enough time to learn things (and not try to do and know all rightaway) things comes into place by itself. (: –Tm_T (Talk) 07:50, November 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * It's true over time things start to come naturally when you get the hang of a site. I know the only way I have learned anything is through perserverance and patience (and maybe shaking my fists a couple of times ;). --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:30, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

Sovq's thoughts
I guess the first thoughts I had after joining my first wiki were: "How do they coordinate this?", "How do they manage to keep the articles/templates consistent", "Am I allowed to do this without having my change being undone?".
 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?

The most confusing thing was the amount of various project/template pages that weren't used. I like to keep things clean, simple, transparent and well structured so I wasn't sure if the Project:Policy, Project:Templates, Project:Community Portal and others were relevant pages, written by actual contributors, that had a purpose or just some default content that can be ignored and possibly deleted.
 * What confused you about building a wiki?

Receiving admin rights on my first wiki really motivated me to get involved in the project even deeper. I felt privileged and rewarded so I thought I should give something in return. I rarely made use of the additional admin tools, because there was no need to. I did however learn how to write templates which allowed me, after a certain amount of time, overhaul the whole template structure on the wiki for more consistency and simplicity.
 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?


 * Sovq, these are great. Learning to work as a community is key on wikis. Also, I think templates are fascinating and very confusing, but once one uderstands how to use them...they can be pretty magical. :) --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:30, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

ForestMonthZero comments
Well, I am a new admin, so... these are my current thoughts about it.


 * first questions and some of the confusion
 * Where's the introduction to Wikia administration?
 * Where is the documentation for Wikia?
 * Where is a list of CSS classes/tags/entities that Wikia uses?
 * Why does code that works on MediaWiki wiki X or Wikimedia project Y not work on Wikia?
 * Where's ) and ( ?
 * Why can't I mix and match HTML table code and wiki table code?
 * navbox seems to be missing groups/lists/image?
 * infobox seems to be missing subsection titling? And short?
 * Why doesn't work?
 * How can I link multiple templates to the same documentation, there doesn't seem to be a switch?
 * Why doesn't tl exist?
 * How do I create anchors in a page? &lt;a name=xyz&gt; doesn't work.
 * How do I get alias URLs added to my wiki?
 * Why doesn't <enter my language code here>.mywikiawiki.wikia.com work?
 * Where's the Wikia version of Commons, so I can use images from other Wikis, or use my photos on other Wikis ?
 * Is the Wikipedia import compatibility package installed?
 * I added a videolink via the video button in the editor, why does the achievement for it in the Founder's list of achievements still not checked off? And why does it send me to Special:Upload, since I added a video via the video button, which doesn't use Special:Upload
 * Why doesn't the Layout Builder instructions describe how to build a layout properly? It's in the list of achievements to accomplish, but it's trial and error as to getting a functional one.
 * If uploading a wordmark is so special (list of admin accomplishments), why isn't creating a new favicon?
 * Why would anyone want a Pounce! badge on their wiki? 100 edits to a single page in 1 hour by one person? That just pollutes the activity logs, and makes it very hard to compare changes. Or makes people want to start edit wars to get that badge.
 * Is Caffeinated badge a good idea? Doesn't that encourage nuisance edits?
 * Why aren't there badges given out according to the size of contributions?
 * I can deactivate achievement badges in toto, but why can't I deactivate individual badges?
 * Why is adding categories not just part of the standard edit process? Removing categories is, but adding categories can be done without editing. Doesn't this just encourage adding nuisance categories?
 * Why aren't categories that don't exist redlinked? How do I tell the category doesn't exist, without clicking on it? It takes so much time to make sure I didn't make a typo on the category link.
 * How do I edit the menu where the pagetypes are for "Add A Page" ?
 * Where is "standard layout" located?
 * What do I edit to change the standard JavaScript and CSS load?


 * There's no pointers to w:c:help or w:c:test or, there are only pointers to  in the introduction that I received.


 * first things learned


 * Wikia doesn't allow you to mix HTML table markup and wiki table markup
 * I need to add functionality to documentation
 * I need to import Wikipedia's infobox and navbox or build better versions myself
 * tl is called t
 * I need to build ) and (
 * I need to import anchor from Wikipedia or build my own
 * Layouts are hard to build, use substitution templates instead, or preloads
 * Wikia.css, Wikia.js , Global.css , Global.js , Common.css , Common.js seem to do something
 * There's no protection mode that makes it read-only for administrators (so you can't accidentally edit it, without unprotecting it first)
 * There are few levels of user groups
 * There's no revision deletion on edits, but there is on file uploads


 * end

Well... that seems a bit ranty... but I am still new on Wikia, and finding out where things are. Many of my first questions I still don't have the answers for.

ForestMonthZero 12:08, November 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * ForestMonthZero, Thank you for adding all of your questions here. It's good to hear them. If there are questions you need answers to right now...you can always post in the other forums here on Founder. :) Thanks for sharing what q's you had & what you have learned! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:30, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

Fargo84's thoughts on becoming an admin
Well my first thought was "oh my gosh!" My second thought was that if I became an admin does that mean I have to work on pages more often or something. I was still new as I had only been working at the World War II Wiki for about 3-7 days. I was really happy and I discovered that help is always close by. I then got back to work making articles. It's only been about 5-6 months since I joined and I added about 50 full, referenced, content pages and I added over 100 pictures to my wiki. It may not sound like a lot, but the World War II Wiki has been growing surely and proudly. Back to what I was thinking at the time, becoming an admin and some good jobs really made me feel welcome on the first wiki I've ever worked on. So far its been the only wiki I really concentrate on. So now I focus on how to get more people to the wiki and how to make it better. Fargo84 02:08, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

Serene's thoughts

 * 1) The first thing I needed to know was how to create the wordmark and the theme since they were the most obvious flaws with our wiki.
 * 2) I adopted a wiki that already had a few regular editor, so I didn't do much community building.
 * 3) The first things I learned where how to create a wordmark and the theme.

Willy Yellow's Thoughts
My first questions we're "How do I ban someone?" I found out for myself. You go to the blockee's contributions. Block. The settings. And done!! :) Willy Yellow

Fandyllic's thoughts
-- <span style="border-bottom:1px dotted; cursor:help;" title="Who?">Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 9 Nov 2011 5:58 PM Pacific
 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * Mostly how Wikia operated differently from a standard MediaWiki wiki or other large wikis like Wikipedia. Fortunately, Kirkburn was also an admin at WoWWiki and took up the lead with interacting with Wikia and eventually became an employee. I had been an admin at WoWWiki for over a year when Wikia took it over, so I was mostly trying to learn the differences of the Wikia infrastructure and the whole skin support thing.
 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * The complexity of ways to format and organize wiki pages. How do you encourage efficient navigation? How do you make things look look nice without making it all too complicated? Learning the ins and outs of templates was a major step for me, since they are so powerful, but they can present a barrier to new users if they are well setup, easy to understand, and there are at least a few decent help pages.
 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?
 * How to work with other admins and other users. At its heart, wikis are a collaboration, so if you can't work with other people on the wiki, you should either do it their way, convince them of your perspective, or take a break and come back later. I've done all these things on a few different wikis. Usually things work out, but not always.


 * Hi Fandyllic, thanks for weighing in here -- I know you've been around for a while so it's nice to hear from a user like yourself in this area. I am totally right there with you about navigation (I love the new wiki nav for this very reason) and templates &mdash; man, templates! I think learning templates was a high point for me and it opened many doors. I am actually writing a Guide specifically about how to use and make templates in the coming weeks. And your third point; good stuff. Thanks! --Meighan http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 01:07, November 10, 2011 (UTC)

Toadette's Thoughts
Well at first it was confusing. I didn't know how to block people, how to add user rights etc. I found the help wiki and it was and still is a big help. When I first joined wikia, I joined a big community which helped a lot. Templates were confusing and so were userboxes but I soon got the hang of it. Also I found many friendships online and I over came the fact that people do die. I also realized that I am not the only girl Mario fan out there. I used to think i was crazy for that fact. I'm still laughing at that fact. Toadette I am Team Toadette. We do not give up till we WIN! Talk to me 01:17, November 10, 2011 (UTC)

Technology Wizard's thoughts

 * What were the very first questions you had when you first started editing on Wikia?
 * My first questions were: "How do I read my messages?", "How do I link things?", and "How do I get more badges?".
 * What confused you about building a wiki?
 * I was confused about how to attract more editors and how to get community consensus.
 * What were the things you learned first as a new admin?
 * I immediately learned how to edit the community messages. I then learned more about other admin tools such as mediawiki pages, protecting pages, badge customization, wikifeatures, and theme designer.