Community Central
Register
Community Central
mNo edit summary
Tag: Help
(Replaced redirect links. Also changed http: to https:)
Tag: Help
(9 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{tocright}}For users who are just '''joining a FANDOM community''', this article presents helpful tips and netiquette.
+
{{tocright}}For users who are just '''joining a Fandom community''', this article presents helpful tips and netiquette.
   
FANDOM has hundreds of thousands of individual fan communities, and community cohesion and practices vary greatly from site to site. New users are encouraged to browse the FANDOM community they have just joined to identify policies for user behavior as well as the tone and position of the community's culture.
+
Fandom has hundreds of thousands of individual fan communities, and community cohesion and practices vary greatly from site to site. New users are encouraged to browse the Fandom community they have just joined to identify policies for user behavior as well as the tone and position of the community's culture.
   
 
This article does not attempt to dictate how culture or practices ''should'' be on communities, instead outlining some common and consistent points that most communities have in common.
 
This article does not attempt to dictate how culture or practices ''should'' be on communities, instead outlining some common and consistent points that most communities have in common.
   
 
==You're a part of the community!==
 
==You're a part of the community!==
When you first see a wiki community, it doesn't seem like it could possibly work. If anybody can come along and change things, then how can the information be trusted? Doesn't it just get vandalized, turn into a clump of false facts, or just fall into chaos?
+
When you first see a wiki community, it doesn't seem like it could possibly work. If anybody can come along and change things, then how can the information be trusted? Doesn't it just get [[Help:Vandalism|vandalized]], turn into a clump of false facts, or just fall into chaos?
   
 
Once you start participating, you see that this "weakness" is actually a community's greatest strength. Sure, anybody can add anything, and then everybody else gets to proofread it and fix mistakes. Information that looks suspicious can be verified. Vandalism is often fixed within minutes. It's possible for someone to post errors, or nonsense — but over time, the best wins out.
 
Once you start participating, you see that this "weakness" is actually a community's greatest strength. Sure, anybody can add anything, and then everybody else gets to proofread it and fix mistakes. Information that looks suspicious can be verified. Vandalism is often fixed within minutes. It's possible for someone to post errors, or nonsense — but over time, the best wins out.
   
If you're reading these words, then you're a potential editor. If you see a problem on one of the pages, don't roll your eyes and complain about it. Just fix it!
+
If you're reading these words, then you're a potential [[Help:Editing|editor]]. If you see a problem on one of the pages, don't roll your eyes and complain about it. Just fix it!
   
 
==Create a user name==
 
==Create a user name==
'''[[Special:Userlogin|Log in]]''' and create a user name — it'll help you (and everybody) keep track of your contributions. It's possible to post anonymously on many communities, but be advised that anonymous posters can be treated more skeptically. If we can see the pages you've added to, then we'll be more impressed with you, and more likely to trust.
+
'''[[Special:Userlogin|Sign up]]''' and create a username — it'll help you (and everybody) keep track of your [[Help:User contributions|contributions]]. It's possible to post anonymously on many communities, but be advised that anonymous posters can be treated more skeptically. If you [[Help:Create an account|created an account]] and we can see the pages you've added to, then we'll be more impressed with you, and more likely to trust you.
   
 
==Show your sources==
 
==Show your sources==
Line 22: Line 22:
   
 
==Signing talk page posts==
 
==Signing talk page posts==
When you post on a [[Help:Talk pages|talk page]], put an asterisk (*) at the front of your post to make a bullet. Sign talk posts with four tildes -- <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> -- to automatically add your [[Help:Signature|user name]] and a timestamp. If you'd like to sign your post without a timestamp (though we don't recommend doing so) you can use just three tildes: <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> to do so.
+
When you post on a [[Help:Talk pages|talk page]], put an asterisk (*) at the front of your post to make a bullet. Sign talk posts with four tildes ( <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> ) to automatically add your [[Help:Signature|user name]] and a timestamp.
   
 
==Uploading and formatting pictures==
 
==Uploading and formatting pictures==
To upload a picture, click on "Add a Photo" on the "Contribute" button at the top right of the page. You can add your image to any page using the editor's [[Help:Photos|photo tool]].
+
To [[Help:Uploading files|upload a picture]], click on "Add a Photo" on the "Contribute" button at the top right of the page. You can add your image to any page using the editor's [[Help:Adding images|photo tool]].
   
 
==Categories==
 
==Categories==
Line 33: Line 33:
   
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
You can add links to other websites by putting one bracket around the site's address, like this: <nowiki>[http://www.google.com]</nowiki>. That will look like this: [http://www.google.com]
+
You can add links to other websites by putting one bracket around the site's address, like this: <nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki>. That will look like this: [https://www.google.com]
   
You can add a description to the link by adding a space before the description, like this: <nowiki>[http://www.google.com Google website]</nowiki>. That comes out like this: [http://www.google.com Google website]
+
You can add a description to the link by adding a space before the description, like this: <nowiki>[https://www.google.com Google website]</nowiki>. That comes out like this: [https://www.google.com Google website]
   
 
The [[Help:Links|link tool]] within the editor can also be used to add internal and external links.
 
The [[Help:Links|link tool]] within the editor can also be used to add internal and external links.
   
 
==No shopping links==
 
==No shopping links==
Please don't add links to Amazon or other commercial sites. It's nice to help other users of this community to find the cool products that are available, but FANDOM does not permit the use of communities as commercial tools. If a related product is currently available for sale somewhere, you can note that in the article. If that inspires a reader to buy the product, then they can find it themselves.
+
Please don't add links to Amazon or other commercial sites. It's nice to help other users of this community to find the cool products that are available, but Fandom does not permit the use of communities as commercial tools. If a related product is currently available for sale somewhere, you can note that in the article. If that inspires a reader to buy the product, then they can find it themselves.
   
 
==Setting your preferences==
 
==Setting your preferences==
 
There's lots of useful stuff on your [[Special:Preferences|Preferences page]].
 
There's lots of useful stuff on your [[Special:Preferences|Preferences page]].
   
You can change which font you see in the editor when you work on an article. You can choose whether you want to see link suggestions when entering links, whether you want to be reminded when you forgot the edit summary, and much more.
+
You can change which font you see in the editor when you work on an article. You can choose whether you want to see link suggestions when entering links, whether you want to be reminded when you forgot the edit summary, and much more. Feel free to check its [[Help:Preferences|help page]] for more information.
   
 
==Keyboard shortcuts==
 
==Keyboard shortcuts==
Line 61: Line 61:
   
 
==Communicate==
 
==Communicate==
If you don't like something on your community, or you really like something, give your feedback to everyone else in the community. The forums (usually at [[Special:Forum]] or [[Forum:Index]]) or [[Help:Discussions|Discussions]] are typically a great place to discuss how things are going. Stay in touch and communicate!
+
If you don't like something on your community, or you really like something, give your feedback to everyone else in the community. The [[Help:Forum|forums]] (usually at [[Special:Forum]] or [[Forum:Index]]) or [[Help:Discussions|Discussions]] are typically a great place to discuss how things are going. Stay in touch and communicate!
   
 
Nothing on a wiki article has to be permanent, the community can always reanalyze any aspect of it. Share your feelings among your fellow editors to see if they feel the same way about something and what you should do about it! Talking never hurt anyone.
 
Nothing on a wiki article has to be permanent, the community can always reanalyze any aspect of it. Share your feelings among your fellow editors to see if they feel the same way about something and what you should do about it! Talking never hurt anyone.
   
 
==Consider policies==
 
==Consider policies==
Many of the vastly popular communities have very in-depth, detailed policies and guidelines that declare what is OK to do, what isn't, and what to do if someone did something they weren't supposed to. Regardless of whether it's a blocking policy or a manual of style, policies and guidelines give everyone, especially the new people, a chance to understand what they should do. People can't read minds to know what is okay and what is not; so be sure to familiarize yourself with a community's policies to be on the safe side.
+
Many of the vastly popular communities have very in-depth, detailed [[Help:Policies|policies and guidelines]] that declare what is OK to do, what isn't, and what to do if someone did something they weren't supposed to. Regardless of whether it's a blocking policy or a manual of style, policies and guidelines give everyone, especially the new people, a chance to understand what they should do. People can't read minds to know what is okay and what is not; so be sure to familiarize yourself with a community's policies to be on the safe side.
   
 
==Stay visual!==
 
==Stay visual!==
Readers love visual content relevant to the article they're reading. Always consider [[Help:Images|adding images]] or [[Help:Videos|videos]] to your articles to help with the overall presentation of your article. A big wall of text can be scary, boring, and uninteresting! At the same time, a big wall of images looks unprofessional and messy. The key is to balance your visuals with your content to create the greatest experience you can share with your readers. [[Help:Galleries and slideshows]] are also a really neat way to connect with your audience.
+
Readers love visual content relevant to the article they're reading. Always consider [[Help:Adding images|adding images]] or [[Help:Videos|videos]] to your articles to help with the overall presentation of your article. A big wall of text can be scary, boring, and uninteresting! At the same time, a big wall of images looks unprofessional and messy. The key is to balance your visuals with your content to create the greatest experience you can share with your readers. [[Help:Galleries, Slideshows, and Sliders|Galleries and slideshows]] are also a really neat way to connect with your audience.
   
 
==Use everything you got==
 
==Use everything you got==
Being a part of the FANDOM community means you get the benefits and features of FANDOM, including lots of cool extensions from [[Help:Galleries and slideshows]] to add color to your articles, to [[Help:Blog article|blogs]] to announce news and other important things, and everything under the rainbow! If you're starting a new community of your own, browse [[:Category:Extensions]] to see most of these features and their documentation so you can learn how to utilize them to better your community. Know about the tools you have, so you can better use them.
+
Being a part of the Fandom community means you get the benefits and features of Fandom, including lots of cool extensions from galleries and slideshows to adding color to your articles, to [[Help:Blogs|blogs]] for announcing news and other important things, and everything under the rainbow! If you're starting a new community of your own, browse [[w:Category:Extensions|Category:Extensions]] at Community Central to see most of these features and their documentation so you can learn how to utilize them to better your community. Know about the tools you have, so you can better use them.
   
 
==Start customizing==
 
==Start customizing==
The default FANDOM skin is highly customizable. You can change the colors, add images or banners, change font colors, sizes, and font faces, and anything else under the moon. [[Help:MediaWiki namespace|MediaWiki pages]] also allow for customization of the user interface, allowing you to modify some text items shown on the site.
+
The default Fandom skin is highly [[Help:Customization|customizable]]. You can change the colors, add images or banners, change font colors, sizes, and font faces, and anything else under the moon. The [[Help:Theme Designer|Theme Designer]] lets you customize the most common parts of a wiki, and [[Help:System messages|MediaWiki pages]] allow for customization of the user interface, allowing you to modify some text items shown on the site.
   
By customizing the skin or messages you can truly give your community a unique design that's attractive and remembered by readers. Giving your community style will easily make it look friendlier, more professional, and well-developed. It's definitely worth trying out. Please refer to FANDOM's [[Help:Customization policy|customization policy]] to learn more about what's permitted in this area.
+
By customizing the skin or messages you can truly give your community a unique design that's attractive and remembered by readers. Giving your community style will easily make it look friendlier, more professional, and well-developed. It's definitely worth trying out. Please refer to Fandom's [[Help:Customization policy|customization policy]] to learn more about what's permitted in this area.
   
  +
== Further help and feedback ==
  +
{{Help and feedback section}}
 
[[es:Ayuda:Wiki consejos]]
 
[[es:Ayuda:Wiki consejos]]
[[fr:Aide:Wikia]]
+
[[fr:Aide:Fandom]]
 
[[ja:ヘルプ:コミュニティに参加する]]
 
[[ja:ヘルプ:コミュニティに参加する]]
[[pt:Ajuda:Entrando em uma comunidade do FANDOM]]
+
[[pt:Ajuda:Entrando em uma comunidade do Fandom]]
 
[[ru:Справка:Присоединиться к вики]]
 
[[ru:Справка:Присоединиться к вики]]
  +
[[tr:Yardım:Bir Fandom topluluğuna katılma]]
[[zh:Help:加入FANDOM社区]]
 
 
[[vi:Trợ giúp:Tham gia wiki thuộc FANDOM]]
 
[[vi:Trợ giúp:Tham gia wiki thuộc FANDOM]]
 
[[zh:Help:加入FANDOM社区]]
 
[[Category:Help]]
 
[[Category:Help]]

Revision as of 07:56, 2 September 2020

For users who are just joining a Fandom community, this article presents helpful tips and netiquette.

Fandom has hundreds of thousands of individual fan communities, and community cohesion and practices vary greatly from site to site. New users are encouraged to browse the Fandom community they have just joined to identify policies for user behavior as well as the tone and position of the community's culture.

This article does not attempt to dictate how culture or practices should be on communities, instead outlining some common and consistent points that most communities have in common.

You're a part of the community!

When you first see a wiki community, it doesn't seem like it could possibly work. If anybody can come along and change things, then how can the information be trusted? Doesn't it just get vandalized, turn into a clump of false facts, or just fall into chaos?

Once you start participating, you see that this "weakness" is actually a community's greatest strength. Sure, anybody can add anything, and then everybody else gets to proofread it and fix mistakes. Information that looks suspicious can be verified. Vandalism is often fixed within minutes. It's possible for someone to post errors, or nonsense — but over time, the best wins out.

If you're reading these words, then you're a potential editor. If you see a problem on one of the pages, don't roll your eyes and complain about it. Just fix it!

Create a user name

Sign up and create a username — it'll help you (and everybody) keep track of your contributions. It's possible to post anonymously on many communities, but be advised that anonymous posters can be treated more skeptically. If you created an account and we can see the pages you've added to, then we'll be more impressed with you, and more likely to trust you.

Show your sources

Other readers should be able to verify the information that you post. Cite episode numbers wherever possible, and give sources for quotes. If you find information in a book or on a website, tell us the title or the URL. If it's clumsy to put that information in the article, then add a "References" heading at the bottom of the page. Behind the scenes information is especially important to source; we don't want to spread unfounded rumors.

History/Activity

Nothing is ever lost on a wiki! You can see all of the changes that have been made to a page — and who made them — by clicking on the "History" tab on the page's "Edit" menu drop-down. For the most recent changes, you can simply click the "Wiki Activity" option on the top navigation menu.

Signing talk page posts

When you post on a talk page, put an asterisk (*) at the front of your post to make a bullet. Sign talk posts with four tildes ( ~~~~ ) to automatically add your user name and a timestamp.

Uploading and formatting pictures

To upload a picture, click on "Add a Photo" on the "Contribute" button at the top right of the page. You can add your image to any page using the editor's photo tool.

Categories

You can put an article into a category by using the category tools at the bottom of an article, or within the editor.

Before you create a category, check the community's Category list (found at Special:Categories) to see if there's a similar category that already exists. If the category doesn't exist yet, then adding that code will create the category. Be sure to add some text to the new Category page, or the link from your new article won't work properly.

External links

You can add links to other websites by putting one bracket around the site's address, like this: [https://www.google.com]. That will look like this: [1]

You can add a description to the link by adding a space before the description, like this: [https://www.google.com Google website]. That comes out like this: Google website

The link tool within the editor can also be used to add internal and external links.

No shopping links

Please don't add links to Amazon or other commercial sites. It's nice to help other users of this community to find the cool products that are available, but Fandom does not permit the use of communities as commercial tools. If a related product is currently available for sale somewhere, you can note that in the article. If that inspires a reader to buy the product, then they can find it themselves.

Setting your preferences

There's lots of useful stuff on your Preferences page.

You can change which font you see in the editor when you work on an article. You can choose whether you want to see link suggestions when entering links, whether you want to be reminded when you forgot the edit summary, and much more. Feel free to check its help page for more information.

Keyboard shortcuts

Review some helpful shortcuts to navigate around within a page at Help:Keyboard shortcuts.

Dealing with vandalism

See the Reverting help page for instructions on how to fix vandalized pages.

Also read the 'don't feed the trolls' article for more information about how to properly handle vandals when they strike and how to discourage them from continuing to vandalize.

Contact administrators

See Special:Listadmins for a list of admins on any community.

If you have questions or comments about the community, you can leave a message on an admin's Message Wall or talk page.

Communicate

If you don't like something on your community, or you really like something, give your feedback to everyone else in the community. The forums (usually at Special:Forum or Forum:Index) or Discussions are typically a great place to discuss how things are going. Stay in touch and communicate!

Nothing on a wiki article has to be permanent, the community can always reanalyze any aspect of it. Share your feelings among your fellow editors to see if they feel the same way about something and what you should do about it! Talking never hurt anyone.

Consider policies

Many of the vastly popular communities have very in-depth, detailed policies and guidelines that declare what is OK to do, what isn't, and what to do if someone did something they weren't supposed to. Regardless of whether it's a blocking policy or a manual of style, policies and guidelines give everyone, especially the new people, a chance to understand what they should do. People can't read minds to know what is okay and what is not; so be sure to familiarize yourself with a community's policies to be on the safe side.

Stay visual!

Readers love visual content relevant to the article they're reading. Always consider adding images or videos to your articles to help with the overall presentation of your article. A big wall of text can be scary, boring, and uninteresting! At the same time, a big wall of images looks unprofessional and messy. The key is to balance your visuals with your content to create the greatest experience you can share with your readers. Galleries and slideshows are also a really neat way to connect with your audience.

Use everything you got

Being a part of the Fandom community means you get the benefits and features of Fandom, including lots of cool extensions from galleries and slideshows to adding color to your articles, to blogs for announcing news and other important things, and everything under the rainbow! If you're starting a new community of your own, browse Category:Extensions at Community Central to see most of these features and their documentation so you can learn how to utilize them to better your community. Know about the tools you have, so you can better use them.

Start customizing

The default Fandom skin is highly customizable. You can change the colors, add images or banners, change font colors, sizes, and font faces, and anything else under the moon. The Theme Designer lets you customize the most common parts of a wiki, and MediaWiki pages allow for customization of the user interface, allowing you to modify some text items shown on the site.

By customizing the skin or messages you can truly give your community a unique design that's attractive and remembered by readers. Giving your community style will easily make it look friendlier, more professional, and well-developed. It's definitely worth trying out. Please refer to Fandom's customization policy to learn more about what's permitted in this area.

Further help and feedback