Morloch Wiki:Editing Standards

	"Editing Standards" is a work in progress.
	The information below may be incomplete and/or inaccurate!

The purpose of this article is to establish a uniform editing technique for MorlochWiki.

Purpose

For the purpose of editing, there are two kinds of articles:

• Cleanup: Pages in need of editing or rewording as described on this page.
• Good Articles: Articles that meet these editing standards.

The goal of any would-be wiki editor is to convert the cleanup articles to good articles. This page outlines the standards we will use to define what is good, and offer advice on how to make MorlochWiki a good reference for the entire Shadowbane community.

Criteria of a Good Article

Good articles must meet the following criteria:

1. Well-written: the prose is clear and concise, it respects copyright laws, and the spelling and grammar are correct.
2. Links to other articles: the article contains intra-wiki links when possible and offers related topics at the end.
3. Verifiable with no original research: if available, it contains a list of all references
4. Broad in its coverage: it addresses the main aspects of the topic and stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail
5. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each.

Immediate Failures

The following will immediately disqualify an article for the good article category:

• Inaccurate Information: The highest priority of any article is its accuracy. Distribution of incorrect information is the polar opposite of the original purpose of any information resource. Please use in-game testing or at least two sources if you have any doubt about the accuracy of the information you add to the wiki.
• Undefined Acronyms: All acronyms assume the reader has prior knowledge of the subject. Readers of a wiki are assumed to know very little or nothing about the subject before reading. Define what these stand for the first time they are used, and if possible, link to the Common Acronyms article.
• Privacy Violations: Character builds, screenshots, or information about any other user without their prior permission.

Article Formatting

The following is how most articles are formatted. While this may not apply to all articles, it is easier on readers to stick to this format whenever possible.

Title

When creating a new article, capitalize the first and the last word. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. For example: "The Fox and the Hound".

Opening Paragraph

Most articles begin with a simple explanation of exactly what the title is referring to before going into further details. These should be no more than one or two sentences at most.

Applications

Once the subject is defined, the next section should explain how exactly this is useful to the reader and set their expectations appropriately. This can be what they stand to gain or risk, what it means to themselves and their guild, as well as any words of warning.

Guide

The article will go on to give instructions for how exactly to go about making use of the subject matter. For example, how to place a bane or create an item on a forge. Be careful to stay neutral: there is often more than one way of doing things.

Tables, Images, and Infographics

While not expressly required, these items will make any article much easier on the eyes and fun to read. A good article will utilize these when there is a lot of complex information or to provide clarification when things are difficult or confusing when put into words alone.

Self-explanatory images can be inline, but try and utilize the "thumb" image tag parameter when not.

See Also Section

Many articles have a "See Also" header as the last item on the page which will link to other articles in the wiki the user might be interested in. Utilize this when there is no opportunity to link to these pages within the body of the article.

Other Cleanup Projects

If you are interested in other ways of improving the wiki, consider the following special pages.

• Special:WantedPages: Also called "red links", these pages don't exist, but are linked to. They may need a brand new article written or a redirect to a more appropriate page.
• Special:BrokenRedirects: Pages that redirect to a page that does not exist.
• Special:DoubleRedirects: Pages that redirect multiple times.
• Special:DeadendPages: Pages that do not link to anywhere else in the wiki.
• Special:UncategorizedPages: Pages with no category.

Editing Assistance

For help with editing and wiki markup please read over the Wikipedia Help page. Most of the editing code used in Wikipedia is the same used in MorlochWiki.

Discussion

Please use the discussion tab of this article to discuss these standards. Communication between wiki editors benefits everyone who reads MorlochWiki.