CivWiki:Editing Guide
This article provides a starting point for beginner editors. For more help and to answer any questions the CivWiki Discord is highly advised. If you are looking for current Wiki projects and priorities see CivWiki:Editing Projects.
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FAQ
Q: How do I create a page?
Search for the desired page name and press the central red link. You must create an account in order to edit.
Q: How do I upload an image?
Click the Upload file link in the left sidebar. Ensure you include attribution : this can be as simple as providing a link to the original source in the Summary section.
Q: How do I format a page?
There are two methods of editing, pressing 'Edit' or 'Edit source'. 'Edit' opens the WYSIWYG visual editor which is suited for simple edits. It is advised to use `Edit Source` for more complex formatting. The best way to improve formatting is by example : view the source of high quality pages and copy the relevant wikitext and surrounding brackets: e.g. {{infobox ... }}.
Formatting is less important then content. It is better to submit an edit with poor or non-existant formatting than not to submit at all.
Q: How are templates used?
A template can standardize and save large amounts of time. To add a template to a page click 'Edit source' and paste in the template.
An example template is Template:Coord, used to affix a link to CCMap centered on specified coordinates. To center on x=0, z=0 with a viewing radius of 100, paste {{Coord|0|0|100}}. This will render as 0, 0
Writing standards
Generally CivWiki follows the Wikipedia Manual of Style and Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view. Common academic writing guidelines should be followed such as avoiding the use of first person in articles and references should be used when possible. Nevertheless, CivWiki is not Wikipedia:
- Content that does not take a neutral point of view can remain hosted on CivWiki as long as it is affixed with Template:Neutrality_warning
- The standards for topic verifiability and notability are of necessity much lower on CivWiki
This is not to say that that low quality content is encouraged. All CivWiki content that is not affixed with warnings should follow Wikipedia quality standards to the greatest possible degree.
CivWiki:Neutral point of view
CivWiki hosts many types of content. Some content is created with no intention of presenting information from a neutral perspective. This is permissible, yet to avoid confusion this content must be marked with template:Neutrality warning. If you wish to have a version of page with a neutral point of view (NPOV) and a version of a page without NPOV, make the NPOV the main page and create a new sub page (without NPOV) by adding '/NW' to the current page url.
CivWiki:Obsolete
Content that does not make clear it is highly outdated should be marked with template:Obsolete warning
CivWiki:References
References should be used whenever possible. They can be anything from reddit posts, links to discord messages(screenshots of discord messages are also okay but a link is preferred), imgur albums/pictures, newspapers, or anything that has a name attached to the source which is easily verifiable.
Tips
Page checklist
In addition to content standards consider :
- Relevant images to break up long walls of text
- A short summary at top that can be understood without reading the full article
- Page is not a stub (i.e. pages is too short to provide a relatively encyclopedic coverage of a subject
- Searching Civ subreddits and discords for relevant content will often turn up useful information, references and images
- "If an article's title is a formal or widely accepted name for the subject, display it in bold as early as possible in the first sentence" (see here)
Redirects
Create a page with acronym name to redirect (e.g. Page name is TdC and redirect
#REDIRECT [[Tierra de Conciencia]])
Categories
To categorize a page, link to the category in the article source
(eg. to add the page to the category "Civilizations": [[Category:Civilizations]]). Some useful categories can be found at CivWiki:Navigation.
File naming
Files should be saved with relevant names and summaries. Files can then be easily searched using Special:ListFiles or Special:NewFiles.
When uploading flag images to the wiki, follow the format
<Nation name> <subdivision name (if applicable)> <flag>
(e.g. A valid file name would be Mount Augusta Insula flag.png)
Dating information
Information that may quickly go out of date should be dated. (E.g. the population of X is 40 should be replaced with the population of X is 40, as of January 2020). If you find information that is not dated, affix the template:
{{when}}
Resources
Sandboxes
Use Civ Classic:Sandbox to experiment with formatting
Useful Templates
Template:Neutrality warning
{{Neutrality warning}} or {{Neutrality warning|section}}.
Template:Obsolete warning
{{Obsolete warning}} or {{Obsolete warning|section}}.
Template:Coord
{{Coord|X|Z|R}}
This Coord template links to a CCmap with those coordinates. However, if you're looking to link coordinates to a different map, like 3.0 or 2.0, use {{CivcraftCoord2|X|Z|R}} or {{CivcraftCoord3|Shard|X|Z|R}} and for CivRealms 2.0 use {{CR2Coord|X|Z|R}} .
Infobox
- Template:Infobox civilization
- Template:Infobox alliance
- Template:Infobox person
- Template:Infobox treaty
- Template:Infobox settlement
- Template:Infobox newspaper
- Template:Infobox political party
- Template:Infobox company
Nations (CivRealms)
Quadrants (CivClassics):
- Template:Sovereign States of the Northwest
- Template:Sovereign States of the Northeast
- Template:Sovereign States of the Southwest
- Template:Sovereign States of the Southeast
Shards (Devoted Hell):
- Template:Sovereign States of Asmodeus Shard
- Template:Sovereign States of Brimstone Shard
- Template:Sovereign States of Cerberus Shard
- Template:Sovereign States of Deracinate Shard
Alliance:
Organization