New Wiki User

Welcome to 118Wiki, a home for the UFOP: StarBase 118 RPG on the net. This area of our Wiki is used to introduce people to the Wiki and how it works. We assure you, it's quite easy! So, please take the next five to ten minutes to read completely through this page. Everything here is simplified to introduce you to browsing and editing on a Wiki!

First, some questions answered...

Q: Why are some links red and other links blue?
A: Blue links lead to pages which have already been created. Red links lead to pages which have not been created. If you click on a red link, it'll take you to an edit box that will allow you to create a page. Purple links are ones you've already visited.

Q: Why are so many pages marked in red?
A: Wikis are big, involved projects which appear like webs -- almost everything links to everything else. In the effort to create system/help pages for our users, we have copied some pages from Wikipedia. Often, these pages link to other pages which are on Wikipedia, but not yet on the 118Wiki. Please be patient while we add these pages!

Q: Where do I start?
A: The main page is the best. There are plenty of "jumping off" points there.

Q: What's the page history?
A: The page history gives you a complete and total list of every change that has been made to a page, all the way back to its creation. This is useful if you want to compare the differences between a version you created and the changes someone added.

Q: Can I contribute?
A: Yes, so long as you register. (Just click the "Register or Log In" link near the top right-hand corner of your browser window.)

• It's painless, we promise! You don't even need an e-mail address or anything! Just define a username and a password and you're done!

Next, our purpose and goals...

The purpose of this Wiki is to give members of our group a place to collaborate and keep history. Wikis are great for online projects because they allow so much easy collaboration. As such, this Wiki is intended to facilitate these projects, but also to give people a place to take part in the history of our group as it happens. Information can be added on ships daily to keep a record of what's happened in our group.

Another very central reason for this Wiki is to act as a repository for "Academy Library" type information, such as primers on Treknology. Because these types of articles can always be refined, the Wiki is a great place for them, so that they can constantly grow for the better.

Now, an introduction to editing...

Want to try it out? Use the Sandbox to experiment with editing! This keeps our "real" pages free of experimentation.

Hopefully, some of your questions have been answered and you're now ready to browse and contribute to the Wiki. Here's a really, really quick introduction to editing a Wiki:

1. Make sure you're registered. If you haven't done so yet, you'll need to register before you can edit a page. Just click the "Register or Log In" link near the upper right-hand corner of your page to register!
   • Like we said above, it's extremely painless. No e-mail needed! Just define your username, then your password, and you're done!
2. Find a page you want to edit. This seems pretty self evident. You can find these pages that you'll want to edit via the Main Page, or through the "Recent Changes" page, or even the "Go/Search" box on the left-hand side of your page.
3. Click the "Edit" button. At the top of every editable page, you'll see a tabby-looking thing that says "edit" or "edit this page." Click on that, and you'll be brought to a new page which contains all of the text and code for that article.
   • If a page has a "view source" tab instead of an "edit" tab, it means that page has been "locked" by a Wiki admin, and you can't edit it. This usually only happens because a page is being vandalised, which doesn't happen often (or at all, yet).
4. Change the text using Wiki code. Wiki code is different than HTML, but most people find it much easier to use. Thus, you don't need any experience with HTML to participate. Here are the commands you'll most often need to use:
   • Creating links: To create a link to another Wiki page, enclose the text in double brackets, like this: [[Main Page]]. That would create a link that looks like this: Main Page, which would lead you to the Main Page of our Wiki. There's no special coding needed for the actual link -- you just need the page's title! If you need to know the page's exact title, just go to the page and copy the very top title of the page (right under the tabs).
   • Bolding and italicizing: To make something bold, use three apostrophes, like this: '''Bold me, baby!'''. Similarly, you can put text in italics by only putting two apostrophes around it, i.e.- ''Put me in italics!''. However, quotes won't work for italics! You must use apostrophes!
   • Listing. To make a bulleted list, put * at the beginning of a line. To make a numbered list, put # at the beginning of a line. Sub-items just add another * or # sign. Here are some examples:
     • * Bulleted list.
       • ** Sub-bulleted list.
     1. # Numbered list.
        1. ## Sub-numbered list.
   • Headings: The top heading of a page is its title, at the very top. A sub-heading is created by putting two equal signs on each side of the text, like this: ==Sub-heading==. Put three equal signs if you want a slightly smaller sub-heading, like so: ===Sub-sub-heading===.
5. Add a summary and set options. The "summary" box is so you can give a short summary of what you changed. If all you're fixing is a stylistic, grammar, spelling, or formatting error then you can check the "This is a minor edit" box. If you change any actual content, don't click that box. And the "Watch this page" option adds the page to your "watchlist," the link to which you can find near the top of your browser's window (so long as you are logged in to the Wiki).
6. Click "Preview". Now click the "Show Preview" button to make sure that everything's looking okay with the changes you made. This is important, as it keeps the "history" of the page clean.
7. Save the page. Make sure you save the page after previewing and making any necessary changes! Now you're done and you can marvel at how easy it was to change a page!

If you want more information on how to edit a page, or you need some more in depth information about wiki code, there are two resources to go to:

1. MediaWiki's Editing Guide. That page is here: Help:Editing
2. Wikipedia's Help:Contents. That page is here: Help:Contents

If you have more time, and you're not gnawing at the bit to get editing, we also suggest Wikipedia's Wiki Tutorial. That page will walk you through editing, formatting, talk pages, namespaces, and such.