Guide to contributing to the wiki: Difference between revisions
Guide to contributing to the wiki (view source)
Revision as of 05:10, 6 June 2014
, 05:10, 6 June 2014Added Malkevin's awesome guide to writing a guide.
imported>Rockdtben (Created page with "== Welcome == We're happy you've shown interest in contributing to the wiki. This is a quick guide to how you can help == Wikicode == Wikicode is the strange syntax use...") |
imported>Kosmos m (Added Malkevin's awesome guide to writing a guide.) |
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Some pages are intended to be entertaining but when writing guides, remember that a newbie might not realize something is a joke or sarcasm, even if it's blatantly obvious to the rest of us. Think where jokes fit and where they don't. Also, if you're updating someone else's joke think if it's actually funnier. | Some pages are intended to be entertaining but when writing guides, remember that a newbie might not realize something is a joke or sarcasm, even if it's blatantly obvious to the rest of us. Think where jokes fit and where they don't. Also, if you're updating someone else's joke think if it's actually funnier. | ||
== Guide to Writing and Revising a Guide == | |||
Always keep in mind what these guides are for; they're so newbies can quickly skim across them so they can have half an idea what they've just been selected for. | |||
'''A good guide needs, by order:''' | |||
* A brief one-two paragraph description of what the mode is. | |||
* A bullet point list of short to the point key points of key mechanics, these should be no longer than two sentences each. And remember: key points means the important shit you need to know to atleast bumble fuck your way around at round start, you should be able to read and understand it within 5 minutes. | |||
* A more meaty section detailing the game mechanics in depth (this is where you explain what all runes and talismans do, including the ones that are barely used), it should still be clear and concise. | |||
* A summary of the key points, yes - one at the start and one at the end. Reiteration helps to hammer things home. This one will more or less be simple list to remind the reader of things, it wont explain them. | |||
* Further reading - this is where you link to the pages that detail advanced strategies for fighting for and against the cult. No you don't put them on the main page because that will clutter it. | |||
A bad guide is one that's a giant wall of text that's overly fluffed up and full of opinionated bullshit (looking at valid salad's bit about 'power gaming is okay', and the 'don't murderboner' bit on traitor).<br> | |||
A newbie is going to take one glance at it and shit their pants out of fright, and advanced player is just going to go "Yeah.... I'm not reading someone's sperg page". | |||
[At the moment] Security's guides are good. Space Law is unfluffed and tells plainly the basics of what a security officer needs to know to start patrolling and robusting greyshirts. The Guide to Security is more fleshed out and explains things more in depth and lists strategies to counter antags.<br> | |||
Cult, Malf, and Traitor are bad because they're giant imposing walls of text that reads like a newspaper: squished up text that obscures the facts with needless opinions and blurbs that you don't need to know off the bat. | |||
'''So remember:''' | |||
* Facts good, opinions bad. | |||
* Keep your facts clear of irrelevant fluff and other bullshit. | |||
* Keep the basic guide basic, keep the advanced stuff on a separate page. | |||
* Important stuff first, depth and explanation and unimportant things second. | |||
* White space, tables, sections, and formatting are essential for ease of reading. We're not print media, space isn't at a premium so use it freely. | |||
* I just used the above template to write this guide. | |||
''Written by Malkevin (2014-4-30)'' | |||
== Useful pages == | == Useful pages == | ||