Help:Contents

Overview
Some of you might not be familiar with editing a Wiki, so this page is designed to give you a quick lesson. It won't go into any great detail, but it will teach you enough to let you help out by contributing pages to the site.

Quick Start
For convenience, we have created a set of templates for use getting a quick start on standard types of pages. These templates will give you a frame to build the page around; simply read the comments and follow their instructions to populate the page. Just follow one of the red links to a new, blank page. Then put in the appropriate template line from the table below and save. Then simply edit the page again and add all the appropriate information. For this kind of article,            type in this template and save Character Episode Place Planet Organization Alien Species Crew Misc (ships, technologies, etc)

If you want to know what articles are needed, you can view a list of wanted articles (a wanted article is an article that hasn't been written yet, but is linked to by another page.) You can get to this list at any time from the Main page or from the "Special Pages" page.

Creating Articles
The way you create a page in Wiki seems a bit unusual to some, but it is quite simple when you get used to it.

The first step is creating a link to the page you want to create. While this might seem backwards, it serves a purpose. Because of this, every Wiki page created will already have a link leading to it from somewhere. This reduces the chance of pages being "Orphaned" by having no links that lead to it (and, therefore, wouldn't be able to be easily viewed).

Next you simply click on that new link, and it will take you to a blank page. Now you just have to write it!

Suppose you were looking at the Fry page and decided to add a page for his dog Seymore. First you would go to Fry's page and hit "Edit". Scroll down to the bottom and in the family section, you add a a link, like this:

*Seymore, Fry's dog

If you hit "Show Preview" now, you would see "Seymore" as a red link, indicating that the page does not exist yet. If that link is clicked on, a page called "Seymore" will be created. However, the site's pattern is to have character pages be named the character's full name, so you scroll back to the bottom and change the link to Seymore's full name, Seymore Butts.

*Seymore Butts, Fry's dog

You hit preview again, but now it shows the full name in the link. Again, the prefered in this Wiki is to display only the familiar name, plus any titles, in these links. You can change the text that is displayed for a link, similar to a hyperlink in HTML or BBCode. You do this by using a | (a "pipe" or vertical bar) to seperate the page name from the link text.

*Seymore, Fry's dog

If you hit preview again, you will that the link just says "Seymore," but if you hover over it, the page name that pops up will be "Seymore Butts." You're ready to save the changes to Fry's page.

Formatting and Style
We are trying to be consistent with our style of formatting for articles, particurlarly between articles of the same category. For example, all our character articles follow a certain format, with certain headers and information in a consistent order. The easiest way to get started on a new article, and to remain consistent with the style of other articles, is to start by copying another article of the same category.

To continue the example, while creating the link from Fry to Seymore, before saving we could have selected all the text in the page and copied it to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C. Then, after following the link to the blank Seymore page, we can simply paste this (Ctrl+V) and change the specific information, while keeping the formatting and other structural info.

Setting Categories
Every article must have it's categories set. These categories appear at the bottom of the aticle as links to the category page. A Category page lists every article in that category, with links, in alphabetical order. For people to find your article, it is important that the categories be set properly. Fortunately, this is the easiest part of writing an article! A list of our existing category hierarchy can be found here. If you've copied an article template, there's a good chance at least some of the categories will be the same.

For our Seymore article, Seymore is a character, so he goes in that category. He doesn't fit into any of the existing sub-categories, though, as he is not human, robot, or alien. He's an animal. Even though the category doesn't exist, we can still use it. Categories are created just like pages - first you have to use them, then you create them. Since we copied from Fry, we can leave Characters and just change Human to Animal.

An article can be attached to as many categories as appropriate in this manner. In most cases you should not need to create a new category, but this explanation is provided for completeness anyway.

Linking Pages
Anything mentioned in your article, including characters, episodes, or interesting items, that has (or should have) its own article page should be made a link. This is very much like the link we made to create the article in the first place. Links can be placed in-line in an article.

Example: Seymore is Fry's loyal dog from the 20th century. Tragically, Seymore was abandoned when Fry was frozen, but he did live a long, healthy life with a regular diet of Panucci's Pizza. After he died, was fast-fossilized and recovered during an archaeological excavation (4ACV07).

Notice that Fry is linked only the first time it appears; it is not necessary to link every instance of the word "Fry" -- However, if there is a significant amount of content since the last "Fry" link, you may want to link it again. This save people having to scroll back up and lose their place if they decide they want to read more about Fry (which the previous mentioning may not have prompted them to do).

Before saving a page with links, it is important to check the preview. Links to existing articles should appear in blue, links to new articles are red. If your link to Fry shows up red, you know you've made a mistake somewhere. The link to Pannucci's Pizza should be red, though, since there is not yet an article on it. Also notice that, for the episode reference, we display only the episode's production code. If you don't know these off-hand, you're not alone. I recomend keeping a second wiki page open while working; then you can look up production codes on the Episode Listing. This is prefered to saving the page, looking it up, and returning to re-edit.

Linking to Categories
Sometimes you need to link a word which is a category rather than a regular article. Since the syntax is already used to define an article's categories, a link uses a different syntax: Category:whatever or link text. Notice the extra ':' before "Category."

Linking to external websites
To add a link to another website, you only use a single set of [ ] 's (square brackets), and you seperate the URL from the text with a space rather than a '|'. This link would link to Google: Google

Bold and Italicied text
To make text bold, simply enclose it in a triple set of single-quotes like so. For italics use a double set.

Bulleted Lists
To make a bulleted list, simply make a list and prefix everything with an asterisk ('*'). For sub-items or intention, just add more.

This list...
 * Series
 * Season 1
 * Space Pilot 3000
 * Season 2
 * Season 3

will be displayed like this:
 * Series
 * Season 1
 * Space Pilot 3000
 * Season 2
 * Season 3

Numbered Lists
To create a numbered list, use the same format above, replacing the asterisk with a number sign.

This list...
 * 1) Series
 * 2) Season 1
 * 3) Space Pilot 3000
 * 4) Season 2
 * 5) Season 3

will be displayed like this:
 * 1) Series
 * 2) Season 1
 * 3) Space Pilot 3000
 * 4) Season 2
 * 5) Season 3

Headings
To insert a section heading, enclose the heading name in '=' signs. Similar to bullet lists, more = signs makes it a lower-level heading. On this page, "Wiki Formatting" is a level 2 heading ( ==Wiki Formatting== ), Headings is a level 3 ( ===Headings===)

Level 2 has a horizontal seperator line below it - This is useful for separating larger sections of content. Higher level numbers make for progressively smaller heading text. By using headings through your article, a table of contents will automatically be inserted at the begining of the page.

When using headings, make sure you don't skip a level. I.E., don't use a level three heading without first using a level two heading. (Since the title of the page is a level 1 heading, you shouldn't need to use a level 1 heading.)

Preformatted text
Preformatted text can be created by preceeding each line with a space, like so:

\\|//          -@-@- --oo00-(_)-00oo--

Which will output the following: \\|//          -@-@- --oo00-(_)-00oo--

This can be useful for presenting code, such as HTML, or for preserving the spacing of ASCII art (like above).

Images
If you want to upload an image, just click on the "Upload file" link on navigation bar on the left of your window. Click on "Browse" and select the graphic file you want to upload.

To use a picture that has been uploaded on a page, use the wiki tag Image. This is Billy West on the left. This is Billy West on the left. To position a picture on the right side of the screen instead, just add "|Right" after the file name. This is Billy West on the right. This is Billy West on the right.

To make it a framed thumbnail image, add "|thumb"

This is Billy West thumbnailed on the right This is Billy West thumbnailed on the right

In addition, users are allowed three personal images. Two of the images may be up to 706x540 (the same as the screenshots). The third image must be no higher than 16px, and less than 20k (not enforced, but be cool), and can be used for sigs (see below). By "personal" this means pictures that aren't used in any Futurama-related article, but are used on your User page.

House Rules
Like every site on the internet, we have some house rules around here. Here's the general rules of style and conduct you need to follow while you're here.

Working template
When doing any significant edit of a page, you should mark the page with the Working template first. To do so, you simply add the following text to the top of the page and save:

This will insert a large notice across the top of the page. If you encounter a page with this banner, you know someone else is editing it and should not try to edit it yourself. This goes for creating long, new pages as well - you should immediately save the page with just the working template, so no other users try to create the same page.

Using the Working template ensures that users don't accidentally over-save each others' work. Imagine working for an hour on a page, saving it, and the coming back five minutes later to see it over-written. Although changes can be rolled back, whoever made the other changes will have worked hard on their version as well, and combining the two can be a painstaking process. Easier just to let a single user work on a page, and then have other users come by and make the changes they see fit.

Not Your Personal Playground
Remember that this is a community project. If you have an drastic idea that requires significantly changing or reorganizing multiple pages, suggest it a discussion page, explaining your intention. If people generally agree that it's a beneficial change to make, the whole community can then pitch in to making the changes. Not talking about changes and coming to a consensus could lead to stylistic tug-of-wars, where two or more people are trying to change the Wiki in conflicting ways.

In fact, if you need a Playground, click this link. This page is open for anyone to stop in and mess around with code, allowing them to learn without affecting the content of the Wiki.

Vandalism
Erasing all the text from a page (called "blanking") is not acceptable behavior. Although any damage can be repaired, this creates work which wouldn't have been necessary otherwise. The same applies for replacing some or all of the text on a page with inappropriate or abusive language. This is a place for Futurama fans to join together to create this repository of knowledge, as well as casual fans being able to look up anything they might be curious about.

If someone has blanked or vandalized a page, you can repair the page yourself. Every page has a "history" tab at the top; by clicking it, you can view past versions of an article. Only an administrator can officially "roll back" an edit, but anyone can edit the archived version to copy and paste it back over the vandalized version. If you find a page that has been vandalized, tell an admin (currently Buddy 13 or Gopher) and the situation will be taken care of.

Punishment
General punishment for these offenses is a banning of varying lengths of time - though each offense will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis (i.e., there is no "standard" punishment). Though, for the most part, we will go by the following guidelines:

Although these are serious offenses, we will in good faith assume that the first time you blank some pages, it was an accident. You will be banned for one day, and issued a warning. If it happens again, the ban will last for one week. The third offense will net you a permanent ban.

Abusive language, however, can hardly be categorized as accidental, and, based on the severity of the offense, you could be permanently banned on the first offense.

However, we are not heartless. You can [mailto:jcrogers@overt-ops.com contact me] to plead your case, if you'd like to be unbanned.

Talk Sigs
Talk sigs are more of a local custom than a house rule. When in a discussion on a talk page, identify yourself before the text of your message. For example: [HelpfulGuy]:I can answer that question...

Your sig can be as simple as your name and possibly the date/time, which can be entered with the shortcuts, ~, or which produce your name, your name and the time, and the time only, respectively. As so: Gopher, Gopher 06:28, 13 February 2006 (PST), or 06:28, 13 February 2006 (PST)

To include a graphic, like Gopher's or Buddy 13's, you must first select and upload an appropriate image. Then you create a template page. The template page's name should follow the format User: /sig. Gopher's is User:Gopher/sig. Edit the template page and make it include the image and/or your name. For reference, you can look at these two: Gopher's and Buddy 13's.

Once created, you use it by doing a template link to it. Example: Have you seen my sombrero? which produces Have you seen my sombrero?

We'd like to keep them small, no taller than the a single line of text (16 pixels). This isn't a hard rule, but the admins reserve the right to remove oversized or obtrusive sigs at our discretion. And though animated sigs are okay, obnoxiously flashing is not. If you ignore the admins warnings and persistently try to use objectional sigs, you may be temporarily banned.

Don't Fret!
If you're ever unsure about how to format something, don't sweat it! Try to emulate the existing styles, but if you're not certain, just use your best judgement. If you make a mistake, someone else can correct it later. If you don't know a piece of information, you can omit it and someone else will fill it in. In these cases, you might want to make a brief comment about it in the edit summary. Every time you edit a page you can attach a summary line explaining what you did. You do so by simply typing into the "Summary" box, located just below the main edit box on every editing page. As long as you're trying to be correct and helpful, hack away! Even if you mess it up badly, fixing a poor or incomplete article will take a lot less time than starting one from scratch. The more contributors we have, the faster we can make progress on this herculean undertaking!

And don't forget the newly-created Playground - There you can practice getting used to the Wiki code without fear of making a mistake.

Questions
If you have any questions about wiki editing, just edit this section and add them here. We'll try to come back and answer them in a timely manner. If appropriate, a new section will be added addressing the topic, and after a few days the original question will be removed.

Alternately, you can look for answers to your own questions on MediaWiki's Official Help Wiki.