Halopedia:FAQ

This page contains a collection of the answers to several questions related to Halopedia, which are asked frequently. If you have a question that is not covered by this page, please feel free to ask it on the forums, where the Halopedia community can answer it for you.

What is Halopedia?
Halopedia is a fan website dedicated to the Halo franchise. First and foremost, Halopedia is a wiki which aims to document everything there is to know about the Halo franchise and its vast universe. However, it is also home to a small community of Halo fans, who frequent the forums and Discord server.

Halopedia is completely run by a dedicated team of Halo fans, and anybody with an interest in the franchise is welcome to join our community and help out. Halopedia is hosted by Porplemontage, and is not affiliated with Microsoft in any way.

What is a wiki?
A wiki is essentially an online encyclopedia which is dedicated to a single, specific topic. However, there is one major difference between an encyclopedia and a wiki, which is that a wiki can be edited, for free, by anyone. Wikis are written and maintained by fans of the wiki's topic, and are intended as a free resource for any person seeking reliable information on the subject.

Who writes the articles on Halopedia?
Almost all articles on Halopedia are written by multiple editors, not just one. If you click on the "History" tab at the top of an article, a list will be displayed of all the contributors to the article and when their contribution was made.

While Halo is a Microsoft-owned franchise, Halopedia is not affiliated with Bungie Studios, 343 Industries, Microsoft or any other studios.

What are the rules on Halopedia?
In order to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, Halopedia has a set of policies that must be followed by users of the website. A list of these policies can be found here. These rules and policies are enforced by Halopedia staff, and breaking them may result in disciplinary action.

How do I earn a role on Halopedia?
Halopedia does not take on staff very often. Nevertheless, it is a major goal for many users, so the question above has been asked time and time again. In order to attain a rank on Halopedia, you must first meet the requirements for that rank, and then have a successful nomination. The requirements for each rank differ, and can be found on the respective rank's page. Pestering Halopedia staff to grant you a rank will not get you anywhere, as no users have the authority to hand out ranks on a whim. The best way to break it down is into ten main points:


 * 1) Have a decent amount of meaningful main namespace contributions.
 * Edit the real articles, the Halo information. Gnome work is an invaluable part of any wiki, but what we're talking about here is the addition of substantial content . The more you do this, the more you'll find yourself delving into discussion, and taking on projects.
 * 1) Have a large number of main talk and Halopedia talk namespace edits.
 * Communicate with other users. Be open and have valid input, and be able to receive feedback. Other users can get to know you better the more you talk to them. In addition, use the user talk namespace as a resource to share ideas and encouragement about project-related topics. Idle chit-chat is perfectly okay from time to time, but, again, don't overdo it.
 * 1) Take on a big project.
 * See if there is an important niche that needs to be filled. Plan your project well ahead of time, and get approval and feedback.
 * 1) Be able to handle stress and abuse in stride.
 * Not everyone is perfect. Sometimes, other users will say things to you that may make you very angry, but self-control is essential. Know when to say what and how to say it. Likewise, do your absolute best never to be part of the problem.
 * 1) Be tech-savvy.
 * Learn MediaWiki syntax and be able to write in it fairly well. Also, it wouldn't hurt to learn HTML and other programming languages. In fact, it's a fun thing to learn!
 * 1) Help maintain the site.
 * Most of a sysop's job is not very glamorous. In fact, it's a lot of work, and they don't get paid for it. Sysops are expected to fight vandalism, fix formatting, give aid to those who need it, and perform housekeeping duties, all the while trying to contribute actual content to the project. Some of the things a sysop is expected to do, like reverting vandalism, can also be done by users. You should spend at least a portion of your energy on such site maintenance.
 * 1) Stay active.
 * Seniority is important. Everything else being equal, the user with the most experience is the one who we turn to, and there could be several deserving users ahead of you. It is extremely unlikely that we would promote a relative newcomer.
 * 1) Stay positive.
 * We're making an encyclopedia about a video game series. Remember to keep your sense of humor about you.
 * 1) Don't call us. We'll call you.
 * Don't ask to be made a sysop. On some wikis, like Wikipedia, it's acceptable to nominate yourself for sysophood at any time. On this wiki, however, openly asking is usually met with suspicion and resentment from regular users. Don't worry though&mdash;if you're taking care of these other points, we've already noticed you.
 * 1) Be trustworthy.
 * This is the most important piece of advice we can give. Being made a sysop is like being given the keys to the wiki, and we only turn them over to people when we know they're in good hands.

Please note that fulfilling these criteria does not automatically make you a sysop.

How do I change my username/delete my account?
To change your username, please submit a request on the Halopedia:Changing username page.

A username cannot be deleted. If a username was deleted, all the edits made by the user could not be properly attributed.

I have a suggestion. Where can I post it?
You can post suggestions in the forums or on the Discord server, both of which have a wiki discussion area to discuss suggestions or improvements to the wiki. In addition, the Halopedia administration would be happy to hear you out. A list of administrators can be found here.

Why are there ads?
We use a company called Sortable which brings in different ad networks such as Google. We don't handle any buying and selling ourselves. The revenue from the ads is what allows us to stay independent by covering our dedicated server and domain fees.

What is Halo?
Halo is a long-running and popular video game franchise, which began in 2001 with the release of Halo: The Fall of Reach on October 30, and more notably Halo: Combat Evolved two weeks later. Halo is often considered the "killer app" of the Xbox family of consoles, and Halo: CE and Halo 2 are known as the games which launched the Xbox and Xbox Live, respectively. The Halo games have had a profound impact on the video game industry, being credited with popularising features such as regenerating health and multiplayer matchmaking, as well as influencing popular culture as a whole, with characters such as the Master Chief and Cortana becoming widely-known icons.

Although primarily a video game franchise, the Halo franchise has also spread into several other mediums, including dozens of novels and short story anthologies, several comics, and a number of films, feature-length and otherwise.

What age range is Halo, and hence Halopedia, suitable for?
Video games in the Halo franchise have been rated M (Mature) and T (Teen) by the ESRB. Additionally, Halo media has covered topics such as rape, murder and genocide. As a result, the franchise is not suitable for younger audiences. If you are a parent considering purchasing a Halo game for your child, we would advise first checking its ESRB rating, which should help you to judge whether it is appropriate for your child.

Furthermore, Halopedia does not censor information on potentially sensitive topics, as it would compromise our ability to be a comprehensive database of Halo information. As a result, it is advised that no users below the age of 13 should use the site, and that parents should prevent their children from accessing Halopedia if they do not believe it is appropriate for their child.

I know some information that should be added to a page. How do I submit it?
Believe it or not, there's no need to submit your suggestion to anyone. This site is a "wiki." That's a silly-sounding word that simply means anyone can add anything to any page. To find out more, check out the about page. Since you can edit pages, we'd prefer that you go ahead and add the new information to the appropriate page yourself. Go ahead, be bold!

I need help editing. Where can I find it?
Halopedia hosts a collection of pages dedicated to helping new contributors get to grips with the editing tools available on the wiki. An organised list of these pages can be found here. In addition, please read our Manual of Style before contributing, to make sure that your edits will fit in with the way the wiki is written.

If the help pages don't contain the guidance you need, a member of the Halopedia staff would be happy to assist you.

How do I create a new article?
You can easily create a new article on this wiki by heading to Community Portal page. There is a special field just for article creation. Do note that it is recommended for you to create an account first so that you can keep track of your contributions on this wiki.

When creating a new article, please review our Manual of Style, to make sure your page is in-keeping with the wiki's standards.

What's wrong with making several edits to a page in a short period of time?
Making many edits to the same page in a short timeframe is discouraged on Halopedia, because it makes it difficult for other users to make changes to the same page concurrently. Whenever a user tries to submit an edit to a page that has been changed since they began making their edit, they are forced to re-write that edit in order to reconcile it with the changes made while they were editing.

As a result of this, we encourage users not to make too many edits to a single page in a short period of time, so that other users aren't forced to suffer this inconvenience. Instead, please use the "Preview" button to check how your edits will appear, before submitting them.

Why was my edit reverted?
If your edit has been reverted and you aren't sure why, please first check if the user who undid it has explained why themselves, whether on the edit description (which can be viewed in the page's history) or via your talk page. It is likely that it either was non-canonical, unsourced, or did not meet our Manual of Style. After this, if you haven't been able to find a reason why your edit was undone, contact the user directly about it. However, be civil and do not be hostile, lest you cause an argument - the user who reverted your edit likely was doing what they thought was best for the wiki, just like you were.

If you disagree with the reason given, please contact a member of the Halopedia staff to discuss it with, rather than simply reinstating your edit, which could cause what is known as an edit war - where two or more users repeatedly edit a page, each user trying to force the page to remain the way that they prefer it.

Why was my article deleted?
The best way to find out is to look at the deletion log for reasons (type the exact name of the article in the Title box, including the capitalization you used). For more information, please consult a member of the administration team.

How do I upload an image?
Images can be added to the wiki via the upload an image page, which is also linked in the Toolbox section of the sidebar. Halopedia recommends using the PNG file format for still images, and the GIF format for short animated clips. Please fully read and adhere to the Image Policy before uploading any images, and note that images that do not follow the policy are liable to be deleted.

How can I change the name of an article?
You can move the article using the "Move" link (under the "More Actions" drop down-menu). Do note that if you're an unregistered contributor and you've moved an article, an administrator may revert the move without supplying any necessary comment.

I think I've found some defacement on the wiki. What can I do?
Defacement comes with the territory on every wiki site. Happily, it's quite easy to fix. The wiki keeps track of every revision to each article, making it very easy to roll back to a previous version. Simply click "history" at the top of the page you wish to roll back. Then click on the time and date of the archived version you want to revert to. The page will appear with the version indicated at the top of the page, just underneath the page title. Next, click "edit" at the top of the page. Add a note in the Summary box that you are reverting the page because of a troll, and then click "Save page".

After repeated defacings, an offender's IP address can be blocked by any of the users who have sysop rights. These admins pay careful attention to the recent changes page, and will block IP addresses where/when appropriate.

How do I delete an article or image?
Only administrators and patrollers can delete articles and images, but there's an easy way for you to alert the sysops to pages you think should be deleted. Simply edit the article and add  or   at the top (the two templates are for different situations; see Candidates for deletion and Images with versions pending deletion). If you've done it right, you should see a box like this one at the top of the page:

The code will add the article to one of the above mentioned categories. The sysops check these categories regularly and will delete any articles and images they agree should be deleted.

Can I copy information from another site or source?
In general, no. Copying information word-for-word from any source of Halo information, official or fan-made, is not allowed on Halopedia, and any information found to be copied from another source will be removed. Passages from official sources can be quoted, but not outright copied - the difference being that quotes are placed within quotation marks and the origin of the quote is cited. Quoting unofficial, fan-made sources (such as articles from wikis) is not permitted.

Is fanon/fan-fiction content allowed on this wiki?
The general rule for any fan-made/fanon/fan-fiction content is not to be created on mainspace; for those interested, see Halo Fanon, which can be used for fan-fiction purposes.

Halopedia is not a democracy?
Like virtually all wikis, Halopedia is not a democracy. Most of our popular issues (such as change on the wiki logo) are put up to a user vote, but important decisions are made based on discussion; not consensus or voting. The reasoning for this is that legitimate concerns cannot be ignored in light of important decisions, and one opinion is not necessarily equal to another; particularly when experience plays into the decision. These details must be ironed out in discussion before a decision is made.

Can we filter/censor the offensive/sensitive content?
While Halopedia should be written in a style that is friendly and formal, it may at times display subject material that can be interpreted as offensive. Provided that this information is factual and consistent with the Halo universe, it should not be censored. An example is the quote "Fuck you and all of your insurrectionist bullshit!" which should not be altered to read "F**k you and all of your insurrectionist bulls**t!"

What if the information from one source contradicts another?
Given the Halo universe encompasses several forms of media and many individuals in said media's making, there are instances where two or more sources contradict one another. In these situations, the source which is said to be canon is that which was most closely overseen by the core creative team of Halo; the other sources are said to be non-canon as it pertains to the contested information. If, on the other hand, the information presented in one source does not conflict with that of those more closely related to the creators of the series, it can be considered canon.

What rules are in place for communication between Halopedia users?
The chat policy is in effect on all channels of communication on Halopedia. It should be followed at all times while talking to other users, in order to ensure all communication is friendly and prevent disputes. The Chat Policy is enforced by Halopedia staff.

What is Discord?
Discord is a free service that allows gamers to communicate with one another via text or voice chat. Halopedia has its own Discord server so that members of our community can get to know each other. Anyone is welcome to join the Halopedia Discord, and an invitation can be found here.

What are talk pages?
Talk pages are a method of communication between users. They are laid out in the same way as normal pages, except rather than providing information on a particular subject, they are used for communication. The standard convention is to indent each message one level more than the message it is replying to, in order to clearly show the order of messages. In addition, any messages posted to a talk page must be signed by the user (by pasting  at the end of the message) in order to show others who posted the message.

Does Halopedia cooperate with other websites?
Yes, we are affiliated with many Halo fansites, which are listed in the weblinks section of the Community Portal. Want to be one of them? Feel free to ask us here.

Why are there two Halo wikis?

 * See also: Halopedia:History and Halopedia:History of Halo Nation

Halo Alpha, like Halopedia, is a wiki dedicated to documenting the Halo franchise and universe. Although the specifics of some policies on the sites may be different, in general the aims of both wikis are the same: to provide readers with detailed and accurate information on everything related to Halo.

The history of the two wikis is a long and complex one. Halopedia was first founded in 2004, when it was known as Halo Wiki. It was renamed as Halopedia shortly after its creation, and also changed its domain to halopedia.org to match. Meanwhile, the site that would later become Halo Alpha (halo.wikia.com) was founded in 2005 by the user Akashe, and was also initially known simply as Halo Wiki. In the summer of 2006, Halopedia began running into problems funding their site, which eventually resulted in Halopedia merging with Halo Wiki, which did not face the same problems due to the fact it was hosted for free by Wikia (the company now known as FANDOM). The product of this merger retained the name of Halopedia.

The two wikis remained the same until 2010, when Wikia announced plans to introduce a mandatory new skin for all wikis, called Oasis. This decision was unpopular with many users of Halopedia at the time and so a referendum was held in October of that year on whether Halopedia should return to its original independent domain. The community voted in favor of the idea, and so Halopedia was moved accordingly. However, Wikia were not content with allowing a wiki they hosted to simply redirect off-site or be deleted, and in addition, a portion of the community did not want to leave. As a result, a wiki called Halo Nation was formed, from the remaining content and community members on halo.wikia.com.

Halo Nation existed for a little over nine years. During the later years of its tenure, however, its staff and community became increasingly unhappy with a number of policies and features that FANDOM introduced and removed without consulting the wikis, such as the planned removal of the site's existing forum feature, "Special:Forum", and the addition of auto-playing videos known as "Featured Videos" to some articles. Eventually, the Halo Nation administration called for a vote to leave FANDOM, which succeeded and led to the wiki merging back into Halopedia. Nevertheless, FANDOM policy forbade the wiki from being completely deleted from their site, and so it was renamed yet again to Halo Alpha.

This is the reason why so many of the pages on Halopedia and Halo Alpha are similar or identical to one another - because at one point in time, they were the very same page. As of spring 2019, Halo Alpha is a largely vestigial wiki, with most activity by the community having migrated to Halopedia.

What is Halopedia's relationship with Halo Alpha like?
The Halopedia administration is on good terms with the staff of Halo Alpha, and vice versa. Although there have been isolated incidents between individual users in the past, this is not indicative of any hostilities between the sites themselves. It is the firm belief of both wikis' administrations that the idea of a rivalry between Halopedia and Halo Alpha is counter-productive and petty.

If a user, on the premise of some perceived animosity between the wikis, performs acts of vandalism or harassment against Halo Alpha or its users and claims them to be in the name of Halopedia, the user will be punished according to our Blocking Policy. Halopedia discourages and condemns this sort of behavior, as it has the potential to harm the site's amicable relationship with Halo Alpha, as well as Halopedia's reputation elsewhere. Likewise Halo Alpha shares a similar mindset, which is reflected by its own FAQ page.

What is Halo Fanon?
Halo Fanon is a wiki which aims to allow users to create and document their own unofficial expansions to the Halo universe, provided they are canon-friendly. These can be in the form of fan-fictions, ideas for Halo games or even simply articles about fan-made content. However, it is not run by Halopedia staff, and any issues with the site should be taken to its administrators.

Although the wikis are not officially linked in any capacity, Halopedia recommends that any users who intend on writing fan-fiction do so on Halo Fanon rather than Halopedia, as any fan-fiction added to articles here will be removed without warning, as per our Canon Policy.

My question wasn't answered. Where else can I ask it?
As stated in the introduction, if your question is not answered by this page, you are encouraged to post it on the forums, where it will be answered by the community.