Halopedia:Useful tips

Initially joining a wiki can be challenging for newcomers, because they are unlikely to be particularly proficient with the tools available on the wiki or familiar with the wiki's policies. This page aims to make that process somewhat easier, by listing a few important and useful tips for new users, that should help them settle in and get to grips with the tools and features offered by Halopedia.

If you would like help getting settled in, feel free to contact an administrator, who would be happy to offer you all the help you need. A list of admins can be found here.

General tips
This is a list of useful tips to help keep you on track on the wiki.
 * 1) Do not be afraid to updating pages. It's a wiki!, we are meant to be edited.
 * 2) Be polite to other users at all times.
 * 3) When in doubt or you need assistance, take it to the talk page. If you disagree with an edit, its often easier to go to the talk page and discuss it over.
 * 4) Remember copyright. Halopedia uses the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-SA). Everything you contribute must be compatible with that license.
 * 5) Make sure you add an edit summery, this allows other editors in the future to get an idea what you edited.
 * 6) Always assume good faith. For example if a new user posts an obvious mistake, attempt to assist them instead, and do not accuse them of being a vandal unless you have evidence to prove it.
 * 7) Don't revert good faith edits. Take it to the talk page if you are unsure on an edit and discuss it over.
 * 8) No personal attacks. Never attack another user, and try to be accepting of other users. We are all friends here.
 * 9) Sign your posts on talk pages using ~, which gets replaced by your username and timestamp when you hit Save. But don't sign on mainspace articles.
 * 10) Use the preview button; it helps prevents edit conflicts and mistakes.

Editing the Wiki
The following tips relate to editing the wiki, and should prove useful to would-be editors.


 * Please read our Manual of Style before editing. If you're ever in doubt about how to set out a page, refer back to the Manual of Style, or simply use another, similar page as an example.
 * To edit an article, click the "Edit" button at the top of the page.
 * Articles should be written using a formal, informative tone and from a neutral point of view - vulgar language and opinions should not be present in articles, unless as part of a quote from Halo media.
 * There are two editing suites available: the source editor, and the VisualEditor. The source editor is much more versatile, but is also harder to get to grips with. You are advised to use whichever of the two you are most comfortable with.
 * If you use the source editor, please use the "Preview" button before publishing edits, to make sure that the wikitext is working as intended.
 * You can use Special:Upload to add images to the wiki. This page is linked in the "Toolbox" section of the sidebar.
 * Please briefly describe any changes you make in the "Summary" text field before publishing edits, so others can see what you've changed.
 * If another user reverts your edits, please do not simply add them back, as this could cause what is known as an edit war. Instead, talk to the user directly or contact an administrator.
 * This wiki does not document fan-made Halo content, except major community projects.
 * Only edit pages if you are adding something meaningful, or fixing grammar and spelling mistakes.
 * If you would like to practise editing or test something, please do so on your user page, or a sub-page of it (e.g. User:YourUserName/PageName).

Communicating with Other Users
These tips should help newcomers with navigating and using Halopedia's social features.


 * When talking to others on Halopedia, you must follow the Chat Policy at all times.
 * Always try to be friendly and civil to all users, regardless of their past actions and your opinion of them.
 * Please use the log-in page to set up an account. This is entirely free, and allows other users to more easily distinguish you from other anonymous contributors (often known as "anons").
 * You can tell others about yourself by editing your user page, which you will recieve when you create an account.
 * In the forums and message walls, you can choose to receive notifications about new messages left on a thread by clicking the "Follow" button.
 * You can show your support of a message on a forum thread by pressing the "Kudos" button (which appears as a thumbs-up icon).
 * If involved in a dispute with another user, always assume that the other user is acting in good faith, unless it is clearly not the case (for example with blatant vandalism). Usually, other users will just be trying to improve the wiki - not intentionally trying to annoy you or harm the wiki.