Help:Contents
From NDSUwiki
Contents |
Procedures
User Accounts
If you want to start editing NDSUwiki, you need to have an account. To get one, you must request one on the log on page. Please use your @ndsu.edu email address, as this will confirm to us that you are actually affiliated with NDSU. The Student Government Technology Commission members will review your request for approval. You may be contacted to confirm that you are actually interested in seriously editing or creating articles. This is informal, and just to confirm that you won't be writing anything offensive or inappropriate.
Editing/Creation of Articles
You must have a user account to edit or write articles. If you do not have one, you must submit any changes or new articles by email to the Technology Commission at articles@ndsuwiki.com.
Discussion Pages
If any major edits are made to an article, please state the reasoning for the edits in the article's discussion page. Help on how to use the discussion page can be found here.
Articles
How to Create a New Article
To write an article, simply search for the name of the article you wish to write. If it exists, and you feel you have some information to add, feel free to edit the page to include them. If no page exists for the topic you are searching for, go ahead and create it.
Article Topics
All article names or “topics” should be simple, concise, and offer a clear representation of the article’s contents. The first letter of every word in the article name should be capitalized. This is so the search bar will read it properly. For instance, a good article name would be "The United States Of America" as opposed to "the United States of America". If an article contains one or more subtopics that are too short to exist as their own article(s), these should be denoted through “subsection(s)”.
Hotlinking
When reading an article in NDSUwiki you may notice the blue (or red) links throughout an article. Any article you write or edit should include these hotlinks. Hotlinks should be used for any and all words that are of interest to someone. If an article of that name exists, the link will be blue. If it does not exist, the link will be red, meaning someone should write an article on that topic. Help on how to make hotlinks can be found here.
It is recommended that you only hotlink the first instance of each link.
Pertinent/Objective Information
All articles on NDSUwiki should include only objective information. This is what is called a neutral point of view. Any offensive, biased, or inappropriate content will be removed and the author of such content will have user privileges revoked. Articles should also only contain pertinent information to the article's topic. For instance, an article on the fight song should not contain information about squirrels.
Categories
All articles must fit within one or more categories. If no current category seems to be appropriate for a specific article, contact the Executive Commissioner of Technology to have another one set up. To see if a category currently exists either check the category list or in the search bar type:category:name_of_category
Help on how to list an item in a particular category can be found here.
Templates
Some pages include templates. Examples of these types of pages include organizations, buildings, and colleges. If you are creating an article that has a template for that type of articles et up, please use the template. All templates can be found at the Special:Uncategorizedtemplates page. If a new one needs to be created for the type or article you intend to write, feel free to create it. To find if the template exists, in the search bar type:template:template_name
Images
Articles should include images (maps, photos, graphics, etc.) if the images are relevant to the article. All images must either be original creations, or be used with the permission(s) of the image’s creator(s). If you submits an image, you are responsible for securing the rights to use it. Anyone who submits an image without securing the rights to use the image may have his or her account deactivated at the discretion of the Executive Commissioner of Technology.
You may submit images by sending them via email to images@ndsuwiki.com.
Formatting Articles
Articles are formatted using the "wiki" markup language. For more information on formatting articles see:
Source Material
Any information in an article that was taken directly from a source should either cite or link to that source for reference. Help on how to link to external sites can be found here. Not all information in an article needs to be cited. Non-referenced information may and should be utilized, just make sure you aren't making things up. If you create un-sourced information in an article, you are responsible for the accuracy of that information. Anyone who creates inaccurate or false information will have his or her account deactivated at the discretion of the Executive Commissioner of Technology.
