User:Dismounted Feudal Knight/TWC Wiki:Help

The Editor's Guide
Getting Started | Wiki Projects | Manual of Style | About the Wiki
Related articles: something useful here | User rights

New user guide

Welcome to the wiki!

TWC Wiki exists to support Total War Center and the wider Total War Community! We specialize in modding information (including mods you can find), information about TWC, and providing an overview of the Total War Series. Be sure to review the Terms of Service and TWC Wiki Guidelines for important basics on what is allowable. A more general overview may be found at TWC Wiki.

Getting an account & the very basics

TWC Wiki is open to any member of TWC in good standing upon request, even if they have not posted before. For that matter you can ask an existing member of the wiki and if you are reasonably trusted, you don't necessarily have to be registered to get an account. Requests for access can be made in this thread. An account will be made and you will be messaged the login details.

Be sure to visit Special:Preferences and change your password! You can also add an email for password recovery, change your wiki skin, and configure other settings at your convenience. Check them out! Basic editing will be covered below but you can also ask for assistance or clarity at the discussion thread or at #wiki-chat on TWC's Discord Server.

Editing the wiki

Existing pages and sections

Simple corrections and changes are always welcome and also very easy: while logged in, simply click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page, or the [edit] link that appears besides sections. This will take you to the editing page, where you can make any adjustments and also preview your work before publishing.

Some pages are more sensitive, and so have been protected. Instead of Edit, you can only View Source. If a correction needs to be made, please bring it up in a discussion venue mentioned above or collaborate with someone who has the appropriate access. You can also use the Discussion tab present on all wiki pages to leave messages and suggestions.

Adding a new page

The easiest way to figure out how to format a page is to look at how similar pages are made. Don't be afraid to take the code from an existing page, for example, a page about a mod, and use that to create a page about another mod (so long as all content is updated of course). You can create new pages either by following a red link to them, or editing the name into your browser's address bar.

• Example,

Keep two caveats in mind when making titles. First, spacebars ( ) are represented with underscores (_), so Page_Name is the same as Page Name. Second, all letters after the first letter are case sensitive. Page_Name can be reached with page_Name, but page_name will be a totally different page.

The wiki uses categories to sort articles. If the category system is confusing, don't worry too much - someone will most likely be behind you who can fix it up. Otherwise, you can browse most categories starting here for an idea. The categories roughly correspond with how the rest of the wiki is laid out, note that images will have their own subcategory under the main category a page is under.

Markup and formatting

When you are using the editing window you will see a variety of buttons on top. Hovering over them will provide a description of what they do. Use of the > Advanced and > Help buttons will expand those sections and provide information on commonly used formatting.

The TWC Wiki uses MediaWiki software: the same formatting used on Wikipedia and most wikis in general. MediaWiki provides a lot of useful pages explaining basic functions. The ones normal editors are most likely to need are:

• Editing Pages
• Formatting
• Images
• Tables

If you're interested in trying things out with wiki code but are not confident in what that code will do, we have the TWC Wiki:Sandbox available to test on. Remember how you can draw inspiration from how other pages work, and that you can reach out for assistance at any time.

Additional information

Getting more help

• who to talk to and how if you're stumped
• brief mention of wiki team, unfortunately they aren't really present so 'senior editors' needs to be emphasized
• perhaps merge some mention of discord, discuss thread etc in this section to reduce redundancy in other headers

Things to work on

TWC Wiki can use assistance for virtually anything you can think of - a wiki is never perfect. If a certain subject is your interest, go for it. If the idea is particularly advanced, you should hook up with an existing editor for advice and support.

One thing to bear in mind however is that TWC wiki is far, far behind on detailed unit information for total war games. There are many incomplete, abandoned or orphaned pages on the wiki which have tried to document these things in detail, but they require extensive time to complete and are not what the wiki stands out in - especially with existing wikis on other platforms which go in far greater detail with far more editors who can contribute. So, it is preferred to develop articles for things this wiki can offer a nuanced perspective on including modding, TWC, and overviews and guides for game mechanics.

Please see TWC Wiki:Projects if you are interested in chipping in to an organized initiative on the wiki. Remember, you can do what your heart is set on (within reason of course!)

Wiki organization

TWC Wiki has several systems for how to organize information including Portals, Indexes, Mod Finder Tables, Staff List Templates and more. Unless these areas are your interest you don't need to worry about them. More information will be placed here but in the meantime, please consult a senior existing editor or wiki team member if you are interested in the organization of the wiki itself.

Meta commentary that should not make it to live publication

Upkeep, maintenance et all will be in TWC Wiki:Projects. The entire projects apparatus should probably be cleaned up.

Need another pass through the original TWC Wiki:Help to ensure I didn't miss anything critical and with some patch up, this might be ready to go live pending feedback from mak and anyone else interested.

The Editor's Guide
Getting Started | Wiki Projects | Manual of Style | About the Wiki
Related articles: something useful here | User rights