Help:Contents

From Lotro-Wiki.com

Welcome to the Contents Help page. The idea here is to give you a good place from which you can get started by learning about the software that LOTRO-Wiki runs on and by figuring out where you'd like to help contribute if you so choose.

Q&A

We'll start by answering a few questions that you may have.

Q: "What can I do to help LOTRO-Wiki?"
A: There's always much to do, and you don't need to dedicate too much time if you don't want to. For starters, if you plan to contribute you will need to register with the site. Once that's done and you're logged in, a helpful thing that you can do is to look around and correct typos and other errors that you come across. This improves the Wiki and helps you get a better idea of how the underlying code works at the same time. If you'd like to get involved in our community a little more, you will find that there are still many sections that need help. After reading through this Q&A and the rest of the page, you will want to check out Projects. This is where you can get information on what has been done, what still needs to be done and how it should be done in all the various sections of the Wiki. You can choose whatever project(s) you would like to contribute to, and then add yourself to the appropriate list of contributors. Registering on the forums and introducing yourself may also be a good idea - don't worry, we don't bite!

Q: "How do I do simple Wiki coding and formatting? In other words, how do I bold, italicize, underline, link, etc.?"
A: The best place to start if you have never contributed to a Wiki before is here, which is Wikipedia's help on editing pages. There you can find a good introduction and overview of the basic syntax. The Cheat-sheet can also come in handy, as well as the User's Guide on the MediaWiki Software (which is what our site runs on).

Q: "What if I do something wrong?"
A: Don't worry. Virtually everything that is done on a Wiki is reversible, and if you make a mistake that you can't fix, either rollback/undo the edit in the page's edit history or let an administrator know.

Q: "What are categories, how do they work, and how can I create my own sub-categories?"
A: Categories are logical groupings of articles with the same or similar attributes, organized in a hierarchal structure known as a category tree. They allow users to browse through and find whatever they are looking for, and help editors keep everything organized. The root category of this wiki is Category:Lord of the Rings Online, and contains all the root sub-categories. Every article on the wiki should be a part of at least one category. Categorization is usually handled by Templates (discussed later), but sometimes categories need to be manually added to an article. In so, simply add the code [[Category:X]] (X is replaced with the category name) to the article. The category structure for LOTRO-Wiki has already been created, so it is inadvisable to create new subcategories unless they have been discussed. Any new categories should comply with the Categorization Guideline. If you would like to link to a category instead of actually adding the article to the category, place a colon in front of Category, so [[:Category:X]].

Q: "What's the deal with discussion/talk pages?"
A: Each article has a discussion page, which can be accessed by clicking the discussion tab at the top of the article. This is where significant changes to the article are discussed. If you are responding to a message, add your message below the previous one with one additional indent. In order to indent a paragraph, place a colon in front of it. If you are bringing up a new topic, add a new headline with the subject at the top/bottom of the page, then add your text below it. Once you've finished writing your message, remember to sign it. This will allow everyone to instantly recognize that it was you who posted it, and can be done by either adding --~~~~ or clicking the signature button on the editing toolbar (second button from the right).

Q: "What are stubs? How do they work?"
A: Stubs are articles that have been marked as having very little content. This allows editors to easily keep track of pages that still need to be improved, since they are all listed here. If you are browsing and find a page that is lacking a good deal of content but isn't stubbed, add the {{Stub/Type}} code to the top of the article (or the appropriate section), where Type is replaced with the actual type of stub. You can find a list of the different stub types that are available here.

Q: "What are redirects and double redirects?"
A: A redirect is any article that, when visited, redirects the user to a different one. This is usually done when article names contain special characters or there are different terms for the same thing. For example, The Rift redirects to The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu, and Fellowship Maneuvers redirects to Conjunctions. You can create a redirect page by putting #REDIRECT [[Pagename]] on the page you want to redirect from, where Pagename is should be replaced with the target page name. A double redirect is a redirect that leads to another redirect. Since this is unnecessary, these double redirects should be fixed by changing the target of the first redirect. You can find a list of all double redirects here.

Q: "What are Templates, where can I find them and how do I use them?"
A: Templates are pages whose contents is specially intended for use on and by other pages. Typical uses are for infoboxes, items, article management, navigation and more. Different types of templates are used in different ways. Some require information to be filled in, while others simply display a set of information. Details on how to use a template are usually included on the template's page. An categorized list of templates can be found here, and a list of all templates can be found here. Note that templates also often handle categorization of articles based on certain parameters entered when the template is used.

Q: "Do you have any general (and specific) guidelines for creating pages?"
A: Yes, and you should read and understand them before making significant changes to articles. You can find them here.

Q: "Are there regulations about where I get my information from?"
A: Yes. All significant information should be obtained from within the game or other official sources (such as lotro.com and Lorebook). Getting information from other sources is permitted if the information is verifiable, not copyrighted (unless express permission is given), and referenced in the article it is used by.

Q: "How do I upload and use images?"
A: In order to display an image on this Wiki, you will need to upload it first. Links from external sites will not work. You can upload an image by clicking the Upload file link in the toolbox on the left.

Q: "What are special pages?"
A: Special pages are used for many things, but the main purpose is to make an editor's job easier. You can take a look at all the special pages by clicking the Special pages link in the toolbox on the left.

Q: "Do I get credit for my contributions here?"
A: To a limited extent, yes. You may not get credit if your work is used elsewhere due to the GNU Free Documentation License, and your name will never be mentioned on the article itself, but you get credit in a page's edit history. Additionally, you get to be a part of a great community! We're not here seeking fame and fortune - the greatest reward is knowing that people are making use of the information we provide.

If you need help or have any questions, you can feel free to ask in one of these places:

• The Forums
• IRC - Freenode.net#lotro-wiki

For help using IRC check out the IRC Wikibook

• Ask an Administrator.

General Guidelines

For more detailed information and to see the various specific guidelines, see Guidelines.

A guideline is similar to a set of rules and standards. The main difference is that a guideline does not need to be followed to the letter and does not have any serious consequences in such cases. Here on LOTRO-Wiki, all content that has a guideline as reference should be edited until it meets those definitions, but exceptions can be made with valid reasons.

Article Naming

• Articles about content with proper names such as locations, items, quest titles and characters should be named as they appear in-game. This includes proper capitalization.
• All other articles names should not be capitalized. This rule goes for things such as common topics and game terms.

Example: Fire resistance and fire resistance link to the same page but Fire Resistance is another page.

• Articles whose names use special characters should have a redirect page from the same name without special characters.

Example: Jórunn Firesong contains a special character, so the page Jorunn Firesong is created as a redirect to the proper name.

Images

• All Icons must be in the .png format.
• All other images should be in the .jpg format. Exceptions can be made for images smaller than 100px.
• No images in the .gif (animated) format. The only exception is the ping icon for the coordinate tooltip.
• Icon names must use the same name found in-game, followed by -icon at the end.

Example: The full icon name for Champion's Challenge should be Champion's_Challenge-icon, followed by the .png file extension.

• All other images should be named according to what the image shows.

Content

• Links to articles in namespaces should be displayed without the namespace. For example, a link to Item:Hill-defender should be Hill-defender.
• Only the first occurrence of a word in an article or section (separated by headlines) of an article should be a link. A second link is acceptable in some situations as well, but more than that is generally not recommended.
• When writing content for articles, try to stick to the third person plural by using words like "they". In some situations, such as detailed instructions, using the singular "you" is also acceptable. Never use "I", since the information on the pages should not be your opinion but rather that of many.

Example in third person plural: "Lore-masters should watch for wound debuffs. They should also be ready to heal the tank."

Example, this time singular: "Click on the Crafting icon to open the Crafting Panel. Here you will find some useful information."

Content Removal

• If you would like to have a page deleted use the {{Delete Page}} tag. Remember to provide a reason for deletion.

Adding Pages

To add a page do one of the following:

• Click a red link, which will take you to the new page.
• Edit an existing page to point to the item, for example use * [[Item:Questrewarditem|]] on a quest page, then after saving click the red link to go to the item & fill it in.
• Type the page name in the first (non-google) search box.
• Change the URL from http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/currentpagename to http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/desiredpagename

Please remember to check capitalization before creating a new page.

• [[Any Pagename]] Places a page in the default namespace. This is the default for Wiki searches.
• [[Item:Item Pagename]] Places a page in the "Item" namespace. All item articles should use this prefix.
• [[Quest:Quest Pagename]] Places a page in the "Quest" namespace. All quest articles should use this prefix.
• [[User:Username]] Places a page in the "User" namespace. To be used when creating an article about a Wiki editor (i.e. yourself).

You can exclude the additional page names from the search by either using the advanced search option or by changing your preferences when you log on.

Adding Items

To add game items or crafting items and recipes there is a Wiki template defined to make the process easy. Please look at Help:Game Items for further information.

Adding Quests

• Quick quest creation.

Please look at Help:Quests for further information on how to add a quest.

Adding Creatures

• Quick creature creation.

Adding Instances & Content

To add a new Instance article or content to an existing one, check out the World Instances Guideline.

List of Templates

Template:Crafting

A template used for Recipes.

Template:Infobox Recipes

A template used for Recipes.

Template:Infobox Item

The default template for Game Items.

Template:Infobox Skill

The default template for Skills and Traits.

Template:Infobox Mob

Summary of Mob/Boss.

Template:Npcbox

The template used for all non-PvMP NPCs.

Template:Creature Info

The default template for Creatures that are not bosses.

Template:Euro Version

Notes that there is or might be a difference between EU and US worlds

Template:Infobox Quests

All quest pages should include this template.

Template:Toc-right

Moves the Table of Contents to the right side of the page

Template:concat

Concatenates template variables

Template:Player_Character

Player Character template

Template:Drop cap

Drops the caps of the first letter and make it a link. Usage:

C

aptain

Template:Infobox Effect

This is the same type of box in Game when you select an effect icon.

Template:Infobox Vitals

This show the Vitals (Level, Morale and Power)

Template:Infobox Drops

This display a icon and name of the item in a list.