User:Ralff/WikiGuidance

Namespaces

Use namespaces for game pages

For all pages that are about a specific game we will use the MediaWiki namespace notation: <namespace>:<page_name>. For example, wiki.aie-guild.org/index.php?title=GW2:Guild_Upgrades. As a wiki link it would look like [[GW2:Guild_Upgrades]]. The reasons for this are:

• This lets us make a page with the same “name” for different games—like WoW:Warrior and GW2:Warrior.
• You can use the namespace as a filter when using the Search.

Specifics:

1. When making pages that are specific to a game, use the [[Game:page]] syntax, even if the namespace doesn’t exist yet. It still works mostly the same, but won’t get the search filter yet.
   • If/when we make the namespace we will have to deal with existing pages.
2. Existing game namespaces: WoW, EVE, Rift, SWtOR, GW2, Steam, LotRO, TSW
3. Just so you know, these are the other wiki namespaces:

   • (Main) The default. This is where the page goes if you put no namespace.
   • The other standard MediaWiki namespaces: Media, Special, User, Project, File, MediaWiki, Template, Help, and Category. You can read about these in theMediaWiki namespace help.
   • AIE Wiki, a namespace for information about the wiki and our rule on how we want to organize it, etc. For example, this stuff I am writing RIGHT HERE should go in the AIE Wiki namespace.
   • Officer, for pages about officers.

4. Each namespace has an associated Talk namespace. The easiest way to use these pages is the “Discussion” tab at the top of regular pages—this will bring up a page with the same name, but with “Talk:” in front of it. We should use the Discussion pages to put To Do lists and talk about what we need/want for each page.

Categories

Keep the category hierarchy flat.

Except for the game categories (see below), we don’t want to “nest” category pages in other categories. This just makes it confusing for people to use the categories. With a flat category list, people just tag their pages with all categories they think apply.

We will not be using categories and the <ncl> (nice category list ) feature to organize pages and lists. This is a lot of work to maintain. For the top-down organization we should use direct links to the pages.

We will periodically review the list of categories to merge duplicate categories and purge unused categories.

Make all game pages have the category for their game pages.

This is done by putting [[Category:<game>]] on the page. It should be either at the very beginning or at the very end. I prefer at the beginning. The reason for this is to help us organize the game pages, and allow us to build index-type pages

The games area is pretty much the only place in the AIE wiki where we plan on having the categories in a hierarchy. The games listed will change, but the hierarchy will stay the same. The hierarchy (with current games) is:

• AIE Games
  • Game Domains
    • WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, EVE, Steam
  • Game Settlements
    • LotRO
  • Game Expeditions
    • Star Trek Online
  • Minor League Games
    • Book of Heroes

NOTE: Only categorize your game pages with the specific game (WoW, EVE, etc.). The hierarchy will take care of the rest.

Other Pages

Use tabbed pages judiciously.

This is a nice feature to make navigation nice, and consolidate a page that would otherwise be big and messy. But it should not be used to combine several different topics into one big Frankenstein page. (Like the current Main Page. I can say that because I made it, and it is going away.)

Only categorize the first tab of a tabbed page.

Also, if you use the tab feature of the wiki, only categorize the main tab page, since that is the entry point. That way, we don’t get multiple pages showing up in the category—for what is logically a single page.

Make “your page” at User:<your_user_name>

If you make a page to describe yourself, or your toon(s) use the User namespace. Also, use the charbox template to document your characters.

To Dos:

1. Make new landing page for the main page, with the boxes.
2. Make sidebar point to the game welcome pages instead of the categories.
3. Move Current main page stuff to the appropriate places.
   1. Games tab goes to index areas
   2. Podcast tab gets linked to from new main page
   3. Conferences tab is OBE—needs redone.
   4. Community info tab– redo and link from main?
4. Change all "Guild officer categories to Officer -- plus the pages will have the game category too.
5. AIE Wiki:Copyrights pages does not exist
6. Add Game to charbox template. Make it categorize character pages to that game.
7. Add all the EVE pages to the EVE Online category. Re-create the page, just to make the error go away.
8. Fix the broken youtube stuff in AIE Instance School.
9. Go through the World of Warcraft Gameplay Info (formerly AIE Game Info) and remove the reliance on categories. Put all pages in the WoW namespace, remove the category, and use direct links.
10. Category cleanup: these are not used right now
    1. Banker Crafters
    2. Candidates for Speedy Deletion – still may be useful?
    3. Category:Star Wars: the Old Republic (we use SWtOR instead)
    4. Community Information
    5. Game Information
    6. Operations
    7. Rift Guild Information
    8. Steam Group Information
    9. Submissions
    10. TOR Guild Information
    11. Ventrilo
    12. WoW Guild Information

Finished To Do Items

1. Remove all "AIE Games" category tags. Use Game Domains, Settlements, and Expeditions. DONE, I think.
2. Removing "WoW Information" Category--just using "World of Warcraft". DONE, I think
3. Add miniGERP page. DONE
4. Add Minor League Games category. DONE