Guide to Contributing to Wikistation
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At the moment, editing Wikistation 13 is restricted to registered forum users only. Please sign up and get started today!
Don't know wikicode? That's okay, you can still help.
If you want to learn wikicode, it's an extremely simple language to learn. If not, that's fine - the wiki will accept HTML code as well. Don't know HTML? Simply click on the "discussion" link at the top of a page and leave your comments there. Someone more comfortable with wiki editing will make the necessary changes.
But wikicode will help me score chicks!
Indeed it will. For more information on wikicode and wiki editing in general, please see the wikicode primer.
Well, that's done. Where do I start?
More than anything else, this wiki needs constant updates to content. Since Goonstation 13 changes so quickly, information can rapidly become out of date, and many things don't even have a page or a picture yet. When there's a new item, role, station, or monster on the station, do your part by simply adding a new page and jotting down what you know about it.
If you want to work on a new page uninturrupted by other editors, or simply want to experiment with wikicode, try using personal sandbox page.
Content Revisions
There are almost always large sections of the wiki that have become out of date - the coders simply update too quickly for us to keep up! We keep a central to-do-list to keep track of what still needs to be done.
Before removing the {{outdated}} tag, be sure to read the page and any comments on the discussion page. Once that's done, simply update the parts that are out-of-date with the new information! If the information on the page has been moved to or deprecated by another page on the wiki, simply replace the page's content with #REDIRECT [[New page name]] to help users to find the new information. Remember to match the capitalization on the link.
In addition, be sure to leave a short note in the "Summary" field above the "Save Page" button so the administrators don't mistake your edits for vandalism. It doesn't have to be very detailed. Something like "More Spy Thief bounties" or "Add a tip on Blob starting locations" is fine, and it helps people looking through Recent Changes and a page's history quickly know what's changed between revisions.
Again, if you're uncomfortable editing the page itself, add a note to the talk page, and someone else will add the information to the article.
Minor Edits
Likewise, there's plenty of pages that could use style revisions, links to helpful resources, formatting fixes, and other small changes that don't add any content but improve the page nonetheless. As with all writing, there's always room for revisions.
Unlike with content updates, you don't have to consult with the talk page or anything like that. Just make the changes you want, make sure the "This is a minor edit" button is checked as a small courtesy, as always, include a brief description of the changes you've made in the "Summary" field.
Images
Many pages across the wiki are missing images. To help, simply upload the file and add a short description to help us keep track of what it is. Please don't forget the description - it can be as short as "Fire Extinguisher," and is a tremendous help.
NOTE: if you're going to be uploading pictures, make sure you're keeping everything in the native resolution or non-stretched (32x32, 64x64)! The actual dimensions of the image don't matter, but we would prefer it to be as small as possible, especially if it'll go into Foods and Drinks, which doesn't play well with big images. Transparency is good too, but not really required!
Templates
To simplify organization and consistency, we have some simple templates that you can use in pages:
Message templates (for use at the top of pages or sections):
- {{delete}} – add this tag to any page you find that has no reason to exist.
- {{outdated}} or {{Wip|Reason=}} – add either tag to any page that needs an update due to changes in Goonstation 13.
- {{pic}} – add this tag to any page that needs a picture.
- {{Warning|Notes=}} – use this tag to add a warning.
- {{Historical|Notes=}} – add this tag for pages about discontinued content. The
|Notes=section is optional, but can be helpful for disambiguations. - {{Transcript|Notes=}} – add this tag for transcripts of ingame content. The
|Notes=section is optional.
Other templates:
- {{main|*}} – add this at the top of sections to indicate the main page of a topic, where
*is replaced with the target page. - {{key|*}} – use this template to represent individual key presses, where
*is replaced with the name of the key. - {{yes}} or {{no}} or {{n/a}} – use these templates in tables where the value is a simple boolean or not applicable. Optionally, add a
|after the template name followed by your desired text instead of the template name. - {{help}} or {{disarm}} or {{grab}} or {{harm}} – use these templates to indicate ingame intents. Optionally, add a
|after the template name followed by your desired text instead of the template name. - {{OXY}} or {{TOX}} or {{BURN}} or {{BRUTE}} – use these templates to indicate damage type (case sensitive). Optionally, add a
|after the template name followed by your desired text instead of the template name.
The funny stuff (HONK)
While most useful contributions to the wiki are content updates, a large portion of the revisions are simply changes to jokes. The Roles page's jokes change very often and generally get worse with each revision. When making such a change, please consider whether your joke is actually funnier than the one already posted on the site. Please also keep in mind that the primary purpose of this wiki is to provide new players with information about the game; though some entertainment is always appreciated.
When writing guides, please do not attempt to teach new players through sarcasm. Adding a phrase such as "The more people you kill as security, the more points you get with admins" to the Security Officer page will often cause new readers to think it's actually true. While the readers who have played the game will understand that to be wrong, it's often difficult to convey sarcasm through writing.
There are several pages intended simply for a laugh: Pubbie Tears and Dumb Pubbies, for instance. When possible, please keep your jokes there and leave them out of guides. You are also welcome to add good SS13-related fan art and videos!
Useful pages
Categories: Used, unused and wanted
Templates: Used, unused and wanted
All pages: All existing pages and Wanted pages.
Tagged for editing: Outdated pages, Candidates for deletion
Practice?
You wanna do some stuff but don't want to ruin someone else's 'well crafted' page? Well whaddya wanna work on? new page?, Your very own template? You can delete, edit, change, redo, undo, burn, spit on, knock out, fuck up, shit on or do generally whatever you want on any of these pages. Just remember than anyone else can do that too, so don't expect any content to stay there for too long.