Help:Editing

Before you take a stab at editing this site, make sure you understand how to edit. Here are a few tips:

• Use correct spelling: This removes the hassle of moving poorly spelled pages.
• Use correct grammar: Try to make things understandable; unless you're going to be writing the entire article in completely unreadable chatspeek, don't do it at all.
• Use proper encyclopedic language: Much of the site has what might be considered a "casual reference" style. Try to keep it this way. Formal citations are not necessary, but generally formal language is preferred. Certain areas of the site are excepted from this rule; see below for the list.
• Don't comment on articles: There's a reason that there's a tab marked "discussion" on every page. This rule does not apply if the comment is for clarification or uncertain content.
• Learn about Wiki style: Wiki has its own editing style; go check Wikipedia's editing help for more information about linking, images, etc. This especially applies to headings. Don't use a "==" header followed by a "====" header; this screws up the table of contents.
• Keep pictures small: This site is privately payed for, and an overabundance of pictures will hike up costs. Keep image uploads to the site small, also (Facebook photo album sized pictures is a good general guideline).
• Do not erase pages: Only admins can get rid of pages; however, anyone can wipe them clean. Don't do this! Most pages have a purpose; if a page has been spammed, please delete the spam only. Also, if for some reason you must erase a page, summarize a reason for it.
• Do not vandalize pages: Annoying vandalizations and deformatting of pages will result in bannage. Similarly, obvious spam (which tends to be enclosed in divs) results in immediate banning.

The best way to learn how to edit a page is to read Wikipedia's guide.

Subpages, Page Organization, Prefixes

For your RealCTY vets, the prefixes of Course:, Site:, and Song: have been completely removed.

The prefixes (technically, these are all fake prefixes, as the real ones are RealCTY: or Talk: or Usertalk: or User:) of Hall of Fame:, Hall of Shame:, and Canon: (for Canon:CAR only) remain. Additionally, Memories: and Hall: have been created. Each of these prefixes has its own root page (e.g., Hall), so see the roots for what the subpages are for.

For those of you who are Wiki vets, RealCTY currently uses colons and not slashes for subpages. Please don't change this; you'll have to make do for now.

Shameless Egotism

No creating articles about yourself or a group of yours - however, feel free to continue writing about your hall's endeavors or whatnot in the Hall subpages or the Memories pages. Similarly, try to avoid writing yourself into the Hall of Fame or Shame.

Formal vs. Informal Site Areas

This rule concerns the use of article space, by which I mean, which types of articles should and should not have an encyclopedic style. The following types and sections of articles are hereby designated as fully-open articles, which may include personal anecdotes and do not need to be edited for style:

• Memories pages
• Hall of Fame pages (admins: continue to patrol for "importance" and move to memories as needed)
• Hall of Shame pages (same as above)
• Class History sections of Course pages
• Staff pages (please keep them appropriate!)
• Student Groups pages (again, patrol for importance among newer groups)

However, please note that articles about individual students or halls are still not allowed unless they did something like hack the iPhone or create a Canon dance. Admins are requested to move pages that are too narrow in scope to the Memories pages, or to delete them.

New Pages, Stubs, and Redirects

Please do not create stub articles; if you have a short spiel about something CTY-relevant, put it under the correct category in the Lexicon, unless the page is already on the Special:Wantedpages list. Also, article subjects that could be condensed into a single page should be. A prime example is the Cucumber Cult section of the Hall:CAR page, in which many individual games were merged into the group which they were most commonly played in.

Feel free to take things from the Lexicon and expand on them in full-fledged pages, though.

Please create redirects with good judgment. If you really think that someone is going to spell "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" or "Istanbul" as "Istenbil," you probably don't belong here.

Titles

Please correctly format all book, song, movie, game, etc. titles, whether by using quotes or by italicizing.

When a page is created, bold the title of the page. This is done by linking to the page (using brackets). If you want to alter the plurality or something, use a piped link instead of, say, bold markup. Wikipedia simply uses bold wiki markup, but I like initial links... so use them.

Categories

If you do create a new page, please categorize it properly. Put it under a site or two if applicable (if it's all sites, don't put it under any sites). Categorize it as a Game, an Activity, a Student Group, a Traditions, etc. Things that don't fall into any category go under "General."

Try to keep the categories at the bottom of the page to keep things organized.

Links

Unlike Wikipedia, this site is relatively small, so linking is not absolutely necessary - it is, however, encouraged. However, if you like adding links (which is great), keep it to only one link to each page in any one article (e.g., if Lancaster is mentioned twice, only link to the site page once, preferably the first or most important time).

HTML and Wiki Markup

Make sure you understand Wiki's editing format. Note that wiki markup (using '''text''' for bold and ''text'' for italics is preferred to using HTML tags. Also, note that "br" tags are unnecessary when making a new paragraph, but they are for a single line break. Please place "br" tags at the ends of lines, rather than at the beginning of the next line. Also, close your tags ("br /").

Userpages

Userpages are meant for the pages of users. If you want to create a page about a person, that's fine, but there are two restrictions:

1. If you are making a page about yourself, create an account and put your info on your userpage if possible. Do not make an article about you if you have an account. Also, don't redirect an article with your name to your userpage; just change all existing links to re-link to your userpage.
2. If you are making a page about somebody else, do not give the title the prefix "User:". This is completely unnecessary, and also disrupts the naming system, especially since it leads to the belief in nonexistant users, as well as causing possible problems if a user creates an account under that name.

Lexicon

Keep things alphabetical, and brief. Do not simply copy an article onto the Lexicon. Especially refrain from doing the opposite, and copying Lexicon stubs into full-fledged article pages; this is unnecessary and becomes a hassle.

Userpages

Make userpages instead of articles about users.

Placeholders

Placeholders are fine. Stubs are not. If you want to link to a page that hasn't been created yet, that's fine, but don't create the page and just write, "This page does not exist" on it. Try not to link to pages if you have no intention of making them.

Security

Editing, creating pages, etc. has been limited to logged-in users. This makes it easier to warn and track users who have vandalized pages, have made formatting errors, etc. Sorry for any inconveniences caused by this, but you ought to make accounts anyway. Yaaaay for accounts!