Help with Contributions
IMPORTANT: No Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you steal material such as images, extracts or entire pages of someone else's work and claim it as your own. This is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, as all submitted content must be completely original. Both Neoseeker Administration and other Wiki Staff do not want to be seen as thieves taking material from other sites, clearly breaching copyright, so this rule will be strictly enforced.
You are permitted to take specific data, such as item stats or required levels, from the Knowledge Base as we do not expect you to collect every item in the game to find out its stats. But this is the only thing you can take. Everything else MUST be original. Consistency - Some points to bear in mind
We want this Wiki to be as professional as possible, and to do that we need to keep some consistencies from page to page. Below are some things that I've noticed already that have a standard format, but which have been done differently by different users.
- Headers - Use double headers ( == Header == ) for main sections of the page, and triple headers ( === Subheader === ) for sub-sections of guides. Do NOT use single headers ( = Header = ).
- Thousand separators - When writing numbers over 1000 (item prices, experience reward) remember to put a comma in the appropriate place to make the number easier to read ( 1,000 ).
- Page links - We want every page to have lots of links to other Wiki pages. This includes links to skill guides, cities and other locations, and some items. To do this, simply surround the place name with double-square brackets ( [[Varrock]] ). That's all you need to do to make the link.
- Clear English - Please write in good quality, formal English throughout your article. We do not expect you to be word-perfect, but we do want these guides to be as professional as possible. That means as little slang as possible, and no "leet speak". Use the spell-check function in many word processors, or indeed on Neoseeker, can help you to spot and correct such errors. Also, please capitalise place names and NPC names.
- Images - Please save all images as .png files. gif, while useful for animations, doesn't have very good quality, and jpeg files often 'blur' the image due to the compression. The png format provides both great quality for quick colour changes as found in RuneScape, and also has a decent file size. If you find a file on the Wiki that isn't of good quality, feel free to submit a newer version or inform a Wiki Staff member.
Also, we encourage the use of the High Detail mode when taking pictures. If you're F2P or simply can't take a HD pic, go ahead and submit a standard mode version, but HD is preferred for screenshots.
- Item Images - All item images are still being handled by me, since we want them to all be the same dimensions, compression size and transparency. If you need an item image in your guide, put in the image tag ( [[Image:Name_of_image.gif|Name of Image]] ) but don't upload an image. I will notice it and upload any images you need. If I don't have it yet, it will be added here.
- Categories - Every page will likely be in a category, be it a quest page, skill page, mini-game etc. To place these pages in a category, put [[Category:Quests]] at the very top of the page (before anything else). You can put a page into multiple categories as you wish by repeating that code.
Getting Started
So, you want to help out by writing a guide, but not sure where to start? Here are a few steps you might like to follow to produce a guide:
Either on paper or in a word processor, write down a list of everything you may need to write about involving that subject. A guide should be split up into sensible sections to make browsing through it easier, so listing these is a good start.
Always start with a brief introduction which outlines the topic of the guide. Then move on to the basics of that subject. For example, in Magic it may be best to start with Runes, what they are, where they can be found. Then onto the spells, their level, the experience you get for casting them, how many runes they require, if any of them need special requirements to do, etc etc.
Once the basics are covered, go into the advanced areas of the guide, and in as much detail as required. A section of skill-specific clothes or wieldables is a good idea, as is to have a section on best training methods. Quite often, you may find that you'll need to talk about something that is covered more thoroughly in another guide. In this case, write some brief details about it and then write "See guide ______ for more details" at the bottom of that section (or use the proper Wikitags as explained later).
Your guide will most certainly need to contain some images, be they of items, locations, maps or whatever. With the exception of item images (see above), you can take these images yourself and submit them with the guide. If you're submitting straight to the Wiki, use the upload form on the left-hand side. If you're submitting a file, they can be embedded in a .doc file, or upload separately to sites like Imageshack or Photobucket. If you are unable to get an image, or would like someone else to get a better one, put the correct image tag in place ( [[Image:Image_name.png]] ) and someone else will get it for you.
Formatting should be done using Wikitags. You can either format your guide as you go, or finish the content first and then go back and format it. If you're submitting content to a WikiStaff member (such as in a .doc file), you can format it however you wish, but Wikitags are still preferred.
If you'd like to have a template to work from, in order to give you an idea of how to set things out, feel free to look at some of the Wiki pages already up. Quest guides contain a fairly standard set of details required at the start, followed by a series of steps. Skill guides need to start at the basics and build up, including all relevant details, as well as Lumbridge Tutors, Skill Capes etc. What are templates and how do I use them?
Templates are pre-made pieces of HTML/WikiTags which are used frequently on many pages. A template can be written once in HTML, and then replicated on any other Wikipage using much simpler Wikitags. An example of this is the Questbox template (see here for an example of usage). This makes pages a lot easier to read and edit, and also isn't nearly as complicated as the HTML that goes with them. For a full list of template, see this page. Where do I submit my contribution once I've finished it?
Once you think you've finished an article or other contribution, you can submit it straight onto the appropriate Wikipage yourself. Go to any Wikipage, change the URL (website address) so that it points to the page you want to edit ( http://runescape.neoseeker.com/wiki/Name_Of_Page ), and then click 'edit this page'. Put your guide in the box that appears on the next page, and hit preview. If all looks as you expected, go ahead and save the page, or tinker with the code and preview again to check it's OK (just like you would a forum post).
Alternatively you could send it to a member of the RuneScape WikiStaff. If this is the case, you can upload the file (txt, rtf or doc) using this form and then send the filename you're given (12345_filename.txt) to a member of WikiStaff. They will then, when they get the chance, put what you've done on the Wikipage for everyone to improve upon. Quick Links
[color=#666666]This message was edited by ACY3 on Jul 05 2008.
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