Forum:General Suggestions

This text is stored on Wikia Community Central. Suggest changes here. Wikia Page A screenshot of 8bitmmo Wiki forum Contents [hide] How do I use the forums? How do I add new sub-forums? Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Can I customize the forums further? Appearance and list Sub-sub-forums Sticky threads Common problem workarounds Related Links This extension is enabled by default on Wikia. Wikia's wiki-style forums are wiki pages that contain automatically organized indexes of other pages, based on the DPLforum extension. In the default installation, the main page of the forum contains an index of all sub-forums. Each sub-forum is a page that contains an index of the discussion topics that belong to that particular forum. Discussion topics are pages whose category places them in one of the sub-forums.

The default main page is named "Forum:Index". There are two default sub-forums, named "Forum:Help desk" (for help topics) and "Forum:Watercooler" (for discussing the wiki). You can customize your sub-forums with different names, or add additional sub-forums.

Note: This page assumes that the standard wiki-style forum setup already exists on your Wikia. This happens automatically for new wikis, but sometimes has to be done manually for older ones. See Help:Wiki-style forum set up. How do I use the forums? The existing discussion topics are listed in the sub-forums. Each such forum has an input box that allows you to type a title for a new discussion topic and press a button to create it. The discussion topic is an ordinary wiki page, that is preloaded with a template. This template ensures that the page has the correct category for indexing in the corresponding forum. It's important not to delete this template when you write your message. Once the page is saved, it is an ordinary page in the "Forum:" namespace and has become a new thread listed on the sub-forum's index page. Other contributors can then edit and add to the page in the same way as to other wiki pages. Pages with new messages are moved to the top of the list, and are shown in bold and with an Forum new icon.

To add your own comments to a discussion, click "edit" as with any other wiki page, use one or more colons to indent your comments beneath the comment you are replying to, and sign your name and the date/time by typing four tildes (TheKingsHand121 (talk) 14:18, November 6, 2013 (UTC)) or clicking the "signature" button above the edit box or the equivalent markup symbol below it.

You can view all recent changes for the forum by clicking the link above the forum list.

How do I add new sub-forums? Small communities may not need sub-forums other than "Help Desk" and "Watercooler", but as your community grows you may want to add new ones to address particular topics. Step 1 A new forum can be added by editing Forum:Index on your wiki. To add a forum, copy the following code from this page to Forum:Index on your Wikia, after the previous tag if there are any.

namespace=Forum category=Name of forum title=Forum:Name of forum shownamespace=false addlasteditor=true The only part of this code that needs editing is the "Name of forum" after "category" and "title". This can be set as anything you choose, and will show in the index and in the navigation links at the top of each page. Step 2 Once this is saved, there will be a link to the new forum page. Go to this page, edit it, and copy in this code: Forums: Index >

[ View recent changes for this forum] Nothing usually needs changing in this text. However, there is occasionally an issue with in the preload= section (highlighted in red). If you find the template not preloading, change this to the name of the template specifically. So if the Forum name is Forum:Gossip, create the preload template as Template:Forumheader/Gossip and change the preload line to preload=Template:Forumheader/Gossip. Step 3 The last thing to do is to set up a template to be loaded when someone adds a page to the new forum. This should be at "Template:Forumheader/Name of forum", changing the name to the same forum name you used in the index. This should contain the following:

Again, "Name of forum" needs to be changed to the new forum's name. Once this is saved, the forum is complete. Step 4 You can setup pagination links, to split the forum index into multiple pages. See details at the extension page http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DPLforum#Multipage_support_with_.23forumlink

Can I customize the forums further? Appearance and list As with many elements of Wikia, many aspects of this can be changed. The layout, the template style, the items shown in the index, the new messages icon .... You could, for example, have an image appear automatically at the top of each page added, or have new messages show in red text. Sub-sub-forums It's also possible to use the same code as above to make sub-sub-forums such as "Forum:Help/technical". For this, the first code should be put into the parent forum page instead of the index. The input box forms can have an instructional template displayed above the edit box, using the "editintro" parameter. See Help:Inputbox for details.

Sticky threads The DPL forums are just a list of pages in a specific category. If you want a stickied thread, just set up your own second category, called something like "stickied threads" and add it to that category too, and just make another DPLforum call at the top of your forum index page to list pages that are in forum "ForumName" AND "Stickied threads". A good idea would be to build into your forum header template something where you could just add |sticky=1 and let the template take care of it. Common problem workarounds If you see strange output from your wiki-style forum, try putting ?action=purge (or &action=purge, if ? is already used) at the end of your URL and reload the URL. This can fix problems where DPL or DPLforum backend code was updated, but the server cache was not refreshed. Related Links Help:Wiki-style forum set up

Step-by-step Wiki navigation is found at the top of every page of your wiki. It contains two areas: the "On the wiki" menu and the local wiki navigation. The "On the wiki" tab is default open, and provides important links on your wiki, including Wiki activity, Random Page, Videos, New Photos, and other features that may be enabled on the wiki (such as chat). This tab is maintained by Wikia Staff, please refrain from moving the tab or removing any of the pre-populated items on it. Wiki nav

The local wiki navigation menu (all other menu items besides the "On the wiki" tab) can be edited by admins on your wiki. To edit this menu, click on the contribute button, then the "Edit Wiki Navigation" link. Contribute menu

You will be brought to yourwikiname.wikia.com/wiki/MediaWiki:Wiki-navigation where you can change the wiki navigation. The Wiki Navigation allows for a total of 280 links, which are grouped as: 4 level 1 links equally a total width of 550px 7 level 2 links equally a total width of 729px 10 level 3 links with a dynamic width (and min-width set to 150px) If your links go beyond the designated width, they will not appear or may appear underneath other links. If you see this, you will need to shorten the words you are using to display all of the links. To add a link, you need to use the wiki text to define the links and text appearance. The level pattern is as follows: Wiki nav editing

Once you have added in the wiki text for your menu items, you will need to hit the Preview button, which is located underneath the edit summary box. NOTE: You cannot publish changes to your menu items if you do not press the Preview button. The Publish button will only appear on the bottom right of the Preview window. The Preview button will result in a preview of your wiki's navigation. It will also run a width validator tool which will inform you if your menu items are too wide. The warning will display like this: Width validator

If this appears, you will be asked to return back to edit mode to adjust your navigation width. Once you do that, click the Preview button again to preview the menu again. Now that it's the proper width, the publish button will appear. Click publish and your new navigation will be live. Wiki nav menu levels

Autopopulating the menu One way to make sure the navigation always shows the most popular content is to use a trick to autopopulate menu items with popular pages. To do this, use # symbols around the magic word you choose to use. Magic words may only be displayed in Level 2 menus. Please only include them in your Level 2 wikitext. List of supported magic words Things to note You can link to any page, and it is important to think about what are the most important places for visitors to see when they come to your wiki. We recommend adding links to popular pages, and links to show where to find the wiki's community. People like clicking on article names more than categories or portals. Sometimes it isn't appropriate to link to an article (if you want to have a heading on the navigation, for example) so you can put the code *#|Heading to create a heading on the navigation which doesn't link anywhere
 * 1) categoryX# - Where X is a number greater than 0. This gets the top 8 pages from the X biggest category on a wiki.
 * 2) category-Foo# - Gets the top 8 pages from Category:Foo.
 * 3) visited# - Populates a list of the top visited pages from MediaWiki:Most popular articles.
 * 4) newlychanged# - Gets recently edited pages.
 * 5) topusers# - Gets a list of the most active users.

The Wiki Activity feature enables users to look at the latest contributions to your wiki. It's a great place to see what the latest edits are to your wiki.

Contents[hide] Step-by-step Things to keep in mind See also Further help and feedback Step-by-stepEdit To access it, navigate to the "Wiki Activity" link in the "On the Wiki" tab of the navigation. It looks like this: Wiki activity button The page that will then appear lists the most recent contributions to the wiki including changes to any content page, user or user talk page and categories as well as new comments, photos, and pages. To see the newly added content, simply follow the links there. Wiki activity If you would like to view more details, click on the "See all activity >" link which will bring you to recent changes. Things to keep in mindEdit Unlike Recent Changes, the Wiki Activity feature is not available in the Monobook skin. The Wiki Activity feature does not list all changes to the wiki. Use recent changes if you would like to see all changes.

The community messages is a place on the wiki that allows admins to highlight things that are important for the community to know about. This space can be used to organize a project, show off new pages, or highlight an ongoing discussion.

Step-by-StepEdit Community messages Example of the community corner The community messages is located on the Wiki Activity page and can be edited only by admins. If you are an admin, you can edit it by clicking on the "edit message" in the message. This will bring you to the MediaWiki:Community-corner page where you can edit the content where you can can add as much information as you want Once the update to the page is finished, click Save. Your changes should appear immediately. Users who are active on the wiki up to 24 hours after the community corner is changed will receive a notification about the change, similar to the notification for user talk page messages. (like the one below outlined in red). These will disappear after 24 hours if not previously dismissed by the individual users. Notifications-Community-corner

If you would like to change this message (make it more tailored to the colloquialisms or jargon of your wiki's topic), you can edit: MediaWiki:Communitymessages-notice-msg Admins should be careful not to add too much to this page, as the simpler the message the better.

Step-by-StepEdit As an admin of a wiki, you can find a link to Theme Designer in the My Tools menu on the toolbar, or in the Admin Dashboard. You can also navigate to it directly by visiting the page, Special:Themedesigner, on your wiki. You can access three tabs: Themes: Choose from a variety of pre-set themes, which can be used in whole or modified. Customize: Define background and page attributes. Wordmark: Design how the wiki's name displays, upload a unique graphic wordmark, or add a favicon. Every change made is immediately seen on the preview below, so you can see how your theme will look before you save it. Theme designer

ThemesEdit You can choose from eleven pre-set themes by clicking on the theme you want. This will show you a preview of the theme below the designer. If you want to change parts of the theme you choose, simply click on the customize tab, and modify links, button colors, and more. Theme designer - theme tab

CustomizeEdit Background: The background is the area outside of the content area and appears on all pages of your wiki. Select the background color of your choice in the color picker. You can choose to add a background design by choosing one of the images in the graphic picker. Some of these are transparent images, and will use whatever background color you have already set. If you would like to add your own background image, click on the graphic picker and use the upload tool available. You can upload a .jpg, .png or .gif. The maximum file size is 150 kilobytes. You can tile the background image (so that it repeats across the page) by checking the "tile" box. You can fix the image (so it stays in place as you scroll down the page) by selecting "fix". If you do not wish to tile the graphic, it will appear once, and the background color will appear in the remaining space. Page: Page controls the colors of the buttons, links, header and content. Click on the color swatch under each category to change the color. A color picker will appear to let you choose a color or add in a hex code. You can change the transparency of the content area by moving the transparency slider. Theme designer - customize tab

WordmarkEdit The wordmark can be either text or a graphic and appears on every page. Users can navigate to the main page of the wiki by clicking on the wordmark on any page. Text wordmark: The wordmark text is originally set to the wiki's sitename. To change it, click the edit button. To modify the font, choose from the dropdown menu of fifteen font options, along with the size of small, medium or large. Graphic wordmark: You can create and upload your own graphic wordmark. Graphic wordmarks can only be .png files and must be 250x65 pixels or less. The wordmark graphic is stored at File:Wiki-wordmark.png. Favicon: Favicons are small icons appear at the top of your browser, and are frequently used in tabs and bookmarks. You can upload a favicon using the upload tool. Select Choose File and then select "Upload" to complete the process. Your favicon must be 16 x 16px with a .ico extension. You can learn more about Favicons here. Theme designer - wordmark tab

Saving and past revisionsEdit When you are finished, click Save and your new theme will appear to users instantly! If you would like to see or revert to a past version, you can do so in Theme Designer. Click on a past version and it will load in preview mode. Theme designer - history

A wiki page can be formatted in a number of different ways, using headers, lists, and indenting. All of the following options are available in the Wikia editor.

Step-by-StepEdit HeadingsEdit Paragraph format The Format Dropdown Menu It is good to break up long articles into sections to help the reader stay oriented. This can be done using headings. To create a header, highlight the text you wish to modify, and click on the Format button button. You will see the dropdown menu shown on the right. From the list you can choose: Format option	What it will look like Normal text	 keeps the text in a regular paragraph format Heading 2	Header 2 text Heading 3 is a sub-header and can be used as a sub-section heading Heading 4 is a smaller sub-header Heading 5 is the smallest sub-header option Code / preformatted	allows you to input preset formatted text (such as text you modified to a different color, size, etc.)

Lists Edit If you would like to create a list, you can use either use bullets or numbers with Bullet&number button the button on the toolbar:

Numbers: Click on the numbers button Numbers, and a 1. will appear. Add text after. When you hit enter, the subsequent number will appear. Hit enter twice to exit the number format. A Numbered list will look like this: Item the first Item the second Item the third Bullets: Click on the bullets button Bullets, and a blue bullet will appear. Hit enter twice to exit the bullet format. A Bullet list will look like this: Item the first Item the second Item the third

Indenting & Justifying Edit To indent text, highlight it and use the Indent button to move it to the left or right. You can align text to the left, right, or center, using the Justify button buttons. Editing in Source Mode Edit If you wish to edit in source mode, you can follow steps listed here to format pages. OverviewEdit Wiki features screenshot Wiki Features Features are listed with a description and a "Enable/Disable" switch. All users can see Wiki Features, but only admins can toggle the switch turning features on or off.

Wiki Features is found within the Admin Dashboard or directly by going to Special:WikiFeatures.

Wiki Features has two different areas: Features and Labs.

FeaturesEdit Features are optional features for your wiki that are no longer being actively developed and are stable.

Currently Available: Polls, Blogs, Article Comments, Category Exhibition, Message Wall, Game Guides Content (on gaming wikis only).

LabsEdit Labs are new optional features that are currently within beta testing and are still within development. These features have not been launched site wide yet. You'll see how many wikis have each feature activated and will be able to send feedback about your experience with the feature.

Currently in Labs: Forum, Chat, Top 10 Lists, Achievements.

Page protection is the ability to limit who can edit a page. Administrators have the ability to both protect and unprotect pages should the need for either arise on a wiki.

UsesEdit The majority of pages on a wiki should remain unprotected so to encourage all users to participate. Places where you may want to use protection may include:

Protecting highly vandalised pages, such as the main page on busy wikis. Maintaining the integrity of the site's wordmark and favicon. Protecting the often-used texts in the MediaWiki namespace (these are protected automatically). Protecting documents such as minutes or policies that have gone through a formal approval process. A temporary protection is used for:

Enforcing a "cool down" period to stop an edit war, upon request. Protecting a page or image that has been a recent target of persistent vandalism or persistent edits by a banned user. Protection levelsEdit There are four protection levels admins can use when protecting a page.

Semi-protection: protection of a page against editing by an unregistered or non-autoconfirmed user. Full protection: protection of a page against editing by a non-admin. Cascading protection: protection of a page from editing by a non-admin, as well as any other pages on the wiki linked to on the page. Move protection: protection of a page against moving by a non-admin. Step-by-StepEdit Protecting a pageEdit Article-protect To protect a page, photo, template, or other protectable page, click on the arrow on the “Edit” button next to the title to produce a dropdown menu. Then click “Protect.” When the protection screen appears, you can set the protection level, as talked about in the previous section. Do this by checking which level you want. You may want the page move protection to be set at a different level than the editing protection. By default, they are the same. To set a different level, select the check box in the “Move” section, then choose which protection level you would like. To set cascading protection, click the check box next to “Protect pages included in this page (cascading protection)” Select a default reason for protection in the drop down menu, or add in your own and/or additional reason in the box below. Click “Confirm” to save your changes. UnprotectEdit To unprotect a protected page, again click on the arrow on the “Edit” button. You can alter the protection level on the protection screen. Select a default reason for unprotection in the drop down menu, or add in your own and/or additional reason in the box below. Click “Confirm” to save your changes. Cascading ProtectionEdit Cascading protection Confirming protection. You need to check the "cascading protection" box in order to activate cascading protection. Cascading protection is a form of page protection which allows you to protect a page so that all templates and images on the page will also be protected without needing to protect them individually. When a template is vandalized, especially on a page which uses many templates, it may not be immediately obvious which page/template needs to be fixed, prolonging the amount of time that the page remains vandalized.

To use cascading protection, Just click the "protect" link as usual; cascade protect is there among normal protection options. The protection level must be "sysop" in order to activate cascading protection; it will not work at the "autoconfirmed" level, which only affects new and unregistered users.

AdviceEdit Do not make the common mistake of protecting pages unnecessarily. Do not protect a page you are involved in an edit dispute over. Admin powers are not editor privileges - admins should only act as servants to the user community at large. Avoid favoring one version of the article over another, unless one version is vandalism. Temporarily protected pages should not be left protected for very long. Talk pages and user talk pages are not protected except in extreme circumstances. The protection of a page on any particular version is not meant to express support for that version and requests should therefore not be made that the protected version be reverted to a different one.

Protect site is an extension that allows Wikia Staff, the Spam Task Force, and other volunteers to temporarily restrict certain actions on a wiki to stop major instances of spam or vandalism. Local administrators can contact Wikia to request that the extension be enabled for their use.

Contents[hide] Usage How to request access See also Further Help & Feedback UsageEdit Protect site is enabled by default for Wikia Staff, the Spam Task Force, and other Helpers and volunteers, but it can also be enabled for admins on request.

This extension can be used to restrict actions to either registered users and administrators or administrators. The following actions can be restricted:

Creating new accounts Creating new pages Editing pages Moving pages Uploading files Those with access to protect site will see a link to it in Special:SpecialPages and can use it from Special:Protectsite. The maximum amount of time an administrator can protect an entire wiki for is 12 hours.

As this tool will prevent a large number of people from editing the wiki, both good and bad, it should not be used for an extended duration. The protection should only last long enough to be able to clean everything up. Similarly, protect site is not to be used for long-term protection. Please contact Wikia staff for alternatives and other options.

When used, it will show up in the protection logs and recent changes as a protecting of 'Special:AllPages.'

How to request accessEdit Local administrators can request that this extension be available for their use by contacting Wikia. The Community Team will then evaluate the request and determine whether it is the right fit for the wiki. Only administrators will be given access, if at all.

Admin Dashboard is a contained, centralized space that highlights the most important tools used by admins. Special:SpecialPages was built into it to make Admin Dashboard the go to place for admins and founders to control and monitor their wiki.

AccessEdit The Admin Dashboard is a feature on all wikis you have founded or are an admin (sysop) on. It can be found by clicking on 'Admin' in the universal Toolbar at the bottom of your screen.

Once you are on Admin Dashboard there are a few access points to exit to various areas on your wiki:

Wiki Nav links out to numerous places within your wiki depending on the navigation The wordmark takes you to the main page of your wiki The help link takes you to Help:Contents. How It WorksEdit Community Central Dashboard - Wikia Community Central Admin Dashboard General Tab Basic admin tools that are used often live on the "General" tab, under 3 sections: Wiki: Theme Designer, Recent Changes, Top Navigation, and Wiki Features Community: User List, User Rights, Community Corner, Help. Content: All Categories, Add a Page, Add a Photo, Add a Blog Post, Multiple Photo Upload. These tools will no longer live in Special:SpecialPages, as not to be redundant.

The "Advanced" tab is home to Special:SpecialPages:

If you visit a wiki that you are not an admin of you will see Special:SpecialPages in its old format. Admin specific tools on Special:SpecialPages are no longer in bold. There are specific, excluded Special:SpecialPages that will not open within the admin dashboard skin

Special pages are useful tools and reports come with our MediaWiki software and help with wiki management. Special pages always begin with the prefix "Special:".

How to Find Special PagesEdit You can see a list of special pages available by visiting Special:SpecialPages on your wiki. If you're an admin on the wiki, you can find this in the Admin Dashboard under the "Advanced" Tab. If you want to create a shortcut to this list, you can add it to your toolbar by clicking "Customize" and adding "Special pages" to your list. A List of Special PagesEdit Below is a list of options in Special:SpecialPages, color coded by access levels:

Black - Available to anyone Green - Available to logged in users Red - Available to admins and bureaucrats Orange - Available to bureaucrats only If a Special Page isn't available to a user, it will generally not display on their view of Special:SpecialPages.

Maintenance reportsEdit Broken redirects Special:BrokenRedirects : List of pages whose target article has been deleted (Help:Redirect) Dead-end pages Special:DeadendPages : Pages without any outgoing links. Double redirects Special:DoubleRedirects : List of pages that redirect to another redirect page (Help:Redirect) Long pages Special:LongPages : Pages that contain the most characters in descending order Oldest pages Special:AncientPages : Lists the oldest pages on a wiki Orphaned pages Special:LonelyPages : Articles not linked to or from any other page on the wiki Pages with the fewest revisions Special:FewestRevisions : Pages with the least amount of edits Pages without language links Special:WithoutInterwiki : Pages that do not link to any alternate language counterparts (Help:Interlanguage links) Protected pages Special:ProtectedPages : List pages that cannot be edited by non-admins or non-autoconfirmed users (Help:Page protection) Protected titles Special:ProtectedTitles : Pages that have been protected from creation from non-admins (Help:Page protection) Short pages Special:ShortPages : Pages that contain the fewest characters in ascending order Tags Report Special:TagsReport : Lists all of the specific tags in alphabetical order along with how many pages for each tag Uncategorized categories Special:UncategorizedCategories : Categories without category tags (Help:Category) Uncategorized pages Special:UncategorizedPages : Pages without category tags (Help:Category) Uncategorized photos Special:UncategorizedImages : Images without category tags (Help:Category) Uncategorized templates Special:UncategorizedTemplates : Templates without category tags (Help:Category) Unused categories Special:UnusedCategories displays categories that have not been used Unused photos Special:UnusedImages : Images that do not appear on any page (Help:Photos) Unused templates Special:UnusedTemplates : Templates that are not included in any page (Help:Templates) Unused videos Special:UnusedVideos : Videos that do not appear on any page (Help:Videos) Unwatched pages Special:UnwatchedPages : Pages that are not on any user's watchlist Wanted categories Special:WantedCategories : Pages that use a category that has not been created yet (Help:Category) Wanted pages Special:WantedPages : Most internally linked-to articles that do not yet exist Wanted photos Special:WantedFiles : Most internally linked-to files (not just images) that do not yet exist List of pagesEdit All pages Special:AllPages : A list of every page on the wiki All pages with prefix Special:PrefixIndex Displays all prefixes within the wiki, along with a search box Categories list Special:Categories : List of categories (Help:Category) Category tree Special:CategoryTree : Use a category name to see its contents as a tree structure (Help:Category) Disambiguation pages Special:Disambiguations : List pages marked as disambiguations (Help:Glossary#D) Redirects list Special:ListRedirects : List of redirects on a wiki (Help:Redirect) Users and rightsEdit Block user Special:BlockIP : Block a user or IP address. (Help:Blocking) Blocked IP addresses and usernames Special:IPBlockList : Blocked IPs and usernames (Help:Blocking) Change password Special:ChangePassword : Change the password associated with your user account Contributions Special:Contributions : List of contributions of anonymous or logged-in users (Help:User contributions) Deleted contributions Special:DeletedContributions : View a user's or IP address's edits that have been deleted (Help:Deletion) Edit count Special:EditCount : Edit tally broken down by namespaces locally and globally (Help:Edit count) Preferences Special:Preferences : Set your user preferences (Help:Preferences) User group rights Special:ListGroupRights : List of rights associated with each user group (Help:User access levels) User rights management Special:UserRights : Use to appoint new admins/bureaucrats or to add/remove rollback users. (Help:User access levels) Users list Special:ListUsers : List of people who have edited this wiki (Help:Active users) Special:ListUsers/bureaucrat: shows bureaucrats only Special:ListUsers/sysop: shows administrators only Special:ListUsers/rollback: shows rollbackers only Special:ListUsers/chatmoderator: shows chat moderators only Recent changes and logsEdit Followed Pages Special:Following : A list of pages you are following on that wiki Logs (extended list) Special:Log : Logs of deletion, protection, blocking, image uploads and user rights settings New pages Special:NewPages : List of new pages on a wiki (Help:Newest Pages) New photos on this wiki Special:NewFiles : List of photos on a wiki sorted by newest to oldest Recent changes Special:RecentChanges : The latest edits on a wiki (Help:Recent changes) Related changes Special:RelatedChanges : Changes made recently to pages linked from a specified page or to members of a specified category (Help:Related changes) Valid change tags Special:Tags : A list of the tags that MediaWiki may mark an edit with, and their meaning Watchlist Special:Watchlist : Show the pages you are watching (Help:Watchlist)

Media reports and uploadsEdit Duplicate photos search Special:FileDuplicateSearch : Locate duplicate files based on filename File list Special:ImageList : List of images uploaded that can be sorted by size or date (Help:Images) File path Special:FilePath : Returns the complete path for a file (Help:Images) Import Free Images Special:ImportFreeImages : Import properly licensed photos from flickr (Help:Import free images) MIME search Special:MIMESearch : Enables the filtering of files for its MIME-type Upload multiple photos Special:MultipleUpload : Upload up to 10 files to the wiki (Help:Multiple uploads) Upload photo Special:Upload : Upload a file to the wiki (Help:Uploading files)

Wiki data and toolsEdit Statistics Special:Statistics : Total number of pages and users System messages Special:Allmessages : Displays all pages in the MediaWiki namespace (Help:System Messages) Version Special:Version : The version of the software the site is currently running. Also displayed 'installed' extensions Wikia Statistics Special:WikiStats : Displays monthly statistics of active users, edits, uploads, and other useful data

Redirecting special pagesEdit External links search Special:LinkSearch : Links on pages that take readers outside of the wiki Random page Special:RandomPage : Redirects to a random page (Help:Redirect) Random redirect Special:RandomRedirect : Randomly taken to a redirecting page (Help:Redirect) Search Special:Search : Search the wiki (Help:Searching)

High use pagesEdit Most linked-to categories Special:MostLinkedCategories : Categories that have the most links to them in descending order Most linked-to pages Special:MostLinked : Pages that have the most links to them in descending order Most linked-to photos Special:MostImages : Images that have the most links to them in descending order Most linked-to templates Special:MostLinkedTemplates : Templates that have the most links to them in descending order Most popular categories Special:Mostpopularcategories : List of the most popular categories Pages with the most categories Special:MostCategories : List of pages with the most categories in descending order Pages with the most revisions Special:MostRevisions : List of pages with the large number of edits in descending order

Page toolsEdit Whatlinkshere Example output of the Special:WhatLinksHere page. Create a new page Special:Createpage : Guided process to creating new pages (Help:New page) Export pages Special:Export : Exports the source of individual wiki pages, optionally with their histories, in a thin XML wrapper which includes metadata like time, etc (Help:Exporting pages) Import pages Special:Import : Import pages exported from another wiki in an XML file Restore deleted pages Special:Undelete : One way to undelete a page or review deleted revisions of pages What links here Special:WhatLinksHere : Finds all pages that link to an article. Three filters are available to except links, redirects or transclusions from the results. It is not yet possible to except transcluded links. Wikia pagesEdit Contact Wikia Special:Contact : Send a message or inquiry to the Community Team (Help:Contacting Wikia) Create blog Special:CreateBlogPage : Create a new blog post Create blog listing Special:CreateBlogListingPage : Create a new blog listing page to display blog posts from categories Partner feed Special:PartnerFeed : RSS feed for types of wiki actions and content

Login/sign upEdit Connect account with Facebook Special:Connect

Other special pagesEdit API Explorer Special:ApiExplorer : Displays documentation for the wiki's API Achievements Leaderboard Special:Leaderboard : A ranked list of users by achievement badges Activity feed Special:WikiActivity : A visual feed of edits and communication on the wiki Book sources Special:BookSources : Used when an ISBN is linked to on a page Random page in category Special:RandomInCategory : Generates a random page limited to the named category Wiki Features Special:WikiFeatures : Enable, disable, and give feedback on experimental and optional features

LogsEdit Block log - blocks and unblocks (Help:Blocking) Deletion log - deleted and undeleted pages (Help:Deletion) Import log - administrative imports of pages with edit history from other wikis Merge log - list of the most recent merges of one page history into another Move log - list of page moves (Help:Moving pages) User creation log - list of newly created accounts. Protection log - protected and unprotected pages (Help:Page protection) Settings log - changes to the default site skin Upload log - list of images uploaded (Help:Uploading files) User rights log - changes to user rights (Help:User access levels) Some extension also add new log types to the wiki (these will only exist if they are enabled at your wiki). Examples:

Patrol log - log of patrolled revisions (Help:Recent changes patrol) User Avatar - Logs of uploading/changing of avatars (Blogs)

Here are some mistakes people commonly make on Wikia. Please try to avoid these!

Confusion about ownershipEdit One of the great things about Wikia wikis are that they're based around the idea of community, where everyone has a hand in making decisions as a group. To that end, no single user owns a wiki, even if it was you that created the wiki or if you're an administrator. Wikis are owned by their communities, and everyone is welcome to edit and contribute.

See Help:Licensing. Protecting pages unnecessarily Edit The majority of pages on all Wikia should remain publicly editable, and are not to be protected. Pages may, however, be temporarily or permanently protected for legal reasons (for example, license texts should not be changed) or in cases of extreme vandalism or edit warring.

See Help:Page protection. Confusing wiki, Wikia and WikipediaEdit A wiki is a website anyone can edit. Sites on Wikia.com are examples of wikis. Wikipedia is a specific wiki at wikipedia.org and is not part of Wikia. You can call your site on wikia.com a wiki or a Wikia, but you cannot call it a Wikipedia. The word Wikipedia™ is a trademark.

Applying too many policies Edit It is not a good idea to try to enforce many policies on a new and small wiki. Some users make the mistake of trying to re-implement the numerous Wikipedia policies on a new wiki. Policies from wikis outside of Wikia do not necessarily apply here. Different Wikia will develop different policies over time. Things like vanity pages may be permitted by some Wikia and not by others. Instruction creep is another common mistake when making policies.

There is not really a policy that applies everywhere, but certain things such as Wikipedia:No personal attacks or DeleteInsults are common practice in most places.

See Wikia policies and setting boundaries. Deleting content Edit Deleting useful content. A page may be written poorly, yet still have a purpose. Consider what a sentence or paragraph tries to say. Clarify it instead of throwing it away. If the material seems wrongly categorized, or out of place, consider moving the wayward material to another page, or creating a new page for it. If you need to remove potentially useful content, it is usually best to move it to the discussion page. The author of the text once thought it valuable, so it is polite to preserve it for later discussion. Deleting without announcing that you're doing it. Remark on it in the edit summary box. Otherwise, other users who care about the page's development will be caught unaware, and may think you're being intentionally sneaky. Deleting without justifying. Deleting anything nontrivial requires some words of justification in the edit summary or on the discussion page. Deleting redirects. If a page has been moved to a new title, an automatic redirect will be left from the old title to the new one. You should usually leave the redirect in place so people who have bookmarked or linked to the old title can easily find the new one. Taking it too seriouslyEdit Wikis work through the collaboration of reasonable and consensus-oriented people. Flaming people and being rude is rarely acceptable on a wiki. Don't get annoyed if you find some bad articles. Wikis are works in progress; please tolerate our imperfection, and help us improve. There are a lot of smart people editing Wikia sites, and everyone finds they have something to contribute. The best response to a bad page is to fix it!