Help:Editing

This is an Editing Guide for starting to edit and contribute to the Sonic Archive. If you have never edited on a wiki before, this is the place to start learning how!

Content
The Sonic Archive a project created to document and report everything related to the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The Database allows the following content to be posted:
 * All official information on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, characters, places, or terms. Official information means that it must come from an official source, such as official publications, social media channels, interviews, or the game itself.
 * Images and media relating to the Sonic the Hedgehog games that come from the game, official art, press releases, or other official sources. Images may have reasonable modifications made, such as cropping or removing white backgrounds, as long as the content itself is not altered.

When adding content and creating new articles, an encyclopedic style with a formal tone is important. All information should be cited.

The Sonic Archive does not deal with speculation or rumors regarding upcoming games. Rumors or speculation on the Sonic the Hedgehog series, fan fiction or material related to unofficial works, or content-altered artwork, fan art, or other unofficial media are not allowed on the Database, nor is content that violates copyright laws, is pornographic, includes excessive advertising, promotes illegal activities, or is hate speech or incites such hate.

Starting an Article
Before starting a new article please understand the Sonic Archive's content policy (see above). Before creating an article, make sure the article doesn't already exist on the Database.

There are four easy ways to start a new page:
 * 1) If you search for a page that doesn't exist, you will see a red link above the search list. Clicking on the link will take you to the Create Article page.
 * 2) You can create a page using an inputbox. Type the new title in the box, and click "Create article". This will take you to the Create Article page.
 * 3) Clicking on existing red links on any existing page or on the Wanted Pages special page will take you to the Create Article page. For example, to create an article called "This link", you could click This link (unless someone has created it).  You can also create a red link yourself, in a related page to your user page. Links on related pages are convenient for navigation and help make people aware of the new page.
 * 4) You can start a new page by typing the URL directly in your Address bar (For example, if you would like to create a page titled "This link", go to http://www.Sonic Archive.com/This_link ). An easy way to produce the URL is editing the last part of the URL of another page on the Database (using an underline instead of a space between words). To prevent your new page being an "orphan", you should link to it from other pages.

Editing
To edit an existing article, click on the  tab at the top of the article's page. This will take you to the article's edit page containing the editable contents of the current page. The Database uses Wiki Markup, a special language, when adding things like hyperlinks, tables, footnotes, inline citation, special characters, and so on.

Articles on the Sonic Archive follow style guidelines to make articles appear in a standardized form and the Database easier to use. A basic list of wiki markup can be found on the markup help page. An "edit toolbar" is provided just above the edit box, which allows users to automatically place and format various aspects of wiki code. See Help:Wiki markup for more information.

The Sonic Archive uses American English grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. If you need help with the grammar, you can look through this online grammar book for a basic summary of grammar rules.

When you add information, make sure it is in the appropriate article or articles. For example, if you have new information on King Mickey you wish to add, the best place would probably be just in his article, and not in the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep article, unless it is something major related to the entire game. Use your best judgement in deciding where to add information. If you are unsure about where your information might be most appropriate, ask a Staff Member or submit a question on the article's talk page or the Forums for advice.

Before you save changes to an article, please provide a summary of the changes you made in the Summary box just below the edit box. This also makes it easier for others to see what information has been added or taken away from an article without having to open revisions in the article's History log. Changes made to articles are logged in the article's History log, accessible from the  tab at the top of an article's page. This allows anyone to go back and look at earlier revisions of the article you or others have written.

A check to the "minor edit" box signifies that only superficial differences were made: typo corrections, formatting changes, replacing links, etc. A minor edit is a revision that the editor believes requires no review and would not be the subject of a dispute. Major edits, especially controversial changes, should be discussed on the article's talk page or in the Forums.

To see how the page looks with your edits, press the "Show preview" button. To see the differences between the page with your edits and the previous version of the page, press the "Show changes" button. If you're satisfied with what you see, press the "Save page" button. Your changes will be immediately visible to all users.

Some pages are protected from editing. These pages have a  tab instead of an   tab. You can discuss changes to protected articles on the article's talk page, including removing the protection.

Images
A file that is already hosted on the Database can be inserted with the basic code. Using "thumb" generates a thumbnail of an image (the most common placement option), which is typically sized differently from the original image. Please be sure to read and review the Database's Image Policy before uploading and using images on the Database.

Talk Pages
Every article on the Database has a discussion, or talk, page, accessible via the  tab at the top of the article's page (for example, Talk:Sonic the Hedgehog). There, editors can discuss improvements to the content of an article. If you ever make a change that is reverted by another editor or the Database staff, you can discuss the change on the talk page. It is very important that you conduct yourself with civility and assume good faith on the part of others (See Sonic Archive:General rules). Edit warring (repeatedly overriding or redoing contributions) is strictly prohibited.

Most other types of pages on the Sonic Archive also have associated talk pages, including every editor's user page. When other editors need to contact you, they will usually do so by leaving a message on your talk page. When someone has left you a message that way, you will see a notice the next time you log in or view a page on the Database.

Sign your messages on a Talk page by using four tildes, which produces your username and a time/date stamp.

Conclusion
That's all there is to it! More information can be found here:
 * Sonic Archive:Manual of Style: The Wiki's manual for writing uniform articles
 * Help:Wiki Markup: A demonstration on using the Wiki markup language, or wikitext
 * Help:Images: A tutorial on using images


 * Help:Contents: All of the Wiki's Help guides