User blog:Jademing/A Guide On Editing

We recently hit 4,000 articles, and nearly 16,000 files! That is a staggering amount of articles and files, and I'd like to congratulate all of the wonderful editors who helped us reach our latest milestone! Hooray for us! =D

Unfortunately, despite hitting a fantastic milestone, there is a severe lack of active editors in our community in the past several months. So I've decided to make this blog to encourage editing among non-editors and help those who are new to editing.

This is for all beginners, or people who are thinking about editing, but veteran editors are encouraged to read this as well.

I don't know the rules
All rules can be found on One Piece Encyclopedia Guidebook. You can find the rules for editing here, images here, all page layouts here, guidelines for referencing here, and what we consider vandalism and what we do with vandals here.

All editors are required to know and follow the rules, so be sure to read the rules! If you break a rule, you may end up being blocked from this wiki, so you need to know the rules and follow them. Excuses are not acceptable.

Who are in charge of the wiki?
Administers, often shortened to admins, are granted powers to block or unblock people from editing the wiki, delete or protect a page/file, and other powers. They are in charge of the wiki, and if you need help, you can always go to the admins. You should always pay heed to their warnings, though, and they often have the final say in discussions or forums.

As of now, the two active admins are DancePowderer, commonly known as DP, and Yatanogarasu, commonly known as Yata.

Why should I edit?
You do NOT need to edit. You can keep making blogs and commenting on blogs and go on the chat, without needing to edit. However, for many people, editing is quite enjoyable, and you wouldn't know if you like to edit unless you try it!

But I'm not good at English!
That's okay, English is not the native language of many editors on here! If you are concerned about your grammar, you can ask someone who is proficient in English to check your edits, or run your edits in a grammar checker site. I strongly prefer you to ask someone who is proficient in English, as grammar checkers often misses mistakes. If you are still uncertain about editing, remember that there are other ways to edit on the wiki, such as replacing low quality images with better images, reverting vandalism, adding references, and so on!

Do I need an account?
No, you do not need an account to edit. However, there are benefits to having an account, such as being able to vote on polls and forums, and having an account makes it easier for other users to contact you about matters. It's generally easier and better for everyone if you choose to make an account and use it. However, if you prefer to edit anonymously, it's acceptable as well.

I don't know where to start!
This is a fairly common problem for new editors. I know that this wiki seems to be already perfect, and doesn't need your help, but surprisingly enough, there are a LOT of articles and images in need of improvement!

Ways to start editing
You can find articles that need to be expanded by looking in our category for all stubs, or poor quality images in our category for said images. Or perhaps you can add references to articles in need of referencing. There are many, many chapters and episodes missing summaries, or their summaries are too short or poorly written. You can improve these pages as well. There are so many things you can improve on the wiki, you just need to look for them!

Another way to find things to edit is to ask the veteran editors on what to do. Veteran editors are always glad to have a new editor, and will offer many opportunities for you.

VisualEditor or Source Editor?
Please, please, for the sanity of all editors, use Source Editor. VisualEditor is very glitchy, and causes problems for the editors. In most cases, editors would rather revert edits made in VisualEditor rather than fixing the problems, as there are too many problems to fix. If you have an account, you can change your default editor mode in your preferences, by going to the "Editing Experience" section in the "Editing" tab, and change the mode from Visual Editor to Source Editor.

Source Editor may be somewhat challenging to use at first, but you'll find it surprisingly easy than it appears to be, and if you run in any problem, you can always ask someone on the chat to help you.

What are edit wars?
An edit war occurs when editors who disagree about the content of a page repeatedly override each other's contributions, rather than trying to resolve the disagreement through discussion. Edit warring is NOT constructive, and creates hostility among editors. If an admin feels that an article is the subject of an edit war, they will lock the page, to prevent anyone from editing the page. Constant edit warring can even result in a block. Since edit wars are bad for all participates, the community and wiki overall, we should always try to avoid them, by using the said article's talk page.

What should I do in arguments/discussions?
I'd like to remind everyone that arguments/discussions over wiki matters are not personal. People have different opinions, and there will always be arguments/discussions. However, you need to remain calm, instead of lashing out, and express your opinions and state the reasoning behind your opinions in a logical and polite manner. Saying "Because my way is better than yours" or anything similar to that is not a good reason, and no one will take you seriously if you do it. Your position in the argument will be stronger if your reasons behind your opinions are clear, logical and strong. Be sure to remain open minded, and listen to other people's opinions on the matter, perhaps you may find yourself agreeing with them. If there is no solution, you can either seek out a compromise that suits all parties, or find a mediator (someone who is preferably neutral) to resolve the argument. Another way to resolve the discussion is to open a poll, but this should always be used as a final resort.

There are limits to how far arguments can go. If someone feels that the argument is getting too heated, they will warn all participates. If the participates choose to ignore multiple warnings, it could result in a ban, so be sure to pay attention to warnings! Keep in mind that personal attacks (i.e. insults) are not tolerated on here. If you feel like you are being attacked by someone, please inform the admins, and if they deem it serious, they will warn the attacker, or possibly block the user if the case is severe.

I want to make changes to the wiki!
Great, we are always open to improvements in the wiki! However, if it's a large change that affect the wiki in major ways, you should always open a forum, and let the community to decide if it would be okay for you to proceed with the change. If you are uncertain if the change is big enough to require a forum, you can always ask an admin.

Chat and Forums
Forums is a very important part of the community and editing. In forums, users discuss possible drastic changes to the wiki, suggests ideas on how to improve the wiki, set up rules, discuss on whether to block an user or not, and so on. You can find active forums by going in the category for active discussions, or go check the Community Messages on the Wiki Activity, which are regularly updated by the admins.

As for the chat, Fin made a fantastic blog about the chat, so if you're curious about the chat, you can check his blog out! Everyone are always welcome to join the chat and get to know each other better. The chat is a fun and relaxing place for all users, and you definitely should give it a try.

I'm scared of the community!
Don't be afraid of the community! Veteran editors love it when a new editor shows up, and are generally very friendly. If you need help, just ask us, and we will help you as much as possible. We try to make the wiki a friendly and safe place for everyone, so if you are uncomfortable with certain users, (i.e. bullying, mean to you, etc), you should express your discomfort to the said person and request them to stop it. If they don't stop, you can bring it up with the admins.

However, if you are rude to other people, you can be assured that other people will be rude to you as well, if pushed enough. Just be sure to be nice to everyone, and you don't need to worry about anything!

Wiki Teams
Some of you may remember the disaster the Wiki teams turned out to be. But for those who weren't around when we first started the Wiki teams, or forgot about it, Kuro and I thought that starting Wiki teams that would focus on specific editing activities would make editing more pleasurable for people, and encourage people to edit. The idea was inspired by the highly successful Wiki teams on Fairy Tail Wiki. At first, the project went smoothly, but then people stopped participating in the teams' activities, and soon enough, the project was left alone, forgotten by everyone, other than being considered a failed project.

However, if you are genuinely interested in reviving the Wiki teams, or at the very least, one specific team, you can contact our admins or the leaders of the teams on reviving the team(s).

Final notes
That was super exhausting to write! If I forgot anything, please remind me in the comments or the chat!