User blog:Matt 20 1/Matt's Guide To The Wiki

Starting Out on the Wiki
It's always great to have new people help out on the RollerCoaster Tycoon Wiki, and we are always happy when new people join the community. It makes it easier for everyone if you have a user account, and this is the first thing I suggest you do. Signing up lets you track your contributions, and it makes it easier for people to communicate with you. You also become eligible for awards. When you join the wiki, the first thing you should do is edit your user page.

A User Page
A blank user page is created when you sign up for an account. Your user name in page histories, recent changes, and your signature will be linked to this page, so people may click on these to find out more about you.

There is no set requirement for what is displayed on your User Page- you can describe as much or as little about yourself as you like. You can describe your contributions to the Wiki, or keep a collection of useful links to wiki pages or just use it to keep reminders for yourself. It's a place for you to tell other editors about yourself.

Talk Pages There is a discussion page attached to every wiki page that is created. These pages exist for communicating with other users about articles and improving the wiki. Just click the "discussion" link at the top of any page to find it. This link may be red while the page is empty (don't be afraid to start one), and black when there a conversation already exists on the page. Registered contributors have a personal talk page where other users can leave messages. Just click the "discussion" link at the top of a user page. You can also reach your talk page by clicking on the "My talk" text next to your username in the top right corner of the screen.

Some general guidelines about talk pages:
 * Sign your comments by typing "~" . This will add your name and a timestamp.
 * Add comments to the end of the page.
 * When replying to a comment, indent your reply by placing a colon at the beginning of a line.
 * Keep your comments polite and friendly. It's always best to be civil, even if things get heated.

Tips for your User Page
 * Protect your User Page: Although not a major problem on this wiki, anonymous users can vadalise your user page. To prevent this, protect your page from anonymous users. This can be done by clicking on the "protect" icon which is found at the top of the page

Getting Involved in The Community
This wiki has a community, just like any other place such as school or a workplace. What makes this community so special is that you choose to be here, and everybody that contributes shares a passion for RollerCoaster Tycoon. We are united by this passion and give up our time and energy to maintain this wiki- nobody receives anything, we are all volunteers. And unlike Wikipedia, the RCT wiki does not have 22 000 contributors everyday, so each individual here is important. It is a great thing to be apart of, and new members are always welcomed.

Tips about becoming Part of the Community

 * Visit the Community Portal: This is the easiest way for a group of editors to talk about what new projects they are taking on, as well as ways to improve. Even if you don't have anything to say, you can still get an insight as to what is going on. When you visit it, you should follow the page so you are alerted whenever an edit is made.
 * Introduce yourself: The best way to do this is on your User Page, however it is not the only way. You can make an edit to the community portal, or (the one I suggest the most) write a blog. You can find a link to your blog from your userpage. You can also leave a message on an administrators talk page.
 * Get Editing!!!: The more edits you make, the more chance you have of people noticing you. Once a person sees you, I'm sure they'll say hi, and if they don't, say hello to them! It's a great group of people on here and we are all really friendly so don't be afraid.

Before Your First Edit
It's great you want to help us out, but before you make your first page/edit, there are a few things you need to know.

We were fortunate enough for one of our users, LostInRiverview, write a Manual of Style to standarise the wiki. I suggest you read it, because if you fail to meet its requirements, you may be dealt with accordingly. You should also be aware of the different templates the RCT wiki impliments, and use then where applicable.

Editing an Existing Page
At the top of every page (unless it is protected) there is an option to edit a page. Generally a page is edited by a user in order to add reliable information to an article or to remove false information. Adding false info or removing good, reliable information can end with you being banned. You also shouldn't edit an article to change spelling from one nationality to another (eg. British English to American English), however outright spelling mistakes and poor grammar can be fixed.

Creating a New Page
As you may have noticed, the RCT wiki is not yet a complete encyclopedia on the games, and we are still missing alot of information. Sooner or later you will have information you will want to share about a topic that is not currently covered on the wiki. If that is the case, you will need to create a new page, and there are a number of ways you can do this. On the side navigation bar, you will find a link titled "create a new article". Clicking on this (not surprisingly) will enable you to create the page. You can also click on a red link that you are bound to come across (more about them below). Alternatively, you could just click here to create one. The rules of editing still apply.

More on Links In any given article on any wiki, chances are eventually you will be reading an article that has a link on it. This link can be one of two colours.

Blue Links are links that will link you to another already existing article.

Red Links are links that link you to a page does not exist (and normally if it is a link, it should be one). It is effectively a dead-end. Red links are bad, and any good wiki should have as little as possible, the RCT wiki is no exception.

example:

Roller Coaster is blue and therefore links to the Roller Coaster page.

Not A Page is red, and so does not link anywhere. To create this page, I could click on the link

Summing Up
I hope this goves you a head start in joining and editing on the wiki. of course these are only suggestions and you do not need to follow them by any means. If there is something unclear, or you need help with something else, just leave a message on my talk page, or check out the Help! Wiki, which has a whole library of information that can help you.

-Matt (Matt 20 1)