Help:Creating Pages

This page explains how to create an article on the Spesoft-GameEx wiki and serves as a guide for some things you should know when creating an article.

Articles may only be created by registered users. If you are not a registered user, please feel free to register now.

How to Create a Page

Before creating a new article, you should search to check that there is no suitable article that already exists. If an article on the topic you want to create does exist, but you think people are likely to look for it under some different name or spelling, learn how to add a redirect with that name. Adding helpful redirects is another great way to help the Spesoft-GameEx wiki.

If you find an existing article for your intended topic, consider adding your information to the existing article. For example, if you want to write an article about controller configuration for a given emulator, you might search for the emulator itself and then add a controller configuration section to the broader article about the emulator. This is the best thing to do if the subject of the proposed article has only limited depth.

If no suitable articles already exist for your intended topic or the subject has enough depth for an article of its own, then you should consider starting a new article.

Methods

There are currently two ways to create an article:

In the search box near the top right of a page, type the title of the new article, then press enter or click the magnifying glass icon. If the Search page reports "There were no results matching the query. You may create the page...." followed by the article name in red, then you can click the red article name to start editing it. When you are done, press "Show preview" to take a look at how the page will appear. Try to fix any formatting errors, then press "Save page". Your article is now part of the Spesoft-GameEx wiki and may be edited by anyone.

Create the article by creating a Subpage in your own personal user space. Typically, the name that you give to the Subpage will be the same as that of your intended article. When you have finished creating it (typically after a lot of repeated editing and saving), move the article from your Subpage to the appropriate namespace (where the "real" articles are).

Tips

Try editing existing articles to get a feel for writing in the standard mark-up language used on this wiki. Also, try reading some of our existing articles, to acclimate your self to the standard tone and conventions of this wiki.

Consider creating the article on your user page first. If you have a user id, (which you must have if you are considering creating a new article), you also have your own area to start working on a new article. Within your user page you can whip your article into shape. Feel free to take your time, and only move it into the "live" wiki once it's ready for prime time.

Search the Spesoft-GameEx Wiki first to make sure that an article does not already exist for your chosen topic, perhaps even under a different title. If you find an existing article for your subject, the best practice is to add a redirect named according to the name you were originally considering, and patch it through to the existing article.

Bear in mind that the primary intent of the Spesoft-GameEx Wiki is to serve as a repository for technical documentation and informative articles on the broad topic of emulation. Please do not create pages about yourself or your friends, pages that advertise, personal essays or other articles of questionable value to emulation hobbyists seeking information.

Be careful about the following: copying things, controversial material, extremely short articles, and local-interest articles.

Things to avoid

Articles about yourself or your friends: If you are a noteworthy figure within the world of emulation, it might be best to let an objective third party write an article on your behalf, or to work closely in tandem with an impartial editor. Likewise, putting your friends in this wiki may seem like a nice surprise or an amusing joke, but articles like this are likely to be removed. In this process, feelings may be hurt, which can be avoided by a little forethought on your part. Please don't try it.

Advertising: Please do not try to promote your product or business in a manner that is non-objective. If you are a proprietor of a business, website, or resource dedicated to serving the emulation community it is fine to write up and informational article describing the nature of your business as well as services offered. Be sure to omit loaded words describing your business (i.e. we offer the absolute best service available, our shipping is the fastest available, etc.), third party testimonials, and any other information that might be construed as advertising. This information will be removed from the article when discovered. Likewise, please keep articles of this nature brief and to the point. there is no need to write an article containing your entire catalog of merchandise. This will also be removed when discovered. It is fine to include a link to your web site and/or other pertinent contact information.

Personal essays: Please do not write articles that are editorial in nature, or contain personal opinions even if you can support them in the form of documentation. A common mistake is to present a novel synthesis of opinion and fact in an article. Remember, just because both Fact A and Fact B are true does NOT mean that A caused B, or vice-versa. The GameEx forums can be an excellent proving ground for theories like this. If a user was able to test conclusively and confirm with substantial third party verification that in fact A did cause B it might be worthy for inclusion in the wiki, otherwise it constitutes statement of opinion on the part of the user.

A single sentence or only a website link: Articles need to have real content of their own.

Pay Special Attention To...

Copying things. Do not violate copyrights: If you are copying text from other sources it is a very good practice to be aware of copyright restrictions. Generally, you should not quote more than a couple of sentences of text from anywhere, and document the references you do use. You can copy material that you are sure is in the public domain, but even with public domain material it is a good practice to document your source. Also note that most Web pages are not necessarily in the public domain. In fact, most things written since January 1, 1978 in the United States are automatically under copyright even if they have no copyright notice or © symbol. If you think what you are contributing is in the public domain, say where you got it, either in the article or on the discussion page. If you think you are making "fair use" of copyrighted material, please put a note on the discussion page saying why you think so. For more information: Copyrights.

Compiling Research and Citing Sources when Necessary: To the best of your ability please research any documentation you post to the wiki. Incomplete, invalid or incorrect documentation does nothing to help improve the quality of this wiki.

Extremely short articles that are just definitions: If an article discusses a unfamiliar phrases or difficult concepts it may be prudent to include a glossary of terminology within the article itself, but a simple definition of a word or phrase should not merit an article of its own. We welcome good short articles, called "stubs", that can serve as launching pads from which others can add content. If you do not have enough material to write a good stub, you probably should not create the article. Stubs help track articles that need expansion.

While an Article is Under Construction

If you know that your article will require multiple edits and/or a significant amount of time to properly list references and/or make presentable, it is recommended that you place the template {{New Page}} on top of the page to signify to other editors that it's a work in progress. this will help to avoid cross talk between multiple editors while the article is under construction.

And Now What?

Now that you have created the page, there are still several things you can do.

Keep making improvements

the basic paradigm of wiki editing is that it is never finished. Generally, an article is nowhere near being completed the moment it is created. There is a long way to go. In fact, it may take you several edits just to get it started.

If you have significant interest in the article you just created, you may learn much more about that topic in the future, and therefore, have more to add. This may be later today, tomorrow, or several months from now. Anytime, you feel that additional information may improve your article, go for it.

Improve formatting

To format your article correctly (and expand it, and possibly even make it , see the following links:

WikiMedia Formatting guide
Wikipedia:Tutorial to learn how to format your article

Also, make sure there are incoming links to the new article from other articles in the Spesoft-GameEx wiki (click "What links here" in the toolbox) and in many cases that the new article is included in at least one appropriate category (see Help:Categories). Otherwise it will be difficult for readers to find the article.

Others can freely contribute to the article when it has been saved. The creator does not have special rights to control the later content.

Additionally, before you get frustrated or offended about the way others modify or remove your contributions, see: Wikipedia:Don't be ashamed.