UsingWiki

Wiki is Hawaiian and means fast. It looks weird at first, but after you get used to it, it makes things considerably easier.

If you want to know more about the history of wikis and what they are you can visit this link in one of the largest wikis known to man, wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Here is a quick introduction (specific to the software on this website):

• Anyone can edit any page and is encouraged to do so. On the page you wish to change, use the “Edit text of this page” link at the bottom.
• Each page keeps a version history for the last two weeks, so don’t worry about screwing stuff up; other community members will back out your changes if they don’t like them (this is done with the “View other revisions” link).
• RecentChanges lets you see how others are changing or adding to the wiki.
• Words with lots of capitals like UsingWiki are automatically linked to the page named after that word. If there is no such page, a question mark link is created as an invitation to create one.

More advanced usage

• For your name to appear on RecentChanges next to your edits (rather than just your Hostname), just provide a username when you edit the text.
• Simple editing is one of the advantages of using a wiki, here are some text formatting rules to get you started:
  • Empty lines separate paragraphs. Paragraphs may span several lines.
  • Asterisks (’*’) introduce list items. One list item per line.
  • Text between asterisks becomes bold (Like this *Simple text*= Simple text
  • Plain URLs get hyperlinked.

For more information on text formatting go to: Oddmuse: Text Formating Rules

To consider

A few pointers on style:

• Wiki pages are there to stay. They are documents that are going to be visited again and again, therefore: write carefully, check your spelling and avoid using fancy language or too many acronyms.
• When writing anonymous material, do not write in the first person (this encourages others to edit the content or add to it. Conversely, whenever writing testimonial, sign your name.
• One golden rule: Write for the reader, but remember that you are also a reader; so, edit the text until it becomes useful to yourself as well. Respect others’ ideas of what is useful. Sometimes this is best done by simply creating a new page, but not usually.

For more information on the “golden rule” and wiki style visit this Style Guide

Some do’s:

• Do expect others to edit your text
• Do Be Bold
• Do Add as much content as you want

and don’t:

• Don’t be rude
• Don’t take it personally if some of your text is changed or deleted
• Don’t spam
• Don’t edit someone else’s signed comment

Here’s are some things you might like to do:

• practice editing a wiki page on the page SandBox. The SandBox is a page created especially for practicing on.
• start out by reading the site a bit
• visit RecentChanges every few days to see what people are saying
• then, begin by adding comments and making minor corrections to various pages; conquer your Fear Of Editing!
• if you like it here, make yourself a home page
• once you get the feel of this place, help us out by editing existing pages, restructuring them, or contributing new content

You might like to visit

• … This wiki’s MissionStatement
• … SiteMap to start navigating or adding content
• … RecentChanges for a list of recent contributions to this wiki
• … the questions page to leave questions or read answers

Some words and organization on this page were taken from the Community Wiki‘s UsingWiki and WelcomeVisitors pages.