Help:Getting Started

Hi, and thanks for taking an interest in the Discovery Wiki!

This page is a brief summary of some of the most important editing guidelines, rules and tools to help you do what you want on the Discovery Wiki. It is by no means a complete reference to everything that you will come across during your stay at the Discovery Wiki, but this and our help pages should at the very least help you get your foot inside the door and serve as helpful reference material to look up in if you’re stuck at some point.

Good luck, and feel free to contact me if you've got any questions or suggestions!

- Space ^(talk) 15:36, 27 April 2015 (CEST)

What's a Wiki?

A Wiki is a bit of server software that allows users to freely create and edit web page content using any web browser, with hyperlinks between pages and a simple editing syntax.

Wikis are unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself using talk pages and other methods.

Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

How can I help?

With almost anything that you want to! The "Edit" button at the top of the page is available almost everywhere for all users, except for on some of the more technical parts of the Wiki (such as the Main Page). If you want anything changed on these, make a suggestion on the talk page for the article outlining the changes that you want to add. For some more specific examples, take a look at the to-do list and Category:Outdated. Finding accurate information to add to pages can be done using tools such as Freelancer Companion, FLStat, the wiki code generator, Freelancer itself plus a few other helpful tools and pages listed down below.

Beyond those exceptions, editing is usually as simple as pressing the edit button and modifying the text you want in the editing window that pops up afterwards using valid Wiki markup.

If you want some more in-depth information on how to edit pages, check out some of the other guides linked below, such as the editing guide and Wiki markup guide.

Rule and guideline summary

This is a summary of the rules and guidelines located in the style guide and editing rules. For in-depth information, please refer to those pages.

• All content added to the Wiki must be accurate and objective.
• All content must be in readable and grammatically correct English.
• Much of the hard update work can be done using cshake's code generator. Keep this in mind before you start doing something manually.
• Always use the preview button before submitting an edit, and remember to add an edit summary after you're done so that other editors can see what you've changed.
• If you are unsure what a page should look like, check with another page of the same type.
• Major changes should be suggested on the talk page first, to avoid your edits getting reverted by another users.
• If you are unsure whether you are doing something correctly, ask on the article's talk page, Wiki subforum, in the editor's chat or contact another active Wiki user (such as User:Space).
• And last, but not least: Don't be too worried about messing up something. Everybody does that now and then, and all edits can easily be reverted to an earlier revision using the "History" tab at the top of the page in case something goes really wrong.

Rules and guidelines

What is a Wiki? • The Discovery Wiki • Editing rules • Style guide

Getting started

The Basics • Editing and creating pages • Wiki markup guide • Code generator guide • Uploading images

Common templates

Ships • Factions • Bases • Planets • Systems • Reviews • Version • Commodities

Other useful pages and tools

General wiki discussion • To-do list • Outdated pages • Wanted pages • Incomplete pages • Active editors • FLStat • Freelancer Companion