Help:Editing

From Data Realms Wiki

General Wikipedia information: (Mostly applies here, too.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_layout

For those who want instructions here, here it is.

Contents 1 Editing basics 1.1 Type your changes 1.2 Summarize your changes 1.3 Preview before saving 1.4 Dummy edit and null edit 1.5 Minor edits

Editing basics

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Type your changes

You can just type your text. However, also using basic wiki markup (examples of which can be found below) adds to the value of your contribution.

Summarize your changes

Write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in Wikipedia's edit summary legend.

Preview before saving

When you have finished, click Show Preview to see how your changes will look before you make them permanent. Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied, then click Save page and your changes will be immediately applied to the article.

Dummy edit and null edit

If the wikitext is not changed, no edit will be recorded and the edit summary is discarded. A dummy edit is a change in wikitext that has no effect on the rendered page, such as changing the number of newlines at some position from 0 to 1 or from 2 to 3 or conversely (changing from 1 to 2 makes a difference, see below). This allows an edit summary, and is useful for correcting a previous edit summary, or an accidental marking of a previous edit as "minor" (see below).

To refresh the cache of some item in the database a lesser kind of dummy edit, called a null edit, may be sufficient: one that does not cause any change in the wikitext, and no entry in the history, in Recent Changes, etc.: this can be done by opening the edit window and saving; a section edit is sufficient.

Minor edits

When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

Deciding when to use this feature is a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that consists of spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth revisiting for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely. So any "real" change, even if it is a single word, should be flagged as a "major edit".

The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.