Daniel Larson Wiki:Editor's Guide

Welcome to the Daniel Larson Wiki! If you are viewing this page, you are likely interested in becoming or are currently an editor. That's awesome, and the wiki can't thank you enough!

Editors are the backbone of this wiki and every edit is appreciated as it makes this wiki better. On this page, general rules will be outlined as well as some tips and tricks.

General rules/suggestions

These are general editing rules everyone should keep in mind as well as the site rules.

Before reading this you should read the about page its very short, and very important.

Bias

1. Keep your edits completely unbiased.
2. A lot of topics about Daniel are heavily debated with arguments going both ways. The wiki is not here to pick a side but to do its best presenting both sides neutrally.
3. Use words like "This is highly debated in the community" and "some people think" with references if you can. The opinion of the editor should never be clear.
4. Cite your sources. Unsourced content means nothing, and is subject for deletion.

Details

1. The more details, the better. Try to account for readability, though.
2. We really can't have enough details about incidents that happen. Add as much as you can, full transcripts, descriptions, comments, etc are encouraged. In 5 years, people should be able to reference things and get a full picture of what happened.
3. This rule applies to Daniel, and Daniel only. Not his family, friends, or the professionals trying to help him. They have pages, and are involved in incidents, but should not have their lives dug into. Remember the human.

NSFW content

1. Daniel has been involved with a lot of NSFW videos. They should be documented here, BUT NEVER UPLOADED OR EMBEDDED!
2. Link to the video where it is hosted, preferably on Archive.org.

Slurs and profanity

1. Cursing can be included in articles
2. Slurs (E.G. the N-word, R-word) are not to be included in any articles.

Vandalism

Vandalism is uncommon here, but it does happen. Vandalism is:

1. Adding questionable/false information
2. Removing content
3. Or a change to deliberately harm the accuracy of the Wiki.

If you wish to curb vandalism, an excellent way is to look through the recent changes list!

New pages

You are more than welcome to create new pages but first ask you self these questions:

1. Is there enough content for new page?
   1. For example: Daniel posting a single TikTok that's only a slide show and background music is probably enough content for half a sentence and should not have its own page. Feel free to add it to the Timeline though!
2. Is the content that I am thinking of making a new page for better fit on another page?
   1. This can be hard to figure out, so use your best judgement. If a certain incident happened during an arc it's probably better to add it as a heading inside the arc page instead of a new page on it's own. Then once more information is added / found a new page can be created if it's needed.
3. Does the page already exist?
   1. Check Alternative titles for the page you are thinking of creating
   2. Make general searches for the content you have to see if it is already referenced elsewhere

Page titles

Once you have answered the questions above and you know you need to make a new page, you are ready to move forward. Here are the rules for page titles:

1. Capitalized following APA title capitalization rules!
   1. For an easy tool check out this website: https://capitalizemytitle.com/style/APA/
2. Descriptive
   1. Titles should be concise but also descriptive. it's encouraged to add "Incident" to the end of titles or include the year / month when appropriate (eg: Denver Colfax Marathon 2022 )

Creation

To Create the page simply search for the title that you want the page for be and select the red text inside the "Create the page "Example" on this wiki!" prompt. Furthermore, add your page to a category (if applicable) for organization purposes. For example, if you are creating a page about a person, type [[Category:People]] on the bottom of the page.

Moving / Renaming

Renaming a page is the same as moving a page. Try to avoid this but if needed a page can be moved / renamed by going to the page selecting "More" then "Move".

Deletion

Only the admin can delete pages. Leave a note on the talk page requesting a deletion or contact the admin via discord / email.

Editing a page

One of the main activities that editors do is edit the pages found here on the wiki. If you have ever used word processing software such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word, you can probably figure out the main editor that wiki uses. To edit a page, go to the page that you wish to edit and select the "Edit" button in the top right of the page.

Part of being a good editor is accepting that your content will and should be edited by others. Please correct any mistakes, add content, reformat, anything that you see on this wiki. Including this page!'

References

References are vital as it is the proof to what you are writing about. Embedded videos are likely the best proof you can get, but in other cases, use <ref>...</ref> tags to reference content posted to other platforms.

Headings

Use them! Headings are a good way to break up content and make things easier to read. Check out the Chris Chan wiki as well as just wikipedia for good examples.

Media

Pictures and Videos are highly encouraged. Pictures can be uploaded to this wiki however videos are not allowed for bandwidth saving reasons. Videos should be hosted on Archive.org or at least YouTube.

How to embed videos

Daniel Larson Wiki uses the EmbedVideo extension to allow the addition of externally-hosted videos to pages. Below is a short explanation of how to embed a video to a page. See Extension:EmbedVideo on MediaWiki for detailed documentation. Switch to the source editor by going to the pencil icon and selecting "Source editing" and paste the following:

{{#ev:service|video id|sizing|alignment|description|framing}}

Remember, this is a parser function, not a template! Don't use "=" when feeding it parameters, and do not shuffle parameters around. If you need to omit an optional parameter, simply use two pipes in a row: ||. Example; ommiting a description: right||frame.

• service - Required. This is the service to pull videos from. Use archiveorg or youtube.
• video id - Required. This is the ID of the content as it appears in the URL. For Archive.org videos, this ID is anything past /details/, and for YouTube videos, anything past watch?v= (may vary between desktop/mobile). For example:

https://archive.org/details/daniel-larson-dorm-tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPky9Euu_tA

• sizing - The size of the embedded video box. Accepts the same sizing syntax as images, but do not append "px" (300px, 300). 300 (+/-25 or 50 if needed) pixels wide is the recommended size as the video remains large enough to easily select on mobile devices, but not so large as to bloat the page.
• alignment - Like with images, the horizontal alignment of the video box in the page (or parent element). Accepts left/center/right/inline, and defaults to right. Using "inline" allows placing multiple videos next to each other horizontally.
• description - A description of the embedded video. If using a description, the "frame" parameter should be used.
• framing - Optional, required if using description. Using "frame" puts the embedded video into thumbnail-style box. It generally looks nicer than leaving the embedded video box bare.

YouTube tags are only for temporary uses. All videos need archival in case they are taken down.

<youtube></youtube>

For Archive.org videos, change the service to "archiveorg".

The ID should be what is found in the url after /details/. More information about this extension can be found here

Amboxes

Ambox stands for Article Message box, which is a metatemplate. They are pre-set messages used in articles to clarify the or to give disclaimers for the contents of any articles.

These are all current amboxes on the wiki, and are to be sorted at the top of the article in the order presented. If you are unsure that an ambox is to be put on a page, ask in the discussion page. If you want another ambox to be created and are unsure if it should be made, ask in the ambox discussion page.

"CW" ambox is to be included in articles covering sensitive or highly politicized subjects.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Doxxing" ambox is to only be included in pages about people.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Rewrite" ambox is to be very sparsely used and only if there are major issues with articles, and this is only to be added after asking the discussion page.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Copy" ambox is for articles that have copycat content from other articles.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"More Citations Needed" ambox is for articles that make unsubstantiated claims.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"DontCite" ambox is for articles that have information that should not be cited for reasons like doxxing.

This text is to space out these amboxes for rea

"Contact" ambox is for articles that have people who you should definitely not contact.

"Credibility" ambox is for articles that have people who are unreliable narrators.

"Videos Need Archiving" ambox is for articles that use youtube videos instead of embedding Archive.org videos. Youtube videos can be downloaded using 4K Video Downloader.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Stub" ambox is for incomplete articles.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Bias" ambox is for biased articles.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Grammar" ambox is for articles with bad grammar. Inspired by the existence of Ifixgrammar.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

"Ongoing" ambox is for articles covering situations or subjects that are currently ogoing and subject to change.

This text is to space out these amboxes for readability

Advanced Editing

Advanced Article Editing

• Nowiki
  • ‎Nowiki tags can prohibit HTML tags, useful for displaying code, like on these articles!
  • Example: no [[wiki]] ''markup''
  • Code: <nowiki>no [[wiki]] ''markup''</nowiki>
• Colouring text
  • Example: This text is red.
  • Code: <span style="color: red;">This text is red.</span> (this is CSS code!)
• Comments
  • Example: <!-- This is a comment -->
  • These can only be seen when editing articles!
• Special Characters
  • Add special characters using HTML entities, such as © for the copyright symbol, ® for the registered trademark symbol, or ™ for the trademark symbol.
• Shadows
  • Example: Shadowed Text
  • Code: <span style="text-shadow: 2px 2px 4px #333;">Shadowed Text</span> (this is also CSS code!)

Stuff you should know before editing templates and modules

This isn't necessarily required, but it is highly suggested that you familiarize yourself with wikitext, HTML, CSS, and Lua scripting before trying to get into editing important modules and templates to any large degree, as if you're a beginner without experience planning out modules/templates, you can end up messing up modules and templates very badly in the long-term with sloppy or improper code.

Here's a basic run-down of things you should be familiar with when you start editing modules and templates:

• Wikitext
  • Wikitext is the markup language used in MediaWiki for formatting content. You should be comfortable with wikitext, including creating and formatting text, links, lists, and tables. This is used in the "source" editing of articles, so don't be afraid, as there's a lot of references to use across the wiki if you're figuring stuff out!
• Templates
  • Template Syntax
    • Templates are used to reuse content and create structured elements. You should know how to pass parameters to templates and use them effectively.
  • Template Parameters
    • Learn how to define and use parameters in templates to make them more flexible and reusable. You can pass data into templates using parameters.
  • Transclusion
    • Understand how transclusion works in MediaWiki. Transclusion is the process of including the content of one page (such as a template) within another page.
• CSS Styling
  • You may need to apply custom CSS styles to your templates to control their appearance. Learn how to define and use CSS within MediaWiki.
• Parser Functions (for decently advanced editing)
  • MediaWiki provides various parser functions that allow you to perform dynamic operations within your wikitext. Familiarize yourself with common parser functions like #if, #ifeq, #ifexpr, and #switch.
• Lua Scripting (for very advanced editing)
  • Lua is used for creating more complex logic and functionality within MediaWiki. You should be familiar with the Lua programming language, including variables, conditionals, loops, and functions.
• Module Development (for very advanced editing)
  • Understand how to create and use Lua modules in MediaWiki. Modules are used to encapsulate complex logic and make it accessible to templates. You should know how to call Lua functions from wikitext and pass data between Lua modules and templates

Editing templates

• Creating a template page
  • When you make a template, you need the Template: tag at the start of the name of the article, otherwise it won't be recognized as one.
• Using a template
  • To use the modified template, insert it into articles using two curly brackets around the name of the template you want to call.
    • {{Here's an example}}
  • You then provide values for the parameters as needed.

Now, onto how to actually make the template itself.

• Parameters
  • Parameters act as variables that can store data. When you define a parameter in a template or module, you're essentially creating a container to hold a value that will be provided when the template or module is used.
  • You can define a parameter using three curly brackets around the name you want to assign to the parameter.
    • {{{example}}}
  • Parameters can also be used to customize the behavior of a template. By passing different values as parameters, you can change the output or behavior of the code. This allows you to use the same template for various purposes.
    • As an example, you can change the colour of text using parameters in a template.
      • <span style="color: red;">This text is red.</span>
    • You could make "red" under "colour" a parameter.
      • <span style="color: {{{colour}}};">This text is red.</span>
    • And now, you can change the colour of the text on the fly by changing the value of the parameter rather than manually deleting the text every time you want to use it.

Parameters are, really, all you need to know when making basic templates. This is actually the only really special part of the Amboxes you see above; you could run all the same code in the article without the need to make a template, but it's just more efficient and easier to make a template because you use the same code a multitude of times.