Jackcentric:Beta Note

From Jackcentric

Welcome! I think most of you I've talked to don't have much experience with wikis, so I'll keep this pretty basic. If you're an experienced wiki editor, please let me know! I could really use some help getting templates set up.

First things first: Use the links in the upper right to create an account. Once you're logged in, you'll get a navigation strip that includes your username in red. Click the red link to create your userpage. This is the same technique you'll use to create new pages anywhere; any red link leads to a page that's just waiting for someone to create it. Sometimes it will take you directly to an edit field; other times it will take you to a page with an "edit this page" link that will take you to the edit field. (I haven't figured out the pattern yet of which it does when -- let me know if you figure it out!)

Spend a little time editing your userpage and practicing your wiki markup -- how to do bold, italics, headers, links, etc. When you're done, include the code [[Category:Users|YourNameHere]] at the bottom of your userpage. That's the same method you'll use to assign categories to stories, and it will make your userpage show up on the list of users.

Next, take a look around the category structure. The "Browse stories" link in the sidebar will take you directly to the top of the story directory; this link will take you up to the very top of the structure. The Special:SpecialPages link in the sidebar will let you generate automatic reports of useful things; most are pretty boring maintenance-type stuff, but you can, for instance, list all pages that currently exist on the wiki. You might also want to take a look at the namespace structure.

If you see anything you think needs changing, please let me know -- or change it yourself! You can use any Talk or Discussion link to comment on the page it's attached to and discuss any proposed changes. Keep in mind that my role as admin isn't to lay down the rules but simply to keep things organized and moving. Wikis by nature are ruled by consensus, so if there's anything you don't like about the way I've set things up, don't keep quiet! The only thing that's not up for discussion is the Jackcentric focus of the wiki.

What do we need next?

• A logo. I can do screencaps, cropping, and simple borders, but nothing more than that. If any of you could put together a logo, that would be great. We can use that red-linked page to discuss logo options. (Geminia is working on this.)

• A forum. I like the forum set-up at the TARDIS Index File and would love to have something similar here, but I don't know if that's something that simply isn't included with this older version of the software or something we'd have to design by hand. Another option would be to use a Livejournal community. If anyone would like to take that on, feel free. (Euphrosyne is working on this.)

• Stories! Hopefully, by the time you read this, I'll have some quick-and-dirty instructions for adding stories up. We'll need to decide on a template for what information should be included and how it's formatted. For now, just do whatever makes sense to you, and once we have some story entries up, we can compare them and see what works best.