Helping+Out

=__Helping Out__= So, you think you can help us out? You //think// you know enough about Malifaux to edit this wiki? Do you have what it takes?toc

Yeah, you probably do. The site is titled with a fart joke, it's not as if you'll mess it up. Anyway, my point is: all help is welcome. In fact, we're rather desperate, because the more //you// do, the less //we// do. And that's a beautiful thing.

At the end of the day, all wikis are about community. One person can not ever hope to run this thing, or even an individual entry. Over time, as more and more people add their ideas and experiences, the entries will only become better and better. No single tactica will ever be attributed //entirely// to one person. So, with this in mind, jump in and edit! Please! We want your ideas, experience, talent, and dedication! If you have a thought about a master and it differs from what that master's page already says, add what you have to say! We want to hear it, really! Think I use too many exclamation marks?! Tell me!

Well, I think you've got the point: don't be shy. The more people adding, the better pages we'll have. So, all of that said, there are a few, simple guidelines we ask you to follow.

=__Guidelines__=
 * __**Article Style:**__ Write to a beginner's experience. Veterans will still be able to get useful advice out of your tactica, just don't fill it with abbreviations and jargon that new players will not understand. Also try to explain abilities briefly as you introduce them. Please read and adhere to the Wiki Style Guide


 * Take your time and use full sentences. None of us are professional writers, but this is not a chat room.


 * __**Spelling (American Vs British):**__ All spelling and phrases used on the wiki should be in the American style rather then the British. This is because the Wyrd developers are American and use that style so we wish to be consistent with the games country of origin. Ex: Armor vs Armour; in the wiki articles, Armor should be used.

> For example, let's pretend there was a master named Lalochezia (awesome, right?) and you were writing a tactica about him. It would be perfectly acceptable to say, //"Lalochezia's Word Vomit spell can be used to paralyze enemy models, but only if he is within 2". However, remember it is his only ability worth using, so you need to get in close. Also remember to hold a 10 in your hand so he can cast it."// It is not acceptable to say,//"Lalochezia has this ability: '**(1) Word Vomit (CC: 14/Rst:-/Rg: 2):** Target model is **Paralyzed**.' His Casting is 4, so he needs a 10."// Ultimately we will need to write down some of the model's stats and some of what their abilities do, or there is no point to this. However, only write down the ones you need to. It's a fine line. As a rule of thumb write as if you assume the person owns the card to the model and has asked you for help. Mentioning a stat or two is acceptable, as it comes up in the conversation; but why tell them word for word what is on the card they just bought?
 * **__No Full Stat Lines!:__** Please do not include the full stats of a model. It is perfectly acceptable to mention a stats in the course of writing your tactica, but it is not necessary to write out every stat on a model or copy down abilities word for word.


 * Understand that this is a wiki, and people //will// edit your work. It is a community effort! Also keep in mind that pages simply need to be updated as the rules are updated and clarified.


 * **__Screen Name:__** If you already have a screen name on the [|Wyrd Forums], please try to use the same one here. Or one similar to it, if yours is taken. This is just for our sanity!


 * Do not delete whole pages of other peoples work! This is the last, but probably most important guideline. It is simply rude. If you do not agree with what their tactica says, that is fine, you are free to add your thoughts to the wiki itself or create a topic on the discussion tab for that page. You are even free to edit their ideas to make them more understandable or delete unneeded lines, this is a wiki after all. Just don't go wholesale deleting good stuff as you do. The rule of thumb is to add, not subtract. It's even fine to have a bit of a point, counterpoint on the page if you disagree.


 * **__Major Edits:__** If you think a page needs to have a major edit done to the existing article (including deleting substantial chunks of other peoples work), you MUST follow our procedure for this. It is detailed bellow.


 * We reserve the right to ban your account from the wiki at any time and remove or edit any content you put on the wiki. If you are purposefully vandalizing pages, we will remove you without any warning. Mistakes happen, and we understand, but malicious activity is usually rather clear and will not be tolerated.

=**__Discussions__**= The discussion section of each page is up for open use. Use it whenever you make anything more than minor additions/changes to a page and for discussing anything else relevant to that page. We will periodically go through and delete discussions that are finished or no longer useful. So don't expect them to hang around forever. If there is something worth keeping in them, then make sure you post it up somewhere else incase that discussion gets cleaned off.

=__Making a Page__=
 * When writing a page with a lot of different abilities which you want to split into a lot of different sections, you do not need to have a heading at the start of each section. Only use the heading feature to highlight an entirely new section. What I mean is: head the section with larger, bolded text but DO NOT use the heading feature. The heading feature does not just bold the text and make it larger, it also adds to the table of contents. So if you make a heading for 20 different abilities, your table of contents will be as long as your page, which is sort of self defeating. So just adjust the text size manually. For example, the above section has the heading "guidelines" but each individual guideline I have included does not need its own heading, because then they would all be in the table of contents.
 * When you make a new page for a model, be sure to edit the main page of the Faction(s) which that model belongs to, and link to it. Otherwise, people won't find your work!
 * Avatar Pages will be named: "Avatar [__Master's Name]__. Eg: Avatar Seamus, Avatar Pandora.
 * Use the M2E templates for M2E pages, it sounds simple but its worth saying to make sure everything is the best we can do especially considering the options for upgrade cards and the changes to strategies and schemes.
 * When creating a brand new page for a model, start it with M2E+. For example M2E+Bayou+Gremlin. This allows editors to easily determine if they are linking to the correct pages.

=__Editing an Existing Page__= __Note:__ This only applies to Pages/Sections that have already been written. If the Page/Section in question has not been written or only has place holder details, you are free to write it as normal.

Editing an existing article can be very tricky. But there is one rule you should consider before you make any changes to an existing article:

__**#1 Rule:**__
__Are the Edits I am about to make, really going to benefit the wiki and the article in a serious manner? Or are they just what I would prefer to see things as.__

The reason for this is simply because everyone is human, and thus has a way they would prefer to see things (their own sense of aesthetics). But with something like a Wiki, this can get out of hand very easily with people changing sections and even whole articles to suit themselves or what they think would be best.

If you think an article needs a major change or even an overhaul, then make a post in the discussion section about it. Leave it for 5 days and if there is no response in 5 days, then make the changes and we will roll back if we think it is necessary. Otherwise, we hope at least one member and hopefully an admin will come and discuss the changes with you. Think of it as a peer editing system basically. All members are responsible for the well being of the wiki and are expected to keep an eye on the various articles and pages, provide feedback on suggested changes, and report issues to the Admins when you see them.

These kind of edits are perfectly reasonable and can be done without the need of a discussion thread. Just make the edits and save them!
 * Edits for Grammar/Spell/Factual Inaccuracy**

The process for requesting a Major Change to a page or a complete overhaul of it is very simple.
 * Major Changes/Overhauls**
 * 1) Make a post on the page's Discussion suggestion titled: "Request For Change: __Model's Name__"
 * 2) Make sure to detail what you think needs to be changed and even include some samples of what you intend to do if you want. The more detail you provide, the better.
 * 3) Watch for people responding to the Discussion with their input/suggestions and follow the discussion through.
 * 4) When everyone seems to agree, or no one has any big issues with it, you may make the changes.
 * 5) If people can't agree, please mail the Admins and they will look into it if they have not already posted on it.

We can't caution you enough when making major edits to a page. Often times when someone goes looking to change things, they will lose sight of the scope of the article. This leads to things being reworded in a way that may make sense in isolation, but falls out of sync with the article as a whole. In short, even if you don't like how something was wrirten originally, you should not be changing it unless there is something more wrong with it then the Aesthetics.
 * A Word of Caution on Major Changes**

This includes the Fact vs Fluff guideline in the Wiki Style Guide. It is very very easy to inadvertently distort the meaning of a section by trying to reword it and a lot of valuable information can be lost. This is especially true when editing the page of a model you do not know like the back of your hand. __If you do not know the model well enough to write in detail about it, you should probably leave the changes to someone who does.__ Instead make a post in the Discussion section detailing your idea and asking someone to make the change. .

=__Templates__= There are premade templates for Masters, Minions, Henchman, Master Specific Totems, Faction Specific totems and Avatars. While making a new page you may choose which template to use from the drop down menu. The template automatically formats the page for you and creates some useful headers (which you may delete if you don't need). Please consider using one. You do not have to, but they do help to give the page a standardized feel and help you organize your thoughts as you write. Plus, once you have created the page, you can not go back and apply the template without deleting the page and starting over.

=__Images__= You may want to add images to your page. This is purely optional, and you may simply want to write the page and leave this to somebody else. That's fine! But, if you decide to do it, it's simple! While editing the page simply click on the "file" button in the toolbar. From there you will be able to browse images from your computer to upload. Upload one, click on it, and it will add the image to wherever you last had your cursor on that page. From there you may click on the image to align it left or right, or drag it up or down. As a standard, we include an image of the model to the right of the table of contents which has been resized (in a tool like paint, or photoshop) to be roughly 225px by 250px. This is usually approximately 50% the size of the image of the model found in Wyrd's [|online store]. For masters we also generally have an image of the boxed set to the right of the 'Starting Master" section at about 400px by 450px.

=__Copyright__= If you ever see a page without the following at the bottom please feel free to copy and paste it in:

Unless otherwise stated, all names and images on this site are property of Wyrd Miniatures, LLC. ([|Link])
 * __Ownership__ **