Wiki Procedures

Joining the Wiki

Players on String Theory MUX are encouraged to create and maintain pages for their characters (once approved by staff) on the game's wiki, which is located at: http://string-theory.wikidot.com.

To join, create an account on wikidot and click on the link titled How to join this site? on the lefthand sidebar. The wiki will then prompt you for a password. Enter the password that staff @mailed you upon approval of your character on the MUX.

Congratulations! You are now a member of String Theory's wikidot community.

Out of respect for other players, staff asks that you only edit character pages that belong to you — unless you have been given explicit permission by the page's owner to help maintain it. Anyone is welcome to post logs to the archive, provided they follow the template provided.

Character Pages

Page Creation

  • Open the Characters page.
  • Type the name of your character bit into the left-hand box and click 'Add New Character'.
  • In the page editor, type your character's first and last names into the Page Title box.
  • Continue to 'Filling out Info' below.

Filling out Info

First of all, under no circumstances remove any of the default ==== dividers from the page.

Each section prompts you for the info to enter in it. You can leave sections blank at your discretion. Some do not apply to all characters or all players. Fill out whatever is appropriate to share OOCly.

The 'Everything Else / Appendices' section is for anything you want to include that is not covered by the base template. For many characters, this includes such things as a Timeline of scenes, Relationships with other characters, music/themesongs, and/or a gallery. Quotes, trivia, and anything else you want to share can also be put here. This section behaves in all ways like a normal wikipage, and you can use modules, tabviews, etc. just like anywhere else.

Important Notes

Keep short fields short, i.e.:

  • ALIASES is intended for major alternate identities, not nicknames. If your character is on file somewhere under a completely different name, that name should go here.
  • If you specify a WEIGHT in numbers, leave it at that. Please do not also put BUILD — the field is for one or the other (because some people are better with descriptions than numbers).
  • Relationships — For Parents, Siblings, and Children, it generally looks cleanest if you put each named individual on their own line (rather than a list of one, two, and three).

Remember that the summary sheet is like official paperwork: there's only so much room provided on a line. Concise is best. This includes your character profile.

If you're choosing not to fill out the background, psych profile (i.e. personality), and/or ability tabs, you may use

[[f=image characters/classified.gif]]

to occupy the space.

When you're finished writing, save the page and continue with setting its tags.

For NPCs

The left-hand box gives the source code to add at the bottom of the page, after any 'appendices'. The right-hand box shows an example of how that code should be filled out.

====
[!-- IC Status (referenced if on vacation or dead) --]
====
[!-- NPC Role --]
====
[!-- NPC manager(s)/contact(s) --]
====
====
In Searsmont, ME [!-- IC Status --]
====
Company Founder, developer of the Shanti Virus strains [!-- NPC Role --]
====
Rose or Manhattan [!-- NPC manager(s)/contact(s) --]
====

Tags

Some info (e.g. evolved status) is derived based upon page tags. These also control what list a character shows up in (e.g. active, idle, retired). You have to set these after saving the page.

Scroll down to the very bottom and click on the 'Tags' button. Then enter a space-separated list of every tag that is appropriate for their Registration status, faction affiliation, and character status:

Expressive Status evolved (a legacy term for Expressives), non-evolved, registered, unregistered
Registry Category unknown, biological, chemical, kinetic, mental, meta, spatiotemporal
Registry Class class-A, class-B, class-C
Endorsements COM, INST, LE, MIL, RES, NEG, AUGMENTED
Factions raytech, szc, sesa, wolfhound, yamagato
Char Status deceased, idle, npc, retired, uncast, vacation

Additionally, if your character has no designated PB, please add the _noactor tag.

For more information on the registration tags, see SESA Registration.

NOTE: If carrying over a 'timeskipped' character, please tag their original char: page with _aftermath.

Uploading Images

Image files are typically uploaded to the wiki in order to be referenced on a character page. To add an image:

  • Scroll down to the buttons at the bottom of the page and click on "FILES" (in the center of the row)
  • Then select "Upload New File"
  • Browse to the file in question, and
  • Provide a new name for it IF its original filename does not match what you cited in the wikipage
    • Remember that you must include the extension, e.g. Grace.jpg
    • Also that filenames are case sensitive; Grace.jpg and grace.jpg are two different files
    • and that they cannot use spaces

Once the file has been uploaded, you should be able to hit refresh and see it displayed at whatever point the wikipage references it.

Tricks and Troubleshooting

Evolved Ability Tab

If you can't see the Evolved Ability tab and your character is Evolved — add the 'Evolved' tag to the page. See the 'Tags' section above.

Hide Line in TOC

The Table of Contents is generated from headers — lines prefixed with one or more + symbols. If you want one to be left out of the TOC, put an * right after the last +, e.g. '++* Title Text.

Info in the Wrong Place

If something is not where it's supposed to be, odds are you deleted (or added) a ==== line. Hopefully you retained the comments with section descriptions or can otherwise CTRL+F through the editor to the out-of-place section. Then just reenter or remove the offending line as appropriate.

Info Not Displaying

If you do everything correctly and something fails to display (e.g. the 'Evolved Ability' tab not appearing despite you having the 'evolved' tag on the page, or nothing showing on the page at all), try opening the editor and saving the page.

If that doesn't work, try removing one or more comment blocks (i.e. stuff bracketed by [!-- --]) and then saving.

PB Linebreak

To get rid of that extra line-break after 'Portrayed By', remove the field comment.

Photo Not Displaying

If you uploaded a photo and it is not displaying, you may need to do a "hard refresh."

  • On Windows, hold down Ctrl and click the Reload button (Be careful not to hold ⇧ Shift on Chromebook, or it will rotate the internal display). Or, Hold down Ctrl and press F5 (On Chromebook builds, this only takes a screenshot instead).
  • To do so on Mac, hold the Shift key and then click the Reload icon on the address bar. Or, hold down ⌘ Cmd and shift key and then press R.

If this doesn't work, double check that you have named the file on the wikipage the same as the file you have upload, keeping in mind that on Wikidot, files are case sensitive. If you named a photo Petrelli.jpg and you have it typed as petrelli.jpg on your wikipage, the photo will not display.

Tabviews

  • You cannot have a nested tabview in your history, personality, or Evolved ability sections.
    • If you want to use one anyway, say for Ability, put the actual tabview code in 27 (Everything Else/Appendices).
    • Then write a short summary in the 'proper' Ability section and save the page.
    • If you have the Table of Contents visible, right-click on the link that points at your tabview and 'Copy Link Location'. Insert this below the summary so viewers can click on it and be taken directly to the detailed section.
      • (If you don't have the TOC visible, and don't know how to manually figure the link, talk to Rose about setting it up.)

Code Snippets

Collapsible Sections

To hide a section of text, bracket it with the following code. 'Show' is the link people see while the block is hidden, which they click in order to show the hidden content. 'Hide', similarly, is the link presented while the block is displayed and can be clicked to hide it again. The 'hideLocation' value determines whether the 'Hide' link appears above the block, below the block, or on both sides.

[[collapsible show="TEXT TO SHOW BLOCK" hide="TEXT TO HIDE BLOCK" hideLocation="TOP, BOTTOM, or BOTH"]]

CONTENT

[[/collapsible]]

Relationships

The most common format for relationships is a table. Many people will also group relationships within a tabview, e.g. using one tab for family, and another for associates.

If you want to use a separate page for your character's timeline, create it in the relationships: category.


Tabviews

Copy the source code below into your page, change tab names and content as appropriate. You can include more tabs as necessary, just add more [[tab]] [[/tab]] pairs with content in between them. 'Content' can include divs, tables, modules, and most other nifty code features — but not another tabview.

[[tabview]]

[[tab NAME1]]

CONTENT1.

[[/tab]]

[[tab NAME2]]

CONTENT2.

[[/tab]]

[[/tabview]]

Timelines

The tables used for personal timelines are many and idiosyncratic. Some are nested in tabviews; others are hidden behind 'collapsible' sections.

If you want to use a separate page for your character's timeline, create it in the aflogs: category.

Date Title Summary Cast
DATE [[[SCENE]]] DESCRIPTION [[image log-icons/NAME1_icon.gif link="NAME1"]] [[image log-icons/NAME2_icon.gif link="NAME2"]]

( See Coren's page for an example in use. )

When Where What Who
DATE [[[SCENE]]] DESCRIPTION [[[NAME1]]], [[[NAME2]]]

( See Gabriel's page for an example in use. )


Log Pages

Creating

The recommended method for creating a log page is to first create its link on the monthly archive page.

  • Open the "Events" menu from the bar at the top of the page
  • Click on "This Month's Logs" (or "Forking Paths Logs" for an alt-timeline scene)

If you're backdating a scene to the prior month, you'll need to access them directly.

  • These pages have the URL format http://string-theory.wikidot.com/logs:<month><2-digit year>
    • For example, November 2008 is http://string-theory.wikidot.com/logs:november08
    • and January 2009 is http://string-theory.wikidot.com/logs:january09

Once you have the month archive page up, you can edit it to include mention of your log

  • Click on "EDIT" at the bottom of the page to open the editor.
  • Find the appropriate day of the month and add a new table row.
    • A new table row consists of five cells, || || || || || ||
    • Logs should be sorted by time of day; please do not automatically add yours to the bottom.
  • If there are no other scenes entered for your date, put that in the leftmost table cell.
    • Format is 2-digit month and 2-digit day, e.g. 03/24
    • This would look like: || 03/24 || || || || ||
    • Otherwise, leave the first cell blank.
  • In the second table cell, enter the time of day for the scene
    • This can be exact if you know it (e.g. 2:00pm) or general (e.g. Early Afternoon)
  • In the third table cell, put a link containing the name of the scene.
    • e.g. [[[Good Morning, Staten Island]]]
    • Write this link exactly the way the title is supposed to look. You do NOT need to compensate for apostrophes, ellipses, or any other punctuation; the wiki will translate that automatically.
  • In the fourth table cell, list the PCs who participated in the scene as links to their charpages.
    • e.g. [[[afchar:Elisabeth]]], [[[afchar:Felix]]], and [[[afchar:Leland]]]
    • Remember to use the appropriate category prefix, e.g. afchar: for main timeline scenes and vfchar: for Virus Timeline scenes.
    • Significant NPCs may be listed, particularly if they are recurring NPCs.
    • Please take the trouble to alphabetize this for the ease of people scanning the page.
  • The final table cell is reserved for storyline links.
    • If you know your scene is part of a storyline, add it to the last cell, e.g. [[[storyline:Hunters]]]
    • See below for guidelines on what counts as a storyline scene.
  • "SAVE" the page, and then click on your log title to create a new page for it.

Filling in Scene Info

  • At the top of the page editor is a box for the "Title of the Page". This will automatically be generated from the link, but… the generator may have garbled punctuation and/or capitalization. Fix accordingly.
  • From the "Page Template" menu, select the appropriate template for your scene.
    • For main timeline scenes, this is the "Aftermath Log Template"
    • For alternate timeline scenes, this is the "Alt Timeline Log Template"

Participants

At the very top of the log template is a section displaying the log icons of those who participated in the scene.

  • Copy the image syntax as many times as you need to cover all the people involved.
  • Replace NAME with the name of each player in turn.
    • Log icons have lowercase names, e.g. grace_icon.gif.
    • Page links are not case-sensitive.
    • Please alphabetize the list of participants.
  • If there were any minor NPCs in the scene, or PCs who made only a brief cameo, put them in a separate list below the main participants.
    • This section is typically headed by a line such as "= //Also Featuring...//" or "= //With an appearance by...//"

Log Header Table

This table provides an at-a-glance summary of the scene. Its contents are:

  • The scene title — again.
  • A synopsis of what occurred in the scene.
    • Some treat this field more like flavor text than a summary.
  • The full date of the scene, in <month> <day>, <year> format
    • e.g. March 24, 2009

Location

Below the first ---- divider is space for noting the scene's location.

  • The template prompts for the location in link form, [[[location:Location]]].
    • Use this if your location has a wikipage
    • If the location doesn't have a corresponding page, remove the brackets and category.
    • For multipart locations, e.g. a character's residence, use links only as appropriate.
      • e.g. [[[Le Rivage]]]: Laura's Apartment
      • Le Rivage has a wikipage, thus should be linked, while there are no wikipages for personal rooms and therefore no link for Laura's Apartment.
  • If the location has a description, replace the //Description of location, if any.// prompt.
    • Please use // on either side of every paragraph, so that the desc is italicized.
  • If the location does not have a description, erase the prompt.

Scene and Notes

Below the second ---- divider is the space to enter your cleaned log.

If there are any notes to be made for the scene, add a new ---- divider below the log and write your notes in between it and the final divider. These notes should also be italicized.

Once this section is complete, go ahead and "SAVE" the page — though you may come back into the editor later.

Parenting

Logs are parented to the corresponding month archive.

  • Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "OPTIONS" (far right button)
  • Then select "PARENT".
  • Enter the corresponding month page in the field that appears.
    • e.g. if it was a March 2009 scene, you would enter logs:march09. (See above for the explanation of archive page naming syntax.)
    • If it is a Virus Timeline log, the parent is virus:2011-2014-paths
  • Click "SAVE PARENT PAGE".

Tagging

Log pages should be tagged with the names of all participants with '_' prefixes.

  • e.g. _adel _elaine _quinn
  • Alternate versions of characters should also be prefixed according to their timeline, e.g. _vf-ruiz

Additionally, if your scene is part of a storyline, it receives additional tags; see below.

Storylines

A given scene is considered part of a storyline if it meets the following criteria:

Ordinary World

tag: ordinary-world

Like Pygmalion

tag: like-pygmalion

Distant Shores

tag: distant-shores

  • Scene involves characters affiliated with the Department of the Exterior.
  • Scene involves unusual phenomenon not directly connected to an Expressive's power
  • Scene takes place in the Flood Timeline after 2019.
  • > TBA
  • > TBA
  • > TBA

Inferno

tag: inferno

V3 Additional Stories

  • tag: children-of-the-ashes deals with the group of orphaned anti-expressive children calling themselves "the Ashen."
  • tag: through-a-looking-glass-darkly deals with the ultimate fate of the duplicate of Rue that came from the Bright timeline.
  • tag: in-absentia deals with a SESA investigation on spontaneous combustions.
  • tag: onryo: deals with the nightmares plaguing people in Yamagato Park.
  • tag: stepping-out-with-a-memory deals with the events surrounding the discovery of the lockbox in the [[[location:Lanthorn]].

At a minimum, storyline scenes MUST be tagged with the corresponding storyline title (e.g. like-pygmalion or distant-shores). Note that spaces in the title must be replaced with hyphens.

These scenes should also:

  • be added to the corresponding storyline page
  • have a link to the storyline page in their table row on the month archive page

Storyline pages can be accessed via the links immediately above. As with month archive pages, storyline scenes are listed in order of IC occurrence.

  • Locate where your scene belongs in this sequence and edit it in.
  • Table cells are the date (month/day), link to scene, and summary of relevant events in the scene. Typically, any players or factions named in this summary are linked to.
    • In the case of Garden of Forking Paths, there is an additional table cell for an image indicating the timeline.
  • Then SAVE the page.

Faction Pages

A faction is an IC group or institution that is united in their ideals and goals, and actively works to promote their principles and/or intentions. IC groups that are important enough to the game's development but not necessarily cohesive (e.g. Law Enforcement) can also be counted as factions in order to facilitate communication and involvement.

Creating

Players do not create faction pages. If you believe an IC group merits mention as a faction, please talk to staff. If they agree, they will set up the initial page, along with a MUX bboard and/or channel as appropriate.

Faction pages do not get tagged with anything.

Maintaining

Faction pages often have member lists that need to be manually updated, particularly if they are sorted by IC hierarchy. Players are invited to help keep these up to date, especially if it's their own name that got left off.

Some factions, such as the _company and _phoenix, have additional pages attached to their main page which are intended to help members keep track of IC information. Faction members need to actively participate in maintaining these pages so that everyone in the group is informed.

Location Pages

Creating

Wikipages should be created in the location: category for prominent locations, faction headquarters, businesses, and places that are available to the general playerbase for RP. Using the 'add location' field below will automatically apply the category for you.

Personal residences do not receive dedicated pages. Players may add new pages for approved locations, such as businesses their characters run or are employed by.

All location pages must be parented to the appropriate area so they will display correctly in the directory.

Tagging

Tags are used to toggle features on the location display template and also determine its listing in the type directory. The following tags may be applied to location pages:

affiliated Enables the "Affiliation" field on page.
area Enables the "Locations" listing on page.
business-entity Enables the "Employees" field on page. Also places in "Business" directory if no type tag is set.
entertainment Type tag for locations dedicated to socialization and recreation.
government Type tag for governmental and other official facilities.
housing Type tag for long-term to permanent residential facilities.
neighborhood Type tag for community districts.
public Type tag for public facilities, parks, museums, etc.
restaurant Type tag for locations serving food.
school Type tag for all levels of educational facilities.
service Type tag for locations that provide services.
shop Type tag for locations that sell goods.
abandoned Type tag for places that have been abandoned but are not necessarily damaged.
destroyed Type tag for locations taken out of commission by damage done.

Typically, a location should receive only one type tag, whichever is most descriptive of its function. Abandoned and destroyed may be stacked on top of other tags.

Maintaining

The descriptions, tags, and other content of location pages should be updated as necessary to reflect IC events. If unsure about whether or how best to update a page, contact staff.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License