Frequently Asked Questions about the Elftown Wiki
See also:

The wiki_intro.
The pseudo HTML guide.
The general Elftown FAQ.
The Who messed up my wiki page.
The playground [edit] 1574.
The Elftown Wiki Forum: <forum:The Elftown wiki>

Note: Please do not add questions to the FAQ, unless you are also adding the answer! If you have a question you need answering, please use the comment section below to do so.

General Wiki Questions

Q: What is a wiki?
A: A wiki is a set of webpages that anyone can edit. There are lots of wikis on the Internet. The "original" wiki is the WikiWikiWeb at http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki
See the wiki_intro for an introduction to the Elftown Wiki.

Q: What does the word "wiki" mean?
A: "Wiki wiki" is Hawaiian for "fast" or "quick".

Q: So, I can edit any of the pages on the Elftown Wiki?
A: No, the owner of a wiki has a choice to place a password on a wiki or lock that wiki to a certain forum. In those cases, you would only be able to edit the wiki if you knew the password or were a member of the forum they locked it to. Other pages you can edit, but most have "rules of conduct" that you should try to follow. Fixing spelling errors is usually okay, especially on the information pages like this FAQ. Use your common sense!

Q: Do you trust people to not just delete everything?
A: It is not possible to delete a page completely. It is possible to delete the contents of a page, but all old versions of a page are saved and it is easy to revert to an old version of a page if someone messes it up. You can also see who made the changes to the page, so all "villains" can easily be identified. Some of the most important pages, like the index have now been protected.

Q: Ha! What if I just delete everything? Ain't I cool then?
A: No, it's not cool to mess up the Elftown Wiki. If you do it repeatedly with purpose to destroy, you will be banned from Elftown.

Q: Is the wiki moderated?
A: Yes and no. Often the creator of a page also acts as "moderator", but for some pages we must all take responsibility. The Wiki Bosses and the Council maintain official Elftown pages. If you are being harassed on a wiki, i.e. someone is spamming your wiki, or is deliberately messing it up, then you can report it to the Guards. If you need help with other aspects of the wiki, contact the Wiki Bosses.

Q: What is a Wiki Boss?
A: The Wiki Bosses maintain and improve the official wiki pages, like the wiki index page, the help pages and the pages directly linked from the wiki index. They also have privileges to change protected pages like the wiki index. See also the Wiki Bosses page.

Q: How do I become a Wiki Boss?
A: New Wiki Bosses are appointed by the existing Wiki Bosses. Since "Wiki Boss" is a job title and not a reward, only someone who has already shown that they want to help out with the maintenance of the official wiki pages can become a Wiki Boss.
Many people help create and maintain official pages even without a title, so don't expect a Wiki Boss badge for correcting a few typos!

Building and Maintaining Pages on the Wiki

Q: How do I make my own wiki page?
A: See the wiki_intro or the quick-guide-to-wiki for information on how to make and edit your own wiki pages.

Q: Why doesn't this or that HTML-tag work?
A: Only a few HTML tags are allowed on the wiki. See the guide to pseudo HTML.

Q: Why don't my tags work all of a sudden?
A: Somewhere, one of your tags is not written properly! Go through your tags and check them all. If you still can't find the problem, leave a comment on Wiki Bosses and one of them will help you sort it out.

Q: If all links to a page are deleted, is the page deleted too?
A: No.

Q: How do I delete a wiki page?
A: The short answer is that you can't. What you can do is to edit it and remove the contents, but it will still be possible to access the old contents by looking at previous versions of the page. In rare circumstances the Guards may entirely delete a wiki, but you shouldn't pester them to do it. If they haven't done it already, assume this is not one of those rare circumstances!

Q: If I create a page without making a link to it, or if I remove all links to a page, how do I get to it afterwards?
A: You can go to the page by typing the page name in the "Go to wiki-page" box below the Elftown right hand menu and clicking on "Go".
You could also create a new link to the page by writing a link in a comment on another wiki-page, editing another wiki-page and writing a link, writing a link in your presentation, a private message or a forum post.

But can't remember the name of the page I created! How do I get back?
A: You also have links to all the wiki-pages you are watching and that you own in "Your notes", which you can reach by pressing the "Your Notes" button in the top menu bar. There is also a section of your notes page which lists all wikis you created, even if you're not watching them, so even if you stopped watching it, the wiki should be listed on your notes page.

Q: What does it mean to export your wiki page?
A: It means people can view your wiki page without being logged into Elftown. You can only export wiki pages that you own.

Q: My friend has offered to take over the maintenance of my wiki page. How do I transfer the ownership to them?
A: Click on "Edit this page". If you're the creator/owner of the page, you'll have a field at the top that is called "Change page owner to:". Put the new owner's username in the field instead of your own, and click on "Change owner".

Q: I've taken over the maintenance of a wiki page. I'm not the owner of the page, and the original owner doesn't log in anymore. Can I get the ownership of the page somehow?
A: Ask one of the Wiki Bosses. Either by posted a comment on the Wiki Bosses page, or by sending one of them a message.

Q: Someone messed up my wiki page! What do I do?
A: Restore your page by clicking on "Edit this page" and then on the "Previous version" button in the Wiki-page data box until you find a version that isn't broken. Then click on "Submit changes to this page" to submit the good version of the page.
If you want to find out who messed up the page, see the tips on Who messed up my wiki.

Q: This person is repeatedly messing up my wiki on purpose. What do I do?
A: Report it to the Guards.

Q: How do I put images on my wiki?
A; Follow the instructions on img.


Go or return to:
-The wiki-index
-The wiki_intro
-The pseudo HTML guide
-The wiki help page
-The help index