Forum:All contributors please read

I've been reviewing the site a bit and there are several issues I wanted to address here. I expect everyone to do their part to ensure these issues are resolved in existing pages, and that users do not continue to make these errors in the future. Some of these are only problems now because I've decided to make some changes to site policy and rules, but others should never have happened from the beginning.


 * 1.) Article talk pages are not forum pages, that is what the watercooler (this section of the site) is for. Talk pages are for discussing the article itself; to resolve edit wars or to point out flaws. Please do not post forum-like discussions on talk pages. If you see these kinds of discussions on talk pages, remove them.


 * 2.) Scans should not exceed a size of 1000x1000 pixels. This is a new rule, one I'm putting into place as of now. The reason is that massive images take up a lot of space on wikia's storage, and people with slower internet connections cannot load them quickly. The fact of the matter is too that they are only going to show up as thumbnails in articles which is how the majority of people will be viewing them, so they don't need to be massive in size. This image is an example of what's acceptable. By contrast, I want to avoid something like this. I'm going to take the time to upload smaller versions of really large pictures, but I expect everyone here to make an effort to ensure scans they upload do not exceed the 1000x1000 pixels range.


 * 3.) I've notice people cramming in way too many thumbnail images into articles. We don't need them side-by-side; images are there to enhance the articles, not to take up a lot of space in them. There should be room between thumbnails. Also just as a reminder, if there is a template (i.e. character template), thumbnails must be aligned to the left if they are located anywhere beside the template in the article. Otherwise all of the text under the thumbnail gets pushed under the template with the image. In short, don't cram a ton of pictures into articles. Also, right alignment is preferred, even if multiple thumbnails in a row are aligned that way. You can align left every now and then though.


 * 4.) I've noticed that since more and more people are contributing now, information from newer issues is getting longer and longer, while information from older issues is scarce in many articles. Furthermore, a lot of people tend to just write small issue summaries or generic information into articles - this is no good. The information in one article should be distinct from that in another. I really don't like seeing people write up a generic summary of characters actions from an issue, then copy and paste it into other characters that summary pertains to while making only minor changes. Do not do this. Write up new information relevant specifically to the topic of the article (be it a character, location, item, etc.). Basically I want to see more unique information in articles and it should focus specifically on the topic of the article, instead of just a generic block of text.


 * 5.) A lot of little edits going on right after the other. There is a preview button for a reason. I admit in my laziness I have been guilty of not previewing the article when I make an edit, then I make several more directly afterwards, but that's a bad habit which stops now. If you're going to be editing an article, use the preview button before saving the page. The reason for this rule is because it makes it easier when viewing the recent changes to see if edits are just spam or if they're positive ones (its very difficult to sift through dozens of minor edits which happen at various points in time). I'm not going to go after you if it happens every now and then, sometimes people will still miss things even when they preview a page. That said, please preview pages and check your edits very carefully before saving.


 * 6.) Some new users tend to overlook the websites Manual of Style, which explains the format articles are written in. This website has a very specific Point of View (POV) for the narrative of articles, and layouts are pre-determined. If you're going to contribute here, contribute properly. If I see a user continue to ignore the site's Manual of Style when making edits, their abilities to edit pages will be temporarily blocked.

I think those are all of the major points, so on that note please read through this carefully and make a solid effort to help out with these efforts. On a more positive note, I'm looking for another side moderator to help keep this place organized and tidy, as we're getting more and more users lately. If you think you've got the time to check the site daily and frequently, and have followed the site's policies and guidelines firmly in your contributions, and are interested in being a moderator, post a message on my talk page and I'll get back to you. I'll be adding some of these points into the site rules, so once they've been there for about a week I'll expect everyone to follow them closely. On that note, happy contributing, and if you have any questions post them in here. - Dimitri the Echidna 08:24, March 5, 2010 (UTC)