Style Guide

ohinternet.com | Nov 30th -0001

Hi there! This is 's . Contained herein are tips and tricks for making your articles successful and

The Basics (Wiki Formatting)

To link to an article, [[do this]]. If you did it right, it'll look like this: do this.
To pipe that link (i.e., use another word for it), [[do this|hi there]]. If you did it right, it'll look like this: hi there.
To add a template, {{dothis}}. If you did this correctly, it will look like the selected template.
To add a picture, [[Image:Do this.jpg|thumb|Caption goes here]]. If you did this correctly, a thumbnail of your picture will appear on the right-hand side of your article.
To link outside of OHi!, [http://dothis.com Do this]. If you did this correctly, it'll look like this: Do this
To make your font bold or italic, add ''' for bold and '' for italic.
For a more in-depth look at Wiki markup, read this.

Article Preparation

Before you write anything, here is what you should do:

Know what you are talking about. If, for example, you are writing an article on Something Awful, you should be familiar with it. If you want to add to an existing article, it would be helpful to lurk near the subject of the article.
Lurk more. Getting to know the style and flow of existing good articles is bound to help you improve your own wiki skills.
External links. Find links that are relevant to your subject. The more information, drama, lulz, or memedom behind your links, the better the article will turn out. You'll also end up researching the subject a bit better as you find these links.
Rough draft. Write it out first and put it somewhere unimportant, such as Wikipedia or a notepad file on your cluttered desktop. If you are not comfortable with your draft, rewrite. If you complete an article, and you still do not feel it conveys the message you are looking for, ask for assistance.
Lean back and crack your knuckles. Ye gods, that felt good.

Writing an Article

Though we've been surprised before, we usually assume that you know how to read and write when you decide to contribute to the site. That said, here are some tips regarding your new article.

RTFM. If you haven't already, read the information above. In fact, open it in a seperate tab for quick reference.
Title it correctly. When you choose a title for your article, make sure the title itself is formatted properly. We use the same naming conventions that Wikipedia uses: Capitalize only the initial letter of the first word of the title unless one of the other words is a proper noun.
A layout is fine too. With few exceptions, good articles are split up into a few sections by the Semantic MediaWiki software. This is much easier on the eyes than a big wall of text, even if it does have paragraph breaks. Adding == to either side of a word or phrase will give it its own header.
- PROTIP: If you want to get fancy, you can further break down sections with ===. One of those will give your text the same effect as two s with too.

Pix plz. Unless you are writing a terrible stub and praying to be banned, you're going to want to find some pictures for your article. We have a huge database of pictures already, and you should at least take a look at them. Failing that, go find your own images, upload them, and add them to your page to increase its appeal.
Why not pipe? Why not indeed? But in lieu of piping, be sure to link to at least a few other pages on OHi!. This will increase page views dramatically.
Add a category. This is largely handled by Semantic MediaWiki's new article forms, but be sure to categorize the images you upload.
Use the preview button. Meet your new best friend: the preview button. Even veteran editors sometimes forget to add that second bracket, and saving it in such a state will make them look like total noobs. If you spam up Recent Changes with multiple small edits trying to tweak an article, we'll probably warn you to knock it off.
Proofread. You'll want to make sure that you can effectively communicate in English. This means checking spelling and grammar to make sure your articles make sense and aren't a trainwreck of terrible elementary writing. We're trying to present a quality website here!

Post-Article Creation

Stop now to take a moment to evaluate your new article. Every active sysop is watching recent changes like a hawk, looking for articles with the big N next to it; we WILL read it. We will also probably criticize it, edit it, and change categories if need be. No worries, though; if you followed all the directions outlined above and you should be fine.

Do these things now:

Find new friends. Do this IRL and on the wiki too. Find new friends for your baby article by linking to it from other articles. For instance, if you wrote the article "List of Republican chainsaw accidents", you will want to add [[List of Republican chainsaw accidents]] to Republican, chainsaw, and maybe even accident.
Get on IRC. You are now a full-blown OHi! writer. Show your face on IRC so we can get to know you better. This is important, because pretty much all the n00bs who lurk constantly on IRC end up getting considered for sysop. Providing we don't hate you, of course.
Practice practice practice. Keep writing articles. Failing that, keep editing existing ones. Failing THAT, look around on the community portal for ways to kill time while keeping your cred.

Required Reading

Well, that's it! That's all you really need to know to write your very own article. Consult these other pages and you will be well on your way to stardom!

Original Page: http://ohinternet.com/Oh_Internet:Style_Guide

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