How to contribute
From Conbledegook
Getting Started
The first step is to create an account. Go on, you know you want to. Read our privacy policy first if you're worried about what we'll do with your personal details.
Once you're logged in, you'll be able to edit existing definitions and create new ones. To edit a definition, go to the page with the definition on it, and click on the "edit" link at the top. There are a few ways to create new definitions, but the easiest is probably to type its name into the search box on the left, hit enter, and when it says the page doesn't exist, follow the "create this page" link.
Editorial Policy
When you write a definition, assume the person reading it is an intelligent and enthusiastic neofan who is interested in SF and wants to learn about fandom but hasn't yet been to their first con. It's OK to use fanspeak, but the first time you use a fanspeak term in a definition, link to the page that defines it. Link to it even if it doesn't exist yet, because that will cause it to appear in the list of pages we have yet to write.
Write in enough detail for somebody to be able to understand what the term means even if they've never heard it before. I know that sounds obvious, but I've seen definitions in other fanspeak glossaries which fail this test. It's not essential to go into the origins of the term, pronunciation, controversy surrounding its use, etc. If you do want to include that much detail, feel free, but do it after a basic definition of what the term means.
Try to stick to terms that you are most likely to hear in relation to an Eastercon. If you define a term that's specific to other cons (eg. Worldcon) or to fandom outside the UK, please note that in the definition.
Don't copy definitions from anywhere else unless you are the original author and are happy about releasing the text under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
I'm happy for BNFs to have their own definition pages. How big does their name have to be? I'll leave that up to your discretion, but if it's a name an average Eastercon attendee would recognise, or if they've ever been an Eastercon fan GoH, then it's probably appropriate for you to create a page that explains who they are to the hypothetical neofan who's never been to an Eastercon.
When there is more than one term that means the same thing, define the most commonly used term and create all the others as redirect pages, then mention the alternatives on the main definition page.
Always define terms in the singular (eg. Con rather than Cons), and don't create pages that redirect from the plural of a term to the singular except when the plural is non-obvious (eg. WANOLJ->WINOLJ is OK but Cons->Con isn't).
When you define a multiple-word term, only capitalise the first word (eg. Badge name) except when it's a proper noun (eg. Beyond Cyberdrome). Doing this allows you to link to the term in a definition using all lower case, because the first character of a definition is case insensitive.
It's fine to include pictures in definitions, but be careful that the image license is compatible.
Markup
The Conbledegook File is built using MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. The MediaWiki handbook is the definitive reference on how to format the text in a Wiki, but here are a few basics.
To link to a definition page, place the name of the definition inside double square brackets, eg. [[Conbledegook]] becomes Conbledegook. You can include spaces and they will be automatically converted to underscores, you can use either upper or lower case for the first character, and if you put an 's' directly after the closing brackets it will be included as part of the link text. For example, [[badge name]]s becomes badge names but links to the definition called Badge_name. For even more control, you can put whatever link text you like after the name of the definition and a pipe (vertical bar) character, eg. [[LoC|Letters of Comment]] becomes Letters of Comment and links to the page called LoC. If you link to a page that doesn't exist, following the link will take you to an edit page that allows you to create it.
To link to an external web site, you can simply write the URL with the http:// part on the front, and it will automatically become a link. Alternatively, if you want to set the link text, put it inside single square brackets and write the link text after the URL. For example, [http://www.conbledegook.org.uk The Conbledegook File] becomes The Conbledegook File.
To start a new paragraph, a single line-break isn't sufficient. You need to insert a blank line (ie. press enter twice).
To render some text in italics, place two single quotes around it, eg. ''smeg'' becomes smeg. Three quotes gives bold text, and five gives bold italics, eg. '''Mr''' '''''Flibble''''' becomes Mr Flibble.
To create a redirection page (a definition which jumps straight to a different definition), create the blank page as usual, then write in it #REDIRECT and link to the page you want to redirect to. For example, to create a page that redirects to Conbledegook, you would use: #REDIRECT [[Conbledegook]]
Most of the standard HTML markup tags work too, eg. <strike>I like elephants</strike> becomes I like elephants. Try to avoid using raw HTML if there is a way to achieve the same thing using Wiki syntax.
You can divide a page up into sections if necessary by using pairs of equals signs around the heading of each section, eg. the heading for this section was created by writing == Markup == on a line of its own. You can do subsections within a section by using three equals signs instead of two around the subheadings.
You can create lists of things by writing the list with an asterisk (for an unnumbered list) or a hash (for a numbered list) at the beginning of each line. You can also use multiple asterisks or hashes for sub-lists. For example,
* Bread # White # Brown * Milk ** Pasteurised ** Sterilised
Becomes:
- Bread
- White
- Brown
- Milk
- Pasteurised
- Sterilised
To include an image, first upload it using the upload file link in the toolbox to the left. Choose a reasonably descriptive name for it, and include a short description of what it is a picture of in the summary box (it's OK to include links to other definitions). Technically, uploading an image creates a Wiki page for the image within the "Image" namespace, so you have to put Image: in front of the name of the image when you link to it. For example, to include the image called Sparky.gif (here's one I uploaded earlier), use the syntax [[Image:Sparky.gif]] and you will get this: 
.
