View source for Help:Getting started

This page is for people who have never touched a wiki before. You do not need to
know any code. If you can write a Discord message, you can write a wiki page.

== Can I edit? ==

You need two things:

# A wiki account — click '''Log in with Discord''' in the corner. There's no separate
  password to make and no sign-up form. It uses the same Discord account you're
  already in the server with.
# Enough time served in the Discord. Roughly: a couple of weeks if you hold a sub
  role, or about three months otherwise. Mods and admins get in straight away.

If the '''Edit''' button isn't there, that's why. It sorts itself out on its own —
just log in again once you've been around a bit longer.

=== Your edits get checked first ===

When you save, your edit goes into a queue and a mod waves it through. This is
normal and it is not personal — it's just how the wiki keeps the spam out.

* '''You''' will see your change immediately.
* '''Everyone else''' sees the last approved version until a mod approves yours.
* A mod gets pinged automatically, so you don't need to go ask anyone.

Files you upload are the exception — those go live right away.

== Making a new page ==

Pick '''one''' of these. They all end up in the same place.

=== The easy way: search for it first ===

# Type the page name into the search box at the top.
# When nothing comes up, the results page offers to '''create the page''' with that
  name. Click that.

Searching first is worth doing anyway, so you don't write a second page about a bit
that already has one.

=== From a link on another page ===

If you're on a page that mentions something that deserves its own page, link it (see
[[#Linking to other pages|Linking to other pages]] below) and save. The new link
shows up '''red''', because it goes nowhere yet. Click the red link and you'll land
straight in the editor for that new page.

This is the best way to do it — the new page arrives with something already pointing
at it, instead of floating in space where nobody will ever find it.

=== By typing the address ===

Go to <code>wiki.brucecooper.tv/Name Of The Page</code> and, if it doesn't exist yet,
there's a link to create it.

=== Naming it ===

* Write it the way you'd say it out loud: <code>Predator Corner</code>, not
  <code>predator_corner</code> or <code>PredatorCorner</code>.
* Only the first letter is capitalised automatically. The rest is up to you.
* Don't worry too much — a page can be renamed later with '''Move''', and every old
  link keeps working.

== Writing the page ==

When you open the editor you get a toolbar with '''Bold''', '''Italic''', headings,
links and bullets — same as any other text box on the internet. Use it. You do not
have to learn wiki markup to write a perfectly good page.

If you'd rather type the codes directly, here are the only ones that matter:

<pre>
'''bold'''
''italic''

== Heading ==
=== Smaller heading ===

* a bullet
* another bullet

# numbered
# list

----   (a horizontal line)
</pre>

Headings are worth using as soon as a page has more than a few paragraphs — the wiki
builds the contents box at the top out of them automatically.

Hit '''Show preview''' to see how it'll look before you commit. Add a short note in
the '''Summary''' box saying what you changed — it makes life much easier for whoever
reviews it.

=== Linking to other pages ===

<pre>
[[Who is Bruce?]]                        link to a page
[[Who is Bruce?|the man himself]]        same link, different words shown
[https://twitch.tv/brucecooper Twitch]   link to somewhere off the wiki
</pre>

Link generously. A page nobody links to is a page nobody finds.

=== Categories ===

Put this at the very bottom of the page:

<pre>
[[Category:Lore]]
</pre>

That files the page under a heading so people can browse to it. Use an existing
category where one fits — have a look at [[Special:Categories]] first. A page can be
in as many as you like.

== Uploading images, clips and sounds ==

Go to '''[[Special:Upload]]''' (it's also linked from the front page).

# '''Choose a file''' from your computer.
# Give it a '''destination filename''' that means something. <code>Bruce dab
  record.jpg</code> is useful forever; <code>IMG_20240817_002.jpg</code> is useless
  the moment you close the tab.
# Write a line in the '''Summary''' saying what it is and where it's from — which
  stream, roughly when, what's happening in it.
# Upload.

What you can upload:

{| class="wikitable"
! Kind !! Formats
|-
| Images || <code>jpg</code>, <code>png</code>, <code>gif</code>, <code>webp</code>, <code>svg</code>
|-
| Video || <code>mp4</code>, <code>webm</code>, <code>ogv</code>, <code>mpg</code>
|-
| Audio || <code>mp3</code>, <code>wav</code>, <code>ogg</code>, <code>opus</code>, <code>flac</code>, <code>mid</code>
|-
| Documents || <code>pdf</code>
|}

The size limit is '''1 GB''', which is far more than you need — a clip should be a
clip, not a whole VOD.

Uploading a file does '''not''' put it on a page. That's the next bit.

=== A video won't play straight away ===

After a video upload the wiki spends a few minutes making versions that'll play on
phones and slow connections. If it looks broken right after uploading, give it five
minutes and reload. It's working.

== Putting media into a page ==

Once a file is uploaded, drop it in with its name:

<pre>
[[File:Bruceeyes.jpg|thumb|Bruce, mid-thought]]
</pre>

That gives you a captioned image floating to the right, which is what you want
almost every time. Variations:

<pre>
[[File:Bruceeyes.jpg|thumb|left|A caption]]     put it on the left
[[File:Bruceeyes.jpg|thumb|300px|A caption]]    set how wide it is
[[File:Bruceeyes.jpg]]                          raw, full size, no caption
</pre>

Several images at once:

<pre>
<gallery>
File:One.jpg|First caption
File:Two.jpg|Second caption
</gallery>
</pre>

Video and audio go in exactly the same way — <code><nowiki>[[File:Something.mp3|thumb|What
it is]]</nowiki></code> gives you a player.

In the visual editor, the '''Insert → Images and media''' button does all of this for
you, including searching what's already been uploaded.

== Embedding Twitch clips and YouTube ==

'''Pasting the <code><nowiki><iframe></nowiki></code> embed code from Twitch does not
work here.''' The wiki strips it out. Use this instead:

<pre>
{{#ev:twitchclip|GleamingSwissFennelHumbleLife-QJ5v373XKieoxCL7}}
</pre>

The long gibberish is the '''clip slug''' — it's the last part of the clip's address,
after <code>twitch.tv/…/clip/</code>. Grab it out of the URL bar.

Other things that work the same way:

<pre>
{{#ev:twitchclip|CLIP-SLUG}}          a Twitch clip
{{#ev:twitchvod|1234567890}}          a past broadcast (the number in the URL)
{{#ev:twitch|brucecooper}}            the live channel
{{#ev:youtube|dQw4w9WgXcQ}}           a YouTube video
</pre>

You can set the width and add a caption by adding more bits, separated by pipes:

<pre>
{{#ev:twitchclip|CLIP-SLUG|640|center|What happens in the clip}}
</pre>

Clips are usually better uploaded as a file if they're properly part of the lore —
Twitch clips can be deleted by other people, and then the page has a hole in it.

== After you save ==

* Your edit sits in the queue and a mod approves it, usually pretty quickly.
* If it gets rejected, it's almost always for being spam, an insult aimed at a real
  person, or something genuinely private. Rewrite and try again.
* Check [[Special:RecentChanges]] to see everything happening on the wiki, and
  [[Special:PendingChanges]] to see what's still waiting.

== A few rules of thumb ==

* '''Write it like you're telling someone who wasn't there.''' "It was so funny" tells
  a stranger nothing. What happened, roughly when, and why it stuck.
* '''Jokes about the stream, not about real people's lives.''' Bits, quotes, incidents,
  running gags — yes. Someone's actual address, job or family — no.
* '''Don't be precious about it.''' Someone will edit what you wrote. That's the point
  of a wiki. Nothing is ever lost — every version is kept under '''View history''',
  and anything can be put back.
* '''A short page is fine.''' Two accurate sentences beat an empty page. Someone will
  add to it.

== Stuck? ==

Ask in the Discord. Nothing you can do here is permanent and nothing you can do here
is going to break the wiki — every single change can be undone by a mod in about two
clicks, so have a go.

[[Category:Help]]