How to Edit ICANNWiki

In this introduction to Editing on ICANNWiki, you will find a variety of step-by-step guides and resources to help you embark on your journey to become one of ICANNWiki's top editors. We're thrilled to have you and look forward to collaborating with you.

Before Getting Started

ICANNWiki operates on a set of Wiki Values, including "Neutral Point of View", "Assume Good Faith," "Be a Builder," "Change is Cheap," "Radical Trust," "Real People," "Refactoring," "Transparency," and "Work on What Interests You." These values are important to understand when joining the ICANNWiki community and contributing to this open resource. Read more about them here: Wiki Values.

Neutral Point of View (NPOV)

Neutral Point of View describes the way in which articles on this site and on all wiki sites should be written. That is, we want our articles to not contain any bias or unverifiable facts and opinions. This line can often be hard to define; for example, on our site we often list the services of a given company, but we try to remove any marketing spin or unverifiable language that implies these services accomplish something that their competitors do not. Generally speaking, when opinions are stated as facts, or when unappealing facts are intentionally omitted, then the article is not written from a NPOV.

Mechanisms of a good article

Great wiki articles contain links, references, Userboxes, images and are formatted with appropriate headings. To read a brief overview on how to get started with creating a great article, see the Getting Started page.

Getting Started

First things first, do you have a User Account? Yes or No

Create an User Account

Editing on ICANNWiki requires contributors to have a user account. This policy is in place to prevent spam and abuse, but also to establish a sense of community among ICANNWiki editors. We require users to register with a username, email address, and a short personal bio. It is ok if you prefer not to include personal information in the Personal Biography section. However, at a minimum, we ask that you provide a 10 word description about your interest in ICANNwiki, so that we can differentiate your request from the spammers.

Request Account Here
Once you have your account: Start Editing

Start Editing

Next Question:
Have you created a personal article about yourself yet?: Yes or No

Creating a Personal Article

Before getting started, it is important to note that there are several ways to edit, which include: editing the page source, using the visual editor and using a page form.

How do you prefer to edit (read descriptions below): Page Source or Visual Editor or Page Form

Page Source

Editing using the page source is the traditional way to edit ICANNWiki and gives you the most flexibility and control over what your page looks this. However, this type of editing requires knowledge of Wiki Markup. If you choose to edit with using the page source, you will find this guide a helpful starting point: Wiki-Editing Tutorial. In addition to learning Wiki Markup, you will often need to locate templates for the Userbox section of articles. The Userbox is the section in the upper right corner of wiki pages that provides specific data, information and photographs. This requires special formatting that is time consuming to replicate, so editors are encouraged to copy and paste the appropriate template.

Creating a new page with the Page Source editor is done by adding the desired page name in the search bar at the top right corner of the page. In order to create a page for John Doe, you would search for John Doe and hit enter - you then have the option of creating the page by clicking on the red invitation link, adding text and saving it. To add a Userbox to your page, copy and paste the template from the People Template.

Visual Editor

Editing using the visual editor is similar to using the page source, but instead of editing the source markup directly, you will use a graphical user interface similar to editing with your favorite word processor. While editing using the visual editor is relatively straight forward, MediaWiki provides a great resource for navigating its features: Visual Editor Guide. Copying and pasting templates is also required when using the Visual Editor for articles with a Userbox.

Creating a new page with the Visual Editor is done by adding the desired page name in the search bar at the top right corner of the page. In order to create a page for John Doe, you would search for John Doe and hit enter - you then have the option of creating the page by clicking on the red invitation link, clicking on the "Create" tab, adding text and saving it. To add a Userbox to your page, copy and paste the template from the People Template.

Editing with a Form

Editing with a form pre-structures the article for you, allowing you to create an article, without any prerequisite knowledge of Wiki markup or the templates to use when creating articles. When using the form, you will fill in several short and long form fields. When creating a page using a form, there may be subsequent minor edits required to remove blank sections.

When using the Page Form to create a page about a person, either yourself or someone else, use this portal: Form:Person

Editing Beyond the Personal Articles

Creating New Content

The content on ICANNWiki extends well beyond the personal articles. Additionally, there are articles about organizations, companies, events, issue areas, policies, working groups, ICANN bodies and more. For these various categories of content, there are a variety of templates and forms that can be used for the creation of new pages.

Forms

In addition to the form available to create a personal page, there are two more forms:

Events: Event Form
Companies, Organizations, institutions, etc: Actor Form

Templates

If you prefer to create new pages with the Page Source or the Visual Editor, you will need to locate the proper templates for the category of page you wish to create. Here you will find those templates:

Companies, Organizations, institutions, etc: Template:Actor
Events: Template:Event
ICANN Working Groups: Template:ICANN Working Group
Top-Level Domain: Template:TLD

Updating Existing Articles

There are several ways in which you can update existing articles in a meaningful way.

Check articles for out of date or missing information and make the necessary edits.
Improve the format of the articles.
1. Add Internal Links - Part of what makes wikis great are there ability to interlink between related content. If you notice that an article is failing to link to other articles, you can add them! Additionally, if you
2. Updating References - Sometimes well-written articles can be missing the references that not only validate the content, but enable readers to dig deeper. If you notice missing references you can add them!
3. Reformatting - Sometimes articles contain all of the right, up-to-date information, but fail to format it in a way that is easy to ready and digest. If you notice a poorly written article, you can restructure it!