Articles

An article on the Dogcraft Wiki is a content page; that is an informative page outlining something about the community. In most cases, this is something on the Dogcraft Server, though it could also be outlining a player group or project related to the community. This differs from other page types such as Guides and User Pages. This section of the guidelines will outline what deserves an article on the wiki and how to structure them.

What should be an article

Articles on the wiki can be about anything, provided they are within the scope of the Dogcraft.net server and community. This can range from, but not limited to, builds, projects, settlements, groups of players, events on the server, guides on how to play on the server and historical occurrences / phenomenons. However, we do have some exceptions of things that don't warrant an article.

What doesn’t need an article

• Overwhelmingly negative topics. Everyone has had good and bad moments on Dogcraft and it's no secret to anyone that the server has gone through turmoil in the past. It can be useful to use these moments as context for an overall article, but they should never cross into the realm of personal matters or attacks.
• Builds and projects that have yet to begin development. We strongly discourage writing speculatively about what "will" happen. We would love to have your article when your project is a little bit further on, or has started development/construction.
• Articles about/containing topics intended to be held within confidence. Once you publish an article to the wiki, the information is accessible to everyone. This includes topics about server moderation processes. We also like to discourage talking about banned users, unless they are particularly influential on the topic of an article.

Article impartiality and viewpoint

It's very important to write articles from a neutral, third-person viewpoint. This means talking about things as though you are an expert reporting on a topic rather than a maker describing their creation.

Bad example

Awesomeville is my new village on the Dogcraft server and it's going to be super awesome as the name describes! It has a gorgeous medieval style and brilliant architecture and lots of my friends are helping!

Firstly, this text here is written from a first person perspective, using possessive pronouns like "my" and "I" instead of talking about it from a third person. Secondly, the text uses phrasing and imagery which introduces bias, through the use of adjectives like "gorgeous" and "brilliant". The wiki should report from a general perspective of the server; hence the article should give a holistic impression of the topic rather than your own personal impression. Bear in mind that anyone can edit the wiki. This means that you may not be the only person that edits a page, and that this sort of neutral and third-person wording is crucial.

Good example

Awesomeville is a village on the Survival 5 world of the Dogcraft Server currently being built by Cooldude48 and a group of builders. The village, which is striving to be as awesome as its name suggests, features a classical medieval style.

In this corrected example the same information - if not more - is being presented to readers in a neutral fashion. There are no possessive pronouns and emotive language and loaded words have been eliminated in favour of impartial language reporting on the topic.

Article titles

Articles should be appropriately titled for the content of the page.

• Bases, builds and towns should use a specific name, where possible, instead of "Cooldude48's base" or "Cooldude48's house". If your base doesn't have a name, then we suggest coming up with one. Having a proper name for your base actually can make a big difference especially in terms of immersion with its' theme.
• Titles should be short and summirative of the topic when talking about events that happened. For example "Grand Opening of the Survival 1 End" is long and hard to search for, whereas "Survival 1 End Opening" is much easier to search for and what most players will refer to it as anyway.
• If the article is listing information, then describe it as such. For example, "List of Dogcraft Settlements" uses "List of" to preface to readers how the article is styled.

Working with other editors

If someone edits a page you made, or overrides one of your edits in a way that you don't agree with, take a deep breath. Contact them and try to come to a compromise where the page can reflect both of your visions for it. If you cannot agree on a way forward, please try contacting a Wiki Administrator. The Dogcraft Wiki discord can be a good place for this process.

Article structure

We like to lay out articles in a particular style. We recommend reading a range of articles to see our style in effect, but you can find a rundown on our style detailed below. However, if conforming to the article structure seems too complicated, don't worry. Try and make an article the best you can and an administrator would be more than happy to help with it later on. Use present tense verbs in articles about things on the current Dogcraft world, and past tense with previous worlds.

Introductory Paragraph

Start your article with an introductory paragraph, giving a brief description/outline of the topic, stating its name, where or what it is (if it's on the server, which world it was built on), when it happened or started development and the Dogcraft players involved in making it. It is also customary to embolden the article name in this first section of the article. This allows the reader to relate the contents of the article back to the topic. You should avoid using bold text for any purpose other than this.

Additional Sections

After your introductory paragraph, you can add more sections describing the topic in further detail. You may want to include:

• History about the topic
• For builds, discuss the building style and architecture
• For projects, talk about the goals and management of the project
• Transport links and how to get to it, if necessary

It's not a good idea to make empty sections with no text underneath the heading; only add more sections when necessary. You can also add subheadings underneath headings, which can help improve readability and avoid massive walls of text.

Pictures and Gallery

A picture can tell a thousand words and so we very strongly encourage you to add pictures of your article showcasing your topic. To do this using the Visual Editor, select Insert → Media, head to the upload tag and upload your image. Take a good number of pictures and add them throughout the body of your article with captions to describe what the picture is. If you have more than 3 pictures, you could also add a gallery at the bottom of your article containing all the pictures you took of the topic. To do this on the Visual Editor, first upload your files by dragging them into the Batch Upload page, then return to your article and select Insert → (Click "More") → Gallery and search for the names of the images you uploaded.

Player template

You can add a small head icon of a player next to their name using the  username template. This can be helpful for readers as it allows them to more easily recognise who did what, especially in lists and infoboxes. Don't overuse it in plain bodies of text though as it can reduce readability if overused.

To add one using the Visual editor, type {{ and search "Player". Select the Player template. Enter the username into the "Player" field and press insert. The template will now have been added!

Adding Links

It's a great idea to link to other articles on the Wiki to help with navigation! To add a link using Visual Editor, select the text you want to link and press Control+K on Windows or Command+K on macOS, to add a link to another article page. You shouldn't go overboard with this so it's generally good practice to only add a link for the first mention in a page, but linking between the pages on the Wiki helps users make connections between topics and get a better understanding.

Tables and Lists

Using wiki tables and bulleted/numbered lists can be an excellent way to organise information easily and allow players to access pages with more information at a glance. Be careful not to fill an article with tons of different templates, tables, lists; sometimes over-organising information can make it harder to access.

Infoboxes and Navboxes

Infoboxes help quickly inform readers about a topic by providing a summary box of information on the right hand side at the top of a page. Adding one to your article can help organise information easily and allow readers access to the things they want.

To add an Infobox on the Visual Editor, go to the very top of the article and click Insert → Template and search "Infobox". Select the infobox template that applies for the topic of your article:

• Towns and cities should use the "Settlement" infobox
• Bases should use the "Base" infobox
• Individual builds and structures should use the "Build" infobox
• Railway transport stations should use the "Station" infobox
• Events should use the "Event" infobox
• Other miscellaneous projects should use the "Project" infobox
• Worlds should use the "Server World" infobox

You don't always need to add an infobox, though. In some cases where there's little to no information

Navboxes are also great for improving cross-wiki navigation. They are added at the bottom of articles to link to related articles. For example, a project on Survival 5 may have the "Survival 5 Navbox" at the bottom of the article linking to other things on the same world. To add one on the Visual Editor, go to the very top of the article and click Insert → Template and search "Navbox". Then select the navbox template that applies in relation to the topic of your article:

• World pages can have the "Worlds" navbox
• Pages on Survival 1/2/3/4/5 can have the relevant world navbox
• Server information pages can have the "ServerInfo" navbox