Help:FAQ

Below are some Frequently asked questions about the DKWiki and wikis in general. Feel free to ask any questions on this article's talk page by clicking on the talk button at the top of this article ( or click here)

What is a wiki?
A wiki is a type of database website where people from all over can help include information on the wiki's topic. Let's take Wikipedia for example. This wiki's goal is to have information on everything; however, the Donkey Kong Wiki only seeks to have information on the Donkey Kong series. See also: DKWiki:About.

How do I join?
Simply, as soon as you start editing you're considered a part of the community. You do not need to register, and doing so is free, though registering does have several advantages.

How do I edit?

 * See also Help: Editing

See the little "[edit]" thing to the right? Well, that means you can edit. Simply click on it and you'll be brought to the editing screen. Here you can see all of the coding and text of an article. Beginners should start off with simple adding of text before moving on to larger things such as tables or infoboxes. Once you are done adding things, be sure to Preview first, and then Save Page!

Note not all pages are open to editing, this is decided at the discretion of the Administrators/Sysops. If you disagree, bring it up to an Administrator.

Can I be an admin?
Not just yet. Above all, there are only a handful of Sysops, or System Operators on the wiki. If you really want to be a sysop, make yourself known as a dedicated and active contributor, and make noticeable improvements to the wiki to be considered. Please thoroughly read the Rules for requesting adminship for details.

What if I have nothing to contribute?
Nonsense! Even if you know relatively nothing about the wiki's topic, you can still contribute. Simply put, you could work on the general wording and grammar of an article rather than add several paragraphs of information to it, or even add a category.

Still can't find anything? You could help expand the wiki's stubs, clean up an article, or even start a needed page - check out the Wanted pages!

What's with the different coloured links?
There are four different coloured links.
 * Blue links are internal links. They link to other pages on the wiki.
 * Purple links are visited links. If you've visited an internal link, then it will become purple, showing you've visited it before.
 * Red links are pages that have not been created.
 * Light blue links are external links. They link to sites outside the wiki.

What do the numbers mean in the recent changes?
You'll see some numbers in the recent changes after the time an edit was made. This number indicates how many characters were added or removed from the article. If the number is red, then characters were removed. If the number is green, then characters were added. For example,

(diff)(hist). . Help:FAQ; 00:00. . (+1,000). . User (talk | contribs)

would indicate 1,000 characters were added to this article by a user named User, whereas

(diff)(hist). . Help:FAQ; 00:00. . (-1,000). . User (talk | contribs)

would indicate 1,000 characters were removed from this article by a user named User. These coloured numbers help indicate if users are vandalizing articles or helping contribute to them.

What is NIWA?
The Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance (NIWA) is a group of wiki communities creating free content with the MediaWiki software. These are hosted for free by NIWA.

NIWA began as an organization with the unification of Zelda Wiki, Bulbapedia and the Super Mario Wiki in early 2010. For the full story of NIWA, please see the NIWA about page.

Is this a MarioWiki clone?
Nope. Some content was taken from MarioWiki in this wiki's very early days, though we are striving to remove the stolen content. True there is some content overlap, but the wikis are considered different.

What about the Donkey Kong Wikia?
The Donkey Kong Wiki here is the result of a "move" away from Wikia. The content was copied and moved to this server. The majority of the Wikia community has moved to here. We moved because of editors tired of dealing with the limitations of Wikia.

Where else can I find more help pages?
Category:Help