How To Edit Pages - Quickstart

Overview

While this has started as the work of a single person, the world of Quincunx is a collaborative endeavour. The aim of Quincunx is to create a shadow reality, much the same as the Cthulhu Mythos created by HP Lovecraft in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a world so similar to our own, that in many ways it is indistinguishable, but for the purposes of intellectual property laws, certain guidelines have to be laid down for interaction between the real world and the world of Quincunx.

In order to be a part of this collective endeavour, you need to become an [Associate Operative] of Quincunx to gain access to the page editing privileges. Once you have become a part of the group, simply click on edit button at the bottom of the page. This will open an editor.

Creating New Pages

To create a link to a new page, use syntax: [[[new page name]]] or [[[new page name | text to display]]]. Follow the link to create a new page and instantly edit it! As you can see from the current wiki layout, there is a fairly specific page layout that we would like to maintain for consistency across the site.

All pages should begin with an overview, containing the title "Overview" in a level 2 heading, followed by a brief paragraph or two describing the information on the page. After this point, pages should be divided into sections with no more than three or four paragraphs of information (up to 300 or so words per paragraph). Quincunx isn't designed to be a site for serious supernatural research or thesis work.

All sections should begin with a level 2 heading, and if a section contains a lot of text there is the option to place level 3 headings to break the text up into more manageable bites for readers. Between sections of text (and before every level 2 heading), there should be a horizontal rule.

Links

When generating a new page, ensure a link to at least two other pages on the Quincunx wiki. For example, if developing a new supernatural creature, link to a page describing a geographical area where the creature might be found, link to a court that the creature might typically belong to, or link to a page describing a supernatural power commonly used by the creature. Ensure these links are scattered through the text.

In addition to links within the Quincunx wiki, ensure that every new pages has at least one link to a relevant article in [Wikipedia]. The collaborative artwork of Quincunx is meant to look pseudo-realistic, it is designed to give participants the feel of a parallel world very similar to our own, and the best way to keep the world of Quincunx similar to our own world is to continually make references to actual world events and real phenomena. Links to a real world wiki such as Wikipedia maintain this sense of illusion. Where possible do not link to specific people or companies in Wikipedia; places, festivals, beliefs and other phenomena are generally fair game.

When a word is used as a link to another article within the Quincunx wiki (or Wikipedia), it needs only be included as a link for it's first instance. Further instances of that word should not be linked.

Links may also be included to other websites about the paranormal, or about specific cultural groups, if these provide a different insight into the phenomenon beings described on the page. Such links should be included at the bottom of any page in a section entitled "Other Useful Links".

Images

The Quincunx wiki is meant to be a very visual site, every page should have at least one image on it.

Where possible, we'd like original images produced by contributors to the wiki. Such images will be attributed to the artist, but will be subjected to limited release in the form of a creative commons license such as the one which governs the rest of the site. A repository of Quincunx images will be made available for page contributors to use and for artists to add their own photos, illustrations and diagrams.

Where a page contributor does not have access to original images, or where the repository doesn't have images available, any images should be derived from the Wikimedia commons. Images added from the Wikimedia commons should be attributed as such, as per their respective license. The details of such a license will often be included with the image data on Wikipedia.

Images should be no larger than 400 pixels square, though larger images may be linked to through smaller thumbnail images.

Usage of "Real World" Trademarks

Quincunx is a work of interactive fiction based on the Quincunx game and the Quincunx Comic. It is not a fan-fic for any other television series, movie, computer game, novel or other form of media. It is set in a world very similar to our own, but it is not set in our world.

Where possible try to avoid using real world companies, people or media outlets unless the trademarks and terms associated with these have entered the general vernacular. The use of real world people in the context of Quincunx could be seen as slanderous, the use of real world trademarks or media outlets could be viewed as an infringement of copyright or other breaches of intellectual property law. Wikipedia is generally exempt from this as it is a freely accessible database of knowledge, open through the creative commons.

If a company is desired for illustrative purposes, try to generate a parody or spoof version of the company and their products. Examples of this include Corporal Motors, Unicorn Technology and other sponsors currently included within the site. This also applies to famous people within the Quincunx world. You may allude to a character being a representation of a real world person, and please be as creative as you want in this regard but ensure to keep a dividing line between the world of the Quincunx wiki and the real world. Contributors who are enthusiastic and who have their own websites or servers might like to generate pages for their fictitious companies and "fan sites" for fictitious personalities. Sites like these would certainly be encouraged and appreciated.

Pseudonyms

Contributors are encouraged to create pages for themselves and to create pseudonyms for their entries throughout the site. Any such pages should include an appropriately costumed photograph of the author (or a suitable illustration character portrayed under the pseudonym), and such pages may be linked to the user accounts of social networking sites to maintain a degree of pseudo-realism.

Fan groups for Quincunx will soon be created for a number of social networking sites to increase the visibility of the project.


Editing Existing Pages

Where possible we prefer that contributors add new pages to the Quincunx site, or add data to existing pages rather than removing the previous work of contributors. In some cases a contributor will have spent hours adding details to something they have written, and we certainly don't want to see such effort wasted. You probably wouldn't want your own contribution to be erased in a similar manner.

Grammatical Editing and Consistency

One of the most common reasons for updating pages will be to ensure a level of consistency in facts and grammar across the pages of the site. There will be many people working together to create the universe of Quincunx, and each will have their own style of writing. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the pages of the Quincunx wiki need to maintain a degree of harmony.

Despite Quincunx being a work of collaborative fiction, general contributions should maintain a factual and informative tone. Other tones may be used when specifically quoting a character within the Quincunx universe (as per the personality of the character being quoted, though this should also maintain consistency when the same character is quoted across various pages).

The Forums

The first port of call when editing a page of the Quincunx wiki is the site's forums.

The Quincunx Forums include a specific area for page editing. Contributors may pose questions about the existing pages, asking for a page to be revised, grammatical or factual correction, links to be added (or removed) or requesting other services be performed with regard to pages. Any contributor is welcome to make the necessary changes, gradually working together to build a consistent and detailed Quincunx universe.

Page and Data Removal

In the case that information of an unsuitable nature is added to the wiki, it will be removed.

For these purposes, unsuitable material includes (but is not limited to): Use of corporate trademarks or images without permission, material unsuitable for a general audience (such as pornography or use of offensive language), slanderous entries about real world people, descriptions deemed racist or otherwise prejudicial (without specific context within the Quincunx world), or

Such restrictions are not designed to limit the creativity of participants in Quincunx, they have merely been placed to ensure the livelihood of the project in the long term.

Further Information

For specific information on how to edit the wiki, please visit Documentation pages to learn more.


Supernatural Activity Map

Where possible, every time a contributor visits the site or finishes making changes to one of the pages they should visit the supernatural activity map.

This helps by showing where people are in the world who are contributing to the project, and it helps to create a continually evolving and dynamic view of the Quincunx world beyond the simple descriptions being added into the pages.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License