Help:Wiki FAQ

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Frequently asked questions related to wikis are answered here. If your question is not answered here, feel free to ask an administrator.

Wiki terminology

What is a namespace?

A namespace is a prefix that identifies which of several different types of wiki pages you are looking at. For example, the most common namespaces on Mises Wiki are:

Namespace Example Description
Main Ludwig von Mises Pages in this namespace don't have a label. This is where articles go.
Talk Talk:Classical liberalism This is where discussion about particular articles in the Main namespace occurs. Most other namespaces have talk pages as well.
MisesWiki MisesWiki:About The MisesWiki namespace is for pages related to the project itself. It's used to describe or facilitate the project.
User User:Forgottenman All users have their own user page where they can add a little bit of information about themselves.
Template Template:Wikipedia text Pages in the Template namespace are widely used in the main namespace and elsewhere, because simply putting two braces around the template name makes the contents of the template page appear on any other page.
Help Help:Contents These pages are dedicated to helping people learn how to edit wikis.
Category Category:Economic concepts Categories allow us to build hierarchies of pages, in any namespace. Typically, pages in the main namespace are kept in different categories than pages in other namespaces, and talk pages are never put in categories.

How do categories work?

To add a page to a category, put [[Category:Name of Category]] on the page itself. If the category you added does not exist, it will appear as a red link at the bottom of the page. If you click that red link, you can create the category by simply saving the empty page (or better yet, you can add a parent category to the page before saving).

How do templates work?

Templates are pages whose contents can be easily added to any page, by simply adding {{Template name}} to the page. The best part is that when the template is updated, the change will be made on all the pages using the template.

It's also possible to make a template convert to the actual wiki code upon saving. In that case, any updates to the template will not affect the page where the template was added prior to the modification. To do this, add {{subst:Template name}} to the page.

Another great feature of templates is that they can be made to accept parameters. For example, Template:Example accepts up to two parameters that causes it to change the text it displays.

Code added to page Output
{{Example}} This is an example template.
{{Example|Ludwig von Mises}} This is an example template. Ludwig von Mises
{{Example|Ludwig von Mises|Mises}} This is an example template. Ludwig von Mises Mises.

Templates can be extremely complex – some involve if statements, mathematical expressions, and multiple levels of nested templates. If you find a template that is not working as you expect, or you have a question about how it works, leave a message on the template talk page. In the above example, that would be Template talk:Example.

What is a minor edit?

Ah, you've noticed the "This is a minor edit" checkbox right above the "Save page" button. Generally, small formatting changes, adding a link, changing a category, or fixing one or two spelling or grammar mistakes are all considered minor edits. If that describes your edit, check the box. It helps other users keeping an eye on that page that you didn't make a drastic edit.

Larger edits, like those involving actual content, or substantial reorganization of the article, are not minor edits. Don't check the "This is a minor edit" box when you save; otherwise people might think you're trying to mislead them. For this reason, if you think your edit might be controversial, no matter how big it is, don't call it a minor edit.

Fixing wiki mistakes

How can I delete a page I accidentally created?

Only administrators can delete a page. However, if you put {{delete}} on the page, an administrator will be along soon to delete it.

How can I move a page I incorrectly named?

Click the "move" tab next to the "history" tab at the top of the page. There you can enter a new page name. Only perform a page move for noncontroversial name changes; if multiple users are involved in editing a page, propose a page move on the associated talk page first.