User:Dr ishmael/GWW User page draft

Difference to current draft

Registered users in the official Guild Wars Wiki may create user pages to describe themselves to and communicate with the community. User pages help in organizing editorial tasks and foster community spirit and camaraderie.

A user's personal information or records must remain confined to their user space. You must be registered to create a user page and your user page must be named the same as your login name (otherwise it may become a candidate for deletion).

User Space structure

If your username is "Example", then:

• Your user page will be at User:Example.
• Your user talk page will be at User talk:Example. This page is the primary medium through which other wiki editors will contact you.
• You can create user subpages under your user page, such as User:Example/Subpage. These can be used to specify additional details about yourself or manage your current projects.
• Your user space encompasses all of the above.

If you do not wish to create a user page, then, as a convenience to other users, please create a redirect to your talk page by copying the following code, substituting your username, to your user page: #redirect [[User talk:YourUserName]].

Suggested content

You are encouraged to present personal information and content related to the Guild Wars Wiki on your user page. You might consider adding:

• Personal details such as your location, areas of expertise and interest, likes and dislikes, or contact information (note that you can allow other users to e-mail you while still keeping it private by setting up an e-mail address in Preferences).
• Tools to help you or others use the wiki more effectively, such as task lists, advice and help for new users, or links to wiki pages you access frequently.
• Information about your activities on the Guild Wars Wiki, such as personal projects or your (constructive) opinions about certain articles and policies.
• Information about your activities in Guild Wars, such as the names of your characters, your guild affiliation, or a synopsis of your particular interests or accomplishments.
• External links, provided they follow wiki policy.
• Some reasonably-sized images (see restrictions below) to supplement the types of content listed above.
• A licensing notice if you choose to dual-license your edits or release them into the public domain.

Bear in mind that you are not required to create a user page or provide any of the information listed above. These are merely examples of constructive things you could put on your user page.

Content guidelines and restrictions

The following are absolutely not permitted in any form:

• Libel or defamation. (See: Guild Wars Wiki: No personal attacks.)
• Material patently offensive or insulting to others, including ArenaNet's competitors.
• Material in breach of the wiki's policies or the game's terms and conditions.
• Copyrighted material that is not licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (see the image use policy for details on image use) .

Avoid repeatedly creating links to pages that are not meant to exist, particularly joke links, as this will lower the utility of the list of wanted pages.

Otherwise, you have fairly broad leeway in creating your user page, under the auspices of common sense and general etiquette. However, you should try to keep the content focused on Guild Wars and the Guild Wars Wiki. If you choose to include content outside the scope of the game and the wiki, please be sensitive to the diversity of other users.

Main user page

Present your page in the way that best represents you and what you wish to share with the rest of the wiki. Because your main user page is the portal for other users to contact you, it is strongly recommended that you prominently display your contact information at or near the top of your main user page. This can be as simple as a link to your talk page, or it can include your email, IM aliases, and in-game character names.

It is also strongly recommended that you keep the overall size of your main user page relatively small in order to speed up page loading and preventing any needless downloads for users who are simply trying to get to your talk page or one of your subpages. This can be done by limiting the number and size of images, and also by moving non-essential content off of your main user page to a subpage. For example, if you wish to include information on your in-game characters (achievements, biographies, builds, etc.), consider placing the majority of this content on a subpage with a prominent link from your main user page.

Be sensitive to other users' requests to trim/better design your page to improve it's viewability.

User talk page

Your talk page (as well as talk pages for your subpages) should generally be treated like any other talk page in the wiki, even though it is part of your user space. You may add personalized content/formatting to your talk page, but do not format either your user page or talk page in such a way that makes it difficult for people to leave you messages or interact with you.

As with any talk page, do not remove any comments, including your own (unless you are archiving, see below). You may, of course, correct obvious typos, but if you wish to change your comment significantly, strike out the portions that you are changing (use <s></s>). Comments constituting personal abuse may be removed as per Guild Wars Wiki:No personal attacks.

If your talk page becomes exceptionally long, you may delete or archive older discussions that you feel are no longer relevant or important. To archive discussions, move them to an archive subpage, such as User talk:Example/Archive 1, and create a link to it on your main talk page. You may wish to use the {{archive-box}} template for this purpose. As a matter of courtesy, do not continue any discussion in a user's archived talk page; instead, bring discussions back to their main talk page.

User images

Uploading images for personal use in your user space is allowed, but avoid uploading multiple large images (ideally images should not exceed 100 kB in size, depending upon their use).

When uploading personal images, the image name must be prefixed with the word "User" followed by your user name (for example, an image named "User Example my necromancer.jpg" is valid). The description of the image must include the {{user image}} template. Failure to adhere to these rules may result in the image being deleted without warning.

User categories

Do not categorize pages in your user space into categories used for mainspace articles. Instead, you can use the special userspace categories.

Etiquette

While user pages are a fantastic way for users to exercise their creativity and practice with wiki code, the purpose of the Guild Wars Wiki is to document the game. Users should focus their time and dedication on Guild Wars Wiki-related contributions.

When designing the look of your user page, try to follow the common sense guidelines that apply throughout the wiki. For example, employ user friendly formatting, keep your content succinct and concise, and avoid using undesirable design aspects such as garish colors or animated text. The better presented your user page is, the more other users will be interested in reading it. Creativity and ingenuity are always encouraged — it is always better to make something original than to copy an existing design, and your user page may be viewed as a reflection of your personality.

When making edits to your user page or its subpages, always mark them as minor edits to allow them to be filtered from the list of recent changes. Use the 'Show preview' button instead of saving the page to see what the changes you have made will look like - this will save you from making multiple small edits to your user page.

If you have information that you intend to update regularly, consider using inclusions so that your update edits will not clutter other users' watchlists. For example, if you are tracking the progress of a title in an infobox and find yourself amending it daily, consider putting the infobox on a separate page, such as "User:Yourname/Infobox" and including it into the main page as {{:User:Yourname/Infobox}}. Any edits made to this subpage will not show up to people watching your user page, but will be displayed when they view your user page. Note that any subpage inclusions still fall under the main content restrictions of this policy.

Ownership

The Guild Wars Wiki allows users to manage their own user space as they see fit within the rules and guidelines laid out above. However, users must keep the following in mind:

• User space contributions must be licensed under the GFDL, just as any other contribution in the Guild Wars Wiki.
• Users generally should not perform any edits within another user's userspace without the user's consent. The exceptions to this are corrections of policy violations and minor "good faith" edits such as fixing broken links or typos. Any edits on another's user page should include an appropriate summary log and possibly a comment on that user's talk page, especially if the reason for the edit is not immediately obvious.
• All wiki policies apply to all content within your userspace. In particular, no personal attacks will be tolerated in your user space or anywhere in the wiki. Content in your user space that violates policy may be removed without warning by an administrator.