MarioWiki:Maintenance



Maintenance refers to the ongoing tasks involved in helping to keep the wiki clean, up to date and ensuring that our content is in-line with policy. Users are encouraged to continuously contribute to areas of maintenance which meet their interests and capabilities. However, some tasks are assigned to certain groups of users. For instance, the administrators help keep the wiki clean from vandalism by blocking troublesome editors, and the Poll Committee arranges the weekly poll which is featured on the wiki's main page. Certain basic maintenance tasks may also be assigned to a bot, which is able to edit a large number of pages in a short space of time.

Please remember that basic maintenance edits, such as fixing a link or correcting a spelling mistake, should be marked as a minor edit.

Main page
The main page is an important way to welcome visitors to the wiki, and invite them to further explore our community by providing them with news, community notices, links to useful pages, and more. A large part of the main page's content must be updated according to a weekly schedule. This includes a rotating preview of the wiki's featured articles, updating a "Did You Know?" section with Super Mario facts, and a regular community poll which is organized by the Poll Committee. The most recent Super Mario-related news is also presented, as well as a link to the latest edition of our monthly community newspaper, The 'Shroom.

File maintenance
Images, as well as audio and video files, are essential to provide examples about what articles are detailing in words. All articles should use at least one image, with the exception of implied or unseen subjects. Various maintenance tasks may be required for the file itself (such as issues with quality and categorization), the use of the file on pages, or the request for the uploading of additional files where required. Files should also closely follow the image use policy, and new revisions to files may only be uploaded by autoconfirmed users.

Written content
The following maintenance issues concern the actual written content of an article. Content should be free from spelling/grammatical errors, be of a decent length and containing all available information, as well as following the wiki's writing guidelines.

General article maintenance
Maintenance that doesn't specifically concern the article's written content or files.

Other maintenance
This section covers miscellaneous maintenance tasks which do not fit into the above sections.

The 'Shroom Spotlight
The Spotlight is a section found within The 'Shroom, the wiki's monthly community newspaper. The Spotlight project brings attention to a small group of articles selected from a range of maintenance categories, inviting users of all interests and abilities to contribute. Progress on the articles is reported on in the subsequent edition, and a new set of focuses are chosen. Discussion and updates on the Spotlight project normally takes place within the dedicated forum topic, where feedback from readers is always invited.

Pending discussions
Contributing to ongoing discussions concerning areas of the wiki is just as important as any other kind of maintenance work. General queries and unresolved discussions may be tagged with under the section's header, which places the page within Category:Talk pages with unresolved issues. Users are encouraged to browse this category frequently, and provide their input where possible. It is also recommended to check the split and merge requested categories, where input can be provided on the re-organization of article information. Category:Pages pending move will contain articles (and even files) that may require a discussion before being renamed.

If a discussion for change receives mixed opinions, or otherwise does not reach an overall consensus, then a talk page proposal may be created so an official decision may be reached through a voting system. Important discussions often take place in the "comments" section on proposals. Major changes, or changes concerning a large number of pages, should instead be taken to the main proposals page. Note that only autoconfirmed users may vote in proposals.

Proposals which are yet to be implemented can be found here. If the proposal has just recently passed, it's best to first check with the original proposer in case they intend to make the change themselves, or whether they require assistance.

Important wiki discussions may take place on the forums, and an account is required in order to contribute. Many major wiki projects are also co-ordinated from the wiki collaborations forum board, which active editors are encouraged to check. Some ongoing requests and collaborations include the wiki's "Holy Grails" concerning elusive article subjects, and the level articles project which aims to give an article for each individual game level.

Administrative maintenance
Administrators and patrollers (referred to collectively as admins) are promoted users who are given additional tools, which assist in maintaining the upkeep of the wiki. All admins have the ability to counter vandalism on the wiki by blocking troublesome editors, reverting detrimental edits by using the "rollback" feature, and hiding inappropriate edits if required. Administrators are also able to delete entire pages and images when necessary.

Regular users are also able to assist the admins in various ways. Unnecessary pages and images may be tagged with so it appears in the deletion category, which administrators frequently check. If a discussion may be required before the page is deleted, should be used instead. All registered users are able to issue official reminders and warnings to other users, as per the warning policy. Users may also report vandals which require immediate attention by using the staff noticeboard.