Content Guides
If a specific guide does not exist for the article you wish to create, please just refer to the others to get a general feel for things.
Generally speaking, new content guides/guidelines will be created as the need for them is discovered. If you find you are the first to write an article of a particular type, and have identified a set of specific guidelines for future articles - feel free to add it here.
As the name suggests, these are simply guidelines. They should be followed whenever practical, unlike the rules, which must always be followed.
Contents
Common Guidelines
Use Headings
Don't just paste massive blocks of text into the wiki. Try to break things up into a logical progression of information.
Categorize Pages
Wherever possible, content pages should be categorized. You can view a complete list of existing categories here.
As an example, at the end of each character page, the following should appear:
[[Category:Character]]
Possibly followed by:
[[Category:Canon]]
If no category exists, one may be created simply by listing the category as above (even though it does not yet exist), submitting your article, then clicking on the red link at the bottom of the submitted page and entering a brief description of the category. Please make every effort to verify that the category 1) doesn't already exist by another name, and 2) is actually needed.
Link To Articles
When discussing Monty, make sure you use wiki links, rather than just typing Monty. As you would have read in the MediaWiki User's Guide, you simply type [[Monty]] instead of Monty, and it will link the page automatically.
Create Redirections Wherever Possible
If you want to link to an article that doesn't exist as you wrote it, but exists in another form, you can create a redirection page. To do this, you simply click on the red link to go to the page that doesn't exist, and put the following code in:
#REDIRECT [[name of the page you want to redirect to]]
For example, Monty is a redirection page, which redirects to Monterey Jack. If you edit the page, you'll see:
#REDIRECT [[Monterey Jack]]
Redirections for things like acronyms (such as CDRR or OMAM) can help people search for things they have perhaps read or heard about, without knowing the full name.
OR Use Named Links
If redirection doesn't suit your case, you can do also do the following: [[Monterey Jack|click here]]
Which will do this: click here
Use The Discussion Pages
Want to suggest a change or talk about content? Use the discussion page on any article (see it at the top of the screen?) to do this.
Don't use the discussion pages to flame, or as a chat room. This is simply a less severe form of wiki vandalism, and will be treated as such, as per the rules.
If Uncertain: Leave Comments With Your Contributions
If you're unsure of something, or if a section really needs to be looked at, but you either don't have time or the info at hand... Leave a comment. Just use italics (and preferably brackets too) to separate your comment from the rest of the text.
Something like (Insert name of device here), or (More information needed...) is perfectly acceptable practice.
If you don't feel it's really that important, or you feel uncomfortable doing this... Use the discussion pages. =)
Images Should Be Resized Before Uploading
Unless it's absolutely necessary to have a larger image, images should be resized appropriately in advance (before being uploaded).
Specific Guides
Recurring Character Overview Guidelines
A recurring character appears in more than three episodes.
Header
If the character is a member of a team or gang, this is where to state that fact. Otherwise, just a simple statement highlighting who the character is would be sufficient.
Suggested Headings
- Canonical Information
- This should be purely made up of information from canonical (Disney) sources.
- Appearance
- Should describe the character's gender, clothing, and physical characteristics.
- Personality
- Describes the canonical personality of the character.
- Quotes
- Quotes which may assist in highlighting aspects of their personality.
- Role
- What role did the character play in the series? What was their relationship to the Rescue Rangers? And so on.
- Episodes
- Which episodes the character appeared in. This should take the form of a wiki list where appropriate.
- Other Appearances
- If the character appeared in a comic, for example, that might be listed here.
- Accepted Fan Fiction Conventions
Categories
- Canon
- Character
- Recurring characters
- Villains (if the character is a villain)
Incidental Character Overview Guidelines
An incidental character appears in up to three episodes.
Header
If the character is a member of a team or gang, this is where to state that fact. Otherwise, just a simple statement highlighting who the character is would be sufficient.
Suggested Headings
- Canonical Information
- This should be purely made up of information from canonical (Disney) sources.
- Appearance
- Should describe the character's gender, clothing, and physical characteristics.
- Personality
- Describes the canonical personality of the character.
- Quotes
- Quotes which may assist in highlighting aspects of their personality.
- Episodes and Roles
- Under sub-headings for each episode the character featured in, a summary of the role the character played. What was their relationship to the Rescue Rangers? And so on.
- Other Appearances
- If the character appeared in a comic, for example, that might be listed here.
- Accepted Fan Fiction Conventions
Categories
- Canon
- Character
- One-shot characters
- Villains (if the character is a villain)
TV Episode Overview Guidelines
Header
The following header should be included. Where information is unknown, simply write (Unknown).
Writing Credits:
First Aired:
Title Reference:
Episode Number:
Season:
Production Number:
Suggested Headings
- Synopsis
- Brief and concise. See below for details.
- Characters
- A list of characters appearing in this episode.
- Devices
- A list of mechanical devices/inventions of interest that were used in this episode.
- Songs
- The lyrics of any song sung in that episode. Optional heading as this occurs in only a few episodes.
- Quotes
- Any "classic" quotes from the episode. Only a handful should be entered for each episode.
- Trivia
- Any tidbits of information about the episode in particular.
The Synopsis
Transcripts of the episodes aren't necessary, or even desirable. A synopsis should be short and concise, and simply cover the primary plot points.
Unlike Fan Fiction, there is no need to worry about spoilers as the plot is considered to be known.
What about lesser-known "official" stories like the comic book? For instance, I'd like to mention that someone is under Fat Cat's employ in the comic but doing so spoils stuff. Should we worry about this for comic books, etc.?
Categories
Rangerphile Guide
Naming
There are two ways of naming a Rangerphile article: by real name and by handle.
The real name is used whenever a Rangerphile has ever revealed their real name to the public on a Ranger-related website or in another Ranger-related context such as the Rangerphile Directory, the Rescue Ranger Database, or the Acorn Cafe. Necessary uses of the real names in private, such as in e-mails, and appearences outside of the Ranger fandom do not count, but the real name being mentioned on old or even archived websites does count. In this case, the usual form should be used, for instance Matt Plotecher instead of Matthew Paul Plotecher. The full name is mentioned in the header of the article, and redirects are made from all known handles and monikers, for example Andy aka MOnty which redirects to Andrew Bell.
If a Rangerphile has never in the history of the fandom revealed their real name to the Rangerphile public, and only then, the most common handle is used as the article's title, and redirects are made from all other known handles. Due to limitations in the MediaWiki software, article titles always start with a capital; however, all-lower case handles are to be written in all-lower case, the link will work anyway. Rangerphile articles named after a handle may be moved to articles named after the real name either by the respective Rangerphile or when the real name is clearly being revealed in a situation as mentioned above. Moving to a handle-named article, however, is impossible and pointless as a redirect from the real name will remain.
Ranger Wiki contributors who write their own article are strongly recommended not to put everything into their User article and create a redirect from the name according to the aforementioned conventions.
Header
A Rangerphile article starts immediately with the content and usually does not have a header.
Suggested Headings
- About
- A few words about the person. Only information obtainable under the names which the Rangerphile uses or has used in the fandom is allowed.
- Ranger Code
- Optional subheading if this person's Ranger Code is known.
- Personal trivia
- Knowledge interesting for the fandom. Again, privacy has to be kept here.
- Fan Fiction
- Optional heading if the Rangerphile is/was a fan fiction author. Contains a link list to the separate story articles. See the fan fiction guide. May be split into subcategories (see Matt Plotecher's fan fiction).
- The author's fan fiction universe
- Optional heading which is renamed after the author's fanfic universe, given there is one to write about. Contains extra information about characters, especially canonical characters, contraptions, and general information.
- Fan Comics
- Optional heading in the rare case of the Rangerphile having created at least one comic/graphic novel. May also be put ahead of the universe heading.
- MSTings
- Optional heading. MSTings are being treated separately from fan fiction.
- Song Parodies
- Optional heading, under which song parodies are listed in chronological release order.
- Fan Art
- Optional heading for fan artists only. May contain subcategories if appropriate.
- Awards
- This part is for listing up Plato Awards, Golden Acorn Awards and the like. Awards given for fan fiction achievements are excluded from this list if the article about the respective fan fiction is integrated in the Rangerphile article (which will not be followed anymore in the future).
- External Links
- Link(s) to the Rangerphile's website(s).
Categories
- Fans
- Fan artists (if this applies)
- Fan fiction authors (if this applies)
- Fan page webmasters (if this applies)
Fan Fiction Guide
Fan fiction articles are not too different from episode articles. However, due to their special nature there are a few changes. For example, the character list is split up in subcategories, and spoilers in the synopsis have to be written in white text in order to be invisible at first.
Header
The following header should be included. Where information is unknown, simply write (Unknown).
Writing Credits: (teams of authors such as Indy & Chris Silva are mentioned as one)
Written: (time when the story was written; optional)
First Released:
Title Reference:
Part of Series:
Length: (word count and number of chapters; the word count may be split into text only and the complete work including titles)
Rating: (see the Wiki article)
This can be followed by general information about the fanfic.
Avoid (Visible) Spoilers
In contrast to canonical episodes, fan fiction cannot be considered general knowledge. So if a spoiler must be given, try to use white text, like so: <font color="white">Spoiler</font>
Which gives: Spoiler <--(Highlight this line to reveal)
Suggested Headings
- Synopsis
- Fan fiction stories are usually not necessarily known by the readers of their Wiki articles. Thus, it should be as devoid of spoilers as possible. If spoilers are not avoidable, they should be blanked (see above).
- Characters
- A list of characters appearing in this story.
- Canonical
- Characters seen in the TV show Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers or in official comic books regarded canon.
- Canonical (CDRR)
- Alternative heading for Canonical to be used with crossovers
- Canonical (Other universe)
- Characters from universes which are crossing over with Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. To be used with crossovers only and once per universe.
- Original
- Characters created by the author. Can be divided into different universes, too, if necessary.
- Original, borrowed from author
- Characters created by another author.
- Devices
- A list of mechanical devices/inventions of interest that were used in this story. Optional heading.
- Canonical
- Original
- Things said in the characters section apply here, too.
- Trivia
- Any tidbits of information about the story in particular. Avoid spoilers as much as possible. Optional heading.
- Awards
- This part is for listing up Plato Awards, Golden Acorn Awards and the like.
- External Links
- Link(s) to the story itself. The Rescue Ranger Database is recommended as a link target.
