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How to Make Your Wiki-walk Wiki-run
Greetings new member of the Wiki-walk team. If you are reading this, congratulations! You are now part of a new, and exciting team of dedicated staff that is making history and will help shape headcanons, spark discussion, and draw attention to a wide variety of articles across the wiki. This guide is to provide you with a step by step from going from selecting your section of the list, to making the final notification to an author that a Wiki-walk team crosslink has been added to one of their articles. Keep in mind this is a guideline and not a set of hard and fast rules. Your mileage will vary on a lot of points here. However, the info below should provide a great starting point for you to go out and make the magic happen. Now, enough introductory paragraphing, let’s get cracking.
Step 1: Selecting a Wikiwalk Section
The first and simplest step along the path is selecting your Wikiwalk section. All the articles that have been volunteered for use in the Grand Crosslinking have been broken down into ten article sections and placed into a list that you can find here: http://mast-team.wikidot.com/the-grand-crosslinking-list-4
If you are apart of the wikiwalk team and have not already, please select a section and place your name above it so other members know that it is taken. you will be responsible for proposing, and adding crosslinks to these articles, but don't feel like you need to finish your section quickly. Take your time, and be thorough.
Once you have your section you are ready to move onto the next step.
Step 2: Reading Your Wikiwalk Section
This section is going to be brief, as I assume by your presence on a writing site, and the fact that you have already made it to section two of this guide, that you can read. Just be sure read all the SCPs in your section, and I mean read them, don’t skim.
A lot of authors put a lot of nuance and detail into the articles they make, and it’s that very same nuance and detail that you can use to make great crosslinks.
Step 3: Coming up with Crosslinks
Now that you have read an article in your section, it is time for the hardest part of the Grand Crosslinking: figuring out what crosslinks to add. I have added a few examples below of crossliking opportunities, but do note that these are not the only opportunities for crosslinking. Be creative.
- Some articles will explicitly mention another SCP, GoI, Tale, Site Dossier, etc: this is one of the best and easiest ways to add crosslinks to the article. Here are some examples.
SCP-3217-B was recovered from documents pertaining to the Manna Charitable Foundation's "Project Falcon", a defunct self-described "Local Hero Initiative" which was meant to encourage citizens to become more involved in their communities.
- or
The remainder of field operations regarding SCP-5820 have been handed to MTF Lambda-12 (“Pest Control”) and the Entomology Department.
In the first example, you can simply add a link to the Manna Charitable Foundation Hub and call it a day. Alternatively, in the second example, you can add a link to another article featuring the MTF Lambda-12, or you can add a link to the MTFs section in the list of Mobile Task Forces
- Sometimes you will have the opportunity to use examples: You may find articles that don't have any easy crosslinks to add. When this happens, you will need to find opportunities to expand on concepts already in the article.
Footnotes
1. Narrativohazard: A cascading hazard affecting elements of a narrative and its mode of transmission, often leading to their mutual destruction. Definitions of a narrative differ among cultures but typically describe a story and its medium.
In this example, the author has a section of the article dedicated to explaining what a Narrativohazard is. You can search for other SCPs that effect narratives by searching for articles tagged with narrative. You would then expand on the definition by adding examples like this:
Footnotes
1. Narrativohazard: A cascading hazard affecting elements of a narrative and its mode of transmission, often leading to their mutual destruction. Definitions of a narrative differ among cultures but typically describe a story and its medium. Notable anomalies such as SCP-5875, and SCP-5309 fall into this categorization.
- Check the backlinks or search for articles mentioning the SCP: More notable SCPs may have tales or other SCPs that mention them that you can use to make a connective crosslink.
Any structures affected by SCP-184 are to be demolished after review by [DATA EXPUNGED]. Final demolition approval or inclusion into SCP will also be determined by this body. No investigation is to be done into affected structures without approval and a rescue team on standby.
Here is an extremely popular SCP that has many tales and SCPs connected to it. It also has a great place to insert a crosslink. In this example, the tale CODE NAME: ████ ███ - The Truth is linked through the expunged text.
Any structures affected by SCP-184 are to be demolished after review by [DATA EXPUNGED]. Final demolition approval or inclusion into SCP will also be determined by this body. No investigation is to be done into affected structures without approval and a rescue team on standby.
- Ask the author what their headcanon is: A lot of the authors who have volunteered their articles for crosslinking are available in the IRC channels, or via Wikidot PM. Ask them if there is anything they always considered their article connected to, they might say they don’t know or they might provide a large slew of ideas for you to work with. Crosslinks created by an article’s author are generally the most organic, so make use of them as a resource if they are available.
- You don’t have to crosslink everything: Some articles are hard to crosslink, be they a format screw, a brief, tightly narrated piece, or a J in which the bulk of the article is the buildup for the punchline. Don’t feel like you have to crosslink everything because its in your section. Not everything needs a crosslink, and not everything should have a crosslink. Use your discretion and determine when it’s best to say an article is fine as is.
- Don't Crosslink to Your Own Article: You might be tempted to do this on more than a few occasions, especially if your article is a good fit for a crosslink target. Don't do it. It doesn't look good for members of staff to be pushing their own works as part of an official staff function, and chances are there is plenty of other articles to link to other than your own. You are, of course, more than welcome to pass off the article to another member of the wikiwalk team and have them propose your article as a target if they agree with your proposal, but people tend to see through such shenanigans, so don't do it if it can be helped.
As you come up with your crosslink target articles, keep in mind that we are trying to link out of series, and highlight some of the more obscure articles. So if possible, link from Series I to II and III, link from Series II to I and III, from Series III to II and I, and give articles with ratings in the 40s, 50s, and 60s a shot before immediately jumping to link to that 500+ article.
Step 4: Crosslink Proposals
Alright. So now you’ve selected your section. You’ve read your articles. You’ve come up with what you believe to be a good idea for a crosslink. What do you do now?
You make a WikiWalk Crosslink Proposal Post in the article in questions discussion thread. A template for such a post can be found below.
After posting this to the article’s discussion section, be sure to add the “crosslink” tag to the article itself, add a link to the proposal post to that article’s spot on the Grand Crosslinking raw list, and then notify the article’s author that the crosslink proposal exists. You can find an article’s author by checking the article history and going to entry 0. Keep in mind, some articles are rewrites, so keep an eye out to see if the authorship has changed hands. A template for the initial author notification PM can be found below.
Keep in mind, you may or may not get a response from the author. If you do, great, take their feedback into account in the next step. If not, don’t worry about it too much. You have covered your bases, and the author was made aware of the process when they signed their article up.
Now that your post has been posted, and the proper authorities notified, you get to move on to the next step, and hurry up and wait.
Step 5: Running down the Timer
After you post your crosslink proposal, you have seven days before most further action can be taken. What happens here is a wildcard, as there are several outcomes and responses that can go down. I’ll list some of the more common ones below, but make sure to keep an eye on your proposals as you weight for the timer to run out.
- No Response: This is actually pretty common. Often times people don’t see issue with a proposed crosslink, don’t care about the base article, or are neutral to the contents of the link and let the crosslink slide. In this case, just hurry up and wait. The timer will eventually tick down.
- Author Response: Authors like to talk about and discuss their SCPs. Crosslinks are no exception. Sometimes the author will like your idea and give you the go ahead. In this case, you can end the timer early and make the edits, assuming the author has gone and made the edits for you already. Sometimes the author will respond with an alternative crosslink, or a suggest an alternative way of incorporating the link you came up with. In this case, their word is law as it is their article, so go ahead and follow their instructions. Finally, an author may not like your proposal and shoot you down. That’s okay. If you have the time, go ahead and come up with a new proposal. You have seven days at your disposal.
- Community Response: The wider SCPF community is not only welcomed to comment on wikiwalk proposals, they are encouraged to do so. They may compliment your crosslink, and some may propose alternatives or additions. Ultimately, it’s up to you as the crosslinker whether you heed these community proposals, but please pay attention to them, as you may find the proposals that the community are turning in blow yours out of the water. Additionally, some may disapprove of your crosslink proposal. If you have enough naysayers, it might be a good idea to reevaluate your proposal and see if you can come up with a better one.
In the end, however, your timer will run down. At which point, assuming your proposal has not gained a substantial amount of negative feedback, it can be implemented.
Step 6: Making Your Edit
Once the timer has run down, and assuming your proposal has passed the author and community’s eyes unscathed, the time to actually add the edit is at hand.
Your first step should be to remove the timer from your proposal post, and in its place put something along the lines of: “Timer Expired. Edits made as discussed below. Author may revert at any time.”
From there, go ahead and remove the “crosslink” tag from the article, and add your edit. Be sure to include in the edit notes something along the lines of: “Wikiwalk Crosslink Added. See discussion for details. Author may revert at any time.”
Once the edit has been implemented, go ahead and send the author a follow up PM to let them know that changes have been made to their article. A template for this kind of PM can be found below.
Once that has been done, you have officially completed the addition of a WikiWalk Crosslink for an article in your section. After all the articles in your section are completed, go ahead and update our finished crosslink list here.
As I said during the introduction, the above is not a hard and fast set of rules that needs to be followed by the books, but a guide to help you do your job. I use the above process each time I tackle a new WikiWalk section and it has not failed me yet, however each crosslink is different and has its own nuances and you will need to be flexible to make everything work out in the end.
All that being said, best of luck to you in your crosslinking. Godspeed.
Jacob Conwell
Moderator and WikiWalk Section Header
Vivarium
Operational Staff and WikiWalk Section Header
WikiWalk Process Check List
- Pick a section.
- Read the articles in the section.
- Come up with your crosslinks
- Post your crosslink proposal in the article discussion
- Add the “crosslink” tag to the article.
- PM the article author about the proposal.
- Add a link to the crosslink proposal on the Grand Crosslinking List 4.
- Wait for the timer to tick down. Acquire feedback.
- Make the edit.
- Remove the timer from the proposal post.
- Remove the “crosslink” tag.
- PM the author about the edit.
- Update the Grand Crosslinking Grand List.
- Update the Grand Crosslinking List 4 when you complete crosslinks in your section.
Forms and Copy-Pastes
Wikiwalk Forum comment:
The [http://05command.wikidot.com/maintenance-and-ancillary-staff-team-main WikiWalk Subteam] is proposing edits to this page. All proposed edits will be in a collapsible below this post, and after 7 days if there are no serious objections to the edits, the feedback received will be taken into account as the edits are made. If you have questions not directly related to the article about this project, please pm a member of the WikiWalk Team.
[[collapsible]]
[[/collapsible]]
If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to suggest them below.
[ADD TIMER HERE]
Replace timer with the following after expiration:
Timer Expired. Edits made as discussed above. Author may revert at any time.
Edit comment to leave when adding links to page:
Wikiwalk Crosslink Added. See discussion for details. Author may revert at any time.
PM to send to author when first proposing links:
Hello,
I wanted to inform you that the [http://05command.wikidot.com/maintenance-and-ancillary-staff-team-main WikiWalk Subteam] is proposing edits to your article: [LINK TO FORUM POST HERE]
The proposed edit has been posted in the discussion page with a 7 day timer attached to the post to allow for discussion to occur and other suggestions to be made. As this is your article, you have the final say in any edit we propose and may veto the suggested edit or refuse edits be made to this article at any time.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or another member of the WikiWalk Team.
PM to author after links have been made:
Hello,
I wanted to inform you that the [http://05command.wikidot.com/maintenance-and-ancillary-staff-team-main WikiWalk Subteam] has made edits to your article: [ARTICLE URL]
The edit that has been made can be viewed here: [LINK TO SUGGESTED EDITS POST]
The feedback received in the discussion thread has been taken into account when making this edit, however as the author of this article you have the final say and you are able to revert this edit at any point in time without informing the WikiWalk team of your decision.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or another member of the WikiWalk Team.
Thank you.
Important Links
Notes and Advice
- Do not propose links to articles written by Kate Mctiriss.
