Dwarf Fortress Wiki:Community Portal

This page is for organizing the war effort against entropy.

We are doing this! Let us do it right.

• Alphabet: OK, the first rule is that there must be a rule for each letter of the alphabet. Now only 7 rules to go. (Inspired by Peristarkawan's nomic instincts)

• Blood line games: Any game, or story, relating to a bloodline games. (succession) game should use the special Bloodline:article_name namespace. This has been especially created for all you bloodline fans to scribble onwards without tying up articles in the main namespace.

• Categories: When editing a page, stop to think about what categories it should be included in, and add them if necessary. Don't forget to consider categories that don't yet exist.

• Discussion: Use the discussion page to voice suggestions and to ask questions. Try to limit inline comments. Before editing, check the discussion page to see if there are any changes being planned.

• Edit If you see a mistake, be it a fact or a typo, change it. Don't leave it to someone else to clean up mistakes. Be bold, feel free to make changes. If you think an article needs a major rewrite, you can use your personal page or the discussion (talk) page to post edits or suggestions.

• Facts: Keep your information factual. If you haven't confirmed something, post it on the discussion page. Do not create one-liner pages without links (unless its a stub). Add as much pertinent information as you can and avoid conjecture (possibly, maybe, could be, likely) by providing concrete examples from the game or links to other parts of the wiki.

• Gold. Always mine it, never let it leave your sight, sing songs about it whenever possible.

• Headings: Organize the content of each page into sections of related information. After the introduction, use appropriate headings for each section, and follow the Naming style of this guide. Keep headings to a minimum, consider a list or a table if you have many repetitive facts.

• Images: Images and screenshots should use the default tilesets for clarity. Small diagrams should be constructed with Template:RT, for easy editing, and to save on space. Exceptions are pages about tilesets and story pages like bloodline games. Images should always be in .png format. When uploading images, give them a name that is descriptive and unlikely to be duplicated. Names like "1", "screenshot", and "untitled" should be avoided.

• Jealousy: Don't be shocked if someone rewrites or removes your article, your hard work is not lost. Post up suggestions on the discussion page and talk about the issue. All versions are stored in the history, so theres always the chance your material can be reused or merged with existing content.

• Keys: Special to this wiki; Key commands from the game should be written using the k or key templates. For example, the syntax {{k|q}} will generate q, a standardized and visually pleasing representation of the "q" key.

• L: ?

• More: More people should use the raw files (found in your 'install dir\raw\objects') to get information about creatures and objects. It has loads of good information, that the game actually uses.

• Naming: The titles of new pages should be singular nouns, with only the first word capitalized. Example: Screw pump, Metalsmith's forge, Gear assembly. The exceptions to these rules are for terms that are always plural and for proper nouns. Getting the wrong naming means extra redirects. Screw pump is not the same as Screw Pump.

• O: ?

• Preview: Use the preview button to check for typos. Avoid cluttering the history of a page with multiple edits. Mark small changes as 'minor' so they can be (optionally) hidden from the recent changes page.

• Queue: Check the special pages for work still to be done! There are lists of Dead end pages. Uncategorized categories, Double redirects, Broken redirects, and others that all need work occasionally.

• Redundancy: Before creating a new page, do a search to find out if the topic is already discussed in detail somewhere else. If you find that redundant pages already exist, merge their content and have one redirect to the other.

• Style: In general, try to follow the Wikipedia Manual of Style when writing articles. For example, introduce keyword articles by highlighting the first keyword in bold, such as Rules.

• Timelessness: The wiki is intended as a guide for all players, even new ones. As such, references to differences from or similarities to old versions of DF should be reduced and eliminated, except on pages specifically dealing with said differences or similarities. Avoid phrases like "now marble can be used to make steel" or "before, farms required two floodgates", etc. For facts that are likely to change, or placeholder features, use Template:Version. For example, you might say, "Cave-ins are buggy right now^{v0.27.169.33a}" using the version template, {{version|0.27.169.33a}}.

• User pages: Introduce your self, let the community know who you are. If you have a comment on someone's actions on the wiki, praise or otherwise, post it on their talk page (and they'll get notified next time they login). However, keep this place civilized; avoid flamewars, personal attacks and insults.

• V: ?

• W: ?

• X: ?

• Y: ?

• Z: ?

Enforcing consistency in screenshots?

Can I strongly suggest that all screenshots be taken with the default interface and tileset, for consistency's sake? It seems to me like that would be a good way of keeping the wiki aesthetics constant. EighenIndemnis 11:33, 5 November 2007 (EST)

We can make it a rule, but we shouldn't remove any screenshots for non-conformance (except to replace them with conforming screenshots). --Peristarkawan 11:46, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Yeah, for some tutorials that are written while the user is playing, it would be impossible to anyway. EighenIndemnis 11:47, 5 November 2007 (EST)

I agree that images should use the default tileset for articles, but I disagree for personal pages or bloodline games. --Markavian

The rule as written already exempts bloodline games. The only rule that should apply to personal pages is D. --Peristarkawan 16:05, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Um, I added the rule before noticing the discussion here. Anyway, I added rule I, inspired by the old Water wheel image (Image:PerpetualMotion.JPG), which was incomprehesible to me and unnecessarily large. Like Peristarkawan said, the exemption of user pages is implied, but feel free to make it explicit if you want. --Turgid Bolk 16:13, 5 November 2007 (EST)

How about this?

World creation screenshot.

It's clean, neat and doesn't warp the page. :) The obvious drawback is file size is not monitored. Can't we edit the file upload settings to measure pixels? Nothing over 800x600? Schm0 19:16, 7 November 2007 (EST)

Redirects and article titles

How do you do that thing that makes a certain term redirect to a different page? Like Elephants redirecting to Elephant, for example. --BahamutZERO 15:20, 30 October 2007 (EDT)

If Elephants already exists, you can move the page to Elephant, and it will create the redirect for you. Otherwise, just edit Elephants to read: #REDIRECT [[Elephant]] --Peristarkawan 15:26, 30 October 2007 (EDT)

I see, thanks! --BahamutZERO 15:27, 30 October 2007 (EDT)

Just FYI, if at all possible, do not create pages as plurals. Use the following syntax: [[Elephant]]s: example Elephants. --JT 20:20, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

What about titles that are verbs? Should they be in "base-form"? Or whatever its called (my english on this level isnt the best). Example: should the title be Mine or Mining? --Mizipzor 17:30, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Based on the Wikipedia style, titles should be nouns. So in your example it should be the gerund Mining, and Mine would be the title for an article about mines. I've updated the rule to reflect this. --Peristarkawan 17:35, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

What about skills and professions? Should we have a Bone carving (labor preference) article and a Bone carver (skill) article, or would this be redundant? I've seen both styles linked to, but tend to think that the -ing form should redirect to the -er form. Opinions? --Mechturk 03:11, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Sounds good to me. --Peristarkawan 11:21, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Btw, shouldnt all these comments be moved into talk? --Mizipzor 17:30, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Moved the account problem comments to the talk page. The rest are informative. --Turgid Bolk 13:26, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

Tutorials

New players are getting bogged down by the complexity at the start of their fortresses, I think we should get some "getting started" or "surviving your first winter" type tutorials up as soon as possible. --BahamutZERO 16:33, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Getting started will be just that. --Savok 11:31, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

Categories

I saw that the category category:buildings had been added to category category:world. I started to look for categories without parents and adding them to world to sortof have a list of every category. Is this good thinking? --Mizipzor 19:19, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

We already have a list of all categories at Special:Categories, although it does include a few categories that aren't directly related to the game.

Based upon the description of Category:World, it seems to me that most of the things that are currently in it don't really belong there. --Peristarkawan 19:27, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Ok, Ill remove them from category:world. But how often is Special:Categories updated? I dont see category:furnaces in there. --Mizipzor 20:24, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Special:Categories is automatically updated by the Wiki software as soon as it detects a change. However, MediaWikis aggressively cache pages. It's also possible you're looking a client-side cached page of it. Finally, I don't see any content in that category so it's possible it's being ignored. See Special:Unusedcategories instead. --JT 20:28, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Deletion

We now have a category:deletion, who has the power to delete pages? When are they deleted? Who make the final call? The same person that deletes them? What rules should we make regarding this? --Mizipzor 11:57, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

Anyone can mark a page for deletion using the {{del}} tag, however it is usually recommended to get a consensus that it's not worth keeping. Exceptions are things like spam or empty pages. The {{del}} tag just lets the admin know to delete it, ultimately it's his call to do so or not. Just ask around on the talk page first, if no one disagrees, add the tag. (Disclaimer: that's how it worked on the old wiki, the policy may change as this new wiki grows.) --Turgid Bolk 13:02, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

Water level style

I think we should have a standard style for talking about water level. We could say it various ways, such as "6/7 water," "water with a depth of 6," "a depth of 6 pool," or "water with a depth of six." It seems using the numeral makes it clear that we mean water depth, without adding the /7. --Turgid Bolk 13:02, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

I'm not sure. The /7 is definately unnessessary and that we should use 6 instead of six, maybe create a template to make the numberal blue/red (water/magma)? If not "Water 6" and "Magma 5" seem short, simple, correct, and understandable.--Draco18s 03:27, 2 November 2007 (EDT)

Like 6 / 6 or 6 / 6? --Matryx 05:38, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Too hard to read against the normal white background I think. But just the coloured number on its own would stand out weirdly. --Shades 06:10, 5 November 2007 (EST)

6 / 6 or not even going so far as to use the tile template? --Matryx 06:16, 5 November 2007 (EST)

I think "depth of 7" works wonders, bold, colored text had a bit high contrast according to my taste. In case there is either magma or water, just state it. And we should also link to a waterdepth article for those that are in need of furher explanation of the concept. Example; "a water wheel needs to be placed in flowing water with a depth of at least 3". --Mizipzor 07:44, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Templates?

Is there a page with a list of all the templates available to us? Are all of the templates migrated from the old wiki? --Felix the Cat 00:51, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

You can find a list at Special:Allpages?namespace=10. --Peristarkawan 01:44, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

Forum references

Where there is a bit saying "Toady said this", what is the best way to link to the forum? Currently in magma, I've got a link to http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=001504 which shows up as [1] (not too bad). Is there a better way of doing it akin to Wikipedia with <ref>something</ref>? Maybe something like Template:version for future (but that doesn't cover the "this is how it works now" type thing. --Shagie 02:17, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

IIRC the <ref> system on Wikipedia requires an extension to be installed. --Rick 17:48, 7 November 2007 (EST)

Crops categories

My wiki-fu is weak, but surely there is a better way to present the myriad crops than having a different category for each season and biome? Category:Crops could at least show the seasons grouped seperate from the biomes. Are we going to put each plant in its respective biome and seasons, and in Category:Crops, or is List of crops sufficient? Just seems like there's a lot of potential for a mess here, and we need to standardize the plant pages and various categories.

Personally I like the way the old wiki did it, with some nice templates. Granted there are a lot more plants in this version, but not so much that we need 20 subcategories cluttering up the crops category. See Crops and Plump Helmets; easy to tell what crops belong in what season. --Turgid Bolk 02:52, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

Rule discussion

A

How do we handle several rules that starts with the same character? I see that titles have been moved to page titles because of timelessness. But what about other scenarios that doesnt have an solution as easy? --Mizipzor 07:51, 5 November 2007 (EST)

We can handle them as they come up. In general, I think it's better practice to avoid reusing letters than to have to rename an existing rule.

If we want to just do away with rule A at this point, that would be fine. It was only meant to be a starting point for brainstorming, and the rules haven't changed much lately. --Peristarkawan 11:21, 5 November 2007 (EST)

I Call for Judgment on this statement, this would remove the backbone rule used to define this alphabetical set of rules. We could put it outside of the rules though, like a description. --Senso 12:24, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Unless we have another rule that must start with A, why not keep it? --Savok 12:28, 5 November 2007 (EST)

B and E

How are B and E rules? --Savok 11:27, 7 November 2007 (EST)

Rules? I thought the alphabet was the guide for the war against entropy VengefulDonut 11:34, 7 November 2007 (EST)

Well, the Alphabet rule does describe them as rules. But I don't really think that B and E seem out of place. --Peristarkawan 11:37, 7 November 2007 (EST)

They will simply be replaced by "real" rules once someone have made them. --Mizipzor 14:23, 7 November 2007 (EST)

I think of them more as "guidelines" ;) Turgid Bolk 20:22, 7 November 2007 (EST)

I put strikes through B and E and wrote more helpful ones (along the same lines) --Me

Gravitas was a silly word. What do you think of the new rules? --Markavian