<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Contents 1 What is a Namespace? 2 How can I tell what namespace something belongs to? 3 What Namespace do articles belong to? 4 What are Creator pages? 5 What is a Talk or Discussion Page? 6 What is the SCIFIPEDIA Community Portal? 7 What is a Disambiguation Page? 8 What is a User Page? 9 Why is "SCIFIPEDIA" in front of an page title? 10 Why are some SCIFIPEDIA project pages protected (locked)? 11 What is SCIFIPEDIA's definition of a primary article? 12 What is a Portal?

What is a Namespace?

For the purposes of SCIFIPEDIA, a namespace is an area within SCIFIPEDIA containing content of a specific type. There are the articles comprising SCIFIPEDIA's information on the various genres of the fantastic. The Categories are a namespace unto themselves. Then there are the User Pages, there is a Help section, and there's the articles relating to the SCIFIPEDIA project itself (like the FAQ).

There are others. Portals have a namespace, as do Projects and Creator Pages.

How can I tell what namespace something belongs to?

Except for regular articles, each "type" of page has appended to the front of its title the namespace, followed by a colon. For instance, the Category Anime will show " Category: " in front of "Anime" in the address bar:

[http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Category:Anime]

You could go right to the Anime Category by typing a forward slash after the "index.php", followed by "Category:Anime" in your browser's address bar.

 

What Namespace do articles belong to?

Articles belong to the content of SCIFIPEDIA and so don't use a namespace to distinguish themselves. Protected articles written by established creators in SCIFIPEDIA have "Creator:" appended in front of them and belong to a separate namespace. This allows protection of their original, canonical commentary while allowing the rest of the SCIFIPEIDA to create entries concerned with that author's work.

What are Creator pages?

Creator pages are articles in SCIFIPEDIA submitted by the creators regarding their own work in the genres of the fantastic. These pages are not available for updating and editing by other visitors to the site. They are considered a part of the general article about the said genre work. The general article is editable by all users of SCIFIPEDIA.

What is a Talk or Discussion Page?

A Talk Page (or Discussion page-- accessible through the editing tab above labeled "Discussion") is associated with each and every article in SCIFIPEDIA. A Discussion Page is a forum for writers interested in any given article to exchange opinions and plans for the revision and updating of that article. Using the Discussion Page is a way of avoiding a situation where an article changes radically and repeatedly because of unresolved differences of opinion. The interested parties should try to reach consensus through the Discussion Page for the article in question. Likewise, participants new to the article should read the Discussion page to find the state of consensus on an article before changing it.

Talk pages are associated with every article in SCIFIPEDIA. All regular articles about the genres of the fantastic and their related subjects, all Creator pages, all Category pages, all Help pages, all SCIFIPEDIA (Project) pages, and all Portals.

Talk pages are the heart of any wiki, and SCIFIPEDIA is no exception. This is where consensus is reached on articles in need of revision, expansion or re-organization. Making sure all views on some controversial subjects are part of an article, without judgement, comes from what is hashed out in a rather more partisan fashion on Talk pages.

Talk pages are also important resources for communication, organization as well as standardization.

What is the SCIFIPEDIA Community Portal?

The Community Portal is a page within SCIFIPEDIA devoted to advising contributors about projects underway, articles where work is being solicited, administrative plans and task and all the other bits and pieces involved in developing a complex and ever-growing enterprise like SCIFIPEDIA.

The SCIFIPEDIA Community Portal is actually within the SCIFIPEDIA namespace, not the Portal namespace because the SCIFIPEDIA Community Portal is concerned with work and dialogue within SCIFIPEDIA as a whole. Other Portals focus on specific subject areas.

What is a Disambiguation Page?

A Disambiguation Page is a special page. The purpose of a Disambiguation Page is to help users distinguish the difference between two or more subjects which have the same name.

What is a User Page?

A user page is your front stoop in the SCIFIPEDIA community. User pages live in the namespace "User:" You should see a link to your user page under "Personal" tools at the bottom of each page (after Toolbox).

Why is "SCIFIPEDIA" in front of an page title?

A page title with "SCIFIPEDIA:" in front of it is Project page. Any project related to SCIFIPEDIA is either a SCIFIPEDIA user's project for collaboration or it is a SCIFIPEDIA administrative page, itself essentially SCIFIPEDIA Administrators-only project or information resource.

Why are some SCIFIPEDIA project pages protected (locked)?

Because it is a SCIFIPEDIA Administrators-only project or information resource.

What is SCIFIPEDIA's definition of a primary article?

A primary article is any subject that could many related articles but fit under an umbrella addressing the work or subject as a whole. A primary category should be established for any complex subject and used as a jumping off point for related entries, including a Portal for the subject. An example would be an article in SCIFIPEDIA called Battlestar Galactica. As a primary article, "Battlestar Galactica" should talk about the show and related works in a NPOV summary that will lead readers to other primary pages relating to the original series, the 1980s series, and the re-imagined series; other links within it would obviously be to important names, dates, etc. A primary category can grow unwieldy very quickly. If you're the first one on the field, consider keeping it informative but simple and making a Portal (see below).

What is a Portal?

A Portal in SCIFIPEDIA is essentially a combination of master guide or compendium organizing related articles, community meeting place and Project page guide, all for a particular subject that is highly complex and very likely the subject of lively debate. Examples would be specific genre subjects such as Star Trek or Doctor Who. A Portal differs from a primary page in that whereas a primary page is just another article within SCIFIPEDIA, a Portal is a namespace. Consider it to be the SCIFIPEDIA field guide to your subject. You can talk about the science fiction or fantasy work at hand and also provide a centralized access point for other readers to the myriad related subjects involving media spin-offs, character biographies, timelines, bibliographies—it's up to you. You can also list resources for interested parties, a call for articles or clean-up tasks, etc.