Community:How to Edit on the Wiki

Welcome, editor, to the Polcompball Wiki! Before getting started, you should read this quick guide on how to structure a page on the wiki. If you want an example in the flesh, visit the Anarcho-Communismball page to see what every article should be like.

Page structure

Infobox

The infobox contains a summary and an image of the ideologyball. The {{Ideology}} template, rather than {{Character}}, should be used. All infoboxes should follow the structure of the sample infobox on the template's documentation page. Fields that do not apply to a given ideology may be left blank.

Introduction

A short beginning section, giving a quick breakdown of the ideology the ball represents (preferably with where it stands on the cultural, economic and statist axes) and a blurb about its personality.

History

The history of the ideology and its founder, if applicable, should be summarized in an easy-to-read and objective manner.

Personality and Behavior

A section detailing the ideology's personality and behavior in comics. A subsection, titled Stylistic Notes, may be included to indicate common visual and behavioral differences from the ideology's canon design and personality, such as Anarcho-Communismball wearing cat ears and exhibiting childish behavior.

How to Draw

This section offers a step-by-step guide on how to draw the ball. The hex code, RGB and CMYK values of the colors used should be tabulated using the Flag Color template. Refer to the link for a guide on obtaining the values for each color and using the template.

Relationships

A section detailing the ideology's relationships with other ideologies, usually written in the first person perspective of the ideology the page is about. The three basic categories are friends, frenemies and enemies, which may be modified or renamed to fit the ideology. All ideologies mentioned should be listed in a bulleted list and have their icon displayed to their left of their name.

Further Information

Finally, a section giving you further reading on the ideology, with books, Wikipedia pages and YouTube videos, Online Communities, Etc. about it. You should remember to prioritise Primary Sources and long-form content first-and-foremost when giving recommendations on this section as such type of content minimises bias, but you don't need to stick only to it (Especially since Short-Form content is easier to digest).

Don't forget to categorize the page with the appropriate categories, namely Characters, the ball's quadrant, and descriptors such as the ideology's cultural position or ideological supersets. A full list of categories is available at Special:Categories.

Additional Notes

Adding Icons

Visit the Icon List page to learn how to add flairs and to see what flairs you can add to pages.
Ideologies mentioned in an article, even outside of the Relationships section, should have their articles hyperlinked and have their icon displayed to the left of the link.

Infobox Details

An ideology's infobox must contain its name, icon, quadrant and ideological relationships. A clear image of the ideology must be included.

• To prevent an excessive relationships section, only first-degree relations (parent/child/sibling) with canon ideologies should be included. Second-degree relations (grandparent/grandchild) may be included if the relationship is significant and depicted often in comics.
• The "Gangs" section of the infobox refers to the non-quadrant ideological group the ideology is frequently associated with in comics or in real life.

Pictures

Before you add your own picture, check if someone has already added a picture of the ideology. If they have, then try to see if yours is of better quality than the one currently on the page; if it is, then go ahead and replace it.

• Cover images of ideologies must abide by the quality guidelines indicated in this tutorial (Original Reddit post). Low-quality or rule-breaking images may result in the article's removal.
• Cover images should depict the ideologyball against a white or transparent background. Detailed backgrounds, such as this, make for good comic panels, but obscure the ball's appearance.
• The ideologyball may be given relevant accessories and placed in a pose, as long as the accessories and pose do not obscure the main motif of its flag. This image is a good example of an accessorized ball whose design remains clearly visible.

Redirects

If an ideology has a different name and you want to make it easier to search by that other name you should add a redirect.

To redirect you have to:

1. Create a page by that name
2. Click on the 3 bar icon on visual editor
3. Choose "Options"
4. Click the box next to the "Redirect page to" text
5. Put the name of the page of the ideology there.

Writing

First and foremost, write along the lines of the page structure, even if it's barebones. Something is better than nothing.

Secondly, the writing style should preferably be humorous (like TVTropes) rather than serious (like Wikipedia) although it shouldn't have a critical or snobby attitude like in the vein of RationalWiki.

When describing an ideology, you should be describing only its core ideals, and you shouldn't go too in-depth into what it believes (example: Don't write entire paragraphs on this ideology's opinion on how a migration should look); that's what the further reading section is for.