Help:Conflicts
From Undead Assault II Guide
This page deals with advanced topics which can have an irreversible impact on the guide. Please read it carefully and ensure you fully understand it before making any edits.
Various problems can arise on the guide. These generally come in several flavors, which are discussed in more detail below. If you encounter a problem which is not discussed here, please leave a note on the talk page.
Contents |
Duplicate Pages
Occasionally users may create pages without checking to see whether there is already an existing page on the topic. This can frequently happen with minor differences in pluralization or capitalization. Duplicate pages are inefficient from both the editor's and viewer's perspective, and should be resolved as quickly as possible.
Flagging for Merge
If you believe that one page is a duplicate of the other, first determine which page is older by comparing their histories (click the history tab). Once you determine which is older, edit the newer page and add a merge template by using the following code:
{{Merge|Merge Target}}
You should subsequently start a discussion on the talk page explaining why you believe the page should be merged. (If the duplicate is very new or has little or no content, you can probably skip this step.)
Merging the Pages
Once it has been determined that a page should be merged, an editor must manually merge the pages. To do so, open both pages in separate tabs or windows, noting which is the Merge Target. Edit both pages, and copy the contents from the duplicate page into the target page.
Be prepared to make some edits and reorganize the page. You will probably need to edit the information to make sure that it fits grammatically and contextually in the target page.
Once you have copied all of the information, return to the duplicate page, delete the contents, and change it to a redirect page which points at the Merge Target.
Moving Pages
Moving a page changes the title and URL without disrupting the page's content or edit history. The most common reason for moving a page is in the case that the title is misspelled or misnamed.
Moving a page appears at first to be rather simple, since there is a move tab at the top of each page. However, it is important to remember than any page which links to that page will need to be updated to point to the post-move location, so consideration should be taken in advance.
Flagging for Move
If you believe a page should be moved, use the Move template to flag the page, and provide your rational on the discussion page. Make sure you indicate the Move Target, the location of the proposed move, when adding the template.
{{Move|Move Target}}
If there is sufficient reason to move the page, you may begin the move process.
Moving the Page
On each page's toolbox (left) you will notice a link that titled "What links here". Clicking this will take you to a page which displays all of the pages linking to the current page; these are the pages you will need to update to reflect the post-move page name. You can view this even after the page has been moved, but you must remember the old page name.
Once you are ready, move the page. The old page will be replaced with a redirect to the new name, so nothing will break. However, redirects have a performance impact on the MediaWiki software, so you'll need to clean them up.
Cleaning Up
Return to the old page name, click "What links here", and change the pointers to link to the new page. Take care when changing the pointers, as some of them may have grammatical context on that page; you may need to create a soft link so that the flow of the page is not broken.
When you have updated all of the pages which linked to the old page name, consider whether or not the redirect should be removed. If it is appropriate to leave it in place, please do so. In the case of a typo or other flub in the original name, it is OK to delete the redirect.
Deleting Pages
Criteria
In some cases it make be appropriate to delete a page. The reasons provided below are general, and specific cases may override them.
- If the page in question is entirely outside the relevance of the guide, such as a page on pizza, then it should probably be deleted.
- If you upload an image and it is no longer used, you flag it for deletion.
- If a page contains copyrighted information or content, it may be appropriate to delete the page if no non-copyrighted content can be found to replace it.
You must take care with the deletion process, because deleted pages and data cannot be restored.
Flagging for Deletion
You should begin the deletion process by flagging a page for deletion with the Delete template:
{{Delete}}
You must subsequently explain your rational for the page's deletion (or image's deletion) on that page's or image's discussion page.
Discussion
Once an appropriate case has been established for the page's deletion (considering any rebuttals or counter-claims), the page will be deleted. If an appropriate case for the content's deletion cannot be established, the Delete template will be removed and the page left as it is.
