Second Life Geography: How To Create Geography Articles

Second Life Geography is a massive project started by Group:Geography Of Second Life. Help is highly needed for our project. So, we made a small article to teach you how easy is to create an article.
== How to start creating ==
1. Create an account (you see a sign in sign on top right). Sign in with your Second Life account. If you have a single name, like Ana, sign as Ana Resident. If you have two names, type them both. This is the first and obligatory step to create.
2. Edit an existing article (Geographic article). Just click on Edit button and change what you want. Or, go to the part of article you want to change and click Edit for that chapter.
3. Create a page link (as are all on Second Life Geography homepage). Go to Second Life Geography and click edit button. Go to where your article should be. There, see that all linkes are made like this:
[[Second Life Geography]]
Type your article name between right parantheses. Then, look at tha bottom of the page and touch Save.
You will see your link marked with red. For example, if your article is named Qwertyuiopasdfghjkl, you need to type
[[Qwertyuiopasdfghjkl]]
and you will see:
Qwertyuiopasdfghjkl
Click on it and you will get directly to your on-going article.
== How to create ==
When you entered your new-created article or when you touched Edit for an existing article, you enter a Sandbox text. This is the basic text you will work with. Just start typing what you want the article to contain. Simple. Editing can be very complicated, but let's use only the most simple ways, so other people will be able to re-edit after you.
=== How to create a chapter ===
You see the Contents list on majority of articles. That list is created automatically by the system by the titles and subtitles you choose. To create a title or subtitle, type as follows:
== Title ==
 
=== Subtitle ===
==== Subsubtitle ====
=== Simple tools ===
==== To create bold or italic letters ====
Type: bold letters - you will get - bold letters
Type: italic letters - you will get - italic letters
==== To create link to another article ====
You must write it correctly:
Type: [[Second Life Geography]] - you will get - Second Life Geography
Type: [[Second Life Geography|Homepage]] - you will get - Homepage
==== To create link to an external page ====
Type: - you will get - . 
Type: Gridsurvey - you will get - Gridsurvey
Also, there is a button on top, with an Earth globe. Click it and you will get a similar format.
==== To start a new paragraph ==== 
Press two times enter, or the system will not accept.
=== Special simple tools ===
These tools require a bit of practice.
==== How to create a column ====
Counting tools. Type as shown below, to get an organised column:
Type: 
*aaa
*bbb
**ccc
(press enter after each row)
*aaa
*bbb
**ccc
Type: 
#aaa
#bbb
##ccc
(press enter after each row)
#aaa
#bbb
##ccc
==== To make special rows ====
Type: (a blank space before a row makes the row special)
 (a blank space before a row makes the row special)
==== To type a script ====
Copy from inworld and add the start and end tags around the block of code, as below:
<nowiki>
<syntaxhighlight lang="lsl2">
// (copy script from inworld, then type it here)
// 
// Created by Anaimfinity
default
{
 state_entry()
 {
 llSay(0, "Hello, world!");
 }
}
</syntaxhighlight>
</nowiki>
It will get rendered by the MediaWiki software like this:
// Created by Anaimfinity
default
{
 state_entry()
 {
 llSay(0, "Hello, world!");
 }
}
==== To make an inworld link ====
Look at the model below:
<nowiki>{{SLurl|region=Da%20Boom|x=128|y=128|z=60|title=Linden Playground - Da Boom}}</nowiki>
If you type it, you will get an instant link, like the one below:
Where you see region=Da%20Boom you must type the sim name. In this model, it is about Da Boom sim. Use %20 for a blank space (compare llEscapeURL for LSL). Then, where you see those valuse for x, y and z, they are in fact sim Coordinates. You need to type the coordinates there. Finally, where you see title=..., add a small description. If someone touches the link you provided, that person will have an option to go there.
==== To start a table ====
Please, go to Premium Continents and choose Edit, to see a working table.
==== To upload a photo ====
<nowiki>[[File:Geography Symbol.png|200px|thumb|right|Second Life Geography]]</nowiki>
Copy the formula above and you will get te picture on top-right of this article. Now, look at the model below:
<nowiki>[[File:Picture name.png|200px|thumb|right|Picture text]]</nowiki>
Replace Picture name with a name you like for your new photo. Then, chose the type of picture you have (important, it must be png or jpeg formats others are not well accepted). It is important that you tell the system what kind of picture you upload, so look what your picture extension is before you start upload. Then, notice the word right wrote at some point. If you change to left, the picture will be placed to left. Then, change Picture text with the text you want to see below the picture. If your picture allready exists (has the name you gave in the formula), it will appear after you press Save. 
If your picture is not saved in the wiki database, you will see an empty spot on the article (just like you can see here to right, made with the picture formula showed above). Click it an you get to an upload menu, to upload the picture from your computer. If you have an error, it means two things: you wrote Jpeg and picture is in png or the picture is too wide (over memory limits).
There is a way to upload a picture to screenwide, but much better and more recommended is the way you see above. Too big pictures are a threat for low networks or bad computers.
A good advice is to include yourself in the picture. Just like in real life, the size of a person is a good help to compare sizes of objects.
==== To upload a map ====
Take a Snapshot. You have in top-right a button that looks like >>. Touch it and you will be able to add interface. Close picture menu and click again the snapshot button. This time, you will see on the picture the map opened. Save snapshot to your computer. Then, you can edit the picture with very simple tools like Paint, you can cut what is outside the map, you can paint your own points of interest and you can merge pictures. The picture you created, then, can be uploaded like any classic picture.
==== To make a gallery of pictures ====
Please, go to Oceans and select Edit to see how the page is made.
== Save and finishing ==
Once you finished, press Save button. If there was an error, you will see a red message on top. Don't worry, go down to the bottom and you will see your unsaved article. Below it, you will see again the savee button. Press it again and all data is saved.
Please, if it is a Geographic article, add a link to Second Life Geography. Also, add on Second Life Geography a link to your article. This way, people will know where to find it.
Also, if you want to comment, open the Talk page, near the Edit button. There, you can add your comments. Always sign your comments. To do this, you have a button, second to right, with a signature. Touch it. You will see something like this on sandbox text (you can directly type this if you want).
<nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki>
On the talk page, when finished, you will see your signature, with a link to your homepage (everybody on this wiki can have one) and a date. For eample, my signature is this one:
--Rays of green light. Bright and proud to be a Circassian 04:38, 4 January 2014 (PST)
To make a signature, click your account name (top-right), where you will enter your personal page and you can create your signature.
== Advices and mythbusters ==
Many people are just afraid to help creating articles. This is not the case. There are, however, a few advices we recommend:
=== Advices ===
#Always keep a neutral position. You are a Geograph, a scientist, while creating these articles.
#Avoid giving commercial data. For example, if you make an article about a Sim Cluster that is owned by an estate and you write on article about the land tier and benefits residents have there, you will make other land barons angry. We are Geographs and not land brokers. Anyway, it is correct if you provide a link to land baron's site. It is his/hers right to give commercial information there.
#Respect the law of freedom. In List Of Microcontinents And Sim Clusters and all 200 linked articles, we avoided using estate names and land owner's names. This is allowed ONLY if you have permission from the land baron. Avoid giving your own names unless you have a some common visible features for that place.
#Respect other Geographs. When you re-edit a page, try to add your info in a separate chapter (like we did on Blake Sea or Zindra). That is not the case if an article contained only a few words and you expanded it to a page (like Continent or Teleport).
#Keep it simple. There are many more complicated magic tools to edit and create an article, but they will create big problems to newcomers. Please, try to use the most simple tools, as shown here. Also, if you upload pictures, try to keep them small, so the page will not become high-lag.
=== Mythbusters ===
*I am too small to create! When we started the project, there was almost nothing. All members of Group:Geography Of Second Life are simple residents like you and we are not paid by Linden officials or anybody else. We started from almost nothing. To have an idea, when we started the page about Heterocera, we only had a railway map (and nothing else!) so the page was re-edited more then 100 times, to re-write the new Geographic findings.
*I make ortographic errors! We all make. I, Anaimfinity, specially wrote a few errors to see if something will hapen and nobody noticed. So, don't worry. And if you find errors on other articles, try to fix them. 
*I have some bad news in my article! Check out Abandoned Land or Gaeta 1 to see bad things about our world. If they are true, write them, but keep a neutral position.
*What do the Lindens think about my article? Will they delete it? Don't worry, we have 300 articles and they never changed even a letter in a single one. They want this project to keep going, but they leave our freedom to do it alone. Just keep a neutral position.
*Who will ever look at my page? When we created the first articles, nobody opened them forst. Then, in a few months, more then 1000 people watched them. To make sure people will find what they need, add a link from our main page and all related page.
*Will people laugh at my work? Such people you will find anywhere, no matter what you do. Anyway, if you see a gramatical error or some outdated information in an article, you will be a much more appreciated person if you add or correct the article then if you just look at it and don't do a thing.
=== In the end ===
Many Geographic project existed before we came online, but none of them reached the size of our project and many were abandoned in past. Still, we wrote only 10% of all what should be written about Second Life Geography. Help is needed and any contribution is welcomed.
== See Also ==
Second Life Geography
Group:Geography Of Second Life
*Help:Contents
*Project:Editing Guidelines
*Wiki myths busted
*Style Guide