StrategyWiki:Cleanup project/Walkthrough

This page contains detailed explanations of what to do with the links on the various Cleanup project pages. Most of the links found on these pages have a (?) link pointing to a section on this page.

Many pages are in categories due to being marked with a cleanup template, such as cleanup or needimages. In those cases, you should remove the templates after fixing the problem. Also, when a template is added to a guide's Table of Contents or to a category, it's possible the template is meant to be applied to all pages on the guide or in the category. If you're not sure what the intent of the tag is, you can ask on the page's talk page, or look in the history and ask on the talk page of the user who placed the template.

Broken redirects
These are redirect pages that point to a non-existent page. Broken redirects are normally created when a page that had redirects pointing to it is deleted, or the redirect contained a typo when it was created. You can fix these by editing the redirect page and updating the link to point to the correct page, or, if there is nothing to redirect to, mark the page for deletion with the delete template.

Double redirects
These pages redirect to another redirect. To fix them, take out the middle man and change the redirect to the final destination. For instance, if FFVII is pointing to FF7, change FFVII to point to Final Fantasy VII.

Missing nums
"Nums" refers to the  parameter in the Header Nav template. Header Navs on all main pages of guides should have a  value set, even if the guide is empty. (Then it would be .) To fix this, follow one of the links on the page, and add the   parameter to the Header Nav. A completed Header Nav should look like this:

Note that Header Nav templates on sub-pages should not have a  value set.

Missing Header Navs
Every guide page needs a Header Nav, so to fix these, go to the page and add the Header Nav template. There is a text insertion link below the edit text box in the Guide markup section which will easily add the Header Nav with one click. This inserted template puts a "Magic word" variable into the  parameter, which automatically substitutes the name of the main page when you save. Make sure not to use the  parameter on sub-pages.

It may also be appropriate to look in the history and leave a message on the creator's talk page, letting them know about the preload buttons above the edit text box, which will automatically insert the correct Navs.

Subpage nums
These are sub-pages that use the  parameter in their Header Nav templates. Only guide main pages should set the  value, so to fix these, simply remove the   parameter from them.

Uncategorized categories
Only eleven categories exist on the wiki that aren't categorized themselves. If you see more than that on this page, go to the category that doesn't belong, and put an appropriate category tag on it. Common categories in this list are image categories where the creator forgot to put the   category on it.

Uncategorized main pages
Unlike sub-pages, which in most cases shouldn't have categories put on them, guide main pages should be included in many categories. Pages in this list need to be categorized by the game developers and publishers, systems, genres and modes at the very least. Pages in this list have the needcat template on them, which should be removed after adding the categories.

Uncategorized images
Every image needs an image category, as well as a guide-specific image category if it's for a game. Fix these by adding the appropriate categories.

To-do lists without a priority
The todo template accepts a parameter to designate the list as either for a game or for personal use. On this page, if you see any subcategories besides "To-do, game" and "To-do, personal", click on the link, then click the link to one of the pages in that category. That page will have the todo template on it, so edit the page and change or add the parameter to either "game" or "personal". On guide talk pages, use "game" and on user pages, use "personal".

Unused categories
This page contains empty categories, meaning no page has that category tag. Many of these are categories that are only added when a cleanup template is used. Bad categories in this list are categories that will never be used, usually because it was made in error. These are often created by someone attempting to fill in a red link from a bad category tag, or someone trying to create a redirect to a good category in the category namespace. To "fix" these, either mark appropriate pages with that category if the category is good, or put the delete template on bad categories.

Unused files
Unused files are images which are not being used on a page. In most cases, they should be put on somewhere on the guide to which they belong. If the image is a duplicate of another file or it serves no purpose and you don't expect it to ever be used on a guide, put a delete template on it. Use the time since it was uploaded in your judgement, as an image uploaded a few days ago is more likely to be used than one uploaded a few years ago.

Alternatively, you may also leave a message on the uploader's talk page, as they may have forgotten about the images, or create a gallery of the unused images on a guide's talk page, so editors will know they exist and can put them on the pages as needed.

Wanted categories
These are categories being used on pages, but which haven't yet been created. If you click on one of these categories, you will see the pages in that category. These are most often categories for companies and series. In this list, you should be looking for categories that were put on pages in error. Some categories to watch out for are game categories, like Category:Final Fantasy VII, where it was intended to be an image category, and alternate spellings or misspellings of good categories, such as Category:Box Artwork.

To fix these, click a link to see the list of pages in the category, then fix or remove that category from those pages. If you find a common category that has been misspelled, add it to the category misspellings page, if it's not already on there.

Wanted pages
Wanted pages is a huge list of all the pages linked to that don't yet exist, with the number of pages pointing there next to them. You can click the number to see all the pages linking to the non-existent one. It is pretty much an exercise in futility to try cleaning these up, as there are a lot of them to comb through. Bad pages in this list are ones that go to the wrong place or to a place which will never exist. In the former case, correct the link on all the pages that link to the wrong page, and in the latter case, remove the link entirely. If there are many links, all meaning to point to a different, existing page, or you think that creating the link could be a common occurrence, it may be appropriate to create the missing page and redirect to the good page.

Redirects
This page contains a list of all redirects and the pages to which they point. Bad redirects are redirects that point to the wrong page. This is a tough list to cleanup, as there are many redirects and you have to be familiar with both the source and destination to know whether it is a good redirect. Something to watch out for are pages redirecting to a series when a game of the same name exists. This list can also be used to find guide walkthroughs being used as redirects, which usually indicates the page being redirected to should be moved to the Walkthrough page.

To fix these, you can change the redirect to point to the correct page, if it's wrong, replace the redirect with the page being linked to, if appropriate, or mark the redirect page for deletion with the delete template if it is completely useless (usually in the case of vandalism).

Dead-end pages
These are pages that contain no links to other pages. If there are pages in this list, it usually means there is some other problem, like the page is missing a Header Nav. These pages are easily fixed by putting a link to another page on them. This list only includes pages in the mainspace, so this list will always be empty as long as all guide pages have the required Header Nav.

Lonely pages
This is a list of pages that no other pages link to. For guide sub-pages, adding the page to the Table of Contents will fix this problem. An easy way to remove main pages from this list is to add a link to the page from its box artwork and its guide-specific image category. If there are any other pages that relate to the lonely page, consider adding a link on them, such as the game's series category.

Add rename template to images
Images should contain the name of the game to which they belong, or a suitable abbreviation. They should also be somewhat descriptive of the concept expressed in the image, such naming a picture of an apple "Game Name apple.png". If you see any images that don't have the game name in the filename, add the new image name template to the image page, with a suggestion for the new name. You can also rename it yourself, by moving it to a better name, then going back to the redirect that was created at the bad name and adding the delete template.

Renaming an image requires deleting a page (the redirect created from moving the image), so consider whether it is worth it to rename. For example, it's not worth the hassle to change "FFVII sephiroth.png" to "FFVII Sephiroth.png". Also remember when renaming images that you then have to go to the pages linking to that image and update them for the new filename.

Add rename template to pages
Guide main pages should use the full, official game name as their title, and guide sub-pages should be in sentence case, meaning the first word capitalized and all other words, except for proper nouns, should be lowercase. An exception is when using in-game names, like for levels, as the page names, in which case they should be reproduced exactly as shown in the game. If you see pages that don't meet this criteria, you can add the new page name template to them, with a suggestion for the new page name. Other pages that may need renaming are Series and System categories, which should use official names. Company category names are a bit more relaxed and redirects are used liberally, as companies go by different names in different situations. It is probably a good idea to bring up Company category name changes on the existing category's talk page.

Instead of putting the rename template on pages, you can also just move them yourself. Keep in mind that this requires putting the delete template on the redirect created and updating links to the new page on any pages linking to the old one. If a page you've moved has a talk page associated, remember to also move the talk page and mark its redirect for deletion. An exception to marking the redirect for deletion is when you move main pages, in which case it is almost always a good idea to leave the redirect, as if someone has used that name to create the page, it will likely be used again when searching for it.

A few other scenarios where a rename may be appropriate is in the template namespace, where guide-specific templates should contain the game's name or an abbreviation; when pages have been unnecessarily sub-paged from another sub-page, i.e. Game Name/first level sub-page/second level sub-page; or for pages not adhering to other guidelines such as using "list" in the title, like "Items list" instead of just "Items".

Pages needing box artwork
Any guide main page with an infobox template that doesn't have its  parameter filled in, will be in this category. You can help these pages by uploading an image of the game's box artwork and using it on the page. Good box artwork will be an image of the artwork, rather than a picture of an actual case (this may not be possible for older games), have correct ratings on it where applicable (not the Rating Pending graphic), be 250px wide or larger, and contain no site watermarks, blurriness or anything not normally found on the box. Unless the artwork itself is actually different on different systems' boxes, you only need to add box art for one platform (it doesn't matter which, go with the easiest to find or the best looking one).

Sometimes you may not be able to find box artwork for a variety of reasons. If the game never had any box art, as in the case of games released online, the game logo will suffice. Games that are very old or very obscure are also hard to find box art for, in which case a screenshot or logo will also do. Another problem may be for games that aren't yet released, in which case the cover art may not be available or may be subject to change. Be aware that creating box art for fun is prevalent on the Internet, so make sure you are using official cover art, and not a fan-made mockup, like what is found on VGBoxArt. If using a non-box art image for an unreleased game, such as a logo or artwork, name it as though it were cover art so the cover can be uploaded over the placeholder file when the game is released.

Pages needing control selector
These pages have been marked with the needselector template because the game has been released for multiple systems or can use multiple control schemes. The control selector template is needed to easily switch between game-specific or controller-specific content when viewing the page. To fix these pages, it helps if you know the controls for each version of the game. At the top of the page or section where there is context-sensitive information, put the control selector, with a comma-delimited list of systems or control schemes as the first and only parameter. Then use the control template to add each version's content as a new parameter, in the same order as the list in the control selector. For example:

If you don't know what all the controls should be, they're not shown on the page and you can't figure it out from the guide's Controls page, then leave that part of the control template blank, and add the system template to the page. Keep in mind that the control selector and control templates work with JavaScript, meaning readers that turn theirs off won't be able to switch the content. For that reason, try to limit information in these templates to that which can be easily divined by other means, such as checking one system's control against another in the game's Controls table.

Images needing transparency
Images or subcategories in this category require you to download the image, add transparency and reupload it. File formats which support transparency are PNG and GIF, which should use the ".png" and ".gif" extensions, respectively. PNG format is preferred for images using complex alpha channels, such as alpha gradients or different levels of opacity at different parts of the image. Adding transparency usually means removing the background from an image, so just the main object will be seen, and when rendered on a page, the page's background will be used. This makes images with dark backgrounds look more attractive on our (default) white background pages and light gray table backgrounds.

If the original image is already in PNG or GIF format, you can just upload a new version using the link on the image's page. If the image is of a type that doesn't support transparency, such as JPEG, or you need to switch from GIF to PNG, you will need to upload the new image to its own filename with the new extension, then delete the old file after merging their histories. For non-admin, put the old file's name and a note that their histories need to be merged in a delete template on the old file.

When uploading a new version, your job is done. If you needed to upload the image to a new filename, however, you then need to update the links to the new file on any pages linking to the old one.

Deprecated templates
This category has links to templates which are no longer in use. Once instances of these templates have been removed from the pages using them, they can be deleted or marked for deletion with the delete template. See the section below for information on how to remove usages of these templates.

Deprecated template usages
Pages in this category normally use unknown input in the sys template or the upcoming template with dates that have come to pass. For the sys template, it's usually a typo that can easily be fixed, but if it's a new system that needs to be added, contact an administrator or add a note to the staff lounge. For games which have become released, just go to the guide main page and remove the upcoming template. You should also adjust any wording from future tense to present tense, and adjust the release dates in the infobox as necessary. In the case that game did not come out on its original release date, adjust the date in the upcoming template to use the newest reliable release date.

This category may also be used when deprecating a template or template parameter by adding this category for unwanted usages. In this case, either remove the templates entirely from the page, change them to the new template that performs the same function, or fix the offending parameter. If you are removing the template completely, try to replicate the effects of the old template in a way which conforms with the current methods and guidelines. When all usages of the deprecated template have been removed, the template is ready to be deleted or marked for deletion with the delete template.

Duplicates of general templates
Sometimes a template will be created for a guide that performs the same function as an existing template. This can happen when a user isn't aware that the general template already exists. An example would be a user who makes a template to display the Xbox 360 achievements for the game, not knowing that the Achievement template should be used instead. To fix these, replace any usages of the guide-specific template with the general one, then delete the unused template or mark it for deletion with delete.

Standard guide-specific template names
Just like images, guide-specific templates should have the name of the game they belong to or an abbreviation in their names. To fix these, move them to an appropriately named page in the Template namespace, then use the "What links here" button in the toolbox to find pages using the template and update them. Finally, delete the redirect created from the page move or mark it for deletion with the delete template.

Pages needing renaming
Pages and files in this category have been marked with the rename template, and need to be moved to a more appropriately named space. When moving pages, keep in mind that you also need to move any subpages (check the "Move all subpages" checkbox) and associated talk pages. Files most often need to be renamed to include the name of the game in the filename. On the image page, look to see where the file is being used to determine its game. Pages with a suggested new name in the rename template will show up in the "Name given" subcategory, otherwise it's up to you to follow page naming guidelines. Make sure to delete the redirect made by moving a page, or mark it for deletion with the delete template. You also need to visit all the pages linked to the old page, and update those links with the new information. Once you have finished cleaning up, remove the rename template from the page.

Possible copyright violations
This category and the "No source provided" subcategory contain pages and images that have been marked as containing copyright violations with the copyvio template. The first thing to do is verify that a violation indeed exists. In the case that the tag was added erroneously, you can simply remove the copyvio template, although a good explanation in your edit summary or the talk page will help ensure it doesn't get added again. If the copyvio template is warranted, you can clean up these pages by deleting the copyrighted text, rewriting it in your own words or getting the author's permission to use it. For copyrighted images, you can upload a new version with an appropriate license, mark the image for deletion with the delete template, or contact the copyright holder and get permission. Keep in mind that even with permission, images containing signatures or website URLs still aren't acceptable (not due to legal issues, but because they're ugly).

In the case that the page or file is not getting deleted, once the copyright violation has been cleared up, remove the copyvio template. For pages or images in the "No source provided" category, it would also be helpful to verify the source of the content in question and add a link or reference to it in the template.

Requests for deletion
Pages and files are marked for deletion for a variety of reasons, sometimes without that reason being stated in the delete template or on a talk page. To fix pages and images in this category, first verify that the content should be deleted. Next, check the talk page to see if there is or was a discussion about the deletion. If there is a discussion, follow consensus by either deleting the page or file, or if the decision was not to delete, remove the delete template. If there is no consensus, either let the discussion continue or, if the discussion has been inactive for a long time, remove the delete template.

Most delete requests won't have a discussion and will be fairly obvious, such as when a page was accidentally created with a typo in the title, vandalism or there is a duplicate file. After a page has been deleted (or beforehand), fix any links to – or transclusions of – the page.

Images in the Guide-specific images category
The tag should only be placed on guide image categories. For example, this tag goes on the Final Fantasy VII images category, not on images within that category. If any files are found in the Guide-specific images category, remove that category from the image page and categorize it properly if necessary.

Pages containing drivel
Drivel consists of unnecessary or non-topical content, which could include slang, overly informal text, speaking in the first person, signatures, email addresses, unnecessary and/or unrelated information, and much more. If there is any useful content within the drivel on a page, you can rewrite it to present a more professional tone. For users who leave signatures or contact information on non-talk pages, you can also place the self-publicity warning template on their talk pages.

While speaking in the first-person can denote an opinion or uncertainty, don't be afraid to change the text to imperative walkthrough writing. For example, you could change "I like to use Red XIII in this boss fight." to "Use Red XIII in this boss fight." You can also reword first-person narrative as a suggestion, such as "It is recommended that you use Red XIII in this boss fight", or "Red XIII may be a good choice for this boss fight."

Once you have cleaned up the drivel from a page, remove the drivel template.

Pages lacking control images
Pages in this category either need controls added to them, or need the current non-wikified controls converted to control images. To fix these, you have to understand which systems the game is played on, and be able to use the appropriate button templates. For pages that have no information on the controls used, this is less a cleanup task as a call to contributors who may know how the game is played. For the rest, you'll need to replace the text with a control template. For instance, you would replace "X" with X on a guide for a PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 or PSP game. If the system name is not added tot he needcontrols template, look on the guide's main page to see which system it is for.

Many games are released on multiple systems, which may require use of the control selector and control templates. The control selector template should be used on the walkthrough, while the Controls page should use a table with each system's controls in a separate column. (The controls table may also be on the Getting Started page.) An exception is anywhere else in a guide where only controls are being displayed, as opposed to within the text of a sentence. If you would normally put the controls in the table, make separate columns for each system instead of using the control selector. An example is on Cheats pages that contain a list of cheats with the inputs for different systems.

Once you have added the control images or converted the text controls, remove the needcontrols template from the page. Alternatively, if the page still needs any control images, make sure the template references the correct system.

Pages needing cleanup
This category contains pages marked with the cleanup template. This is a general tag that could refer to anything. The reason for the cleanup may be given in the template or on the talk page, otherwise you can look through the page to locate any trouble spots. Many times cleanup refers to organization problems, such as problems with headings or the need to convert lists into tables. There are more specific tags, such as wikify, copyedit, subpage and mergeto / mergefrom, which, if applicable, should be used instead.

To fix these pages, simply clean up the page to conform with the wiki's guidelines and editing practices. When you feel that the page is up to StrategyWiki standards, remove the cleanup template from the page.

Pages needing wikification
Pages in this category have been marked with the wikify template. These pages require conversion of standard text to wiki markup, or from other wiki's markup to our own. Things to wikify are preformatted text (sometimes noted by  tags), lists where "*" or "#" should be used instead of   tags, any text that should be linked, data best presented in a table or any information that should normally go in a template, such as game information on the main page which goes in the infobox template.

When importing information from other wikis, it is also important to unlink or fix links that aren't used on the wiki. For instance, pages coming from Wikipedia may link to things like Space or Elephants, which we will never have pages for due to scope. When importing pages from other gaming wikis, they will often use links to mainspace pages which are normally sub-pages on StrategyWiki. For instance, a Sephiroth link from a Final Fantasy VII wiki would need to be changed to Final Fantasy VII/Sephiroth or even Final Fantasy VII/Characters.

When you are done converting any text that needs it into wiki markup, remove the wikify template from the page.

Pages to be merged
These pages have been marked with merge, mergeto or mergefrom templates. These pages are either similar enough to another page that they should be merged, or are too short to be standalone pages. An example of the former may be pages like "Items" and "Item locations", where it makes sense to keep them together. Merging multiple pages together into on consolidated page might be done for guides that put each item on a separate page, when there isn't much information on them.

To fix these pages, simply combine the information from two or more pages into one page. For pages using the merge template, any page can be used, while mergeto and mergefrom templates call for moving the information to the page containing the mergefrom template. Once all information has been consolidated, use Special:MergeHistory to combine the pages' histories, or, if it can't be used, follow the instructions on this page. For non-admins, leave a note in the delete template on the unused page(s) or leave a note on an admin's talk page detailing the pages involved and where the merged history should reside.

When all content and histories are merged, remove the merge, mergeto and mergefrom templates and delete any unused pages. Note: Special:MergeHistory must be used before deleting the source page.

Sections to be merged
The this category consists of pages containing sections which need to be merged together. These are usually for sections that cover the same content, and should be merged to decrease redundancy. Another possibility is that information belonging in one section was broken up into many small sections, or multiple sections could be consolidated into a table. To fix these pages, modify the content to merge the sections, being careful to keep all information while doing so. Make sure to remove the merge section template(s) from the page when you are done.

Pages needing copyedit
These pages are simple to clean up – just proofread them and fix any spelling or grammatical errors. For problems involving a whole sentence's structure, just try to keep the original idea while rewriting it to be understandable. When fixing spelling, keep in mind that some words are spelled differently in different regions, and the first variant used on the page should be maintained. After cleaning up the page, remove the copyedit template.

Spelling mistakes
The misspellings page contains a large list of common spelling mistakes and their corrected versions, separated by letter. To fix these, search for the misspelling and change them to the correct spelling. Any notes about the words, such as whether they are variants or rare usages, will be next to the entry on the misspellings page. Keep in mind these notes, and pay special attention to the context in which the word is used. Some content, such as quotes or level names, may contain something found on the misspellings page, but should be left as is. Use your judgement, and if unsure, err on the side of caution by leaving it unchanged.

For misspellings on pages other than in the main and category spaces, it is most likely not necessary to waste an edit fixing these errors. Talk pages should never be modified, unless you're correcting your own edit, and spelling errors on image pages, user pages, template documentation pages, etc. aren't part of the finished product read by non-editor viewers. A basic rule of thumb is to not bother with pages that aren't produced specifically for a guide reader.

After checking for a misspelling and correcting any instances you find, update the done template next to the entry on the misspellings page with the current date. If you plan on fixing multiple entries, try to update all the dates in one edit once you're done.

Misnamed categories
The category misspellings page contains links to commonly misspelled categories, along with a link to the correctly named category. Next to each bad link is a number in parentheses representing the number of pages currently in that category. Some are categories which are not misspelled, but are commonly misapplied. In that case, if any subcategories exists, they will be noted after the "good" category name, and that number should be subtracted from the number in parentheses when looking for pages to correct.

This page is used by looking for blue links in the list, meaning that category has been created, and looking for numbers next to the bad links, which means pages have been added to the category. For the first case, if it is truly a bad category, follow the link and delete it, or mark it for deletion with the delete template. In the second case, follow the link to the bad category, then go to each page or file in that category and change the category tag to the proper name.

If, in the course of editing or browsing on StrategyWiki, you find a misspelled category has been created or applied and it's not on the list, you can add it by following the example of the other entries.

Stubs
Pages marked with the stub template can be found in the stubs category. These pages require a significant addition to their content. The stub tag lets readers know the page they're looking at is not a comprehensive look at the subject and lets editors know that they should add information. Stub pages aren't really for cleaning up, but if you have some knowledge of the game, you can expand the page. Once a page has a decent amount of information on its subject, remove the stub tag. If you find a stub tag being used in a section, replace it with the sect-stub template.

Works in progress
There is nothing wrong with putting the wip template on a page while it's being worked on, but it becomes meaningless if left on an abandoned page. If there has been over a month since the last edit to the page, the wip template can be safely removed. If the template was being used to stall some other process such as a page move, deletion or sub-paging, that action can now be reinitiated.

Pages needing an infobox
This category contains pages that have either been marked with the needinfobox template, or that are missing certain fields in the infobox template. Every main page needs an infobox, and certain pieces of information are mandatory in the infobox template. To fix these pages, follow a link in the category and fill out the page's infobox. Once the infobox has been completed, remove the needinfobox template if applicable. For instructions on how to fill out the infobox correctly, see the template page.