MechaBay:FAQ
Contents |
General questions
What is MechaBay?
MechaBay is an online encyclopedia about mecha, including all popular mecha series.
Who owns MechaBay?
The MechaBay is founded and administrated by User:Valiant. However, the content on MechaBay is not owned by anyone. The content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
When and why was MechaBay created?
MechaBay was started by User:Valiant on February 01, 2009 as a project that would consolidate information on mecha series. The initial plan was to create a Gundam-only project, but the project has since expanded to include as many mecha series as possible.
Who is responsible for the MechaBay content?
Any members can create and edit articles for MechaBay. However, all articles will be reviewed by editors before they will be officially published.
How can I contact the project?
As MechaBay is in its infant stages, there is no forum for the project. If the community grows to a point where a forum is needed, one would be added. Meanwhile, you can try the MechaBay IRC channel. For instructions on accessing it, see MechaBay:IRC.
Legal questions
Is MechaBay copyrighted?
Yes, all contributions are copyrighted by the authors. This means that you hold the copyright for the edits you made to an article, but not for edits made by others in the same article. MechaBay content are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This ensures that everyone will have the right to freely access, modify and redistrubute licensed content. If you do not want your edits to be in turn edited by others, do not contribute to MechaBay.
Can I use MechaBay content on elsewhere?
Yes and no. Only the text that are contributed by members are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Other media contributed are copyrighted by their respective owners and using them for other purposes would require their consent.
Can I use content from other sites on MechaBay?
No. The copyright for content from other sites belong to the respective authors. However, the content can be used if the authors explicitly state that they release the content for use on MechaBay under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Technical questions
=== Where should I report technical issues? You can report technical issues to the bug report page. To avoid duplication of the same problem, check the existing issues before you submit yours.
Do I have to register?
You can view pages as an anonymous user. However, registration allows you to edit pages. Registration gives you an identity and makes you a member of the community. It would be hard for other users to befriend you if you were to remain an anonymous user.
What are namespaces?
Namespaces are categories in MechaBay that help to keep articles organized. All pages under a namespace is a child of the subject of the namespace. All pages under the Gundam namespace are articles that are directly related to Gundam.
Editing questions
What is the difference between types of links?
Blue links point to existing pages (like MechaBay), red links point to nonexistent pages (like Nonexistent). Links like Google are either external links: links that point outside MechaBay.
Where can I discuss pages?
Each page has a discussion section that appears at the bottom of the article. While discussing articles, please limit your posts to the article content, not the article subject.
Somebody reverted my edits, what should I do?
Generally, not revert to your version in turn. This can start a revert war (also known as edit war), which is seen as disruptive because it prevents other contributors from improving the same article. Instead, question yourself whether the revert was justified, look at the edit history for the reason given, and try to settle the case in the discussion section.
What is a minor edit?
A minor edit is an edit that it is so non-noteworthy that users monitoring the article can usually skip it. Examples are spelling and grammar corrections, corrections of formatting and template usage. Addition and omission of content, as well as factual corrections, are not minor edits and should not be marked as such.
If you accidentally marked a non-minor edit as a minor one, make a dummy edit (an edit that affects the source wikitext but not the output, like changing one space to two or vice versa), mark it as non-minor, and explain the problem.
Why are some pages protected?
Some pages are protected because they are important and should not be altered. These would only be editable by MechaBay editors.
