Encyclopedia Dramatica:How 2 EDit for Dummies
From Encyclopedia Dramatica
EDiting for Dummies
As part of the ED Improvement Drive, I thought it would be useful to write a guide on "How 2 EDit for Dummies". The idea is that this should be a guide that even the most retarded of n00bs can use to understand how they should approach creating an article. Therefore avoiding exhibits A, B, C, and D.
This is just an attempt to help those delicious n00bs avoid pointlessly creating articles that will be deleted because Encyclopedia Dramatica 2.0 is a beautiful thing.
Encyclopedia Dramatica (as a rule) is only interested in articles relating to drama, internets, or memes. Articles regarding the documentation of memes tend to be created by specialists who have no use for this "Dummies Guide" because they are l33t hackers on steroids, so the instructions in this guide tend to be more focused towards articles who's subject is a person or a group of people.
Encyclopedia Dramatica does sometimes have articles on non-internets subjects.
- These should be acerbic, snarky and get a rise out of people from the opposing viewpoint.
- Otherwise it would just be Uncyclopedia.
Articles don't always have to be full of lulz. Satire isn't always "omg...lol...that is so funny!".
The more pretentious EDiots would think of satire as "the unseating of the comfortable". Think about it.
Just because you have been banned from Wikipedia doesn't mean you are welcome here. Even arch-enemies of ED have been perma-banned from Wikipedia.
Some Examples to Look at:
What is the Subject of your Article?
So you want to write an article for ED? You will know what or who the article is about, but many of your readers won't. So a good way to start is by having an introductory paragraph that describes who the person is, which part of the internet they inhabit (eg. YouTube / LiveJournal) and what horrendous stupidity has led them to deserve an article on Encyclopedia Dramatica.
Some would disagree, but badly written ad hominems by themselves are unfunny, but well written viciously acerbic satire does the same job as ad hominems, but also provides the critical element of lulz.
Drama is a crucial element, and is normally easily obtained. So you should try and make sure some is provided (if it hasn't already) even though there are no trolls at Encyclopedia Dramatica. Remember to provide links in your article to where the subject or drama can be found (eg. MySpace, YouTube, LiveJournal).
Do not waste your time on personal attack articles about some kid at your school or college, or some piece of copypasta that you have cooked up that you think is hilarious - /b/ is the place for that, not here. That type of shit will get deleted quickly.
Think about "Notability". Does your article really deserve a place here?
Making an Article Worthy of Encyclopedia Dramatica
Consult the ED style guide and you will be well on your way to success!
Take a look at articles that appear on the Frontpage.
The "Article of the Now", "Did You Know?" and "Good New Articles"....
HAVE BEEN PUT THERE FOR A REASON.
They are good examples of what we want.
With an introductory paragraph and at least another two paragraphs describing
and lampooning the idiocy of the subject, together with some appropriately
captioned images, perhaps a lulzy "quote", and you are on your way to
making an article worthy of Encyclopedia Dramatica and have a good
chance that your article will not be fail.
See Also:
- The Encyclopedia Dramatica Style Guide
- Basic Rules
- When is it Crap?
- Good Joke:Word Count Ratio
- Internet Relevance
- The Kazantzakis Guide to Article Building
- Encyclopedia Dramatica Improvement Drive
- Encyclopedia Dramatica's YouTube Improvement Drive - Some more tips on what to avoid when creating articles.
PROTIP!:
- If you are creating a new article, its a good idea to create if first within your userspace like this one on "The Biz".
- Do this by creating the article in http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/User:YourUsername/YourArticleTitle
- This means that you can save articles as "Work in Progress" without fear of it being deleted.
- Once you think you have finished your article, ask one of the Sysops to move it for you.
Readability and Basic Tips
If you're taking the time to write a well-fleshed out article, your word count can easily grow to a point where the average reader may not want to wade through it.
Here are some basic tips for readability:
- Use short paragraphs -- four lines tops.
- Use one-line paragraphs to emphasize something.
- Don't use adjectives ending in '-ly'.
- Indent key points.
- Use the active tense and active verbs. Avoid passive verbs and tenses.
- Read it out loud when you're done. Smooth out the parts which don't sound good.
- Sprinkle underline, bold, italics throughout your article for emphasis. These draw the reader in.
Basic Wikification
You may be be a MediaWiki n00b. Don't worry, the easiest thing to do is find an good article and steal the code from there! You could even steal code from this article!
When you want to see how your EDits look, please use the preview button. When you want to save your article plz briefly describe what you did in the ""Summary". For Example: "typo", "added pix" or "format fix" - kthx!.
This will help people who watch Recent Changes, and you don't want to annoy them!
- Here are some of the basics of wiki markup to get you started:
== Section Heading == - Creates a Section Heading [[Image:ImageName.jpg|thumb|caption here]] - Basic Image Placement (default places pic to the right). [http://www.google.com Google] - Basic URL Link [[camwhore]] -Basiclink to another ED article. [[faggot|David Miscavige]] - 'Piping'. In this example, clicking on the blue resulting link 'David Miscavige' will take you to the page 'faggot'. The article you want to link to goes first. <center><youtube>xViDc0dEhErEx</youtube></center> - embedded youtube clip (centered) * short fact - Bullet Point '''Bolded Text''' - Bolded Text
Note : For YouTube Embedded Videos
Do not even think that you can fool people by listing multiple Youtube embedded videos - yes it takes up space and makes your article seem more substantial. But it fails hard, and fools no one of importance. Please try to annotate videos you embed with a description so that readers have some idea of what they will be watching if they click play on the video. Srsly just having a column of videos is fucking annoying, looks shit and wins you no brownie points. Try using {{fv}} when adding a lot of Youtube embeds.
- PROTIP: It's good to have a lulzy {{quote}} from the video displayed beneath it. or something funny that passes as a quote to entice readers to watch the video.
Here is some code to copypasta!
{| align="center" style="padding:0px;"
|<center><big>'''An EDiot's Guide to 2007'''</big></center><br>
<center><youtube>pNV2Uycu1T4</youtube></center>
<br>
{{quote|This is a [[unwarrented self importance|much better]]
way to display a [[YouTube]]|'''Author''' - ''knows [[noone]]
will do this but said it anyway''}}
|}
| This Code Displays Embedded Youtube Videos Like This! |
| —Author - knows noone will do this but said it anyway |
We can also embed any of these: bbsports, bliptv, break, broadcaster, comedycentral, clipfish, clipshack, dailymotion, eyespot, funnyordie, gazeta, glumbert, googlevideo, interia, jumpcut, kewego, liveleak, livevideo, metacafe, myspacetv, myvideo, patrz, photobucket, plejada, putfile, revver, rutube, selfcasttv, sevenload, sharkle, shoutfile, spike, stickam, superdeluxe, uncutvideo, veoh, viddler, videojug, vimeo, wrzuta, yahoovideo, youaretv, youtube, youtube2.
Here is the complete description of the mediawiki extension.
In the case of Vimeo, you would use this:
<video type="vimeo" id="3095077" width="540" height="406" desc="Psychiatrists did 9/11!" frame="true" position="center"/>
Which gives you this:
You could also change the size if you are good with math.
Also : Piping and Other Things
- Why not pipe?
- Piping creates meta-lulz as long as avoiding unrelated links. Such as Tom Cruise is cool.
[[Tom Cruise]] is [[homosexual|cool]].
- Please remember to use the SHIFT KEY effectively when creating articles :
- "MySpace Killer", NOT "Myspace killer".
- "Rational Response Squad", NOT "Rational response squad"
Things to Avoid
Now that you know some things you should be doing, let's take a quick look at the things one shouldn't do on ED. The following are painfully overused techniques and should be avoided at all costs. They're no longer funny and chances are if you add them to an article your edit will be reverted and you'll be chastised, if not worse.
AMIRITE
NO YOU ARE NOT RIGHT.
The strikethrough tag
The taint of Uncyclopedia has spread to ED and brought with it this unfunny method of editing. The idea is that something already added to a page needs to be replaced, therefore one strikes through the text and makes an addendum directly afterwards. The problem with this, aside from being overused and unfunny, is that this is a wiki. If something needs to be removed or replaced, simply do it. Don't waste your time and mine by adding unnecessary edits to a page, making it read like a talk page edited by retarded monkeys. This technique can at times be useful if it's used to deliver a joke, but even then it's usually poorly done and unfunny anyway. Only use this if you really know what you're doing.
DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK COCKS
Quite often found with the strikethrough, this is yet another example of the anti-lulz that can be found more and more frequently here. With this, the joke (if one could consider it that) is that the poster has reneged on his or her word and exclaimed that they suck cocks, rather than whatever the previous statement had indicated. The problem is that this phrase is only effectively used when you are imitating another poster, preferably after hijacking his/her account so that you can fool people. As such, it is a moot point on a wiki, as anyone could easily navigate through the page's history to discover that it is you who suck cocks, not the OP. Avoid this like the plague, as it's somehow linked absolutely everywhere.
IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND
Somehow this has become the default measurement for anything, regardless of actual quantity. Guess what? It's linked from over 9,000 pages on ED, and thusly is no longer anywhere near funny. Lore states this came from Dragonball Z, which is just a terrible excuse for programming and should embarrass anyone caught watching it. The numeral 7 wordfilters to over 9000 on 4chan which should instantly indicate that it's so played out that you should be executed for considering using it.
Last Thursday
Let's face it, none of you were around for last Thursday. Don't even pretend to know what it's about.
At least 100
Once upon a time we mocked TOW and we mocked them hard, and this was one of those statements we used. Since then, everything in recorded history has happened shortly before the last century began. Not only has the debate surrounding creationism taught us this isn't true, it's simply silly. Let's not fall into the trap of assuming everything just happened, OK?
An Hero
Let's get this straight right now: There is only one an hero. All others are merely suicides. Unless one has died as a result of a lost iPod, one cannot truly be an hero. In addition, this is a noun, not a verb, you fuckwits.
The Bel-Air
The original incarnation of this meme was to interupt the climax of an exciting story with the the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But at some point in time, it was decided by a swarm of retards that every event ever must conform to the format of the theme song, because they are strange and obsessive. It worked a few times, but was soon beaten to death, added to articles for no reason at all, and exposed to increasingly poor execution. Sadly, it is no longer funny (if in fact it ever was funny), and thusly should not be added to articles, new and old alike.
See Also: So Cash
Unnecessary vulgarity
Yes, you're allowed to say shit, piss, fuck, cock, dick, bastard, dyke, cunt, twat, ass, dildo, nigger, kike, spic, wop, wog, jigaboo, jap, chink, gook, beaner, dago, cum, faggot, paki, sand-nigger, towel-head, Jew, gypsy, tits, pussy, boobs, taint, homo, smegma, shite, snatch, snizz, queef, and felch here. Don't you feel a little more grown-up for it?
'''Bold text'''
You idiot, you clicked the formatting buttons and still couldn't figure it out.
???? and PROFIT!
Remember when this was on South Park? Oh man, so do I! That was so funny! Ten years ago!
First Person Perspective
| —A fictitious quote, but plausible nonetheless |
Before you begin EDiting, it's important that you understand exactly what medium you're using to write. Since you were probably intelligent enough to type "www.encyclopediadramatica.com" into your address bar, you're also probably clever enough to infer that this is an encyclopedia; an incredibly unorthodox one maybe, filled with profanity, porn, and a complete disregard for proper research, but an encyclopedia nonetheless. It documents things, and it is not your own personal internet soapbox. Have you ever seen first person pronouns in, say, Encyclopædia Britannica? No, because you don't read books because you're an idiot. But just take my word that a first person perspective doesn't work well in reference materials. It weakens the writing and generally makes the article look like shit. That doesn't mean opinions aren't welcome, though. Unlike some poor excuses for encyclopedias, ED does not pretend to be NPOV. ED is quite the opposite, but just try to cram your stupid opinion in without breaking the third person perspective. Save the "I, Me, My, and We" for talk pages and your LJ.
Overuse of Memes
So, you know what Pedobear is, you post cat macros on Saturday morning, you redirect people to Rick Astley videos, and you have very fond feelings for a certain blue pokemon. You're internet savvy. Good for you, but that doesn't make you funny. Nor does compound overuse of internet memes make your articles funny. You probably see this everywhere on site, and might think it's a good way to fit in. It's not. This problem is touched upon above, but extends to more than just the aforementioned memes. Memes are no substitute for actual humor, and merely referencing them doesn't count for anything if you're not being funny in the first place. An internet meme, like any joke, is worthless without good delivery. Please don't cram your edits full of links to unrelated memes; it's not funny and it only furthers to cheapen the memes you're using. Also, try not to use so many in jokes that your article is incomprehensible to normal humans. Just because you spend 23 hours a day online doesn't mean everyone else does.
Uploading Images
You can easily upload images, by using Special:Upload linked in the toolbox on the left of every page below the search bar. Before you upload, make sure to read and follow the image use policy. Uploading bestiality and child porn is obviously a very bad thing and anyone doing this will be banned indefinitely.
You will need to include a description of the file in the Summary. If the file does not have a description or the description is inaccurate, the image may be deleted. See ED:MEDIA.
Make sure that you upload an image with a proper filename. Google Image Search needs to be able to find your image, so filenames such as Image:1282759137539.jpg may be deleted.
Important:
- CHECK THE FUCKING FILE SIZE!
- Please try and not upload anything larger than 150kb. kthx!
See Also
| Policy This article defines official ED Policy. |
