Welcome to the Guide and Resource Hub.
This hub page is dedicated to aiding both novice and experienced writers of the Backrooms Wiki in their contributions. Alongside the community-wide rules, you'll discover templates, tips, tricks, and proper entry guidelines here.
Skip the introduction and proceed to the primary content of the page by clicking here. Noticed anything you find helpful enough but it's not added here? Please do contact staff or tell us about this in our forum!
So many pages here! Should I read them all?
While it's strongly advised for a deeper grasp of this wiki and its rules, you're not obligated to go through each page. But do consider checking out the first section of the Guide Hub to grasp the site's general participation approach.
I see lots of funny icons! What are they for?
Those icons help tell apart guides, essays, hubs, and components. They make it easier to quickly get what each page is about.
- A guide is authored by either current or former staff, or it has received staff approval. These pages outline the rules, the officially endorsed methods for actions on this site, or the recognised principles of our platform. Some of them also provide an introduction to the fundamental processes of our site.
- An essay is written by community members, often with pertinent experience, who share their personal viewpoint on a specific subject or offer guidance on effective approaches. For instance, they might discuss strategies for sustaining a positive writing mindset without succumbing to burnout.
- A component is like a building block for your page, adding specific functions. It can make your page look better, help with navigation, or even let you get creative with other ideas you have in mind. They are usually under the category component: and should not be created without a Techlight. This page exclusively enumerates components that users might find valuable for crafting their own pages.
- A hub is a centralised page that showcases a series of pages united by a shared theme, function, or purpose. For instance, this page serves as both a guide and a hub. On this page, you'll find a few hubs that can provide future reference.
Basics of the Backrooms Wiki
Below are several pages that can provide you with a solid starting point on our wiki; they're nearly considered 'required reading'. It's highly recommended that you take the time to read through them at least once.
- Site Rules - A set of policies that govern the behaviour and conduct of our community members when they engage in our site’s activities.
- FAQ - A list of frequently asked questions with their corresponding answers that can help you understand the basic concept of the site.
- Licensing Guide - A guide on how to manage the licensing issues related to this site.
- Criticism Policy - A guide on how to give feedback, comments, and critiques for other people’s pages in a constructive and respectful manner.
- Meet the Staff - A list of current staff members who work on our site; it is recommended that you review this page occasionally and familiarise yourself with them.
Introduction to administrative processes
The following pages are a collection of articles that describe or discuss the general staff management procedures on this site, or in other words, ‘how we do things here’.
- Image Use Policy - A policy on the permissible and impermissible images on the wiki.
- Greenlight Policy - You may have noticed that there is no button to post an article; you need a passcode. This is a guide on how to get that passcode and post your entry on the site.
- Tag Guide - We use a tagging system that facilitates navigation and searching for pages that share the same category, purpose, or background, etc. This is a guide on how it operates.
- Deletions Policy - A policy on the criteria and procedures for deleting pages from the wiki.
- Rewrite Policy - A guide on the rewriting process on the site, which covers the scenarios where authors want to enhance their articles or delegate them to other writers, or where pages meet the rewriting standards and are transferred to other community members for a rewrite.
Writing and page customisation information
These are pages on how to begin writing articles for our wiki, how to improve your writing skills, how to adopt a healthy mindset towards writing, and of course, how to enhance your page’s appearance or structure with a bit of magic called Wikidot syntax.
- Writing Tips - Generic writing tips for contributors to the site, suitable for both beginners and experts on our wiki and for any page type you have in mind.
- Templates - Some sample templates for creating different kinds of pages on the site. Please note that they are not required and you can modify them or skip them as you wish.
- How to Critique - General guide on how to give critique for any kind of page on the wiki.
- How to Write an Entity - Self-explanatory as well, information on writing an entity.
- How to Write a Level - Self-explanatory: general information and some advice for aspiring or existing authors to get ready for writing a level.
- How to Stop Attaching Your Entire Self-Worth to Your Creative Output - Helpful strategies to avoid exhaustion and insecurity before and after publishing an article.
- How to Get a Greenlight (100% Real No Fake) - A humorous essay that is not meant to be taken too seriously, but still offers some insights for aspiring authors who want to get feedback, approval or a Greenlight for their articles.
- Wikidot Syntax - A guide on how to use Wikidot code to make your writing look more organised and professional.
- Image Block - Instead of asking randomly on Discord and in forums about ‘how do I insert an image please’, read the Wikidot Syntax above and apply this convenient component.
- Image Block with Scrollable Sidebox - Image Block, but improved with a very useful sidebox.
- License Box - A required component for your page; it simplifies licensing and proper attribution.
- Offset Guide - An offset is a way to bring the reader to a different page while preserving the upvotes and comments of the original page. This is a guide for writers of all levels to learn how to use this Wikidot feature.
Handy resource for a deeper dig into the site
These are some resources that you can use for your page, or consult for reference. They're more for advanced users who want to learn more about this site and improve their page creation skills, but feel free if you're new to the site and just want to understand it better.
- Featured Archive - A few pages that have been or were once our front page features. They can be useful if you want to read some of our excellent writings and learn from them.
- Yearly Features Hub - Similar to the above, but these are the cream of the crop. These are called yearly features and showcase some of the site’s best writing on an annual basis.
- Top Rated Pages - A simple list of the highest rated pages on our site from the start of this wiki. Some of them are very good reference materials if you want to read some fine writings, but some of them may have a high rating just because they are very old. Use your judgment and evaluate them individually!
- Search the Site - The search feature of our site. Thanks to Crom, we have a much better search tool than the Wikidot default one.
- Tag Search - Another search feature, this time you can search by tags.
- The Hubs Hub - A list of all pages that have the hub tag on the site, sorted into different groups and potentially useful for reference.
- Audio - A component that enables you to add audio clips to your page.
- Ambiance - Another component for audios, but more suitable for pages that you want to have background music.
- Translations - A component that allows you to connect your page with translations on official language branches.
- Rate Bar - An optional component that shows readers the ratio of positive to negative ratings.
- Level Class - A component that assists you in indicating the class of the level you are creating.
- Survival Difficulty Class Guide - A guide to help you use this component better.