Help:Overview

Bahaipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia about the Bahá’í Faith, based on the popular wiki software MediaWiki. This page presents a brief overview of Bahaipedia and its features and policies, aimed especially at helping users who are new to MediaWiki to understand how Bahaipedia works.

If you have specific questions about how this website works, please feel free to ask at the Help desk, or check the resources linked at Help:Contents.

Features[edit]

MediaWiki offers many ways to create and organize hypertext content. These include the ability to edit any page, to add images and other media, to separate different kinds of content into namespaces, to assign categories to pages to group them together with other related pages, to create templates in order to duplicate content on many pages, and more. Let's look at a few features of a MediaWiki site that will help us understand how things work on Bahaipedia.

Accounts[edit]

Most MediaWiki features are available whether or not you have an account. You don't have to log in to read or edit Bahaipedia, but it's a good idea to have an account if you want to make regular contributions. There are other benefits to creating an account, including the ability to create new pages and upload images, to review your own contributions and add pages to your watchlist, to personalize the site's appearance, and to keep your IP address private. We recommend regular users create an account, if only to enjoy these features.

To create an account, you must choose a username and password, and optionally, provide your email address, which can enable certain other features such as password reset. Our privacy policy provides details about what kinds of personal information we collect and how it is treated.

Editing and wikitext[edit]

You can edit and change pages on Bahaipedia! To start editing a page, click the Edit this page (or just edit) link. This brings you to the edit page: a page with a text box that's often called the edit box. The edit box shows the page's wikitext (page text with special markup for formatting and linking)—the editable code from which the server produces the finished page. For example, the wikitext for a link to the wiki article might look like this: [[wiki]]. Bahaipedia's edit box also includes an instant preview pane, which lets you see what your changes will look like when submitted.

Before you submit your changes, you can review them by showing a preview of the full page, or by showing changes from the previous version of the page. If you're satisfied with the changes, you can then add an edit summary and submit your changes.

Namespaces[edit]

A namespace is a way to separate encyclopedic content from other types of content. When you read an article about Shoghi Effendi or training institutes or Istanbul, you're reading encyclopedic content. This kind of content is located in the "Main" namespace. Most editors and visitors will spend most of their time there. There are other namespaces for other kinds of content that support the working of the site, like files (File:), categories (Category:), templates (Template:), modules (Module:), and so on. There are also separate namespaces for documentation about the project (Bahaipedia:) and for help (Help:)—that's what you're reading right now.

Every namespace also has an associated "Talk" namespace, where you can discuss pages in that namespace. Pages in a "Talk" namespace are called talk pages. People often post on an article's talk page to discuss how to develop the article or ask questions about it. Each user also has a talk page, where other users can leave messages for them.

Categories[edit]

Bahaipedia pages are sorted into a hierarchy of categories reflecting the topics they cover. All categories on Bahaipedia are contained in a category tree, with its root at Category:Contents. This top-level category contains three sub-categories:

The main category for articles (i.e. encyclopedic content) on Bahaipedia is Category:Topics.
The main category for our taxonomical structure is Category:Categories.
The main category for Bahaipedia-related administration and maintenance files is Category:Bahaipedia administration.

Categories provide another way for you to navigate the site and help you find the information you're looking for. All categories are contained in the Category: namespace.

Templates[edit]

A template is a way of automatically inserting some kind of content into a page. Inserting content in this way is called transclusion. For example, the {{DateToBahai}} template, located at the page Template:DateToBahai, will insert the current date according to the Bahá’í calendar. To transclude it in a page, you could add the following wikitext:

{{DateToBahai}}

Then, when the page is loaded, the server will replace the template's wikitext with its resulting output:

10 ‘Izzat, 182 BE

Although all templates are contained in the Template: namespace, transclusion works with many other types of pages, not just templates.

Citation templates[edit]

One common use of templates is creating citations to sources used in an article. Along with the citation templates that are common on Wikipedia ({{cite web}}, {{cite book}}, and the like), Bahaipedia also offers templates that easily produce citations from a number of commonly cited Bahá’í periodicals and publications. These include The Bahá’í World ({{citebw}}), Bahá’í News ({{citebn}}), Star of the West ({{citesw}}), Lights of Guidance ({{citelog}}), and more.

Citations to periodicals will automatically create a link to the source page (both text and pdf) on bahai.works, as well as display some information like publisher and publication date.

Interface[edit]

See also: Help:Navigation at mediawiki.org

The MediaWiki interface provides a variety of features to help users navigate and discover content, edit pages, and administer the site. This section gives a brief overview of each element in the user interface.

A screenshot of the article on the Universal House of Justice, with annotations.
Click on the image to zoom in.

Navigation[edit]

Main page link: Bahaipedia logo in the top left corner of the page; clicking loads the main page.
Main navigation links: ("Navigation") Important links to help navigate the site.
- Core topics: A list of articles on topics that are important in understanding the Bahá’í Faith and the worldwide Bahá’í community.
- Ask a question: The reference desk of Bahaipedia, where editors answer questions about the Bahá’í Faith and content on Bahaipedia.
- General help: Help on a variety of topics related to Bahaipedia.
Common topics of interest: ("Learn more") Quick links to some of the most common topics of interest.
Interlanguage links: ("Translations") Links to the same article in other languages, when available.
Site search box: ("Search") Provides full-text search. See Bahaipedia:Searching for more information.

Articles and pages[edit]

Title: The title of the current page. Searching for this title will lead directly to this page.
Wikilinks: Part of site navigation; links to other pages that are somehow related to the current one. Clicking loads a new page on the linked topic.
Table of contents (TOC): A list of all the headings and subheadings on the current page.
Footnotes: Numbered links to article footnotes; clicking displays the footnote text, which may contain notes or citations.
Edit this page: Opens editing mode to change content on the current page. See Help:Editing for more information.
Page tools: Other actions that can be done on this page, e.g. view history or discussions, move, delete, etc. Some actions may be unavailable to users who lack appropriate site permissions.

Account[edit]

Site alerts: Important alerts related to the currently logged in account. These include admin actions, reverts, and so on. Not displayed if user is not logged in.
Site notices: Notifications and other messages for the currently logged in account. These include talk page messages, thanks, milestones, and so on. Not displayed if user is not logged in.
Account tools: Links to current user's talk page and user page, and to other special pages such as user preferences, watchlist, and contributions. If the user is logged in, their username is displayed here, and a 'log out' link is included in the list. If not, 'create account' and 'log in' links are included in the list.
- Since it is possible to edit pages while logged out, links to a talk page and contribution list for the current IP address are included in this list when logged out.

Other tools[edit]

What links here: Other pages that link to the current one.
Related changes: Recent changes on pages linked from this one.
Upload file: Upload a file to Bahaipedia. Note that most files should be uploaded to Bahai.media.
Special pages: Lists of other special pages.
Printable version: Prints the current page.
Permanent link: A permanent link to the current version of this page. This allows users to share links to the exact version of the page they are viewing; future changes will not be shown.
Page information: Metadata and statistics about the current page.
Wikibase item: The Bahaidata item linked to this page, if applicable.

Policies[edit]

Article standards[edit]

The overarching purpose of Bahaipedia is to encourage and facilitate the study of the Bahá’í Faith. Our three main policies stem from this purpose, and describe the expected standards for articles, and generally, for all contributions:

Bahaipedia is a gateway, not a destination. It exists to point the way towards Bahá’u’lláh and His revelation, by providing a path to further learning from authoritative sources.

Bahaipedia aims to present a Bahá’í point of view. It strives to express information in a manner consistent with Bahá’í beliefs and principles, in a straightforward and non-editorialized style.

Bahaipedia is based on verifiable information. It presents information that is evidence-based and can be verified from reliable sources.

These three policies complement each other and form the basis for all the work we do. Together with the rest of the guidance stemming from them, they aim to maintain the integrity of the project and ensure its smooth functioning.

Other guidance[edit]

There are certain pieces of guidance that may be especially helpful to new contributors. One is our guide to contributing to Bahaipedia, which gives an introduction to the many different ways you can contribute to the project. Our guide to writing your first article is another. You may also wish to look into a WikiProject if you have specific interests.

New contributors should feel free to be bold when contributing, in the knowledge that other editors will do their best to help them become familiar with site policies. Some important issues that may come up include:

Scope. The scope of Bahaipedia is intentionally restricted, mainly due to chronically limited editor resources. We strive to keep things simple to avoid losing focus and the capacity to collaborate effectively.
Copyrights. All information on Bahaipedia should be original. Any material that is copied from elsewhere without being properly licensed (i.e. in the public domain) is likely to be removed.
Citations. Statements should be cited as much as possible, to ensure verifiability and to avoid any potential disputes over veracity.
Style. Bahaipedia recommends certain elements of style that may differ in some ways to other projects. If you are familiar with other wikis such as Wikipedia, you should review our Manual of Style to make sure you are aware of these.