When editing an article on WWWiki there is a small field labeled "Summary" under the main edit box.
The text written here, up to 200 characters, will appear in italics on the Recent changes page and in the page revision history (see also below). You should write a short summary of the changes you have introduced into the article. In addition (or alternatively), the summary field could explain why the change to the article was made, in order to allay the concerns of other contributors (in the case of potentially controversial or confusing edits). Longer explanations should go on the talk pages.
Always fill the summary is one of WWWiki guidelines. In the day-to-day operations, with a dozen (or hopefully more!) people all making changes at various times, it's better to have some summary of the changes rather than no summary at all. The summary can help people decide whether they should go read all of the changes that were made in your edit, or whether it's not important enough. (This would be in addition to the "minor edit" feature. See also Help: Editing.)
Added the link name of other article (maybe a bit of text too); this is especially useful if the link is to a new article, to draw people's attention to that, for people who keep track of pages on their watchlist, but not systematically of all new pages.
rv
Reverted a previous edit (this short summary is sufficient only in the case of an obvious error or obvious vandalism)
see Talk
An explanation/discussion of this edit is on the article's talk page.
rm or remove
Additions and removals are also sometimes abbreviated as "+" and "-" (e.g. "+official website link")
dup
Duplication, e.g. "-dup" or "rm dup"
disambig
Disambiguating a wiki link. (e.g. changing [[PDF]] to [[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
ft
What follows gives the full added text, it does not make sense to open the article unless you want to see the text in context or want to make another edit.
cm
A comment was added to this page. This is most commonly used on talk pages.
Avoid "-" (single hyphen) as separation sign, it gives confusion with the meaning "remove".
When starting a new thread on a Talk page, optionally the "Post a comment" feature can be used. Then the edit summary is automatically the same as the new section header.
When uploading an image, you can add an upload summary (see Image description page). If the upload is the first for a specific file name (i.e. it's creating a new Image: page), then the upload summary will also serve as the image description until it is edited. In all cases, the upload summary will be applied to the individual images that are uploaded.
An HTML term for code that lets you link to a specific point in a page, using the "#" character. You can use them to link to a section of a page.
B
Blanking
Removing all content from a page. Newcomers often do this accidentally. On the other hand, if blanking an article is done in bad faith, it is vandalism. If blanking is done to a vandalized brand-new page, it is maintenance, and the page should be deleted by an admin.
Block
The act of removing the ability to edit from a certain user or IP address on a single community, usually done by an administrator against users or IP addresses causing vandalism.
Boilerplate text
A standard message which can be added to an article using a template.
Broken link
Also used: edit link, red link.
A link to a nonexistent page, usually colored red. List of such links can be found on Special:WantedPages.
Broken redirect
Redirect to a non-existent page. These are listed at Special:BrokenRedirects and should usually be removed or redirected.
Bureaucrat
A user who can promote and demote other users to the positions of rollback, content mod and admin, and promote to bureaucrat. Sometimes just called "crat".
A chat ban is a set interval of time a user is not allowed to enter a community's chat room. Chat bans can be initiated by users with appropriate user rights (most likely chat moderators and administrators/bureaucrats). Chat bans do not effect the person's ability to edit the wiki, however, a block does prevent users from entering chat.
Moving a page by taking the text of the page, and copying it into the edit window for a second page. Generally considered worse than the 'move page' option, because it causes the page and its edit history to be in different places. Cut and paste moves can be fixed by administrators.
To remove (de-link) a wikification of an article. This can be done to remove selflinks or excessive common-noun Wikification.
Diff
The difference between two versions of a page, as displayed using the Page history feature, or from recent changes. The versions to compare are encoded in the URL, so you can make a link by copying and pasting it - for instance when discussing a specific change to an article.
A redirect which leads to another redirect. Counter-intuitively, this will not bring one to the final destination, so it needs to be eliminated by linking directly to the final target page. Listed at Special:DoubleRedirects.
Dupe
Short for a duplicate article. Often used when identifying a duplicate page that needs to be merged with another.
E
Edit conflict
Two or more parties both attempt to save different edits to the same page at the same time. Usually, if this happens, you will be asked to re-do your edit into a newly modified page.
The contents of the "Edit Summary:" field on the "Edit this page" page.
Edit war
Also used: revert war.
Two or more parties repeatedly making their preferred changes to a page, and undoing the changes they do not agree with. An edit war should be stopped, and the disagreement resolved on a talk page.
External link
Also used: ext. ln, ext lk, or extlink.
A link to a website outside of Fandom. The alternatives are an internal link within the same community site, and an interwiki link to a different community.
A guideline is a recommended best practice for doing something on a wiki, usually having to do with page creation or layout, but can be about almost anything (chat language, images, signatures, templates, etc.). It usually is less strictly enforced than a policy.
H
History
Also called: page history
All previous versions of an article, from its creation to its current state.
A link pointing to another page within the same site created (in the source editor) by using the wikitext markup double square-brackets "[[" and "]]". These links usually show up as blue if they are working, and red if they are broken. Note that they do not have the arrow symbol characteristic of an external link.
Infobox
An infobox is a standard template used on mainspace pages. Infoboxes have "fields", with each field denoting a different piece of information based on parameters set in the template. An example is for a television show, episode pages may rely on an infobox specifically for episodes, and will include information such as episode, season, and director.
A link to a different community's site on Fandom. Usually links a word or name to a page covering the topic in depth on another site. Also seen at the bottom of pages when the page is available in different languages.
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g. computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.
The software that powers Fandom, and a namespace. Originally developed for Wikipedia, and now one of the most frequently used platforms for hosting wikis.
Taking the text of two pages, and combining them into a single page. Also used for the combination of two community sites.
Mirror
A website other than Fandom that uses content original to Fandom as a source for at least some of its content. This is allowed under CC-BY-SA, provided that attribution is intact.
Moderator
A user who has special rights over management of a certain type of content. The most common types are Chat Moderators (manage chat content and users), Content Moderators (manage wiki content like pages and files), and Discussions Moderators (manage mobile Discussion threads and users). See Special:ListGroupRights for the rights and types of moderators.
N
Namespace
A way to classify pages. Fandom has namespaces for the main content, pages about the project (which on many wikis will be in the main namespace), user pages (User:), special pages (Special:), MediaWiki pages (MediaWiki:) and talk pages (Talk:, Wikipedia talk:, and User talk:), and more.
A navigation box used on mainspace articles that allows the user to quickly navigate from one page to another. Most often put at the bottom of an article.
"Neutral Point of View", or the agreement to report subjective opinions objectively, so as not to cause edit wars between opposing sides. As a verb, to remove biased statements or slanted phrasing. As an adjective, it indicates that an article fits this idea of neutrality. Commonly used at Wikipedia, where NPOV is a primary policy, it is also a local policy on many Fandom communities.
A null edit occurs when an editor opens the edit window of a document then re-saves the page without having made any text changes. This is sometimes done as a lazy way to purge – such as to update the functioning of templates (which require articles containing them to be edited for any changes to take effect). Moreover, a null edit can more quickly populate the page into a new category. The term also applies to making a slight, non-substantive change (e.g. removing an unneeded blank line or adding one) to get the article history to register a change, for the purpose of leaving an edit summary that responds to a previous one.
A link where the displayed text is not the name of the target article. Such links are created (in the source editor) using the pipe character "|" e.g. [[Target article|Displayed text]]. The pipe trick is a software feature that generates the displayed text for you in certain circumstances.
A policy is a wiki rule, usually having to do with page creation or layout, but can be about almost anything (images, signatures, templates, etc.). It is usually strictly enforced and tends to have stronger consequences than not following a guideline.
POV
Point of view. Often used negatively as an adjective to indicate bias, as in "That reply was POV, not neutral".
The project namespace is a namespace dedicated to providing information about a wiki. At Wikipedia, this is used to separate policies from encyclopedia articles. It is less commonly used at Fandom.
Protected page
A page that cannot be edited by all users. A page can be protected against anonymous users and new accounts, or against all users except admins. Often this is done to protect against frequent vandalism or to cool down an edit war.
References are external sources used to confirm information. A link can become a reference by placing the <ref></ref> tags around it. A list of references can be added to the page by adding <references/> under the appropriate header.
A sandbox is a page that users may edit however they want. This is for users to experiment and gain familiarity with Wiki markup.
Section editing
Using the 'edit' links to the right of the page, one can get an edit window containing only part of the page, making it easier to find the exact spot where one wants to edit. Javascript is needed for section editing. You can turn section editing off in your preferences under the "Enable section editing via [edit] links" option.
Self-link
A Wikilink contained in an article that points the reader to that same article, e.g. linking Help:Contents in the article "Help:Contents". Such links are automatically displayed as strongly emphasized text rather than links, but the more complex case of a link which redirects to the same article is not, and should be de-wikified.
Skin
The site's overall layout and appearance. All wikis display in the Oasis skin by default. Customizations to the colors and other details can be made in a personal CSS file, or, as an admin, by using Special:ThemeDesigner.
Another user account created secretly by an existing user of the site, often to manufacture the illusion of support in a vote or argument, or to avoid a block.
A very short article or page that essentially points the reader in the direction of another page. Used in cases where a normal redirect is inappropriate for various reasons (e.g. it is a cross-wiki redirect).
An article usually consisting of one short paragraph or less. It can also be an article that may contain a certain amount of information, but one or more sections are incomplete. In short terms, a stub is an incomplete article. A {{stub}} template is often added to mark intended content and invite others to add to the page.
Sub-stub
A very short stub. For example, an article that is no more than a simple definition ("An airplane is a type of winged flying vehicle").
Subpage
A page connected to a parent page. You can only create subpages in certain namespaces. For example, a parent page can have the name "Parent article", and a subpage can have the name "Child page" with a slash (/) before it, so the subpage would actually be called "Parent article/Child page".
A page reserved for discussion. Many pages within Fandom (except talk pages themselves) have talk pages attached to them, though some communities use article comments on article pages, which replace talk pages.
A way of automatically including the contents of one page within another page, used for boilerplate text, navigational aids, etc. Templates on Community Central can be used on any other Fandom wiki (see Help:Shared templates for details).
A test case page is one that is a subpage of a template where the parameters of the template are tested. It is sometimes used in conjunction with a sandbox. The common subpage name for these pages is /testcases.
A user who incites or engages in disruptive behavior (trolling), with intent to be disruptive. For example, a troll would intend to vandalize a few articles in a wiki, and then eventually get blocked.
A misspelling of "typo". Used as an edit summary when ironically correcting typos.
U
Un-wiki
Going against the basic concept of a wiki. Usually saying that something is un-wiki means that it makes editing more difficult or impossible. For example, an administrator or two would create a large amount of rules for editing, or just protect most, if not all pages to prevent edits from most users.
User
A contributor to a Fandom project.
Userboxes
A small colored box which allows users to add small messages on their user page. Most people use this to share facts about themselves, such as their interests, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. Some userboxes can also have images.
For more information about userboxes, check out the userbox template on Templates Wiki.
User page
A personal page for editors at Fandom. Most people use their pages to introduce themselves and to keep various personal notes and lists. They are also used to communicate with other users via the Message Wall or user talk page.
A kind of bot being used for vandalism or spamming. Recognizable by the fact that one or a few IP-addresses make many similar clearly vandalistic edits in a short time.
Deliberate defacement of pages on a community with the intent to be disruptive. This can be by deleting text or publishing nonsense, bad language, etc. The term is often incorrectly used to discredit the views of an opponent in edit wars.
VisualEditor
An editor feature that provides an interface that reflects how articles will look when published.
To format using wiki markup (as opposed to plain text or HTML) and add internal links to material, integrating it into the wiki. Noun: Wikification. Sometimes abbreviated wfy.
Wikilink
A link to another page on the same Fandom community, as opposed to an external link.
Wiki Manager
Part-time staff member assigned to specific wikis to provide support and help them grow and thrive, as well as serving as a liaison with a direct line of contact to full-time staff.
Code like HTML, but simplified and more convenient, for example '''bold''' instead of <b>bold</b>. It is the source code stored in the database and shown in the editor in source mode. Searching by the MediaWiki software is done in the wikitext, as opposed to searching by Google, which is done in the visible text. The size of a page is the size of the wikitext.
Properly Wikimedia Foundation Inc., the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia and other projects. Wikimedia is not affiliated with Fandom. The name is often confused with MediaWiki.
Wikipedia
A project run by Wikimedia to create a free content encyclopedia using wiki software.
Wikistress
Personal stress or tension induced by editing wikis, or more often by being involved in a conflict with another editor.
Edit