Witchipedia is a public project so anyone with access to the editor can edit and update any of the pages on the site. This is not the place to write a masterpiece and you will not be given a lot of specific credit for individual articles. The last few articles you have contributed to will automatically list on your profile page and you may sign your articles if you like, but be aware that they will probably be edited by someone else at some point.

If you would like access to the editor, please email moc.oohay|aidepihctiw#moc.oohay|aidepihctiw after you have read this document in its entirety.

What is Open and What is Restricted

Anyone who has an ID on this site may post a comment on any page (look for the comment link on the bottom) if you have a question about any article or wish to add to it or issue a correction, you can use the comment section at the bottom to do so. We hope to foster lively per page discussions here.

Every member of the Witchipedia has free access to the forums, (EDIT: Forums still exist, but the general link has been removed because only spammers are using them and I can't spend an hour every morning cleaning up spam. I just can't. I will figure something out and fix them eventually.) and can post a question or answer in the Ask a Witch section and contribute to the Spells or How-to sections.

All other articles are subject to the terms of the Writer's Guidelines and so only those with special access can write in them. All you have to do to get this access is send an email to moc.oohay|aidepihctiw#moc.oohay|aidepihctiw that says "I have read the writer's guidelines and quality-standards and I agree to abide by them. Here is my Witchipedia Profile ID. Please give me access." (feel free to elaborate) As soon as I read this email, I will add the "moderator" permission to your ID and you're good to go. I am also available to help you learn to use the editor if you need assistance there.

This process exists only to prevent spam and to give me the power to boot writers who are abusing the privilege without banning them from the site. I hate banning people, but not as much as I hate sites cluttered with low quality content.

What We're Looking For

The Witchipedia is an online encyclopedia of Witchcraft, occult, magick and Pagan information. Anything that can fall into this general realm of interest, however loosely, is welcome. Articles should be informational and specific to the topic, which is also the title and link to the article. Bloglike articles, and opinion articles, etc. are not appropriate for Witchipedia articles. However, you may find a place for them in our Forums and in the comment sections of existing articles.

Before you begin, please browse the Witchipedia and look at some of our articles so that you can try to match your style to ours. It doesn't have to be a perfect match, but it is nice to have some sense of continuity between articles.

You should also be prepared to write supporting articles for your article.

We are looking for quality articles that are complete, credible and informational. Quality is more important than quantity.

A Collaborative Project

The beauty of the format we have chosen for this project is that it has the potential to be the result of the work of many. This means that any article has the potential to be the synergistic effort of dozens of minds all looking at the same topic from a different angle and from different frames of reference. No one person is an expert on all aspects of any subject, especially in the magical community where every tradition has its own way (or several different ways) of doing things and looking at things. If you're going to post an article on the Witchipedia you must accept and expect that other people are going to mess with it. Sometimes these edits are not improvements. Sometimes an unpleasant person jumps on here and makes a mess just to be mean. That is all part of the open source experience. Don't worry, we can recover your work if this happens.

We do ask that everyone who takes part in this project follow the guidelines and policies and play nice with everyone else. Without rules, a project can quickly fall into chaos. Please review our quality standards as well as the rest of the writers' guidelines.

Spam

Spam is excessive advertising or posting of irrelevant links. Spammers will be warned and then banned.

Repeated posting of articles that do not meet our Writers' Guidelines and quality standards can also be considered spam. Those who engage in this behavior will have their writing privileges revoked.

Trolling

Trolling is deliberately posting inflammatory content with the intention of provoking a defensive response from the community. Trolls can spark interesting discussion and exploration but for the most part they are simply annoying. Trolls with writing privileges will have them revoked regardless of which category they fall into. Individuals who engage in personal attacks and hateful speech will be banned without warning. Those who are simply disruptive will receive a warning first.

Editing Existing Pages

While you may edit any site on the page, we ask that you do it respectfully. Correct grammar and spelling, add some additional information, etc. Total rewrites are rarely necessary. Fact-checking, adding additional resources and information, photos, etc. is always appreciated. Adding pictures is nice, provided the correct attributions are given and existing pictures are left alone. If you feel that a page needs to be completely rewritten, contact the admin at moc.oohay|aidepihctiw#moc.oohay|aidepihctiw before you proceed. If in doubt, you can just put your additional thoughts or challenges in the comments at the bottom of the page for discussion.

Within a few days of posting your article, our editor The Red Pencil will go over it carefully, smooth out the grammar and spelling, mess with navigation settings, add links, etc. She may also add some information or take out some things that don't meet our standards of quality. Whenever someone else edits your work, she will pop in again to make sure it still looks okay and fix whatever needs fixing.

Attributions

Whenever another source is used for information, the source should be added to the bottom of the page under a heading entitled "Additional Reading". Quotes must be attributed in a footnote attached to the actual quote with the name of the person, the name of the publication and, preferably, the page number.

Image attributions can also take the form of footnotes which should include the name of the owner of the image, a link to their webpage if applicable and the creative commons license under which the image is released, with a link to that license. If the image is public domain, the footnote should state that instead. If the image was found on the web, it must be linked to the original webpage on which the image exists. If you are using your own images you must still follow these guidelines, it is easiest if you upload your images to Flickr first, as Wikidot makes it super easy to add linked flickr images by just using the code below where #### is the number assigned by flickr to the image:

[[image flickr:#####]]

Each image on flickr also has a link to the license it uses, which makes it super convenient to find it and link to it in the image's accompanying footnote on the Witchipedia.

When using other image-hosting sites, look for an "embed" feature. These usually contain all the necessary attribution information (but please verify that it does). You can use the following code to embed images from these sites:

[[html]]
paste the embed code here
[[/html]]

Advertising

You are welcome to include links to other websites, products, etc., even affiliate links, if the links can reasonably be said to enhance the usefulness of the article to the reader. For example if you were doing an article on a person and they wrote several books you could include Amazon affiliate links to the books they had written. Or if you have a website that has further information about something you are writing an article about, you can link to your website. (For example, if you sell astrology reports on your website and you are writing an article about sun signs, this would be an appropriate link. It may not be an appropriate link from a page about Jupiter, however.) Likewise, if you come across any website or product that you believe someone reading a particular article would find useful, please include it in the article, provided it meets with our standards of decency. see quality standards

You may also advertise whatever you wish on your profile page. It's your profile. Go nuts. (PLEASE NOTE: Profiles are currently under construction. They'll be pretty again soon.)

We also encourage you to use our sister site http://www.witchlist.net to advertise your websites, products, services and events.

What to Write

Some writers choose to take over a "section" of the site. If you are interested in doing this we can set you up. For examples of "sections" that one person is in charge of check out http://www.witchipedia.com/main:herblore or http://www.witchipedia.com/main:crystal-lore. You will be responsible for populating the section with related articles and editing articles submitted by other people that can be said to fit in your section. It is important to note that even if you are in charge of a section, anyone else with editing access can still edit it.

We are currently seeking individuals to populate the following topics with content:

  • Numerology
  • Tarot (And other forms of cartomancy)
  • Astrology
  • Overviews of different Magickal traditions
  • Famous Magic-users in History
  • Important Events in Magical History
  • Runes
  • Various Cultural Traditions (i.e. Hellenic, Roman, Celtic, etc.)

Organization

Pages on the Witchipedia is organized in a variety of ways in an effort to make information as accessible as possible. This is done using "Parent Pages", "Tags" and "Categories". Check out Site Organization to learn more about them but don't confuse yourself. If you just click on a link to a wanted article, everything should sort itself out. If it doesn't, our editor can fix it.

Getting Started

If you are familiar with Wikidot and its wiki syntax and are confident in your ability to write an informative article on a topic you are knowledgeable about, you are encouraged to go ahead and jump right in. If you're feeling hesitant, don't know where to begin or are unfamiliar with the system, please create a profile on this webpage and then send an email to moc.oohay|aidepihctiw#moc.oohay|aidepihctiw letting us know what's on your mind. We will walk you through your first article and help you out in any way you need.

You can learn a great deal about how the editor works and how to use the wiki syntax to make your pages more interesting at http://www.wikidot.com/doc:wiki-syntax and http://www.wikidot.com/doc:quick-reference

If you have any questions at all, please contact us at moc.oohay|aidepihctiw#moc.oohay|aidepihctiw.

Revoking of Writing Privileges

We reserve the right to revoke writing privileges with or without warning for any violation of the writer's guidelines or quality standards. In most cases, you will receive a private message requesting that you address the problem we have identified. In cases of plagiarism, spamming and trolling, we may not contact you first as removing such material is priority and we will not be able to wait for your reply in any case.

You may appeal the decision and your writing privileges may be returned to you after you have addressed the problem which resulted in your privileges being revoked. We realize that sometimes it's just a matter of misunderstanding. You may be required to review policies and laws and/or edit an article so that it is in compliance. If your privileges are revoked a second time, you are not likely to get them back. At that point, you are more work than you are worth.

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