Halopedia:Find or fix a stub: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:55, March 18, 2022

This help page explains how to deal with short articles on Halopedia.

A stub is a very short article, generally no longer than a paragraph. Most stubs fail to cover all but the most trivial subjects completely. However, this does not mean the stub is not a legitimate article, it just needs to be expanded.

While most stubs are useful and have the potential to expand into better articles, sometimes they may be confusing or misleading. Depending on the situation, it may be possible to expand a stub, but if the stub fails to meet the notability policy, the article may be subject to deletion or being merged into another article.

The Wiki software can display links to stubs differently if the Threshold for stub display is set higher than 0. For example, 200 can be set to mark articles that are shorter than 200 characters. This makes it easier to find stubs. See Special:Preferences to set the threshold, or Help:User preferences for help on how to set the threshold.

Stub alert!

If a stub is created, please add the following code to the top: {{stub}}. This will make the article display the following text:

This article is a stub. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.

This will encourage other users to expand the article. When the article has been expanded and no longer qualifies as a stub, remove the code. Also put the following in your edit summary:

Expanded article. Help Halopedia by expanding stub articles.

This encourages other users to expand stubs.

Expanding stubs

To expand a stub, references about the topic from various media—e.g. books, magazines, or websites—can be incorporated. Visit external links, if any, within the article or use any search engine such as Google or Yahoo! to find information about the topic.

Lists of stubs

To find a stub, use the following category page: Category:Stubs

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-:''This article is about underdeveloped articles on Halo Wiki.''
+{{Status|Halopedia}}
+:''This help page explains how to deal with short articles on Halopedia.''
-A '''stub''' is a very short article, generally of one paragraph or less.  Most stubs fail to cover all but the most trivial subjects completely. However, this does not mean the stub is not a legitimate article, it just needs to be expanded.
+A '''stub''' is a very short article, generally no longer than a paragraph. Most stubs fail to cover all but the most trivial subjects completely. However, this does not mean the stub is not a legitimate article, it just needs to be expanded.
-Some people take the idea even further and talk about "[[Wikipedia:substubs|substubs]]", referring to extremely short articles that are shorter even than most dictionary entries.  The term implies the information in the stub is insufficient or hard to interpret, e.g., "''An '''airplane''' is a flying machine with wings.''" or ''"'''Douglas Adams''' was a famous author who died in the United States.''" While most stubs are useful and have the potential to expand into better articles, substubs are sometimes confusing or misleading. Depending on the situation, it may be possible to expand substubs, but if the substub provides no definition or context, it may be a [[Halo Wiki:Candidate for Speedy Deletion|Candidate for Speedy Deletion]].
+While most stubs are useful and have the potential to expand into better articles, sometimes they may be confusing or misleading. Depending on the situation, it may be possible to expand a stub, but if the stub fails to meet the [[Halopedia:Notability policy|notability policy]], the article may be subject to deletion or being merged into another article.
-The Wiki software can display links to stubs differently if you set the '''Threshold for stub display''' higher than 0, for example 200 to mark articles shorter than 200 characters. This makes it easy to find/fix (add content to) a stub. See [[Special:Preferences]] to set your threshold, or [[Help:Preferences]] for help on this and other settings.
+The Wiki software can display links to stubs differently if the '''Threshold for stub display''' is set higher than 0. For example, 200 can be set to mark articles that are shorter than 200 characters. This makes it easier to find stubs. See [[Special:Preferences]] to set the threshold, or [[Help:User preferences]] for help on how to set the threshold.
-{{Page fixing tools}}
+==Stub alert!==
+If a stub is created, please add the following code to the top: <code><nowiki>{{stub}}</nowiki></code>. This will make the article display the following text:
-== Stub alert! ==
+:[[File:Misterchief.gif|link=|25px]] ''This article is a stub. You can help Halopedia by <span class="plainlinks">[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit}} expanding it]</span>''.
-If you create a stub, please add the following tag at the end, but before the ''Related Links'' and the ''External Links'' sections: '''<nowiki>{{stub}}</nowiki>'''.  This will make the article display the following text from [[Template:stub]]:
+This will encourage other users to expand the article. When the article has been expanded and no longer qualifies as a stub, remove the code. Also put the following in your edit summary:
-: {{stub}}
+:''Expanded article. Help Halopedia by expanding stub articles.''
-It encourages other users to expand the article.
+This encourages other users to expand stubs.
-(Better yet, see [[Template:Stubs]] for topic-specific stub notices you can use instead of <nowiki>{{stub}}</nowiki>. These will allow those interested in the topic to find your article more readily and expand it.)
+==Expanding stubs==
+To expand a stub, references about the topic from various media—e.g. books, magazines, or websites—can be incorporated. Visit external links, if any, within the article or use any search engine such as [http://www.google.com Google] or [http://www.yahoo.com Yahoo!] to find information about the topic.
-When you've added to the article, and it no longer looks like a stub, remove this message. Also put the following in your edit summary.
-:<nowiki>[[Expanded article]]. Help Wikipedia by expanding stub articles.</nowiki>
-This is to encourage people to expand more stubs.
-== Expanding stubs ==
-To expand a stub, you can incorporate and cite references about the topic in books, magazines, or newspapers; visit external links, if any, within the article; or you can search [http://www.google.com Google] or [http://www.yahoo.com Yahoo!] for information about the topic.
-== Lists of stubs ==
-To find a stub, use the following lists (to see what links to this and similar pages):
-'''[[:Category:Stubs|Stubs sorted by category]]'''
+==Lists of stubs==
+To find a stub, use the following category page: [[:Category:Stubs]]
+{{Halopedia IP}}
 [[Category:Help]]