General questions
What is the Vampire Diaries Wiki?
- The Vampire Diaries Wiki is a free content, freely editable online encyclopedia about everything 'The Vampire Diaries' related. This includes the novels, comics and spin-offs, The Originals and Legacies
Who owns the Vampire Diaries Wiki?
- The Vampire Diaries Wiki is hosted on FANDOM servers in the United States.
When and why was the Vampire Diaries Wiki created?
- The Vampire Diaries Wiki was initially founded by Smartgirl56, on July 24 2009, as a project that would provide a more complete coverage of Vampire Diaries than Wikipedia was allowed to by its notability policies.
Who is responsible for the Vampire Diaries Wiki content?
- You are! In fact, you can edit this very FAQ! However, note that since the Vampire Diaries Wiki is an unofficial, community-driven project, edited by hundreds of people unfamiliar with each other, we cannot possibly guarantee (and explicitly disclaim) any degree of accuracy and validity, although we do strive for both accuracy and verifiability; this means that everyone should be able to verify the facts mentioned in every article.
- You can find who contributed to a particular article by looking at its edit history.
What keeps the Vampire Diaries Wiki from being destroyed?
- Every Vampire Diaries Wiki article contains an edit history (accessible from the "history" tab by default), which records all edits to the article since it was created. In case someone makes a bad edit (intentionally or not) by vandalizing the article or inserting non-canon information, anyone can revert (restore) the article to an earlier, better revision.
How can I contact the project?
- The Community Portal is the general place to ask questions about the Vampire Diaries Wikia or give feedback, although if it by its very nature only concerns the administrators, try contacting the Administrators instead through their talk pages.
Legal questions
Is the Vampire Diaries Wiki copyrighted?
- No, content is not copyrighted. Content submitted to The Vampire Diaries Wiki is licensed under CC-BY-SA, meaning it can be freely copied, modified, and redistributed as long as the license remains. Users copying content must also attribute as per FANDOM ToU.
Can I use the Vampire Diaries Wiki content on my site/elsewhere?
- Yes! Most of our images are copyrighted by The CW and used under the fair use clause for identification purposes, and using them for other purposes or in countries where fair use conditions do not apply may be illegal.
Technical questions
Do I have to register?
- While registration is optional, it is strongly recommended. You can view and edit pages as an anonymous user, but registration hides your IP address and gives you the ability to upload files, move (rename) pages, and edit semi-protected articles.
- Most importantly, registration gives you an identity and makes you a full-fledged member of The Vampire Diaries Wiki community. After you register and make your first edit, another user will usually greet you on your talk page and give links to some useful information pages. Registration is the first step in earning reputation and respect, and who knows, maybe one day you will be nominated for an administrative position!
What are namespaces?
- Namespaces are large "storages" that group pages according to their function. Placing a page in a namespace causes the MediaWiki software to treat it in a special way. For example, this page is in the "LOST" namespace, according to its prefix (The Vampire Diaries Wiki:FAQ).
Special pages- are pages who are generated by scripts on the fly, rather than being stored in the database)
Namespace | Talk namespace | Function |
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(default; no prefix) | Talk: | Articles: what we produce, and what a casual reader expects from an encyclopedia |
Special: | (N/A) | Special pages: pages whose content is controlled by scripts, like statistics generated on the fly and control panels allowing users to perform certain actions like moving pages and editing preferences |
User: | User talk: | User pages, where users can post their personal information if they so desire |
Image: | Image talk: | Files (mostly images, but occasionally audio and video files) used on other pages |
MediaWiki: | MediaWiki talk: | Messages and scripts providing a customizable look and feel, only editable by administrators |
Template: | Template talk: | Templates: short, parameterized messages that can be included (transcluded) on other pages to avoid repetition |
Help: | Help talk: | Pages providing help for new users |
Category: | Category talk: | Categories: groups of articles, images, templates or project pages by their content |
Editing questions
- See also The Vampire Diaries Wiki:Editing FAQ
What is the difference between red, blue and light blue links?
- Light Orange links point to existing pages (like The Vampire Diaries Wiki), red links point to nonexistent pages, and light orange links are either external or interwiki links: in short, links that are supposed to point outside the Vampire Diaries.
Where can I discuss pages?
- At the bottom of every page in the comments or Discussions
Somebody reverted my edits, what should I do?
- Generally, not revert to your version in turn. This can start a revert war (also known as edit war), which is seen as disruptive because it prevents other contributors from improving the same article. Instead, question yourself whether the revert was justified, look at the edit history for the reason given, and try to settle the case on the talk page.
What is a minor edit?
- A minor edit is an edit that it is so non-noteworthy that users monitoring the article can usually skip it. Examples are spelling and grammar corrections, corrections of formatting, and template usage. Addition and omission of content, as well as factual corrections, are not minor edits and should not be marked as such.
- If you accidentally marked a non-minor edit as a minor one, make a dummy edit (an edit that affects the source wikitext but not the output, like changing one space to two or vice versa), mark it as non-minor, and explain the problem.
What is a semi-protected page?
- Semi-protected pages are pages that can only be edited by registered users that have been registered for 4 days or longer. It is done to prevent pages from being vandalized by anonymous or very new users. Like full protection, it is only used in extreme cases. If full protection is a last resort measure, semi-protection can be thought of a "penultimate resort".
Is Fanfiction Allowed?
- Fanfiction is not allowed on the wiki, user and user subpages, or blogs. Fanfiction will be removed.
Community/political questions
Can I become an administrator?
- Administrators hold much power, but also have much responsibility. There are a number of prerequisites for becoming an administrator, and whether or not a nomination succeeds largely depends on what other users think of you.
See also
The Vampire Diaries Universe Wiki Help and Rules
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"I don't break Marcel's rules." Admins • Audio and Music • Badges • Blocking Policy • Canonicity Guide • Categories • Citing sources • Chat/Discord • Discussions FAQs • Discussions Policy • Editing FAQs • General FAQs • Manual of Style • Media • Spoilers • Spelling • Support • Userboxes |