To start with a Wiki is a fully editable gathering of information (in this case HookahForum). The information gathered on the Wiki site can be edited and updated by anybody. For more information, see the Wikipedia page on wiki software.

If you go into a subsection of the site for (example 'popular styles') and find that there is a main heading that is in red (for example 'natural'), it means that nobody has added any content in this section. To add your own content to the section click on the link and it will come up with a text box for you to enter the information that you know about the subject.

If you find a subject that has information that you could add to or correct, look just below the information and click the edit link, there you will be taken once again to the text box in which you can edit the content.

You can basically go to any area and edit it by clicking the edit button and editing it in the text box.

If you reach and area by mistake and feel that you have nothing to add or adjust with the content, then you can 'click your browser's back button.'

How add articles

To add an article, search for the name of the article you wish to add - it may exist already. If it does not, you will be presented with the option to add the page.

Alternatively, you may create a new page by linking text in an existing article. To do this add square brackets around the text you want to make into a link, as so [[New article name]]. After saving the page, you will then be able to click the link you just made (in this instance the link will be New article name) and add information to the new page.

Please make sure you have read the article style section below before creating an article.

How to edit articles

To edit an article simply find the article you want to edit and click the Edit icon at the bottom. From there you can edit the article as you wish. Changes you make to the article become live as soon as you press 'Save page'. For this reason it is recommended you preview your changes before saving.

Please make sure you have read the article style section below before editing an article.

If you want to experiment with the wiki code and see how things work, have a go at editing on the sandbox page. This is a page dedicated to letting people play around without affecting the main site.

Some simple formatting:

• Line Breaks - To end a line use
  . To Create a spece between paragraphs use
  
  etc....
• Italics - to place text in italics, surround the text with '' - for example, this: ''text'' yields this: text.
• Bold - to make something bold, surround the text with ''' - for example, this: '''text''' yields this: text.
• Page headings - several layers of page headings can be achieved. If there are enough present, they will be automatically added to a table of contents.
  • The most important headings are created by surrounding the text with ==. For example: ==Heading==.
  • Subsequent lower headings are created by increasing the number of = either side. For example ===Heading 2===, ====Heading 3====.
• Bullet points - bullet points are created by sticking a * at the start of a line. For example this line begins: *'''Bullet points'''.
  • Subsequent layers of bullet points are created by adding another * at the beginning. For example this line has ** at the start.

Redirecting

If you come across a page that needs to be redirected to another (for example redirecting backhopping to backhop) just stick #REDIRECT [[Page name]] in as the only text in the article.

Article style

Please endeavour to use British English spellings. This is not a major issue for article text, but unfortunately when it comes to the naming of articles there does need to be one 'correct' spelling otherwise we end up with multiple articles for the same thing.

Examples:

• Disc, not Disk
• Colour, not color
• Aluminium, not aluminum

Third person

Articles on a wiki are written in the third person, in a formal and objective style. This means that one never writes as though it is their article, one doesn't use "I" or refer to themselves. Some examples of using the third person:

• First person: "I decided that..."
• Third person: "It was decided that..."

• First person: "I think that..."
• Third person: "Some think that..."

Also note that 'smilies' should not be used in articles.

Bias & opinion

Articles on the wiki must be written without bias or opinion, as they do not reflect only one person's views. This prevents disputes and aims to give a more objective, fact-based stance.

Article title capitalisation

Unless the article name is a proper noun, only the first word should have a capital letter. For example, this page was initially called "How To Use The Wiki" before it was moved to "How to use the wiki". Examples of when words other than the first should be capitalised would be "Chain Reaction Cycles" or "John Major".

This is important because the wiki software treats article titles as case-sensitive.

Adhering to this capitalisation policy will ensure that linking is consistent and people aren't creating new articles when the same article already exists, just under an incorrectly capitalised name.

Spell checking & grammar

When editing the wiki, one should try to ensure that all saved spelling and grammar is correct. If in doubt, use Microsoft Word to run a spell check on the text.

When creating new articles it is imperative to get the spelling right. This is because articles with misspelled names will result in people not being able to find what they're looking for, links to the article not working and effort for other users correcting the mistake.

Images

Only post images that you have the rights to.

Images can be posted using BBCode. This means that to post an image, you'll first need to upload it to a host such as ImageShack. Then get the linking code they provide (the direct link) and insert it between image tags: [img]Image URL goes here[/img].

Copyright

Only material that consists of your own words and understanding should be posted into the Wiki, anybody else's information can only be used with their permission. This includes copyrighted material which MUST NOT be posted without the copyright holder's permission.

Discussion

Article discussion

Wiki articles are not a place for discussion - they are treated as editable static pages, and discussion only serves to make them messy. Should you want to discuss the content of an article, click on the 'discussion' tab and this will take you to the article's discussion page where thoughts and ideas can be shared.

User talk pages

If you wish to address a specific user, you can use their talk page. You can find a user's talk page by searching for their name, then checking the 'user talk' box at the bottom of the search page. You'll then get a link to their talk page which you can edit like any other.

Signing

When you post on a discussion page or a user talk page, you'll want people to know who wrote it and when. This is made easy by the wiki signing function, which is done using four tildes: ~~~~. This will result in your name, a link to your user page and the time being inserted, like so: Anjow 14:48, 14 May 2007 (BST).