Help:Editing WikiPaintball

Editing WikiPaintball explains how to create, update and improve articles on WikiPaintball.

WikiPaintball is a collaborative encyclopaedia documenting the history of paintball, including players, teams, tournaments, equipment, manufacturers, playing fields, organisations and culture.

Anyone with relevant knowledge or research can contribute. All contributions must follow WikiPaintball:Editorial standards.

Getting started

To edit an article:

Create an account or log in to WikiPaintball.
Open the article you want to improve.
Select Edit or Edit source, depending on the available editing options.
Make your changes.
Preview the article and check for errors.
Enter a short edit summary explaining what changed.
Save your changes.

You can also use View history to examine previous edits or restore information that was changed incorrectly.

New contributors are encouraged to begin by correcting errors, adding references or improving existing articles.

Before editing

Before making substantial changes:

Read the existing article and its references.
Check that new information is accurate and supported by reliable sources.
Search for related articles to avoid duplication.
Follow Help:Naming conventions when creating or renaming pages.
Preserve accurate information already present in the article.

Do not add speculation, promotional statements, personal opinions or information unrelated to paintball.

Creating a new article

Before creating a page, search WikiPaintball for the subject's name, alternative spellings and former names.

New articles must have a clear connection to paintball and sufficient verifiable information to establish the subject.

Use the established naming conventions:

YEAR Event Name for individual tournaments.
Team Name (Country paintball team) for competitive teams.
Country national paintball team for national representative teams.
Established names for people, equipment, manufacturers, fields and organisations.

See Help:Naming conventions for exceptions and further guidance.

To create an article, search for the proposed title. If the page does not exist and you have permission to create it, follow the link to create the page.

Begin with a short introduction identifying the subject and its connection to paintball.

Add only sections supported by available information.

Basic formatting

WikiPaintball uses MediaWiki formatting, also called wikitext.

Headings

Use equals signs to create headings.

== History ==

=== Early years ===

== Tournament results ==

== References ==

Bold and italic text

Use three apostrophes for bold text and two for italic text.

'''Bold text'''

''Italic text''

The subject's name should normally be bold in the opening sentence.

Internal links

Use double square brackets to link to other WikiPaintball articles.

[[Paintball]]

[[San Diego Dynasty]]

To display different text from the article title:

[[San Diego Dynasty|Dynasty]]

Link relevant subjects naturally. Do not link every repeated mention of the same subject.

Lists

Use an asterisk for bullet points and a hash symbol for numbered lists.

* First item
* Second item

# First step
# Second step

Tables

Tables can be useful for tournament results, player rosters and equipment specifications.

Only include information supported by reliable sources.

Do not create tables containing guessed dates, incomplete results presented as final standings or unverified team memberships.

Adding references

WikiPaintball uses manually numbered references.

Citations appear in the article text as [1], [2], [3] and so on.

Each citation must correspond to a source listed under the References heading.

Example formatting:

The team competed in the tournament.[1]

== References ==

# [URL Source title]

Replace the example URL and title with a genuine, verified source.

References must:

Support the specific claims being made.
Be numbered in the order they first appear.
Reuse the same number when citing the same source again.
Include source titles, publication dates and authors where available.
Link directly to the relevant material rather than a general website homepage.
Include archived links where useful.

Do not use citation templates, automatic reference lists or <ref> tags.

Preferred sources include official tournament records, contemporary paintball publications, manufacturer documentation, archived websites and original historical records.

Social media posts and personal recollections may be useful but must be assessed carefully.

Never invent references or cite sources that do not support the relevant statements.

For detailed guidance, see WikiPaintball:Sources and references.

Writing style

Articles should use neutral, concise, encyclopaedic language.

Use British English.
Write in the third person.
Use day-month-year dates.
Present historical information chronologically where appropriate.
Avoid promotional language and unsupported claims of historical significance.
Keep articles focused on their specific subjects.
Do not add unnecessary background information simply to make an article longer.

A short, well-sourced article is preferable to a lengthy article containing unsupported claims.

Historical accuracy

Do not confuse the earliest surviving record with a confirmed founding or release date.

For example:

A team's first documented tournament appearance does not establish when it was founded.
Missing tournament records do not prove that a team stopped competing.
An inactive website does not establish that a business closed.
Players appearing together do not necessarily establish that their teams were related.
A preliminary tournament result should not be presented as a final result.

When evidence is unavailable, omit the claim rather than speculate.

Adding photographs

WikiPaintball does not accept direct image uploads.

Contributors should use appropriately licensed photographs hosted by third-party services, preferably Wikimedia Commons.

Acceptable material includes photographs released under suitable free licences, including CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0 and verified public-domain works.

Before using a photograph:

Establish who owns the copyright.
Confirm that the licence permits reuse.
Follow any attribution and licence conditions.
Check that the photograph accurately depicts the subject.
Link or embed the image from Wikimedia Commons where supported.

Do not copy photographs from websites, Facebook, Instagram, magazines or other sources merely because they are publicly accessible.

Owning a physical photograph or appearing in an image does not automatically grant copyright.

Correcting mistakes

Historical records can be incomplete or contradictory.

When correcting an article:

Identify the information requiring correction.
Check the existing source.
Locate reliable evidence supporting the correction.
Update the article and its references.
Explain the change in the edit summary.

For significant disagreements, use the article's Discussion page rather than repeatedly reversing another contributor's edits.

See WikiPaintball:Corrections and disputes.

Renaming articles and redirects

Article titles must follow Help:Naming conventions.

When renaming an existing article, use MediaWiki's Move function where available. This preserves the article's editing history.

Do not create a replacement article by copying the contents of an existing page merely to change its title.

Redirects may be appropriate for former names, abbreviations and alternative spellings.

When one name refers to multiple unrelated subjects, a disambiguation page may be required instead.

See WikiPaintball:Redirects.

Using artificial intelligence

AI tools may assist with historical research, drafting articles, formatting text and identifying potential sources.

However, AI-generated information must be independently checked before publication.

AI systems can invent names, dates, rosters, tournament results and references, or confuse unrelated teams and organisations.

Contributors are responsible for verifying all factual claims and sources, regardless of how an article was prepared.

See WikiPaintball:Using AI to write articles.

Saving your changes

Before saving an article:

Check spelling, dates and names.
Verify factual claims against their sources.
Confirm that citation numbers match the References section.
Check internal links and categories.
Preview the page to identify formatting problems.
Provide a concise edit summary.
Save your changes.

An edit summary should briefly explain the work completed.

Examples include:

Added verified 2005 tournament results.
Corrected player name using official roster.
Added archived manufacturer reference.
Updated internal links and categories.
Removed unsupported historical claims.

Changes can be reviewed through the article's View history page.

External links

WikiPaintball's guiding principle is simple: Publish what can be verified, not what can be assumed.