Dark Citadel Times/Writing
Contents
Links to News by Year
Writing Articles
- Do not place articles on the main page. The main page is merely a collection of included subpages.
- To start a new article, just click the "Write an article for..." link at the bottom of the main page. Then edit the page to which it takes you. It will automatically create new monthly and yearly pages as required.
- Always use the Template:DCTNews template when writing feature articles. You can copy/paste the example given on the template page, then add the appropriate items as needed.
- Articles should only be written for: Events the writer was present for. Major events. Events with "flavor". If you can sum up an event with one sentence, do so via the News Ticker.
- Do not dictate another person's actions. Give your view of events and anything you cannot substantiate you may note as "rumors declare that..".
- If you are not a member of the DCT staff you must post your news as "Anonymous" or RP telling the story to a member of the DCT staff so they can write it up.
Editing Articles
- Anyone titled as an "Editor" may modify your news as they see fit, even rewriting specific sentences. You may then revise your work based off those changes, or, if you feel the changes were too extreme, notify one of the chief editors. These changes should be mostly grammatical, but may also tone down comments the editor feels are overly biased, inflammatory, prejudicial or otherwise inappropriate.
- Anyone not titled as an "Editor" may make any grammatical or factual corrections that need be made, but may not otherwise modify the article unless it is obviously inappropriate. Such changes, or complaints about an article, should be made in-game to a chief editor.
Template Usage
The following templates are used for the Dark Citadel Times. Template usage instructions are included on the template pages.
Feature Articles
Feature articles should be used for longer stories such as political or military analysis, RP'd accounts of important events, and other such features. If you only want to post a short event notification, then use the Newsticker template provided below.
- Template:DCTNews - Feature article for single column stories. Use for shorter articles
- Template:DCTNews2 - Feature article for two column stories. Use for longer articles, debates or advice columns.
Pick whichever template you think fits your style and look better. The two column format should generally be used for longer articles. You can copy/paste one of the following frameworks into the page. Leave the {{subst:CURENT...}} codes as shown for the month, day, and year. It will automatically be replaced with the current values when you save the page. The variables for both templates are the same. The article_right variable is not used for DCTNews, and will just be ignored if included in a story using the DCTNews template.
- Single column feature article
{{DCTNews
|month = {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}
|day = {{subst:CURRENTDAY}}
|year = {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}
|title =
|article =
|author =
|realm =
}}
- Two column feature article (Note: Currently not formatted to match the theme. Please do not use.)
{{DCTNews2
|month = {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}
|day = {{subst:CURRENTDAY}}
|year = {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}
|title =
|article =
|article_right =
|author =
|realm =
}}
Newsticker Stories
Newsticker stories are for short event notifications, like alliance and war declarations, founding of new guilds, ruler elections, etc. You should not use this for feature articles, or announcements containing significant amounts of text. If they are long, use one of the feature articles.
The syntax for the Newsticker stories is as follows:
{{DCTTicker
|date = {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTDAY}}, {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}
|type =
|realm1 =
|realm2 =
|title =
|article =
}}
Writing Style
- Individual writers should write about the events that occur within their own realms, or that relate to their realms. Where major events occur in realms where there is no active writer, anyone may feel free to write about it.
- As much as practically possible, articles should remain as neutral as possible. We want to ensure that we are recording events, and not speculations or opinions. We also want to avoid propaganda wars in the paper.
- When editing someone else's articles, edit for spelling/grammar only, or for verifiable facts. i.e. correct region names if the reporter got the wrong region, but don't change "Realm A now has the advantage" to "Realm A ought flee in fear". Subjective opinions such as that should either be discussed on the comments page for that individual article, or you should write your own article with your own opinion of the matter. However, please keep in mind the neutrality principle.
- All articles should be signed by their author and include a realm icon. Articles about the paper itself, such as pleadings for more writers, major style changes, etc. should be written as OOC and use the MicroDCT.png icon:
. OOC articles are highly discouraged- please attempt to find a way to RP the situation first.
Page Administration
The only things that needs done on a regular basis are the following:
- Change the month names on the front page each month. The following two lines should be changed:
- {{:Dark Citadel Times/2008/June}}
- {{:Dark Citadel Times/2008/May}}
- These lines should be the current month at the top, and the previous month underneath. (Adjust the year, if necessary.) Do not change anything else.
- Increase the issue number on the front page by 1 per month
- Occasionally the archive pages will need to be updated to provide easy access to the auto-generated monthly subpages. This can be done as infrequently as once a year, if the entire coming year is created all at once.
- Whenever a new realm is formed, the DCTNews template will need to be updated to include the new realm name and icon. Follow the pattern for the existing realms to create the new ones.
Realm Icons
 |
Assassins |  |
Alowca |
 |
Wetham |  |
Giblot |
 |
Outer Tilog |  |
Lukon |
 |
Alebad |  |
Oritolon |
 |
Rogue | ||
Other:
*- Anonymous *
