Edit Guide

The Rules

Thank you for showing interest in contributing content to the Balisong Wiki!

Please read the Code Of Conduct before making any changes to the Balisong Wiki.

Account Creation

You do not need an account to edit the wiki, but please keep in mind that your current public IP address will be visible once you publish a change if you are not logged into an account. An E-Mail address is not required, just your username and password. When creating a password, make sure to rememer it well, as there is currently no automated way to reset it. If you need help recovering your account, please contact the owner.

Formatting

Disable markup

Mediawiki uses a custom markup language know as Wikitext which is similar to Markdown. It allows users to format text, create links, build tables and structure content using plain text syntax.

If you want your text to not get formatted by Wikitext, you can write it between two nowiki tags. For example

<nowiki>https://www.google.com/</nowiki>

will look like this:

https://www.google.com/

instead of being a clickable link to Google like this:

https://www.google.com/

Indentation

If you want your text to be segregated because you want to draw extra attention to it, you can write that important text in a new line and insert a space before your text. Mediawiki will draw a rectangle around your text and change the font to make it stand out more.

Some very important and interesting text.

Headings

Spacing

Always leave one empty line before and after each heading, like this:

Text

=New Heading=

Text

Heading Counter

The Balisong Wiki supports automatic counting of the headings. There is no need to manually number them. Once you are done with editing an article, the heading numbers will automatically be applied.

Creating Headings

To create headings, write the text of the heading between = like this:

=First Heading=

You can make Sub-Headings by increasing the number of =

==Sub-Heading for first Heading==

===Sub-Sub-Heading for first Heading===

Disable Table Of Contents

Articles with many chapters will have an automatic table of contents on the top left of that article. To disable the table of contents, put this line as the very first line of the article on which you want to disable this feature

__NOTOC__ 

Dates

Dates should be written in ISO 8601 standard form.

Here are some examples:

2024-12-30

2022-06-01

2020-01-23

Break

If you want to write text in a new line, but do not want the extra empty line that comes with it, you can use the <br> tag at the end of your line, like this:

Text<br>
Text

And it will be rendered like this:

Text
Text

Linking

In order to create a link to a different article, or a different website, you will need to use square brackets

[]

Spaces

If an article you want to link to has spaces, for example the Balisong List, just use underscores for those spaces

[[Balisong_List]]

And it will be rendered like this:

Balisong_List

Internal

If you want to link to another article within the Balisong Wiki, write the name of the article between two square brackets like this:

[[Sandbox]]

And it will be rendered like this:

Sandbox

Specific section

To another article

If you want to link to a specific section, write the name of the article, then a pound symbol (#) then the name of the section.

[[Pin_System#Screw_Zen]]

And it will be rendered like this:

Pin_System#Screw_Zen

To the same article

If you want to link to a same section of the article that you are currently editing, you can leave the linking of the article part out, and just write the pund symbol (#) with the name of the section.
This will link to the first section of this article

[[#Account_creation]]

And it will be rendered like this:

#Account_creation

Pipe

Adding a pipe symbol (|) to the end of your internal linking enables you to write a custom name for the linking. This can be useful to slightly adjust the name of the link so that sentences flow better, or to remove the underscore that is caused by linking

[[Balisong_list|Balisong List]]

Will be rendered as

Balisong List

Note: When linking to a chapter, please try to keep the original formating of the link (for example #Pipe instead of using a custom name, If you must use a custom name, at the very least, include the pund (#) in the link to indicate that it leads to a specific chapter. This helps readers recognize that the link points to a section they might have already seen.

External

If you want to link to a different website, for example to show the reader where they can buy a specific bushing, put your link in only 1 set of square brackets

[https://thetruelink.com/products/250-od-x-188-id-bushing-xp]

And it will be rendered like this:

[1]

If you want to give your link a name, add a space after the link and add a name.

[https://thetruelink.com/products/250-od-x-188-id-bushing-xp 6.35mm OD bushings]

And it will be rendered like this:

6.35mm OD bushings

Tables

Tables can be either edited by hand (not recommended), or a table generator can be used. We recommend this table generator. If you wish to edit this table, copy it, go to the mentioned website, select "MediaWiki" which should be in the bar located at the very top of the page. After that, click "File" in the top left, click "Paste table data..." and paste it in. Wait a couple of seconds and then click the blue "Load" button. After that feel free to make any changes you deem neccessary. After you've adjusted the table, scroll all the way down and click on "Generate" button which is on the left hand side of the screen and wait a couple of seconds as generating a big table can take some time, especially if your device is slow. After that click on the green "Copy to clipboard" button which is on the right hand side of your screen, or just copy the whole code which is in the window right under the gray "Result (click "Generate" to refresh)" text. After that, delete the old table from this wiki and paste in your newly edited table.

Formatting The Balisong List

Order

If the list does not have a specific order, like the Balisong_List, please list the entries in alphabetical order.

Connecting Cells

If you want to connect cells, please use the table generator. Select all the cells that you want to connect by dragging your cursor over them. The cells should now have a yellow background. Now click the black button that has two arrows pointing to each other. The button should be at the top of your screen and should look like this:

Combining Materials

If a balisong uses a combination of materials, for example in its handles, write a + between the materials.

TI+G10

Or

If you want to say that a balisong can use different materials, write a slash between the materials

G10/CF

Live Blade VS Trainer

We try to avoid creating separate entries into the Balisong list for live blades and trainers unless absolutely necessary. If the live and trainer versions of a balisong differ in weight, material or other properties, use a semicolon (;) to separate the information within the same entry, but always list the live blade information first.

AEB-L;410

Naming Conventions

These naming conventions have been created to make page names more consistent, make it easiert for users to find pages and and to make linking easier.
These rules apply to page titles, headings and file names, although headings follow a slightly looser version of these rules.

- Every word must be capitalized, even small words like "of" or "and", unless a name is intentionally written in lowecase, for example "iPhone".

- Always use singular instead of plural. For example "Washer" instead of "Washers".

- Use nouns, not verbs. Instead of "Tuning", use "Tune". A good rule of thumb for this is "Name the thing, not the action".

- Avoid unnecessary words. For example "Zen Pin" instead of "About The Zen Pin Mechanism"

Creating a new Page

Before you create a new article, please check whether that article already exists or not. The search bar at the top and be a good tool for that.

If you have made sure that the page you want to create doesnt already exist, you can create the article by opening the base link of this wiki (balisong.info) and append a forward slash (/) and append the name of the article you want to create. For example if you want to create an article called Banana, you would open this link:

http://balisong.info/Banana

After that you have to decide if you want to use the visual editor (not recommended), or the source editor. If you want to use the visual editor, click on "Create". If you want to use the source editor, click on "Create source". The next steps are almost identical with just editing an article, so we recommend you to continue reading the next section.

Editing an article

If you want to edit an article, you need to click on the "Edit" or "Edit Source" button. They are usually somewhere on the top right of your screen.

Source Editor

If you have clicked the "Edit source" button, a big box will appear in which you can write everything that you know about the topic of the article. If you want to see the changes to the article, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Show preview" button. This will reload the article and show you the text with all the rendered Wikitext code that you have written. After you have filled the article with information, scroll to the bottom of the page, and write a summary in the "Summary" block like "First edit of the Banana page" or "Fixed typo in the #Zen_Pin section" and click on "Save page". You might also need to fill out an easy captcha for the changes to to live.

Visual Editor

The visual editor is not recommended since it has not been tested.

If you have clicked the "Edit" button you can just start writing down everything you know about the topic of the article. After you have filled the article with information, click the "Save" button, add a summary message like "First edit of the Banana page" or "Fixed typo in the #Zen_Pin section" and click on "Save Page". You might also need to fill out an easy captcha for the changes to to live.

Objective Viewpoint

When writing or editing articles, keep a neutral point of view. Just because you dislike a certaint product, doesn't mean it's objectively bad.

Do Not Repeat Yourself

If you want to add something to the wiki that has already been described on a different article, just link to it instead of repeating information that is already on the Balisong Wiki. See #Linking for a reminder on how to properly link to different articles and chapters.

Similar Style

If you are editing an article, check if there are other articles about similar topics and try to mimic that style.

For example if you want to write an article about a balisong, check out the article about the MachineWise_Slift_V2 and try to copy the style that was used there.

File Uploads

The Balisong Wiki supports uploading of media. If you want to upload a picture, click on the "Upload file" field, or just click this link: Special:Upload.
Please check out #Naming_Conventions if you are unsure how to name your files.

Only Submit Your Own Images

Please only submit your own images as we do not want to get into trouble with copyright owners.

Limits

Please only upload files that are 1920x1080 or smaller. Large pictures take up a lot of ram, potentially making the Balisong Wiki go out of memory. If you see a screen like this: 

Please immediately contact the server owner Main_Page#Contact.

The following sub-headings will containt important information on how to format images. If you want more information not covered in this editing guide, please check out the official Mediawiki guide for images https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Images.

Embedding

Instructions for how to embed files on a page are on the file upload page Special:Upload, but in case you want something clearer:
If you want to embeda picture, write 2 brackets, then "File:" followed by the name of the file, including its file extension. For example like this:

[[File:Slift_V2.png]]

Stopping Floating Text

Sometimes text will be rendered around the image which can look very awkward. To stop this from happening, simply add this line right after the image that you want to embed and leave an empty line after it:

<div style="clear: both"></div>

Which should look like this with the embed image added

[[File:Slift_V2.png]]</div>
<div style="clear: both">
 

Or alternatively you use this code and replace the "..." with the embedding link of your image.

<div style="overflow: hidden">…</div>

With the embed added, it should look like this:

<div style="overflow: hidden">[[File:Slift_V2.png]]</div>

Scaling

Resizing

You can scale images by writing a pipe (|) and the ammount of pixels you want, after the embed.

[[File:Slift_V2.png|200px]]

Restrict Image Within Space

If you need to fit an image within a certain space, you can restrict its height, width, or both. Keep in mind that the aspect ratio will always be preserved.

Restricting Image Width

If you want to restrict the width, write the length of the pixels how long the image at most can be, followed by "px".

[[File:Slift_V2.png|200px]]

This will create an image that is at most 200 pixels wide.

Restricting Image Height

If you want to restrict the height, write a "x", after that the length of the pixels how long the image at most can be, followed by "px".

[[File:Slift_V2.png|x200px]]

This will create an image that is at most 200 pixels high.

Restricting Image Both

If you want to restrict both, the height and the width, you can use can write the width, followed by a "x", then the height, and at the end, "px"

[[File:Slift_V2.png|150x200px]]

This will create an image that is at most 150 pixels wide and at most 200 pixels high.

Thumbnail

You can enable thumbnailing by adding the "thumb" keyword. This will draw a rectangle around the image to visually separate it from the text.

[[File:MachineWise_Slift_V2.jpg|thumb]]

Alignment

You can align the picture by adding the location to where it should be aligned

[[File:MachineWise_Slift_V2.jpg|right]]

Caption

You can add a cpation, by writing it as the last argument.

[[File:MachineWise_Slift_V2.jpg|Rose Gold Slift V2]]

Multiple Arguments

You can use multiple arguments by just chaining them together with pipes (|)

[[File:MachineWise_Slift_V2.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rose Gold Slift V2]]
<div style="clear: both">

This will embed a picture of a MachineWise MachineWise_Slift_V2 on this page, which will be scaled to 600 pixels, aligned to the center of the screen, have a caption with "Rose Gold Slift V2", will not have any text floating around it and it will look like this:

Rose Gold Slift V2

Measurements

All measurementes must be provided in metric with an optional measurement in imperial in parenthesis. You are allowed to break this rule if you are citing a source (see the next sub-heading #Only_submit_your_own_measurements for more information).

6.350mm (0.250in)

or just

6.350mm

The unit of measurement is not neccessary, but should still be added if there is enough space for it. If there is no unit after the number, assume Millimeters or Grams depending on context. For example:

6.350 (0.250)

Only Submit Your Own Measurements

While manifacturers may provide measurements for their products, they are often times inaccurate. For example: Squid Industries lists their Nautilus bushings as having an Pivot_System#Outer_Diameter of 0.2482" +/- .0002 OD = 6.30428mm +/- 0.00508, yet Pivot_System#Bushings with an Pivot_System#Outer_Diameter of 6.350mm (0.25in) fit perfectly. Similarly, Nabalis markets their bushings as 7mm OD, but actual measurements show an Pivot_System#Outer_Diameter of 6.985mm.

Because such discrepancies are common, we ask that you only submit measurements that you have personally verified in real life with a measuring device.

Decimal Places

Please add as many decimal places for youre measurements, as you can. The standard should be 3 decimal places.

6.326mm

Comments

If you want to add text that is only visible when editing the Balisong Wiki, for example when you want to tell another editor why you have done what you did, you can write a comment like so:

<!--This is a comment and will only be visible when editing the wiki-->

Speculative Articles

If you are unsure about a specific topic, do not write about it. You are however allowed to leave chapters empty and only write about the parts of the topic you're certain about. For example, if you know a lot about the history of a particular balisong or have interesting trivia, but don't own the knife yourself and therefore can't provide measurements, it's completely acceptable to fill in the History or Trivia chapters, while leaving the Measurements chapter blank.

Redacted

Some users prefer not to be included on the Balisong Wiki. Please respect their wishes and avoid writing about them. If mentioning them is absolutely necessary, for example if they have created a balisong, refer to them as {Redacted} instead of their name, like this:

The balisong was created by {[[Redacted]]}.

For a full list of people who have requested to be excluded from the Balisong Wiki, please read Redacted.

AI Usage

Please do not use any form of LLMs/AI to write articles, as they are prone to hallucinations.

The Sandbox

In the Sandbox you can make and revert edits freely to familiarize yourself with how to make changes to the BalisongWiki with no fear of messing something up.