File description guide

This is a guide to file description.

General principles and formatting

Formatting tips can be accessed by pressing the Help button in the upper part of text input window.

Formatting can be applied automatically by using buttons in the same line, and some additional that can be accessed by pressing the Advanced button.

Notice that there must be an empty line between separate paragraphs, or they will not format correctly.

Symbology

Here is a template I use for file descriptions.

== Summary ==
(Subject) (symbol form) by (creator).

(Alternative versions, related flags, formatted as external links).

(Term definition).

(Visual symbolism).

(Link coining post, cite coining post).

[[Category:(Media form‎)]]
[[Category:(Priority)]]
[[Category:(Subject type‎)]]
[[Category:(Year)]]
[[Category:(Creator)]]
[[Category:(Subjects)]]

[[Category:(Management categories)]]

<!-- Search terms: (alternative terms, alternative spellings to make the page searchable) -->

Here's how they are supposed to be filled out:

(Subject) (symbol form) by (creator)

Subject - preferably as presented by the creator, e.g. "zombie MAP", "pedozoophile", "syscest". Could be streamlined or somewhat reworded.

Symbol form - generally "flag" or "symbol", may be more specific (chevron, logo, etc).

Creator - just a name, or, if a username from a particular site is used, formatted as:

(website) user username

Use "anonymous creator" for known but anonymous creators and "unknown creator" for unknown.

(Alternative versions, related flags, formatted as external links)

If present.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to make an internal link to a file without embedding it, so external link formatting must be used. Here's how the format looks in markdown:

[https://paraflags-wiki.org/index.php?title=File:MAP_by_Stenna.png MAP flag].

and the result:

MAP flag.

Try to describe what how are the alternative versions different from the current in the link text, if the differences can explained concisely (e.g. plain vs with a symbol, with a blue top stripe, SVG version).

(Term definition)

Try to find the right balance between the original definition and good wording. Some commonly used terms don't have to be defined when presented in combination with something else.

(Visual symbolism)

If known. Sometimes there is a separate image with an explanation; if so, link it.

(Link coining post, cite coining post)

Unnecessary and if known; if not known, can be substituted with a link to someone else's archive. Cite if there's some important information present in the source. Try to archive the post on Archive.today or Wayback Machine if it's still up and unarchived.

Categories

Consult https://paraflags-wiki.org/index.php/Category:Major_categories to see all categories. A page added to a category (in this example, to a category named Example 1 by inserting [[Category:Example 1]] anywhere in the test. Notice that formatting is case sensitive, including the first letter that always displays as capitalized!

Every category line in the template corresponds to the certain kind of category.

• Media form: Flags, Symbols.
• Priority: Priority I symbology‎, Priority II symbology‎, Priority III symbology‎. Very subjective importance measure. The baseline is Priority III symbology‎, and you usually won't be mistaken too badly to just put it everywhere indiscriminately.
• Subject type‎: Aesthetic variation symbology‎, Basic symbology, Combo symbology‎. Basic is simple identities (myap, ephebosexual, transzoophile), combo are combinations (gay myap, anarchist pedophile, necrozoo), aesthetic include aesthetic elements (goth necro, christmas myap, rude aam). Multiple categories of this type can be added if multiple apply or it's not clear which applies.
• Year: year of creation if known (2023 year etc), Unknown year if not.
• Creator: consult the linked category. If creator isn't in the list, or it doesn't look like that, put in new name formatted as a category. It is not necessary to create the page for this category.
• Subject: consult the linked category and add all that apply. Every category should be described, so it should be more or less clear which apply after some digging. Notice that categories Attraction type and State of self are not applied to files themselves and are only used to organize other categories.
• Subject: Context wanted‎, Undescribed‎, JPEG files‎, Low quality‎, SVG files‎. Add all that apply.

(alternative terms, alternative spellings to make the page searchable)

Add alternative terms and alternative spellings. Regrettably, the search function does not work too well here, and by default it searches only for full words spelled exactly as in the query. This means, the search engine won't even catch a page that has a word "pedophiles" (plural) but not "pedophile" (singular) on it if one searches "pedophile". The search terms part is meant to circumvent this by adding, invisibly, similar terms, spellings and forms of all relevant words. For example, that's for this part looks on the zoophile flag page:

<!-- Search terms: zoophilia, zoophilic, zoophile, zoophiles, zoo, animal, animals -->

Supporting graphics

Supporting graphics include descriptions of visual language used for this or that symbol, or some other kind of context images. There can be a minimal description, but it must include a link to the symbol in question and the category Supporting graphics.