User blog:Pettamapossum/Tagging Guide

Important! Please Read!
Tagging pages properly is a very important thing - it makes everything easy to access! However, the tag system on the Mascotia Wiki has kind of fallen into disarray, so hopefully this will clear things up. Remember - better organization makes for a easily accessible wiki, as well as making everything look professional and nice. As a bonus, it keeps Pettamapossum from pulling his hair out.
 * Please use this guide when tagging your pages.
 * If this is too confusing or frustrating to you, add 'Tag Me as a tag', and Pettamapossum will tag it for you. (Remember: Even if all you have done is set "Tag Me" as a tag, you have still helped, VERY much so!)
 * ALWAYS ask Pettamapossum before creating a new type of tag. This way, he can keep track of things.

This stuff gets REALLY complex and confusing, so it might be best if you just settle with the Tag Me tag.

If you want to continue and tag your pages on your own, here is how it's done.

Under one of the five main tagging categories (Shown in "The Basics of Tagging"), you will find a numbered list. That is a list of steps. Use this as a sort of checklist, and proceed down it to see what tags you should be adding. Skip the steps that do not fit the page you are tagging.

You may also notice some sub-steps. Example: If "Some Thingy" is a tag you put down on your page, check out "Some Thingy's" sub-step. It might be another tag to put on your page. If you didn't put "Some Thingy" down as a tag, ignore the sub-step beneath it completely, and move on to the next step.
 * 1) A Thingy
 * 2) Some Thingy
 * 2.1) Another Tag That Fits Under Some Thingy
 * 3) Some Completely Different Thingy

Sub-steps might even have sub-steps of their own, so check those out too if they are relevant to your page. If not, skip them.

See? I told you it was confusing. Feel free to just stick with "Tag Me".

If you still want to tag things yourself, continue down to The Basics of Tagging.

The Basics of Tagging
There are five main categories in tagging, and every page will fit into one of them.

Characters, Species, Places, Objects, Lore. *(If you are tagging a Character, you will also have to go through the 18 steps for Species along with the 12 for Characters. That's 30 steps total... Feel free to fall back on the "Tag Me" tag.)
 * 1) Characters* - Formerly, the 'Mascot' tag. This category includes ALL characters, "mascots", and OCs. (12 Steps)
 * 2) Species - All species of animal, plant, fungi, microbe, alien race, line of robot models, etc fit here. (18 Steps)
 * 3) Places - All areas in and around Mascotia, as well as any places in the universe surrounding Mascotia. (7 Steps)
 * 4) Objects** - All inanimate objects within the universe associated with Mascotia. Artifacts, foods, minerals, etc. (8 Steps)
 * 5) Lore - Any stories, series, scientifics, systems, or other knowledge about Mascotia. (7 Steps)

**(Robots, Golems, and Supernatural beings go into the 'Characters' or 'Species' category as opposed to 'Objects', as they have all the mannerisms of a living being, despite the fact that they may not be technically living.)

Characters
All individual beings, no matter how significant or insignificant, will have this tag.

Required Tags:

 * 1) First, refer to the Creature Classification below. (In the Species section.)
 * 2) Character must have a Male or Female tag, unless the character is genderless. (Nonorganic/Supernatural creatures can still be given genders if they apply to their personality.)
 * 3) If possible, and if it hasn't already been done, define the character's Species. (Xenogaro, Vespinite, Geonome, Gmagma, etc.)
 * 4) Are they a Hybrid of more than one species?
 * 5) Are they a Cyborg?
 * 6) Are they a Clone?
 * 7) Are they Deceased?
 * 8) Which Planet or Mascotian Region do they hail from? (Note: "Mascotia" is not a valid tag for Characters or Species.)
 * 9) Are they a Hero? Are they Evil?
 * 9.1) If Evil: Are they the Main Antagonist of a story or series?
 * 10) Are they a Juvenile? (Young)
 * 10.1) If so, are they a Baby?
 * 11) Getting in even further, are they something like Law Enforcement, a Warrior, Politician, or a Scientist?
 * 12) Add the all-important Characters tag, and you're good to go!

Species
All species found in and around Mascotia will have this tag. This includes animals, plants, fungi, microbes, races, supernatural beings, and even nonorganic beings.

Creature Classification
The classification here applies to both Characters and Species. (Heads up, this gets tricky...)
 * 1) Are they Terrestrial (Land-based), Aquatic, or Aerial? (Sky-based, flying, floating, hovering). (Characters can be a mixture of these, such as amphibious creatures who can survive in land and water, as well as flying creatures who can live on land and in the air.)
 * 1.1) If Aquatic: Are they Abyssal?
 * 2) Are they Mascotian (Earthling creature or creature hailing from Mascotia), or Alien?
 * 3) Are they a Mammal, Bird, Reptile, Reptilian Mammal, Dinosaur, Amphibian, Fish, or Invertebrate?
 * 3.1) If Mammal: Bat? Seal? Feline? Human?
 * 3.1.1) (Character) If Feline: Eclipse Demon?
 * 3.1.2) (Character) If Bat: Chiropterror?
 * 3.2) If Bird: Seabird? Corvid (Crows, jays, ravens, etc)?
 * 3.2.1) (Character) If Corvid: Squablin?
 * 3.3) If Reptile: Lizard? Snake? Turtle (Includes Tortoises)? (If Character: Clall?)
 * 3.4) If Reptilian Mammal: Synapsid?
 * 3.5) If Dinosaur: Theropod? Sauropod?
 * 3.6) If Amphibian: Salamander? Frog (Includes Toads)?
 * 3.6.1) (Character) If Salamander: Axolotl? Troglan?
 * 3.6.2) (Character) If Frog: Pacman Frog?
 * 3.7) If Fish: Eel? Air Breathing Fish? Terrafish? (If Character: Skipper?)
 * 3.7.1) (Character) If Terrafish: Gmagma?
 * 3.8) If Invertebrate: Arthropod? Mollusc? Jellyfish? Worm? Slime?
 * 3.8.1) If Athropod: Crustacean? Insect?
 * 3.8.1.1) (Character) If Crustacean: Denfid?
 * 3.8.1.2) (Character) If Insect: Lunid? Vespinite?
 * 3.8.2) If Mollusc: Gastropod (Snail/Slug)? Cephalopod (Octopus/Squid/Nautilus,etc)?
 * 3.8.2.1) (Character) If Gastropod: Clionid?
 * 3.8.2.2) (Character) If Cephalopod: Cephaldian? Kaytalon?
 * 3.8.3) (Character) If Jellyfish: Ctenid?
 * 4) Are they Supernatural?
 * 4.1) If so, are they Undead? God? Dragon? Demon? Fairy? Demigod?
 * 4.1.1) If Undead: Ghost? Reanimated Corpse (Zombie, Skeleton)?
 * 4.1.2) (Character) If Demon: Eclipse Demon?
 * 4.1.3) (Character) If God or Fairy: Sprite?
 * 5) Are they Nonorganic?
 * 5.1) If so, are they a Robot or Golem (Enchanted nonliving material)?
 * 6) Are they considered a Monster?
 * 7) Are they a Giant? (Very large, by average standards.)
 * 7.1) Are they a Kaiju? (If so, add Monster as a tag.)
 * 8) Are they Cycloptic? (Posessing only one eye.)
 * 9) Are they a Parasite?
 * 10) Are they Poisonous? (Category includes venomous creatures as well.)
 * 11) Are they Extinct? (Note, does not apply to Prehistoric creatures that still live and thrive in certain areas of the universe.)
 * 12) Are they a Prehistoric creature? (Creature from Earth's prehistory.)
 * 12.1) If so, what time period? Cretaceous? Jurassic? Triassic? Devonian? Carboniferous?
 * 13) Are they a Plant or Fungi?
 * 13.1) (Character) If Fungi: Death Tailor?
 * 14) Are they a civilized or tribal Race?
 * 15) Which Planet(s) or Mascotian Region(s) do they hail from?
 * 16) Which user created them?
 * 17) If they are prominently featured in any series, which one(s)?
 * 18) If you are tagging for a Species, add the all-important Species tag, and you're all done! Good job! (If you are tagging for a Character, go to Step 2 on the "Characters" tagging guide.)

Places

 * 1) Is it part of Mascotia?
 * 1.2) Which region is it in?
 * 2) Is it a Planet?
 * 3) If it is on a planet, which one?
 * 4) Is it an area of Civilization? Or is it a Wilderness area?
 * 5) If it is relevant to a series, which one?
 * 6) If necessary to mention, which user created it?
 * 7) Add the all-important Places tag, and you're good to go!

Objects
Not everything in this universe is living. While things in this category are often overlooked, some of them have great importance.
 * 1) Is it a Mineral?
 * 2) Is it a Food? (Includes Drinks)
 * 2.1) Is it a Beverage?
 * 2.1.1) Is it Alcoholic?
 * 2.2) Is it a Fruit?
 * 3) Is it a Technology?
 * 3.1) Is it a Weapon?
 * 4) Is it an Artifact?
 * 5) If it is relevant to a series, which one?
 * 6) Is it important to a Planet or Mascotian Region?
 * 7) If necessary to mention, which user created it?
 * 8) Add the all-important Objects tag, and you're good to go!

Lore
Lore is the category for all of the extra information in Mascotia. It contains the stories, timelines, scientifics, and systems that glue the Mascotia universe together!
 * 1) Are they Scientifics that apply to Mascotia?
 * 2) Is it a Language?
 * 3) Is it a Series?
 * 3.1) If so, is it an Adventure Series made on a game such as Spore?
 * 4) If it is relevant to a series, which one?
 * 5) Which user wrote it?
 * 6) If the lore relevant and important to a specific Planet or Mascotian Region, which one is it?
 * 7) Add the all-important Lore tag, and you're good to go!

The "Nonmascotian" Tag
If something is not Mascotian in origin, for example, it's a character/species/place/concept from another video game, television show, movie, etc - Give it the tag Nonmascotian. (Note: Don't bother adding this tag to Blog Posts.)

Other Important Tags
There are two more tags to mention: Under Construction and Tag Me.

Add the "Under Construction" tag when your page is... well, under construction.

Add the "Tag Me" tag if the page needs tagging, or you are unsure if it is fully and properly tagged.

Also, you can click those two tags to see all of the pages that need work or that need tagging.

'Hopefully, this had made some sort of sense. If not, just remember the "Tag Me" tag. Good luck in your editing! ~Pettamapossum'

This guide was last edited 06:49, August 27, 2012 (UTC)