Help:A Guide to Piping



Piping is the practice of linking to a page using text that is different from the page title. This is done for many reasons, but it is often done to create an "Easter egg" effect in the text. After reading this guide, you will hopefully have a better understanding of how to pipe constructively, which will help to enrich CWCki as a whole.

How to pipe
Piping is pretty straightforward: it's like a normal link, but separate the link from the base text with a "|" symbol, which is called a pipe (hence the name).


 * Example: Tard rage → Tard rage

As shown the example above, the link is on the left side of the pipe, while the base text is on the right side. Don't switch this up, or the result will probably look really stupid.

When to pipe
There are three main categories of piping: relevant piping, ironic piping, and lulzy piping. Each type of piping has its place on CWCki, but some care must be taken for each type. Note that these categories are not mutually exclusive; in fact effective piping will usually fall into two or more categories.

Relevant piping is usually done to add a link where using simple linking syntax would render the sentence awkward, or when placing links in a quote, where you can't change the language, or to add a reference to the topic at hand. From a functional standpoint, this is the least troublesome type of piping, as it serves the same function a a regular link. However, this is also the type of piping most likely to be done improperly (see When not to pipe below).


 * Example: eBay sales
 * Another example: Mary Sue renditions

Ironic piping is usually used in quotes in order to juxtapose the words of the speaker (in this case, usually Chris) with said speaker's actions. This highlights Chris's rank hypocrisy.


 * Example: I do not wish death

Lulzy piping is done as a joke. This is the most troublesome type of piping and this is done sparingly, as people can easily overestimate their own humor, and this sort of piping tends to be the least relevant by its nature. If a pipe gets reverted, it is usually a lulzy pipe that generated insufficient lulz. So make sure it's good before you pipe. Moreover, don't go out of your way to pipe in this style, as this is not what CWCki is about. (Besides, the more forced it is, the more likely it will suck.)


 * Example: terrible fortune

Of these three qualities, relevance takes precedence: make sure to pipe the most relevant article possible.


 * WRONG: lack of female companionship
 * RIGHT: lack of female companionship

When not to pipe
Piping is not required when linking a singular word with a plural base (or vice versa), as a regular link will most likely go to a redirect page (and you can always add a redirect page if it doesn't). Another way to avoid unnecessary piping is to link only the relevant part of the word or phrase; the link will automatically extend to the end of the word.


 * WRONG: Galpals
 * RIGHT: Gal-pals
 * ALSO RIGHT: Gal-pals

Piping to Wikipedia
Piping is also used to link to Wikipedia; this is done by adding "Wikipedia:" followed by the name of the article being linked to.


 * Example: Top Gun

Piping to Wikipedia should be done sparingly, usually to reference something important without a CWCki page or to help define a technical term that the average reader is not likely to understand.

Piping Hard-to-Pipe Pages
Some pages you may not pipe properly at first. To fix this, prefix the the page name with a colon.
 * WRONG: Megan was [[Image:20080312-Meg-SawPorn.PNG|not happy]] when she saw "SheCameForCWC.jpg"


 * Megan was [[Image:20080312-Meg-SawPorn.PNG|300px|not happy]] when she saw "SheCameForCWC.jpg"


 * RIGHT: Megan was not happy when she saw "SheCameForCWC.jpg"


 * Megan was not happy when she saw "SheCameForCWC.jpg"

Try to be as specific as possible.
Remember, you can pipe to sections as well as whole articles; all you need to do is join the section to the article name with a number sign (#).


 * Example: STAY STRAIGHT

This is especially important with articles with several largely independent sections, like Mailbags; don't make people hunt for what you're referring to.

Try not to pipe to disambiguation pages

 * WRONG: Sonichu
 * WRONG: Crystal

Avoid piping to "Lie" if at all possible.
"Lie", without a doubt, is the most over-piped link on CWCki. Piping to "Lie" is lazy and can usually be improved by piping to something more specific (see above); do it only when nothing else works.


 * WRONG: I am NOT "sexist"
 * RIGHT: I am NOT "sexist"

Another seriously overdone pipe is linking to "troll" every time the word "fan" comes up. Just don't do it. After all, Chris does have legit fans.

Don't overdo it.
Piping can add unnecessary clutter when taken to the extremes. Try to pipe as small a phrase as you feel comfortable with, and not everything needs to be piped (especially if it has been piped earlier on). If a section is completely blue-shifted (or almost so), you've probably taken it too far. Piping parts of a word to different pages is just plain faggotry.


 * RIGHT: Suffice to say, this was one of Chris's first over-reactions to trolls and the first step to becoming a LOLcow.
 * WRONG: Suffice to say, this was one of Chris's first over-reactions to trolls and the first step to becoming a LOLcow.
 * ALSO WRONG: Suffice to say, this was one of Chris's first over-reactions to trolls and the first step to becoming a LOLcow.
 * VERY WRONG: Suffice to say, this was one of Chris's first over-reactions to trolls and the first step to becoming a LOLcow.
 * LOLWUT: Suffice to say, this was one of Chris's first over-reactions to trolls and the first step to becoming a LOLcow.

Conclusion
So now you should be able to pipe like a pro. Now go forth and edit to the extreme!