Help:Contents
Hello, and welcome to vaporwave.wiki! This site is dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the releases and artists of the vaporwave netmusic scene. This page should act as a relatively comprehensive guide to use of the site.
It's recommended users have some preliminary knowledge of the usage and language of MediaWiki when contributing to the site.
Basic Page Layout
All artist, label and release pages have a similar layout, with variations in the data they contain. The following are summaries of what is expected on each kind of page.
Release
- Infobox
- Summary
- Tracklist
- Optional: Tracklist Comparison
- Optional: Notes
- Optional: Description
- Optional: Gallery
- External Links
- Navboxes
- Categories (during special cases)
Artist
- Infobox
- Summary
- Projects (optional if single project)
- Optional: Gallery
- Navbox
Label
- Infobox
- Summary
- Discography
- Optional: Gallery
- External Links
- Navbox (optional depending on available info)
Images
Necessary for every page outside of categories and templates, images are helpful for a full scope of information on the site.
Obtaining Images
Bandcamp
When a release cannot be downloaded, or is behind a paywall, there is a quick method of obtaining an uncompressed cover or other Bandcamp image for uploading here.
- Open the image in a new tab, in a way that displays the URL like so: [1]
- Change the "_10" to "_0", resulting in this: [2]
- Save and upload!
SoundCloud
Soundcloud, publicly, saves its images as 500x500px jpg files regardless of original resolution or quality, as opposed to Bandcamp. However, it actually still stores covers at their original resolution even if cropped to 1:1 scale!
- Right click the cover art of the particular release and hit "Inspect" (this guide is written using Chrome, other vocabulary may be used on other browsers).
- There should be a URL within the selected code that contains the cover that appears something like this: [3]. Open it in a new tab.
- Change the "t500x500" section of the URL to "original". The URL should now appear like this: [4]
- Save and upload!
If Step 3 results in an error, the cover retrieved from Step 2 is sufficient for the site.
Naming Images
Images should be named in a manner that is easy to identify on a per-release, per-image (and sometimes per-artist) basis. While page names are encouraged to be accurate to the original release, image names should be in a standard title-caps fashion. Foreign languages should be romanized in the filenames to the best of one's ability. A - should be put between the release/artist/label name and the purpose of the image. Examples include File:SapporoKontenporari-Cover.jpg for 札幌コンテンポラリー, File:BlackHorse-Cover.jpg for black horse, and File:Misuto-GlowCover.jpg for the track "glow" on ミスト. When a release title is shared between multiple artists, the artist name should be placed before the hyphen but after the release title, seen on files such as File:ShinajiiHelpDesk-Cover.png and File:ShinajiiHitoribotchi-Cover.jpg.
Categorizing Images
When uploading images, it is appreciated immensely if users provide a short description of the image linking to the main page it is used in, along with the category for the image itself.
- For release covers, put the image in the Cover Art category.
- For physical media scans, put the image in the Physical Media category.
- For images related to artists, put the image in the Artist Images category.
- For images related to labels, put the image in the Label Images category.
General Page Elements
These are elements that are shared alike between releases, artists and labels.
Infoboxes
A core part of the page, the infobox helps give primary information on a release/artist/label, its statistics and, in the case of a release, its place in an artist's discography (along with the cover or logo, of course!) The Template:MusicInfobox, Template:ArtistInfobox and Template:LabelInfobox pages include instructions and other information on using them.
Short for "navigational box", these templates allow for easy navigation from an artist or label's particular release to their entire discography. Creating these templates can be complicated, but placing the proper links on a page for them is something that is a simple process.
At the bottom of the page, the artist's navbox should be put under the External Links section. If applicable, the label's navbox is placed under it. However, in various-artist compilations, the label's navbox goes above the artists' templates (which should be in order of appearance on the compilation, like so.)
Categories
Categories are a straightforward concept. These sort pages into various metrics to make searching the site a more interactive and enjoyable experience.
For releases, this currently includes...
- The basic identifier tag (Category:Releases) (automatically added by MusicInfobox)
- A release type tag (ex. Category:Albums) (automatically added by MusicInfobox)
- An artist tag (ex. Category:Releases by Vektroid) (manually added by the Artist template)
- A label tag (ex. Category:Published by fortune 500) (automatically added by the Label template)
- A date tag (ex. Category:Released in 2013) (manually added by the ReleaseDate template)
- Optional: A physicals tag (ex. Category: Releases on Cassette) (automatically added by the Formats template)
- Optional: The Category:Offline Releases tag (automatically added by MusicInfobox)
The Release and Release Type tags are added automatically, along with the Label tag (when using MusicInfobox and Label templates.) The artist tag can be added by adding |C at the end of the template, like so:
{{Artist|Vektroid|C}}
. |V and |F can be used for Compilation and Featuring categories, specifically.
The date tag and physical tags are added through template use as well, ReleaseDate requiring a |C but Format adding categories automatically.
For artists, this currently includes...
- The basic identifier tag (Category:Artists)
- A debut tag (ex. Category:Artists Debuted in 2012)
The former is automatically added with the inclusion of the ArtistInfobox template, the latter is added with the Debut template.
For labels, this currently includes...
- The basic identifier tag (Category:Labels)
- An activity tag (ex. Category:Active Labels or Category:Inactive Labels)
- A debut tag (ex. Category:Labels Debuted in 2012)
The first two are automatically added with the inclusion of the LabelInfobox template, the last is added with the Debut template.
Release Pages
The bread and butter of the wiki, release pages give information on everything there is to listen to in the documented vaporwave discography.
Synopsis
This is a basic summary of the release, using a few sentences to describe the history of the release. This can be used to describe the basic style of the music, but this should be kept from being unnecessarily flavorful (especially an artist writing about their own releases on the site.)
Tracklist
As the most coding-intensive part of the page, the tracklist is stored in a table to display track names, translations where necessary, and track lengths.
- In the case of splits, compilations, or other releases that involve multiple artists, a new column is added to accomodate for the artist.
- When (official) music videos are available for a track, the link should be put in bold quotations next to the track title like so: (MV)
- When track names require a translation to English, the translation should be written in a small, italicised font underneath the track name, like so.
- When describing a physical release with sides (i.e. vinyl, cassette) the track number section can be shifted to accommodate this (using A1, A2, etc. as opposed to 1, 2...)
Example
# | Artist | Track | Length |
---|---|---|---|
A1 | Test Artist | テスト (MV) Test |
8:00 |
A2 | 別テスト Another test |
2:40 | |
B1 | Test Artist 2 | Continued Testing (MV) | 1:00:01 |
B2 | Pause Testing | 0:01 |
Description
Basically, the information contained in a Bandcamp, SoundCloud, or similar streaming/hosting service's description fields, sometimes containing flavor text or extra information on the creation of the release.
External Links
Formatted entirely in bullet points, this should link to other sites that supply more useful information on the release at hand. Most importantly, this section houses the official links to listen to the release itself. This section is usually formatted like so:
- Bandcamp
- SoundCloud
- Discogs
- Rate Your Music
- Last.fm
Official links should be formatted in bold. When releases are removed from official streaming locations, an (Offline) should be put next to the link.
It is typically not recommended to link to unofficial reuploads of releases (e.g. YouTube full albums, SoundCloud mirrors by fans, etc.)
Artist Page
This is where a vaporwave-maker's history and artistic visions can be best preserved. That and as many Bandcamp links as can fit on a page depending on how many aliases they have.
Synopsis
Usually self-explanatory! Can mention an artist's works inside and outside the scene, along with general achievements and goals.
Discography
The largest part of the page, this covers a vaporwave artist's output in a by-alias format, each name with its own discography list and external links. The best example of this can be seen as a part of the Vektroid page.
Gallery
Images related to the artist and their aliases.
Label Page
While containing less sections than a release, label pages are important in allowing for information on releases otherwise impossible to put into a navbox.
Synopsis
As with release and artist pages, this first section of the page is meant to be introductory to the history of the label, its creator, the general style of its output, and other necessary pieces of information.
Discography
Like the Tracklist section of release pages, the discography of a label is contained in a single table, though the label table is more complex in nature. Due to usually containing much more releases than tracklists do tracks (and having more information that may require sorting,) discography tables are able to be sorted by their columns. Like that of categories, the values inside the table need to be given extra formatting in order to properly alphabetize. This may be something more difficult to put into a quick summary, so viewing the source code of a page such as fortune 500 should cover this best.
External Links
This should be formatted in the exact same manner as how it is handled in release pages! Last.fm may not have functionality with labels though.