Welcome to the Lightsaber Archives FAQ. The saberwiki runs on Dokuwiki software and follows most wiki syntax. This section will hopefully answer any question you may have about the site or how it works. Feel free to add questions to the discussion section at the bottom and they may be added to the FAQ itself.

I have been an avid Star Wars fan since I was old enough to talk. I was only one when the first movie came out but by the second movie I was already a fan. I have great passion for Star Wars but I always attempted to stay away from the collecting side. This didn't last for long and I decided that if I were to collect anything it would have to be focused into some sort of particular genre. The genre I decided on was lightsabers. As a child it was always my favorite part of the movies and as an adult I appreciate many aspects of the martial arts, choreography, and design that goes into this ancient but somewhat unique weapon. I'm a geek, gamer, movie fanatic, martial artist, and lover of all things Star Wars.

The members of this site have made their best effort to acquire the permission of any personal photographs and/or materual used on LSA. If you have any concerns, questions, comments, or just need help with the site please do not hesitate to contact me here: arcana (at) lightsaberarchives.org¹⁾.

When I first started collecting there really wasn't a whole lot out there on lightsabers beyond the few seen in the original trilogy and fans that had reconstructed the original props. However, as the years went by the available lightsaber props and toys have really exploded. Thanks to companies like ICONS and Master Replicas we have been able to purchase official licensed high quality reproductions. At the same time many very talented artists have created lightsabers from both the Star Wars and Expanded Universe areas. In my search for complete information on the history, design, and timeline of ownership of particular sabers I ran into many wonderful sites. However, most of these sites are static pages that do not appear to be updated very regularly and their collection of images can be limited at times. I am in no way putting down these other sites as they have been extremely helpful for the lightsaber collecting and lore community. However, the goal of this particular site is to create a place to allow everyone to contribute easily if they wish to. The Star Wars universe is so incredibly large at this point it would be nearly impossible for one person to stay on top of every piece of information that comes out. It is my hope that this site becomes the authority on lightsaber reference and history. The site will always remain completely free and be used for informational purposes only. It is in no way affiliated with Lucasfilm and is intended completely as a fan site. This site in no way endorses the sale of any unlicensed Lucas material. I do not sell lightsabers or any Star Wars merchandise through this site²⁾.

A wiki can best be defined on wikipedia. You must be registered on LSA in order to contribute. If you've never contributed to a wiki before you should check out dokuwiki's syntax. It's a simple markup language like html or bbcode. Dokuwiki comes with a built in editor that will make some of the syntax items available to you via buttons. However not all of them are included there. IF you see something that someone else has done and you want to know how to do that particular effect simply click on “view source” or “edit page” and it will show you. Any time you reference a wiki page that does not exist, the reference will show up as red on the page. Clicking this will take you to a page that will let you create it. It's a simple process but can be confusing to new users. I've made this creation easier for the saberwiki in portions that I'll describe later, but if for some reason a user feels a new page outside of this structure is necessary they're certainly able to create it. Keep in mind that anyone can and will edit your work. The way a wiki works is that everyone can contribute and revert any page so there is no official ownership. Please be respectful and open to others changes.

There are two ways you can contribute.

1. Create or modify a wikipage through one of the three main sections. In each section swcreators, eucreators, and nccreators there is a new page button. This button can be used to automatically create a page that will show up in that sections index. It will take you to a wiki editor that will be preloaded with a template. I suggest that you follow this template the best you can. If you need to leave things blank that's fine, the power of wiki is that others can add to your page. The format for adding a new page is “Firstname Lastname” of the saber creator³⁾ without the quotes. In instances where the creator is only known by a single name or has a additional names, those can be entered. It's difficult to change a page name without deleting everything and recreating it, so choose wisely as this will be used as the main index for that particular creator. Images should also be uploaded within the editor but there will be another section on just how the images work. You may also feel free to edit any particular page you see in any way you believe that would make it better. If you want to add images to a page you can add them to the media manager accessed through the “Add images or other files” in the wiki editor. Again more on the media manager later. Please make sure that all statements you make about any particular canon item are backed up with a source.
2. If you do not want to create a wiki page and upload images there but feel you still have some great shots to contribute you can upload pictures directly to our DROPBOX. Images placed here will be used by the members to create a wikipage.

You can always create your own section as well. This is only a starting point to get the site directed, but there are many other aspects of lightsaber lore that will show up on the root wiki index. Feel free to add to those as well. Practically any page can be modified on the wiki portion of this site.

This particular part of the wiki can be a bit more confusing. Whenever you edit a page you are presented with the wiki editor. In this editor there is a button that looks like a picture frame. If you click on this button it will bring up a new window that will allow you to upload media of nearly any kind. The lightsaber sections are setup to use a special gallery tag. A sample will be given in the template. In order to use this tag properly you must create a new section in the media manager for each gallery you want to present. The first time you you open the media manager you'll see several directories on the left and media the currently selected directory includes in the right frame. You will need to select the directory you want to upload your media into in the left frame. A new directory is required for every new creator page. In order to create a new directory put a colon between the directory name you want to create and the filename in the Upload As box before you upload. You only need to do this once to create the new sub-directory. So for obi-wan kenobi you would use the name obi-wan_kenobi:filename.jpg as your Upload as box for the first file. Every file after that just make sure your new sub directory is selected and upload files normally. The standard I'd like people to follow is root→saberwiki→swcreators→obi-wan_kenobi→tpm, root→saberwiki→swcreators→obi-wan_kenobi→tpm→replica, and root→saberwiki→obi-wan_kenobi→tpm→fan. swcreators, obi-wan_kenobi, and tpm will of course change depending on who and what you are adding. Feel free to dig around in the directory structure to get a feeling for how things are setup. After you upload an image you will have the ability to edit the meta data. Simply click on the pen looking icon next to the image and fill in the required information. All images are required to identify the copyright holder and source.

I know this portion seriously needs some simplification and I will work on making the image process simpler in the future.

YES, there is! Feel free to play around and get a feeling for how things work on the playground

Every registered user is a moderator and can make edits, remove pages, and revert either of the two. It may seem like a strange concept at first but it does work. Just look at wikipedia! Please keep this in mind when submitting material. The rules of the site are simple. I will not tolerate personal attacks of any kind. It is a site intended for everyone, so please keep it clean and respectful. You may or may not be warned. There is no due process. If I feel you are being disrespectful you will be banned. Regardless if you are Jedi or Sith, keep the attitude off this site.