The Achievement System
Assassin's Creed Wiki, since the 19th of July, 2010 has supported achievements, medals and points as rewards to proficient editors.
However, there are some editors who think they can out-smart the system by adding random spaces, periods and nonsense to articles.
We, the writers of this guide, know that some users may not know they are breaking the rules. It is heavily encouraged that all users should read this guide first before being warned or having their points taken from them.
Punishable Offenses to the Achievement System
Saving Page Constantly:
Most heavily used on the Timeline pages; adding overused links, one or two periods, random spaces or adding 'st' or 'th' to date numbers on a page using the 'separation technique' (see example) is a bannable offense. Besides over-use of links, all of those others aren't bad and can make a page look good sometimes, but when you add periods or fix up date numbers be sure to edit them as a group, using the 'group technique' and not to use the 'separation technique' (shown below)!
Separation technique and group technique
If an editor performs the example listed below (known as the 'separation technique'), they can and will be punished:
Click edit on one sub-heading > Add 'st' to 1st of January > Save Page > Click edit on another sub-heading > Add 'th' to 4th of March > Save Page > Etc, etc.
- Vice Versa with periods, linkage, etc...
This exploit is a bannable offense and can result in a user's loss of points.
Instead, the editor should scroll to the top of the page, and click 'Edit This Page'. This will show the editor the whole page to edit as a group ('group technique') and not individually with sub-headings, if they edit by adding to multiple sub-headings using the 'separation technique', even on the same article, those small edits will count as different contributions and give the user a high edit count and badges for nothing, the main reason why it is against the rules.
The example below is editing as a group using the 'group technique', this is what you are supposed to do, and is not a bannable offense.
Click Edit This Page (not edit next to a sub-heading) > Add 'st' to 1st, add 'th' to 4th, add 'nd' to 2nd > Save Page
Removing and Adding Imagery:
Removing an image off a page, then saving the page, then adding it back in an effort to get points will result in you actually losing points. It is a bannable offense to do this and you will be caught.
Example:
Remove current image > Save Page > Add the exact image but under user's name > Save Page
A list of other offenses involving the Achievement System:
- Adding nonsense to pages, then removing it yourself.
- Editing an article, using multiple sub-headings instead of grouping the edit.
- Constant postings of blogs that have been done before.
- Removing categories, then re-adding them and vice versa.
You may be wondering how a cheat is caught, since his/her edit is lost in a mass of other edits.
Everytime a user makes an edit in this wiki it is logged and can be tracked back to the user, so think twice before abusing the achievement system.