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For my 1000th post, I wanted to do something different than just a blog with a couple of shoutouts. When I first fell in love with StarCraft II and this community, I looked for some way to give back, to contribute. Luckily for me, I found Liquipedia and a way to contribute without having to be the best writer or graphic designer, or even having a very good game-knowledge. This is why I would like to give you an overview of different ways to contribute. This community is built by many dedicated and passionate people who just want their scene to grow and become more awesome, so maybe you want to be part of that and find some useful ways to contribute. Here are some useful ways to help.
Liquipedia
The easiest way to contribute to the community is by editing Liquipedia. We have three wikis dedicated to TeamLiquid.net-featured games:
StarCraft: Brood War (LP1)Even though professional Brood War is dead, the amateur and foreign community is very much alive. Ongoing tournaments and active players aren't the only thing LP1 needs help with, as the wiki still has a good amount of history to cover. Be it old Proleague results or player articles of former players, there is still lots of work to do. If you are interested in preserving Brood War history, LP1 is a good place to start.
StarCraft II (LP2)Even though, or even because, it is the largest of our wikis in terms of articles and contributor numbers, there is a whole lot of things to do on LP2. Covering ongoing tournaments, creating team and player pages, or bringing all these pages to a higher level of quality is something that requires work and dedication from lots of passionate people. There is always something going on in the scene which we would like to cover. Strategy is also a huge part of the wiki which is in dire need of contributors.
Dota 2 (LPD)Our newest addition to professional coverage is Dota 2. This means there is a lot of basic work to do. Many player pages lack any biographical information or haven't even been created yet. And outside of the esports scene there is still a lot of information to add, such as hero information, information about cosmetic items, and further explanations of Dota-specific lingo.
Non game specific work:
A lot of work that is done on all three wikis is actually not game-specific. You can always go around and fix typos, grammar, and, in general, help to provide more consistency across all wikis. You can always just go around pages and try to find something to fix.
General advice and links:
If you are interested in editing Liquipedia, you should not be left alone on this wonderful journey. A good starting point is the Liquipedia Feedback Thread, which has a quick how-to, a FAQ section, a list of important links, and a place for you if you should have any questions. Also, the #liquipedia IRC channel on QuakeNet is full of amazing editors, staff, and contributors who will gladly help out in any way they can. Feel free to visit at any time.
Strategy
A big part of TeamLiquid.net and its covered games was, and still is, strategy. Strategy discussions on Team Liquid are always expected to be of much higher quality than in other communities and forums. If you have the game knowledge, please consider helping out here. There are many opportunities to contribute. You can write guides for your favorite hero or strategy or just answer questions others may have.
TL Strategy
You should also check out TL Strategy. The new hub for StarCraft II strategy. If you would like to be a part of this amazing project, you should PM monk and let him know you want to help out. There is enough stuff to do from looking up VODs for specific guides or converting existing guides to Liquipedia.
General advice and links:
Before jumping into the different strategy forums, you should definitely read the general guidelines of each strategy forum. Like I said above, discussions on here are expected to be of a high quality standard, so please consider all rules and tips before contributing.
Here are some useful links and places for you to start for each strategy forum:
StarCraft: Brood War:
Brood War Strategy Forum Guidelines
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
StarCraft II:
StarCraft II Strategy Forum Guidelines
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
The Protoss Help Me Thread
The Terran Help Me Thread
The Zerg Help Me Thread
Dota 2:
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
The TeamLiquid Guide Index
League of Legends:
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Champion Thread Template
Live Reporting
Another important feature of TeamLiquid.net are the live-report threads. If a tournament has one, you can find, within it, people who are watching the tournament and want to discuss what is happening. It is the online equivalent of watching sports with friends. Today, LR threads are much more elaborate than a simple thread. These threads are amazingly done and contain all of the important information you need to be able to fully enjoy a tournament. They are also up-to-date with the results of the tournament. Contributing outside of just discussing
General advice and links:
A good example on how to live-report matches
StarCraft: Brood War
Tourney Section Rules
StarCraft II:
SC2 Tournament Forum Posting Tips
SC2 LR resources
Dota 2:
Dota 2 General LR thread
Small VOD Threads
Small VOD threads are places where you can find unspoiled old, and new, VODs for your favorite games. This is also an easy way to contribute and get good games to people who will surely enjoy them.
General advice and links:
Before you jump in and post games, you should always make sure it hasn't been posted before. Also a very important part of contributing in this section is to format it correctly and not to spoil the result in any way. Please read the opening posts very carefully.
StarCraft: Brood War Small VOD Thread
StarCraft II Small VOD Thread
Dota 2 Small VOD Thread
Translating
Since TeamLiquid.net is an English-speaking community, we prefer our news to be written in English. But, of course, the entire esports scene is very international and not everything is publicised in English. This is why we always need people who can link and translate interesting content to us.
General advice:
In general, every local scene has its own news in written in languages other than English, and some scenes are bigger than or are more isolated from the English-speaking community, for example: the Korean scene for StarCraft, the Russian scene for Dota 2, and the Chinese scene for StarCraft and Dota 2. So, if you stumble upon interesting content which isn't available in English, consider translating it and posting it in the appropriate forum. People will be very grateful.
Writing
You don't need to be on the writing staff, to let your inner writer out. If you want to contribute in form of typing sentences, but don't have the knowledge to help out the strategy forum or feel that Liquipedia is not the right place for you, you can always write a blog. If it's a story out of your life, a fictional story or just a map analysis, recap, or your thoughts on something. If you still want to be part of that amazing team and fill our front-page, consider writing an application here.
Links:
Click here to create your blog
Graphics
The same goes for graphics. There is always someone who needs graphics for their blog, stream, or a new wallpaper. There are some very talented people in this community. If this is your talent, why not contribute? Here a few examples of users offering their skills to our community.
Mapmaking
If you know your way around the StarCraft II editor, you should consider contributing to the mapmaking community on TL. Many awesome maps and custom games originate from there. So jump right in and maybe your map will become the next Ohana.
Links:
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
TL Knowhow
If you don't know enough about StarCraft or DotA, but very much about another topic, you should consider writing a TL Knowhow article. These are articles that focus on extensive knowledge on various topics and are meant to be of high quality. So if you would consider yourself an expert on a topic, you should definitely check it out.
Links:
About TL Knowhow
Other Ways of Contributing
Fan clubs
If you are hipster enough, your favorite player probably doesn't have a fan club yet, so why don't you go ahead and create one? Check out the Fan Club Resource Thread for all the information you need.
Sub-communities
If you can't find anything that interests you, you should check out one of the many sub-communities we have. Take a look at the Sport & Games forum and the TL Community forums and their various sub-forums.
Adding events to the calendar
One important feature of TeamLiquid.net is the event-calendar. We want to cover as much events as we can, aslong as they meet certain criterias, so you always know what is going at any moment. If you are in-the-know of current event ongoings, please consider adding events that are missing to the calendar. But before you do, you should check out the different criterias: Brood War, StarCraft II, and Dota 2.
Be a good poster
This is one is actually fairly basic, but being a good poster is indeed something that helps the community a great deal. Positivity, thinking before posting, and helping others out creates a great environment for all of us.
Report bad posters
After one year on TL you get your report button on top off all posts. With that, if you find a bad post, you can get a message to the moderators to look into it. The trick to making a good report is, to always think about it first and summarize the reason for your report. Don't report just because their views are different from yours. Consult the TL.net Ten Commandments for further information.
Outro
If something is wrong or if I forgot something, let me know and I'll add it right away.
Thanks to salle, ChapatiyaqPTSM, heyoka, and itsjustatank for their copy editing and feedback.
Also thanks to Cokefreak, Barrin, wo1fwood, ELA, synapse, and CecilSunkure for pointing out missing segments.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zswxV.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/shz/1103.png)
