EPT
Welcome to How to Contribute: LiquidDota Edition. I posted the original one over a year ago on TeamLiquid.net. Since LiquidDota is now its own entity with its own focus and characteristics I updated the post with specifics for this community. Since it is brand new and still growing this post may be updated in the feature.
Intro
TeamLiquid.net was always about community interaction and contribution. Of course this applies to LiquidDota as well. This post tries to serve as a starting point for people who want to do "something" but have no idea where to start.
LiquipediaThe easiest way to contribute to the community is by editing Liquipedia. There is always tons of stuff to do on a wiki. I want to give a few examples of what you can jump right into.
Groundwork:
While our Dota 2 wiki is still fairly new, the game's history spans over 10 years and a lot of current players were active much earlier than Dota 2. This means that a lot of history isn't recorded yet. Preserving history helps to make the present more accessible to newcomers. Additionally there are still tournaments, players, and teams without or rather empty pages. If you know history or current on-goings this is a good way to make your knowledge count.
Spelling, Grammar, Style:
There is a lot of work you can do without having any knowledge about the game or scene itself. You can always go around and fix typos, grammar, and, in general, help to provide more consistency across the wiki. Going around and fixing little errors here and there helps us immensely.
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.
If you still have absolutely no idea where to start: Hit the
Random Page button and see what you can fix or improve. The ToDo list is also a good starting point, even if it is a bit outdated at the moment.Strategy
Strategy is always a big part in every (e)sports community. Historically, strategy discussions on TeamLiquid.net (and its sister-sites) were 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.
Before jumping into the forums, you should definitely read the general guidelines thread. 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:
Dota 2 Strategy Forum Guidelines
TL Hero Thread Index
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
A Small Primer on Dota 2 Strategy
Live Reporting
Another important feature of LiquidDota are the live-report threads. If a tournament has one, you can find 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:
Tournaments Forum
Dota 2 Live Report Resources
Translating
Since we are a 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 written in languages other than English, and some scenes are bigger than or are more isolated from the English-speaking community, for example: the Russian and Chinese scenes. 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 Hemmingway 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 game analysis, recap, your thoughts... write it down! 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. If you want to join the glorious LiquidDota staff you can apply here.
Other Ways of Contributing
Player & Team Discussion
If you are hipster enough, your favorite team or player probably doesn't have a discussion thread yet, so why don't you go ahead and create one? Check out the Intropost by Heyoka for all the information you need.
Calendar
One important feature of LiquidDota 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. If an event is already live, consider keeping an eye out on which matches are going on or just finished so you can change it on the calendar. You can find more information in Heyoka's post about the new site features.
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 LiquidDota Site Rules 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 on the original post.
