Soft launch: Soldier biographies and research notes vary in completeness. Prefer class-roster, NARA, newspapers, and other cited sources for contested facts — treat Research notes as leads, not settled history. Anyone can correct a page; contact us with questions.
Contribute
This wiki is meant to be edited. Create an account, then change a soldier page the same way you would edit Wikipedia: the infobox holds the structured facts, and the rest of the article is freeform.
Class-roster terms, National Archives digitization limits, and Camp Ritchie Museum reproduction rules are on Disclaimer. Research notes on soldier pages may be unverified; replace a bad note with a sourced sentence, or explain the change on the talk page. See also About the data.
Accounts
- You must be logged in to edit. Anonymous edits are turned off to cut spam.
- A short question is shown when you create an account.
- On a public server, email confirmation may also be required before you can edit.
- New accounts cannot upload files or move pages until they are autoconfirmed (about one day and a few edits). Established editors can upload photographs.
What to add
- Biographies, family recollections, and unit stories, with sources when you have them
- Photographs (see below)
- Corrections to name, ASN, class, dates, assignment, or death year
- External links to NARA, Find a Grave, newspapers, or published histories
Photographs
After you are autoconfirmed:
- Use Special:Upload
- Name the file clearly, for example
Jack Aach Camp Ritchie.jpg - State the source and who holds the copyright in the upload summary
- On the soldier page, set
|photo=Jack Aach Camp Ritchie.jpgin{{Soldier}}, or add[[File:Jack Aach Camp Ritchie.jpg|thumb|caption]]under Gallery
Do not upload images you do not have permission to share.
New topic pages
If you add a page that is not a soldier biography (history, interviews, FAQ, and similar), put [[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]] at the bottom. It will then appear under Contents. Soldier pages are indexed A–Z from the infobox and do not need that category.
Infobox fields
Each soldier page is laid out like a Wikipedia biography: a short opening paragraph on the left and a right-hand infobox (portrait, personal details, military service). The opening paragraph is generated from the infobox, so correcting those fields updates the lead.
Edit the {{Soldier}} template call at the top of the page. Class numbers for men who attended more than one class are separated by a semicolon, for example 5;11. That keeps Class 5 and similar roster pages in sync.
If you change class, nativity, or assignment, the categories on that page update from the infobox the next time the page is saved. Add a longer narrative under Life.
Talk pages
Use the article's Talk page when two sources disagree, or when a match looks wrong. Do not silently delete a baseline field unless you have a source; strike or note the old value on Talk.
What not to publish
- Social Security numbers or other modern identity numbers
- Private contact information for living relatives
- Unsourced claims that a living person committed a crime
Some men born in the 1920s may still be living. Keep those articles factual and modest. Family members who want a page trimmed should contact an administrator.
For administrators
Patrol Special:RecentChanges. Rollback obvious vandalism, block repeat spammers, and protect a page only if it is under sustained attack.