Editing Module:Iraqi insurgency detailed map/doc (section)

=="link=" parameter: linking towns to sources==
{{location map+ |Syria |float=right |width=340 |caption=. |places=
{{location map~ |Syria |lat=33.017 |long=36.128 |mark=Location dot lime.svg |marksize=10 |label=[[Inkhil#civilwar|Inkhil]] |link=Inkhil#civilwar |label_size=100 |position=bottom}}
{{location map~ |Syria |lat=33.9 |long=37.15 |mark=Arrow northeast.svg |marksize=65 |label=[[#no|"link=" parameter allows clicking on dot to take you to town article]] |link=#no |label_size=0 |position=top}}
{{location map~ |Syria |lat=33.7 |long=36.8 |mark=Location dot lightgrey.svg |marksize=1 |label=[[Inkhil#civilwar|...,&nbsp;link&nbsp;=&nbsp;"Inkhil#civilwar",...]] |link=Inkhil#civilwar |label_size=100 |position=right}}
{{location map~ |Syria |lat=35.4 |long=40.1 |mark=Serbian Wikipedia, article "Википедија".png |marksize=200 |label=[[Inkhil#civilwar|Article on Inkhil, civil war section]] |link=Inkhil#civilwar |label_size=0 |position=right}}
}}
Every element on the map should be verifiable. Information on towns (description of control & sources) can be found by ''clicking'' on the town dot on the map. Notice the caption of the map which says: "Hold cursor over location to display name; click to go to sources &/or status description (if available, the cursor will show as [[File:Pointing hand cursor vector.svg|25px]]; if not, it will show as [[File:Cursor.svg|14px]])."

Notice the “link=” parameter in the map code. This is supposed to link to the part in the Wikipedia article that contains the source and talks about the events in the town. So for example, if you click on the dot of the town "Inkhil" on the map, it will take you to the part of the Wikipedia article on the town "Inkhil" that has the description of war events (& sources): link = "[[Inkhil#civilwar]]" Here the first part ''before'' the # is the name of the article (Inkhil). the second part ''after'' the # is the name of the section (civilwar).

For this to work, there needs to be a section by this same name in the article or you need to put a wikilink anchor: [[WP:ANCHOR|<nowiki>{{anchor|section}}</nowiki>]] that will act as a section header (in this case <nowiki>{{anchor|civilwar}}</nowiki>).

The link to sources &/or status description should be done according to the following priorities in this order:
# The part of the town's article that talks about the war events in the town (see Example 1 below). 
# The part of a "battle/offensive/etc..." article that talks about the ''latest'' status of the specific town (see Example 2 below).
# The article about the town which does not contain war events (still better than nothing).
A quick look at the map's code will tell you where each town dot is currently linking.

'''Example 1: How to keep town dots linked to the ''latest'' status source when the town has its own Wikipedia article.'''. The example concerns the town of [[Al-Taybah]]. First, notice how there is: link = "[[Al-Taybah#civilwar]]" parameter associated with the code line of town Al-Taybah. As indicated above, this links the Al-Taybah town dot with the war section in the town's Wikipedia article. This parameter does not change over time. However, the war section in the town's Wikipedia article needs to stay ''up-to-date'' in terms of the latest control status and latest associated source. For example, on 20/08/2017 the government took the town. To keep the link up-to-date, this latest event (along with the source) needs to be added to the war section in the town's Wikipedia article. To accomplish this, notice [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Al-Taybah&diff=796465930&oldid=789256319 the following edit] which added to the article the following text:

<small><nowiki>However, in 20/08/2017, the Army stormed the Taybah area from their positions at the Al-Kom axis, pushing their way through ISIL's front-lines. Unable to maintain their positions, ISIL was forced to retreat from Taybah, leaving the entire area for the Army to take control of after a short battle.<ref>[https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-syrian-army-liberates-important-area-besiege-isil-north-palmyra/ Syrian Army liberates important area to besiege ISIL north of Palmyra], Al-Masdar news, 20/08/2017.</ref></nowiki></small>

This provides the latest status (along with the source) to viewers clicking on the town's dot in the map. Notice also how at the ''beginning'' of the war section in the town's Wikipedia article, there is the expression: <nowiki>{{anchor|civilwar}}</nowiki>. This mirrors the #civilwar part in the link parameter in the map's code and allows the click on the dot to take the viewer to the [[Al-Taybah#civilwar|beginning of the war section]] in the town's Wikipedia article. In summary, when the status of a map object changes, the color of the icon has to be updated ''and'' the write-up (along with the source) has to be ''added'' as well.

'''Example 2: How to keep town dots linked to the ''latest'' status source when the town does not have its own Wikipedia article.''' The example concerns the town of "Kabajeb". Up to August 2017, the link parameter associated with the code line of the town was link= "Deir ez-Zor offensive (April–July 2014)#Kabajeb". As indicated above, this links the Kabajeb town dot with a war article that talks about the latest war events concerning the town (along with a source). This was done because the town Kabajeb does not have its own Wikipedia article. Therefore, the link is made to the article that have the latest status & source. In this case, it is the article [[Deir ez-Zor offensive (April–July 2014)]] which states in its code:

<small><nowiki>{{anchor|Kabajeb}}The ISIS reportedly took parts of the town,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Apr-10/252903-syria-qaeda-loses-ground-to-jihadist-rivals-on-iraq-border.ashx|title=Syria Qaeda loses ground to jihadist rivals on Iraq border|work=The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon|accessdate=25 October 2014}}</ref></nowiki></small>

Notice how the paragraph starts with the expression ''<nowiki>{{anchor|Kabajeb}}</nowiki>''. This guides the link to put the reader exactly at the beginning of the latest status & source. However, on 2017-09-04, the government took the town from ISIS. So the above link & source is no longer up-to-date. To stay up-to-date, you need to do 2 steps:

Step 1: Write about the new status in some "battle/offensive/etc..." article that relates to the town. Alternatively, you can find an up-to-date text that someone else wrote and proceed to the next step. In our case, you find that someone wrote this updated status in the article [[Central Syria campaign (July 2017–present)]] which states in its code:

<small><nowiki>5th Corps alongside 18th Reserve Division captured the town of Kabajib during midday, while later in the day together with Tiger Forces captured al-Shulah.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-syrian-army-liberates-strategic-town-en-route-deir-ezzor-city/|title=Breaking: Syrian Army liberates strategic town en route to Deir Ezzor City|date=2017-09-04|work=AMN - Al-Masdar News {{!}} المصدر نيوز|access-date=2017-09-04|language=en-US}}</ref></nowiki></small>

This is exactly what we need. Therefore, we proceed to the next step.

Step 2: In the map code, we need to update the link parameter to point to the new status in the new article. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Module:Syrian_Civil_War_detailed_map&diff=799666773&oldid=799624578 This edit] does this. As you can see, the link was changed from link="[[Deir ez-Zor offensive (April–July 2014)#Kabajeb]]" to link="[[Central Syria campaign (July 2017–present)#Kabajeb]]". However, for this to work, we need to also put the expression <nowiki>{{anchor|Kabajeb}}</nowiki> at the beginning of the part in the new article that talks about the new status. This is done in [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Central_Syria_campaign_(July_2017%E2%80%93present)&diff=799653245&oldid=799649953 this edit].

'''Example 3: For another illustration on how the link= parameter and "anchor" template work, see [[Talk:Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War/Archive 65#Link of Suran, Hama]].'''