How to Create a Page on Mahalo

Guide Note

Mahalo is dedicated to creating search engine result pages (SeRPs) with quality links that are relevant, spam-free and contain original content. The best way to do this is to rely on people to create them. If you would like to help the cause, here is a guide on how to create a page on Mahalo.

Table of Contents

Creating a Mahalo Page Tips

  1. Always search Mahalo to check if a similar SeRP has been created.
  2. Make sure your term is spelled correctly.
  3. Creating an account on Mahalo makes it easy to track links and new pages.
  4. Submit links that have excellent content.
  5. Use Mahalo Share to add links quickly.

Introduction

Building a Mahalo page. (Creative Commons photo by Eliot Phillips)
Building a Mahalo page. (Creative Commons photo by Eliot Phillips)
  • Most of the pages on Mahalo have been created by guides. Guides are real people who work for Mahalo. However, you don't have to be a Mahalo guide to create, edit or add links to a SeRP. You do not even have to sign up for a Mahalo account (although it is recommended).

What Terms Does Mahalo Want?

  • Mahalo's goal is to create search engine result pages (SeRPs) for popular terms. However, almost any term is acceptable, no matter how obscure, provided it has good quality links and a well-written Member Note. There are some terms that Mahalo will not create SeRPs for; these include anything that might be considered offensive or adult-oriented. If you are not sure about a topic, a good way to judge is to ask yourself, "Is this appropriate to show a 13-year-old?" If the answer is no, it most likely shouldn't be on Mahalo.

What Links Will Mahalo Accept?

  1. Are an authority in their field.
  2. Regularly update their content.
  3. Have been around for more than a year.
  4. Keep content (not ads) as the focus of their pages.1
  1. Ad-heavy sites.
  2. Sites in languages other than English.
  3. Sites that lack third-party security or privacy verification services such as the Better Business Bureau, VeriSign, Hacker Safe or PayPal.
  4. Sites that have links that quickly expire, such as Yahoo! News links.
  5. Sites with affiliate links.
  6. Dead links.
  7. Links submitted to the wrong term (such as submitting a link about apples to Apple).
  8. Sites that do not credit their sources or are only restating/scraping information from other sources.
  9. Spam sites.
  10. Sites that seem to be involved in phishing or fraudulent activity.
  11. Sites with adult content or hate speech.2


How to Sign up for a Mahalo Account

  • Although you are not required to have a Mahalo account to create pages, you should consider signing up. Mahalo accounts are free and easy to create. Plus, with a profile you will be able to keep track of all the pages you have created and the links you have submitted (not to mention your social profiles across the web). In fact, you can even have Mahalo email you anytime someone contributes to or updates a SeRP you created. Here is how to create a Mahalo account:
  1. In the top right hand corner of this page, you should see a link that says "Create Account." Click on that link (or better yet, right click on that link and open it to a new tab or window so you don't lose this page).
  2. You will be asked for your email, a user name, a password, and verification that you are at least 13 years old.
  3. After entering the information, click on "Join Mahalo."
  4. You will then be taken to a screen that asks if you want to find your friends on Mahalo. This will only work if you have certain email accounts, such as Gmail or Hotmail.
  5. You're done. You can now see your profile.

How to Start a New Page

  • Creating a new Mahalo page is simple. In fact, you have a variety of ways to do it. Some of them can be done "anonymously," which means you don't have to have a Mahalo profile to do it. However, you should know that any editing done by people who are not signed into Mahalo accounts will be linked to the network IP address of your computer.

Do a Mahalo Search

  • Anytime you do a search on Mahalo for a term that is not in our database, it will immediately ask you if you want to create a page. This is one of the best ways to create new pages, because it can help you be sure that Mahalo does not already have a similar page and that you spelled the term correctly. For example, if you type in "apple strudle," you will discover that it is spelled incorrectly (it's "apple strudel"). You'll also notice that Mahalo has a page on strudel which has a section on fruit strudels.
  • If you cannot find the page you are looking for and want to create a SeRP, it's easy to do.
  1. Enter the term in the search bar.
  2. At the top of the page, under the tabs, you should see a sentence that reads "We haven't created a page for (page name) yet" followed by a plus sign and a link to create that page. Click on the link.
  3. You will be taken to your new SeRP. Notice there are no links on the page yet. We will cover that in the next section.
Searching for a term Mahalo doesn't have
Searching for a term Mahalo doesn't have

Click Create New Page

  1. Click on Create New Page. You will be directed to a new page that asks you the title of the page you want to create.
  2. In the box, type in the term for the new SeRP you want to create. (Remember, spelling counts!)
  3. Click on "Create Page."
  4. You will be taken to your new SeRP. Notice there are no links on the page yet. Again, we will cover that in the next section.

Click Submit a Link

  • You can also create a page by submitting a link to a search term that Mahalo has not created yet.
  1. Click on "Submit a Link" at the top of the page.
  2. You will be asked for the URL and the page name you are submitting it to.
  3. If the page does not already exist, Mahalo will automatically create it.
  4. You will then see the message "Thanks for adding a link to the (page name) page! You can view the link you submitted in the User Recommended Links section towards the bottom of the (page name) page."
  5. Click on the name of the page to go to the SeRP that was just created.
Submitting a link
Submitting a link

Click on a Red Link

  • Red links on Mahalo pages indicate terms that we have not created, but anticipate doing so soon. You can jump-start the process by clicking on the link. Here's how:
  1. Click on any red link.
  2. You will be taken to a page that asks if you want to create a SeRP for the term you just clicked.
  3. This is similar to what would happen if you clicked "Create a Page," except the term has been automatically inserted into the box.
  4. Click on "Create Page."
  5. You will be taken to your new SeRP. Notice there are no links on the page yet. Again, we will cover that in the next section.

Use the Mahalo Share Toolbar

  • If you have a Mahalo account and have installed the Mahalo Share toolbar, you have two additional ways of creating a page.
  1. Enter the term in the Mahalo Share toolbar. This works just like the search bar on Mahalo.
  2. Recommend a link to the term using the Mahalo Share toolbar. If the page has not been created, Mahalo will create the page and name you as its creator.

Adding Links to a Page

  • Once you have created a page, you can find it by typing the term in the Mahalo Search Box. You will notice that the page looks different from other Mahalo pages. Technically, the page you just created is considered a "User Created Stub." That means that it was not created by a Mahalo guide. However, you don't need to be a Mahalo guide to create a great-looking page. Plus, if you put a little effort into it, a Mahalo guide will help you out by accepting links and formatting the page.
  • If you have a Mahalo account, you will want to make sure you are signed in before adding links. If you check your profile, you will notice a list of all the links that you have submitted. After you have submitted a link, the link will be checked by a Mahalo guide. If it is declined or banned, they will explain why. Don't worry, we all make the mistake of recommending the wrong link at one time or another.
  • Let's start by adding some links to the page. Don't worry, this job does not fall totally on your shoulders. Mahalo is a community with members devoted to finding and recommending links. However, this is an opportunity for you to submit links that you find the most useful. There are three ways to add links to a specific page.
  1. Every Mahalo page, including this one, has a "User Recommended Links" section located toward the bottom that includes a place to add a link for that page.
    1. Locate the section titled "User Recommended Links for (Page Title)."
    2. Type or paste the link into the box.
    3. Click "add link." It will automatically be added to the page you are on.
  2. Another method is to click the "Submit a Link" option located at the top of the page. This method allows you to add links for any term you desire, not just to that page.
    1. Click "Submit a Link" at the top of the page.
    2. Enter in the link and title of the page. Capitalization does not matter, but spelling does.
    3. Click "Submit Link."
  3. One of the easiest ways to submit links is to use the Mahalo Share toolbar. With Mahalo Share, adding links is just a click away.
    1. If you do not have Mahalo Share, go to How to Use Mahalo Share and follow the instructions to install it.
    2. After installing it, click on the green check mark after the question "Recommend this page?"
    3. A screen will pop up asking you what search term you want to recommend the link for (you can only recommend it for one search term at a time). It also provides you with a place to add "tags" (brief descriptions) and explain why you love that link.
    4. Add as many or as few tags as you'd like. They are for your own reference.
    5. You are not required to say why you love the link, but it can be helpful for other users to get an idea of what the site is all about.
Mahalo Share
Mahalo Share
  • If you want to recommend a link for more than one page, all you need to do is repeat one of these three methods for the new term.

How to Delete a Link

  • If you submitted your link to the wrong page (or misspelled the term), you can delete it, provided that your link has not already been declined, banned or accepted by a Mahalo guide. Deleting a link is only possible if you were logged into your Mahalo account when you submitted it.
  1. Go to your profile page and view your submitted links.
  2. Under each one is a link that says "delete." Click it.
  3. You will then be asked if you are sure you want to delete the link. Click "OK."
  4. You should notice that the link no longer appears on your page.
  5. Resubmit the link to the correct term if desired.

Writing and Editing the Note Box

  • You will notice a beige box on the upper right hand area of the page you created that says "Member Note" and "Fast Facts." This is called the Note Box. Every Mahalo page has one. The Note Box is sort of the "Cliffs Notes" or "what people need to know" section. It contains a brief summary, basic facts and any other information that someone might find important or useful about the subject.
  • To edit the Note Box, click on the "Edit Member Note and Fast Facts" link located at the bottom. Once you do, you will be taken to another screen that displays the MediaWiki markup for the Note Box. MediaWiki is how Mahalo formats all of its pages, but let's save that for later. Instead, let's focus on the content of the Note Box.

What Goes in the Note Box?

  • The two most important things that the Note Box contains are the "Member Note" and the "Fast Facts." You may notice that some pages say "Guide Note" and others say "Member Note." The only difference is who wrote the text. Some pages contain additional sections such as quotes, trivia, statistics, background, etc. These are optional sections that are often created by guides. The entire Note Box should be about 125 to 250 words long (75 to 125 for stubs).

Writing the Member Note

  • The Member Note contains a brief three to four sentence summary of the subject. It should answer the question "Who/What is (topic)?" Mahalo strives to have a member note that is about 8 to 10 lines (not sentences) long.
  • As an example, we will look at the Member Note for Melissa Gilbert. The Member Note says:
    • American actress Melissa Gilbert portrayed Laura Ingalls Wilder on the television show Little House on the Prairie from 1974 until 1983. She also served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert has appeared on Nip/Tuck, Babylon 5, 7th Heaven and Batman: The Animated Series.
  • A few key things to notice about the Member Note:
  1. It uses complete sentences.
  2. It is grammatically correct.
  3. It is not plagiarized or "borrowed" from another page.
  4. It has a neutral point of view, with facts and not opinions.
  5. It is short and to the point.
  6. It does not contain any time-sensitive language.

Writing Fast Facts

  • Fast Facts are important bits of information about the subject. They always come directly after the Member Note. These will differ depending on the type of page. Again, you should think about what information someone who is searching for the term would want to know. For the page on Melissa Gilbert, information such as her full name, date of birth, birthplace or hometown, children, major life events and what she is doing now could be included. For example:
    1. Name: Melissa Ellen Gilbert
    2. Born: May 8, 1964
    3. Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
    4. Spouse: Bruce Boxleitner
    5. Children: Dakota Brinkman and Michael Boxleitner
    6. Stepchildren: Sam Boxleitner and Lee Boxleitner
    7. Siblings: Sara Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert
    8. Adopted by Paul Gilbert and Barbara Crane
    9. Youngest person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
    10. SAG President from 2001 - 2005
    11. 2008: Starred in musical version of Little House on the Prairie as "Ma"
  • Some things you should understand about Fast Facts:
  1. A page should usually have between five and 15 fast facts.
  2. They are not complete sentences.
  3. They are short and to the point.
  4. They focus on dates, numerical data or vital statistics.
  5. They are not time-sensitive. For example, instead of writing "currently starring in," the fast fact specifies the year 2008.
  6. After the colon, only the first word is capitalized (unless it is a proper noun).

Formatting the Note Box

  • Once you have written the Note Box, you can work on formatting it. You might try writing your Member Note and Fast Facts in another program that can do a spelling and grammar check before pasting and formatting the text in Mahalo. To insert the text, you need to click on "Edit Member Note and Fast Facts." You will then be taken to a screen that looks like this:
    • <h2>Member Note</h2>
    • <h2>Fast Facts</h2>
    • #
    • #
  • A couple of things you should notice.
  1. "Member Note" and "Fast Facts" should be on their own separate lines and surrounded by <h2> </h2>.
  2. Fast Facts start with # (to create a numbered list) and do not end with periods.
  3. The Member Note does not start with #.
  4. When you click on "Edit the Member Note," you can find formatting tips and an example surrounding the edit box.
  • To format the Note Box, you need to do three basic things: add italics, add internal links and add citations.

Add Italics

  • To italicize a word or phrase, surround the term with two apostrophes (''). For example, the code ''Little House on the Prairie'' will look like Little House on the Prairie in the Note Box.
  • Italicize the titles of books, television shows, movies, albums or plays.
  • If it is a short story, song title, episode title or something else that is part of a larger entity, place it in quotes.

Add Internal Links

  • There are four types of internal links you may need to create.
  1. Basic internal links are created by surrounding a term with two square brackets [[ ]]. They will only work if the term matches the Mahalo page title exactly—both in spelling and capitalization. For example, to link to the "Screen Actors Guild," you would write [[Screen Actors Guild]] and not [[screen actors guild]].
  2. Sometimes you'll need to use an alternate spelling, capitalization or phrasing of an internal link.
    1. Start by making a normal internal link. (Example: [[United States]])
    2. Then insert a pipe | after the term (it is located above the enter key on most keyboards by typing SHIFT + \).
    3. Next, write the term as you want it to appear. (Example: [[United States|USA]])
    4. As another example, to create a link to "United States" for the word "American," the code looks like [[United States|American]] and it appears in the Note Box as American. In the Melissa Gilbert example, you will notice there are other instances of this formatting ("Adoption" for "Adopted" and "Nip Tuck" for "Nip/Tuck").
  3. Sometimes you will want to link to a category, like for the terms "actress" or "television." To do this, insert the word Category surrounded colons (:Category:) before the category name. For example: [[:Category:Actresses|actress]] looks like actress.
  4. If you need to add both italics and an internal link, such as with Little House on the Prairie, put the italics around the internal link code. ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'' will become Little House on the Prairie.

Add Citations

  • If you included any information that needs to be sourced (such as facts, figures and other criteria detailed in the Style Guide), you will need to add citations. To do this you need four bits of information:
  1. The name of the website (Website)
  2. The URL of the page (URL)
  3. The name of the page or article (Pagename)
  4. The date the page was published (Month Day, Year)
  • The citation is then written like so: <ref>Website: [URL Pagename] <small>(January 1, 1900)</small></ref>.
  • To add multiple citations from the same source, add the name tag each time you use that citation: <ref name="New York Times">
  • Notice that a colon (:) follows the name of the website. Also, there are spaces after the colon, between the URL and name of the page, and right before the date.
  • Please be aware that if you use the preview button as you are editing, the citation link will not display correctly.

The Final Version

  • When you put it all together with internal links, italics and citations, the code looks like this:
  • <h2>Member Note</h2>
  • [[United States|American]] [[:Category:Actresses|actress]] Melissa Gilbert portrayed [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]] on the [[:Category:Television|television]] show ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'' from [[1974]] until [[1983]]. She also served two terms as president of the [[Screen Actors Guild]]. Gilbert has also appeared on ''[[Nip Tuck|Nip/Tuck]],'' ''[[Babylon 5]],'' [[7th Heaven]] and ''[[Batman|Batman: The Animated Series]].''
  • <h2>Fast Facts</h2>
  • #Name: Melissa Ellen Gilbert
  • #Born: [[May 8]], [[1964]]
  • #Birthplace: [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
  • #Spouse: [[Bruce Boxleitner]]
  • #Children: Dakota Brinkman and Michael Boxleitner
  • #Stepchildren: Sam Boxleitner and Lee Boxleitner
  • #Siblings: [[Sara Gilbert]] and [[Jonathan Gilbert]]
  • #[[Adoption|Adopted]] by [[Paul Gilbert]] and Barbara Crane
  • #Youngest person to receive a star on the [[Hollywood]] Walk of Fame<ref>CBS: [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/17/entertainment/main584136.shtml?cmp=EM8707 Britney Gets A 'Walk Of Fame' Star] <small>(November 17, 2003)</small></ref>
  • #[[Screen Actors Guild|SAG]] president from [[2001]] - [[2005]]
  • #[[2008]]: Starred in musical version of ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'' as "Ma"
The note on Mahalo
The note on Mahalo

Conclusion

  • Creating new pages on Mahalo is a great way to share high quality links and spread the word on the best kept secrets of the Internet that other users may not find using traditional search engines. As the Mahalo community grows, it could become the ultimate destination for any kind of information people are looking for.

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References for How to Create a Page on Mahalo

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mahalo: Mahalo FAQ
  2. ↑ Mahalo: Terms of Service

Resources for How to Create a Page on Mahalo



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