Help:Manual of Style
From Star Trek: Gamma One
The following is a guide to refer to when adding data to the wiki. This will help to keep all the authors on the same page. Please follow all guidelines in here.
Contents |
Edits
When added or editing data, please preview the data. Do not save the page to review the data, as this creates numerous unneeded 'diffs'. Please preview the changes so that only the final save is in place. The exception here is when a moderator is working on a template. A template unfortunately needs saving in order to view the changes.
Important: Whenever you make an edit to any page but a talk page, please make sure you add a summary note. This shows up in the 'history' page, and helps people track the history of changes.
Categories
Pretty much every single page should have at least one category at the bottom. Please take a look at other pages which have been created that cover the same type of material, and see what categories have been used. You can also view the main categories list to see all that have been created.
Templates
Our moderator team has worked hard to help create templates. Templates will make adding data easier for you, and will help to create a uniform look and feel for the site. Before you add content, review our template page to find any and all templates which may apply to your work, and use those templates.
Marking Pages for Deletion
Pages marked with the DeleteThisPage template are considered candidates for deletion.
To mark a page for deletion, edit it and at the very top put [[DeleteThisPage|Article is candidate for deletion]]. To use do the following:
{{DeleteThisPage
| REASON=<the reason for deletion here.>
}}
Ship and Class Names
The names of ships and the names of classes should be italicized. However, the prefixes of ship names should not be. For example, USS Vanguard is a Nebula-class exploratory cruiser. Registries should be included after the starship's name when appropriate. The correct formatting is USS Defiant NX-74205; not (NX-74205) or other permutations. Starships with a registry such as the current Enterprise should be listed as USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E; not Enterprise-E.
In an article pertaining to a specific ship, use of the short name, such as the Marathon, is permitted once the ship has been properly identified at least once. IE, once the USS Defiant has been referred to in an article as USS Defiant NX-74205 it can be referred as just USS Defiant or Defiant.
Redirects
Redirects occur for a few reasons. Below are ways to handle redirects for different situations:
- Page Moved As Name Was Incorrect: If a page is moved because the name was incorrect, then a redirect is automatically setup. A moderator should view the redirect page itself and check 'What Links Here' for pages with the incorrect name. Those pages should be edited where possible to correct the link, and the redirect deleted.
- Page Moved To Give It More Appropriate Name: Sometimes a page may be moved because the original name was inappropriate. For example a page was created for 'Michael Mitellan' and then moved to 'Mitellan.' Michael Mitellan is the correct name of the character, and thus the redirect can be left in place. It is not giving incorrect information to players.
- Redirect Creation: Redirects can and should be created in instances where they will help avoid missing page broken links. For example, the correct name for the UFP page is 'United Federation of Planets'. If it is noted people are linking to UFP or Federation, then those pages should be created as a redirect.
Stubs
When should I mark a page as a stub?
- Most ships should not be stubs. The simple fact is most ships will only have minimal information created for them, information from character service records or backgrounds. Marking a ship page as a stub, for attention for editing, will only clutter the stubs list since it is unlikely significant information will be created or collected for ships from character backgrounds.
- Anything about a place or race or thing in the Gamma Quadrant, including ships in the Gamma Quadrant, where there is minimal information should be marked as a stub.
- Outside of these guidelines, please use your best judgment.
Episode Links
How should I format Episode names?
- For character pages, there is a specific formatting that we use for referencing episodes a character has appeared in. See Adding a Character Page for more information.
- For other pages, if in the text of the page, please put the episode name with quotation marks around the tile. The two recommended ways for formatting:
- In "Nor in thy Dark Embrace" Mitellan shot a Romulan
- Mitellan was stripped of his command when he shot a Romulan in cold blood. ("Nor in thy Dark Embrace")
- If you are to put the episode name in a references section of a page, just put the episode title in quotations.
Multiple Links
Often a page will contain multiple references to a linkable article. Only the first time the item is mentioned should a link be created. Using 'Starfleet' in the following example, the correct formatting would read 'The Excelsior-class explorer is a Starfleet design launched in the 2280s as a testbed for an experimental transwarp drive. After the failure of the transwarp drive, Starfleet modified the vessel to handle a conventional warp drive.'
An exception to the 'first mention' rule is something like the References section at the bottom of character pages, where the single link might not be the first mention of the item on the page. If there is clearly a references or links section, it should be treated separately from the rest of the page.
Disambiguation Pages
When there is disambiguation the following steps are taken:
- Rename the existing page. For things like planets, sectors, systems you do 'Name (Type)' like 'Bajor (Sector)' and 'Bajor (Planet)'. For ships you add the registry, so 'USS Enterprise' becomes 'USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D'. For people you add a givenname, where possible, making 'Dra' into 'Degras Dra'
- Return to the original page. So, if we're talking about Dra you would go to Dra's page, but it would redirect you to Degras Dra. However, at the top of the page under the title is a note about the redirect and a link to the original page. Click. Now, click on 'What Links Here'. If the list is reasonable (say up to maybe 10 or 15) then edit those pages and update the old Dra link to Degras Dra.
- Make the Dra page into a disambig page. This is easy to do. See http://www.gammaone.mushpark.com/index.php/Dra for an example.
- Visit the the newly moved Degras Dra page and add a link disambiguation link to the top. See http://www.gammaone.mushpark.com/index.php/Degras_Dra for an example.
- Create the new page with a disambiguation link.
