View source for Help:Style guide

Following is a "style guide" to be taken into consideration when working on articles. Please read the other pages in our [[Help:Contents|help section]] as well!

==Use the preview button==
At the bottom of the editing box, next to the "Save page" button, is another button which reads "Show preview". This allows you to see what your changes look like when rendered by the Wiki software. You can re-read your work and look for errors in your Wiki code without saving the page to the database. For example, you can check that your wikilinks are formatted properly or that an image you added is where you wanted it to be. Then, when you are done, you can use the save button to update the page on the site.

Using preview before saving avoids creating a string of entries in the page's history and the [[Special:Recentchanges]] list, making those pages much easier for other editors to read and understand.

==Minor and major edits==
If you are making only a small change to an article, such as correcting spelling, inserting a single word, wikifying, or adding categories... mark the change as a minor edit when you save the page. Anything that changes the content or meaning of the article should ''not'' be marked as a minor edit.

The purpose of marking something as a minor edit is that other editors of the Wiki can choose to "hide" minor edits when they look at page histories or the [[Special:Recentchanges]] page.

== Always use the summary box ==
While editing a page, ''please'' be sure to fill in the summary box with something useful. Don't simply say "made some changes." Summaries like "spelling fixes" or "removed vandalism" are fine. It is especially important to include an edit summary if you are reversing another editor's work -- you should explain why you are doing it. Writing edit summaries helps other editors keep track of the changes that are being made.

== Link once (usually)==
Not every instance of, for example, "Bumblebee" on a page needs to link to the Bumblebee page. Generally only the first occurrence of a word should be turned into a link. In a long article, if it has been several paragraphs or sub-headers since an instance of a particular word, it can be linked again if it seems likely that somebody may wish to know more about that word after reading the new sentence.

It's also okay to link to the same article several times if you are linking to different specific sub-headings or anchor points each time. For example, while you may have already linked to a Bumblebee's page, if you are referring to a very specific toy of his, then a second link directly to that toy is not only all right, but in fact ''encouraged''. Especially if the character has a lot of toys to their name, as most every Bumblebee does. (See [[Template:Anchor]] for using anchors.)

== Tone and voice ==
This is an information site. It generally should be written in the third person and with a moderately "formal" voice. (See {{w||Wikipedia}} for examples.) To whit:

*Don't sign your edits. All contributions are appreciated, but we don't want the pages getting filled up with signatures. If you'd like to take credit for a post, do it on your user page.
*Please check your spelling and grammar. Don't use Internet slang (c u 2nite) or {{w|leetspeek}} in your articles. To save others the trouble of correcting you, please spellcheck your articles before you post them.
*Don't use "smilies" or emoticons.
*Don't reply to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, post on the article's discussion page. If you're absolutely sure that something should be changed and don't think a discussion is necessary, just change it.
*Don't leave notes or instructions to future editors like "Add more information here if you find it". Again, use the article's discussion page for that.

That said, there is room for humor. An occasional joke within article text is all right, although any particular joke might not receive wide acceptance by other editors, and may be removed. It is, however, rather common for self-explanatory images to be given "joke" captions. Character portraits, for example, often have a silly comment written under them. This is fine. Additionally, there are a few articles on the Wiki which are essentially one long joke. [[Spider-Man]], [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]], and [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] are examples.

==Images==
Whenever possible, include an image relating to the article. Pictures should be no larger than around 150 KB, and should have a meaningful file name ("megatron_shoots_starscream_G1_cartoon.jpg", not "trans_pic.jpg"). Please optimize your graphics for the web and post JPEG format, not GIF and especially not BMP. (PNG is permitted for ''very'' specific exceptions.)

We also appreciate it if you make sure you tag your images with appropriate categories, so we can keep them organized and hopefully cut down on redundancies. For example, if you want a picture of Starscream kneeling before Megatron from the original cartoon, you can look in the [[:Category:Generation 1 screen captures|"Generation 1 screen captures" category]] and see if there's already one.

See [[:Category:Images]] for the complete rundown of image categories.

==Cite sources==
{{main|Help:Citing sources}}

While we're not as strict about references as some wikis, we still like information to be properly cited wherever possible, so we know where it comes from and that it's truthful. Please familiarise yourself with [[Help:Citing sources|our guide for citing sources]]!

==Use of text from other sources==
Do not simply copy and paste information from other websites or from official character bios. We do not want character pages to simply be retreads of their tech spec cards or profiles from comic books.

This even includes Wikipedia -- content from Wikipedia may be used here legally, as both sites are licensed under the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license], but we would prefer for the content of this Wiki to be original. Feel free to use other websites for reference or even for ideas about what to write, but please compose your own text.

You may, of course, copy and paste text from another place if you are the original author of that text. If you do this, it is recommended that you say so in your edit summary so other editors don't revert your work upon realizing it was pasted from elsewhere.

==Official and unofficial material==
Although this wiki addresses some aspects of the Transformers fandom, it does not at this time cover unofficial fan-projects such as books and toys created by fans, for fans. It does not discuss fanfic, house profiles for fan-characters, or post fan-art.

All character artwork uploaded to the wiki should be from officially licensed works such as cartoon screencaps, scans from licensed comics, Hasbro or Takara publicity shots, etc.. Even if a piece of fan-art is [https://www.mattkuphaldt.com/transformers.html totally sweet], it should not be uploaded here.

Similarly, we generally do not cover products not officially endorsed by Hasbro or Takara, such as [[knockoff]] toys or unofficial cameos in other media.

==Use sections and subsections==
Articles which are more than two or three paragraphs should usually be split up into sections. The Wikimedia software allows for easy creation of three levels of section headings, simply by placing equals signs around text (see [[Help:Editing#Organizing your writing]]).

Articles should begin with a paragraph or two of general statements before the first section begins. If an article has more than three sections, the software will automatically generate a table of contents for the article using the section names. This makes your article much easier to navigate.

Do not try to create your own headings by simply bolding the text, as this sort of heading will not appear in the table of contents.

==Categorize==
Please categorize every page as best you can. At the bottom of each page, simply add <nowiki>[[Category:The Category]]</nowiki>. A list of [[Special:Categories|categories]] is maintained in the special pages. Ideally, every article on the Wiki should be findable simply by browsing the category tree without ever typing anything in the search box.

==Capitalization rules==
Article and section titles do not need to have all of their "important" words capitalized as in a book title. Capitalize only the first word and any words that are always capitalized, such as proper names. If an article or section is named after a title, of course, its capitalization should match that of the title. Hence, [[The Bridge to Nowhere!]].

==Creating wikilinks==
Article titles can have spaces in them, but the URL for the article will use underscores instead. When writing a wikilink, you do not need to use underscores. Doing so won't hurt anything, but is pointless.

Additionally, all article titles must begin with a capital letter due to the software/database structure. However, when linking to an article, the wikilink itself need not begin that way. So, for a term which is not normally capitalized, such as "energon", one can simply write <tt><nowiki>[[energon]]</nowiki></tt> even though the article title is "Energon". Writing <tt><nowiki>[[Energon|energon]]</nowiki></tt> is unnecessary. Article titles ''are'' case-sensitive, however, so when writing links it is only for the first letter of an article name that you can ignore the proper case.

==Titles==
In an article's text, some titles, such as names of franchises, toylines, comic series and cartoons, should be italicized. (Put them between pairs of apostrophes, like <tt><nowiki>''Beast Machines''</nowiki></tt>.) Others, such as names of individual comic issues and cartoon episodes, should be put in quotation marks. What follows is a list of titles and the way each should be formatted.

;Italics
*Franchises
*Toylines
*Comic series
*Cartoon series
*Movies
*TPBs
*Reference books
*Home video releases
*Music albums

;Quotes
*Comic issues
*Cartoon episodes
*Story books
*Songs
*Pack-in flyers, promotional posters etc.

Abbreviated titles do not need italics or quotes.

===Article Titles===
Article titles are singular; [[Dinobot (G1)]], not "Dinobots (G1)".

Only proper nouns are capitalized in article titles. [[List of Energon episodes]] not <span style="color: #ba0000">List of Energon Episodes</span>. This is the opposite of how we are taught to capitalize book, story and movie titles, so many people have trouble with it.

Titles beginning with a definite article such as 'The Great One' have the article removed (<span style="color: #ba0000">Great One</span>), ''except'' when the definite article is part of a proper noun—the sort that is even capitalized in mid-sentence. ''And so <span style="color: #ba0000">The Great One</span> cried out, "Bring me beer and dancing girls, not in that order!"'' <u>An instance of this capitalization must be cited in the article.</u>

{{note|There is an additional exception to this rule relating to episode and story titles, see the next section.}}

===Article titles that are also episode/story titles===
Article titles are presented unaltered. "[[A Plague of Insecticons]]" is ''not'' truncated to "Plague of Insecticon" like other articles. This is because it is a proper title, and if you alter it... it's no longer the title of the episode.

Punctuation is included in story titles.

Typos or other errors in episode titles, such as "[[Improsoned Inferno]]" and "[[Scorpinok]]" are '''not''' corrected. However, if a screwed up title is ''corrected'' in a later broadcast or DVD release, ("[[Laser Wave: Rampage]]" became "[[Shockblast: Rampage]]" on its second airing, and "[[A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|A Decept'''a'''con Raider in King Arthur's Court]]" became "[[A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court]]" when re-cut for ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|Generation 2]]'') the corrected title is considered to 'override' the incorrect one. ''Incorrect re-titlings cannot override correct ones.''

'Part' in multi-part episodes is generally capitalized. The default markup is "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]]", but if another method is actually used in the stories, that may override this. ''This is a very weak standard. Mostly no one cares, but we're on the side of conforming to the source material''.

English language titles dominate over Japanese titles.

Translated Japanese episode titles are used with very minimal translation. Some words are 'transformed' into their English equivalents, others are not. In the Headmasters episode "[[Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1]]", the Transformers' home planet of Seibertron is rendered as Cybertron, but "[[Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!!]]" is ''not'' changed to '[[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]]', because it would be extremely confusing. 

Though the [[Omni Productions|RTM 1 dubs]] of ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'', ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' cartoons into English have been released in some English speaking countries, these series are still covered under their Japanese titles, because the RTM dubs are dodgy as hell, and if we took everything they did seriously there would be football hooliganism and blood in the streets.

==Talk/discussion pages==
===Organize the posts===
If a Talk page has discussions of more than one topic in it, you may want to organize the posts by topic and create section headings in the page to make the discussions easier to follow.

=== Sign your Talk posts ===
If you make a post on a discussion page, ''please sign it''. If you have a user account, this is as easy as typing <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> at the end of your post. If you don't have a user account, just sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who's who when reading long conversations. Even better, create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to create an account if you're going to stick around.

===Leave an extra line between long posts===
Sometimes a post to a Talk page will need to be more than one paragraph long. It can be hard to tell at a glance whether a set of paragraphs is a single long post or several small posts, as most people place their signature at the end of their last line instead of on a new line. Adding an extra blank line between posts, however, makes a large blank space in the rendered page, so that it is easy to tell the two apart.

==Page-specific standards==
For all types of page, DO NOT write your opinion of the item in question. For example, do not state that a particular cartoon series was a bad series, that a particular character is totally badass, or that one version of a toy is "better" than another (unless you are making an obvious joke or exaggeration for the purpose of humor). We'd like to keep the Wiki restricted to just the facts.

===The continuity-note===
Articles should begin with a one-sentence, italicized clarifying statement that indicates the applicability of the article. For character pages, the statement should be very similar in form to the following: "[CHARACTER] is a [FACTION/SUBGROUP/SPECIES] from the [FRANCHISE] portion of the [CONTINUITY FAMILY]." For example:

:''Road Rocket is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]] portion of the [[Generation 1 continuity family]].''

For characters and concepts originating from Generation 1 continuity family comics or the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]], generally the continuity in question is used in place of the franchise. e.g.:

:''Aron is an alien from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon portion]] of the [[Generation 1 continuity family]].''
:''Adam Reynolds is a [[human]] from the [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel portion]] of the [[Generation 1 continuity family]].''
:''Fulcrum is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[2005 IDW continuity|IDW portion]] of the [[Generation 1 continuity family|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

Otherwise, the [FRANCHISE] should be as broad as possible while not being a continuity family. For example, a character like [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] who was a major player in ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars]],'' ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Machines]],'' and ''[[Transformers: Universe (2003 franchise)|Universe]]'' can have her franchises summed up as "''the [[Beast Era]] portion of the [[Generation 1 continuity family]].''" But sometimes there is no such handy summation, such as for [[Leadfoot (G2)|Leadfoot]], who originated in ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]'' but has appeared in [[Spotlight: Galvatron|a ''Generation 1'' comic]]. In that case, you can just stick with the franchise of origin: "''from the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]] portion of the [[Generation 1 continuity family]].''" (That's where the term "from" comes in handy.)

===The intro===
After the continuity statement, write a brief overview of the topic. The first instance of the name of the subject (after the continuity statement) should be written in '''boldface'''.

The intro should summarize the essential features of the topic, synthesizing the portrayals across continuities. This is sometimes the only good place for information from character [[bio]]s. Be sure to cite sources, though instead of using storylinks, use footnotes.

Following the summary, dive into the main article, with sections devoted to the portrayals in each relevant continuity.

===TV episodes===
Each episode should have its own page. For episodes that aired in both the US and Japan, cover the US version primarily, and state any differences in the Japanese version on the same page.

A fairly complete episode page which can be used as a guide is the ''Generation 1'' episode, "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]". It has all of the appropriate sections, and even notes when a particular section is empty. Follow the format of that article as closely as possible.

Note that episode summaries should generally be written in the ''present tense''.

===Comic stories===
Each comic story should have its own article (specific issue articles are not mandated in multiple-issue story arcs, but if feasible, such may be desirable). Stories are (generally) linked according to title, and referenced according to country of initial publication. For a standard example of format, consult the page for [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|Marvel US issue #25]], titled "Gone But Not Forgotten." Creators of comic pages are reminded to make sure that links on the appropriate publisher page properly connect to the page that has been created.

Like cartoon episodes, comic book summaries should be written in the present tense.

====Marvel US and Marvel UK====
For the most part, the Marvel US comics can be seen as a subset of the Marvel UK comics. Nearly everything that was published in the US was also published in the UK, but some material was published ''only'' in the UK. In order to alleviate the need for separate US and UK comic sections in character histories, a convention has been established where UK-exclusive material is included inline with the rest of the comic material, but is written entirely in italics. Entries which use this convention should provide a reminder at the top of the Marvel comics section using the <nowiki>{{noteukonly}}</nowiki> template.

===Creators===
Pages on real humans who worked on ''Transformers'', such as TV show and comic writers, graphic artists, toy designers, and voice actors need only contain a description of their work on ''Transformers'', not everything they've ever done. The article on [[Frank Welker]], for example, should not provide a complete career filmography. On the other hand, an external link to a complete filmography at IMDB is quite appropriate. Examples of their other non-Transformers work are acceptable in the lead paragraph, but only if limited to a small handful of their most notable work so as not to bloat the page. For example, voice actor pages should generally only mention five or six of their other roles in the lead; just enough that it provides helpful context and adequately introduces their career to the reader, but not enough that it overwhelms everything else on the page.

===Lists===
List pages should be added to the [[:Category:Lists|lists category]]. Their content should be broken down by franchise, following the order presented on our [[Help:Franchise identifiers|franchise identifiers]] page, with an "Other" catchall at the bottom if necessary.

Within each larger category, please break down individual entries by faction, with Autobots first, Decepticons second (or Maximals and Predacons where necessary), followed by any other necessary "Other" categories.

==Text style==
Generally, ''italics'' should be used for emphasis, '''bold''' for strong emphasis, and ALLCAPS for really strong emphasis. '''''COMBINE ALL THREE''''' for ferociously strong emphasis, you wild thing, you. In comics, emphasis is often shown using bold ''and'' italics simultaneously. Generally, when quoting comics here, use just italics. When quoting prose (e.g., novels), use the same style as in the prose. When quoting spoken dialogue, use your judgment.
===Style and punctuation===
There are several different preferred ways to handle text style and punctuation.<ref>[http://www.sfwriter.com/2006/11/italics-and-punctuation.html See this blog post for an example of two points of view from two different editions of the same style guide.]</ref> (E.g., if a sentence ends with an italicized word, does the period go inside the italic markers?) This wiki has no official standard, except for the following:
* If the punctuation is part of a title, it should take the same style as the title. (This is largely moot. In Transformers canon, the titles most likely to have punctuation are [[Brothers in Armor!!|issues of Marvel comics]], and [[Daniel Faces His Biggest Crisis Ever!!|episodes of Japanese TV shows]]. Both individual comic issues and individual TV episodes should be styled with double quotes, not italics, as described under ''[[Help:Style guide#Titles|Titles]],'' above.)
* Within a given article, try to be consistent.
* Respect other editors' style choices.
* Apart from that, use your judgment.

==Grammar==
* Possessives of singular nouns ending in ''s'' should generally maintain the additional ''s'' after the apostrophe. However, if a form without an ''s'' after the apostrophe is much more common for a particular word or phrase, follow that form, such as with "Achilles' heel" and "Jesus' tears".
*Quotations are enclosed within “double quotes”. Quotations within quotations are enclosed within ‘single quotes’.
*Punctuation marks are placed inside the quote marks only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation (this system is referred to as ''logical quotation'').
*When the title of an article appearing in the lead paragraph requires quotation marks (for example, the title of a song or poem), the quotation marks should not be in boldface, as they are not part of the title.
*An entire quotation is not italicized solely because it is a quotation.
*The sentence-initial letter of a quotation may be lower-cased if the quotation starts in the middle of a sentence and the quoted material is a natural part of that sentence. Where this occurs, it is unnecessary to indicate this change with square brackets. (For example, "It turned out to be true that 'a penny saved is a penny earned.'") 
*If a word or phrase appears in an article in single quotes, such as 'abcd', {{SITENAME_SHORT}}'s search facility will find that word or phrase only if the search string is also within single quotes. This difficulty does not arise for double quotes.
*The choice of ''glyph style'' affects searching in an article for most browsers. For example, searching in an article for ''McDonald's'' will fail to find ''McDonald’s,'' and vice versa.

===National varieties of English===
{{SITENAME_SHORT}} has no general preference for a major national variety of the language (e.g., British, American); none is more ''correct'' than the others, and users are asked to take into account that the differences between the varieties are superficial. Cultural clashes over spelling and grammar are avoided by using three simple guidelines.

;'''Consistency within articles'''
Each article consistently uses the same conventions of spelling and grammar; for example, ''center'' and ''centre'' are not to be used in the same article. The exceptions are:
* quotations
* titles of works
* proper nouns (for example ''United States Department of Defense'' and ''Australian Defence Force'')
In all such cases the original spelling is retained.

;'''Strong national ties to a topic'''
An article on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation uses the appropriate variety of English for that nation. For example:
* [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)]]—(American English)
* [[First Encounter!]]—(British English)
* [[Mainframe Entertainment]]—(Canadian English, eh?)

;'''Retaining the existing variety'''
* If an article has evolved using predominantly one variety, the whole article should conform to that variety, unless there are reasons for changing it on the basis of strong national ties to the topic. 
* In the early stages of writing an article, the variety chosen by the first major contributor to the article should be used, unless there is reason to change it on the basis of strong national ties to the topic.
* Where an article that is not a stub shows no signs of which variety it is written in, the first person to make an edit that disambiguates the variety, is equivalent to the ''first major contributor''.

==Footnotes==
<references />
[[Category:Help]]