Fanon Wiki:Manual of Style

Fanon Wiki prides itself on striving to achieve a standard of excellence in all of its articles. In this strive to achieve a standard of excellence, it is expected that all articles be uniform and follow a certain Manual of Style. For the convenience of all Wiki users, Wikipedia has written their own Manual of Style where users of all Wikis can read about the most basic writing techniques and writing styles. These are to be used by all members of Fanon Wiki and can be found here. It is expected that all users read the information on the aforementioned page.

Below are the formatting procedures of all Fanon Wiki articles. If any user feels that something is missing or that something should not be there, it is expected that they bring it up in the Consensus Track.

Perspective
A “perspective” on a Fanon article depends on the point of view of the article. The two types of perspectives are In-Universe and Out-Of-Universe. Both are common, though there are certain types of articles that they would not apply to.

In-Universe
An “in-universe” (IU) article belongs solely to the universe you are writing about and not the real world. The most common example would be a character article. For example, an article about Luke Skywalker would be an in-universe article, but an article about Mark Hamill would not be as the actor does not exist in the Star Wars universe. Another example would be that Galactic Basic standard is an in-universe term while English is an out-of-universe term. It is simple to tell the difference between out-of-universe and in-universe because an in-universe article should strive for verisimilitude, meaning that it should be written as if the author actually existed within the Star Wars universe. Articles about anything existing in-universe, such as characters, vehicles, terminology or species should always be written from an in-universe perspective. Parts of in-universe articles should sometimes be written in the out-of-universe perspective, such as a listing of a character’s published appearances. To summarize, in-universe articles should never refer to Star Wars by name, nor should it refer to anything else in real life aside from Behind the Scenes trivia and Appearances.

Out-Of-Universe
An “out-of-universe” (OOU) article is the opposite of “in-universe.” An article written in an out-of-universe perspective is written from the point of view of real life. For example, articles that pertain to real-life publications, actors, authors and so on would be out-of-universe. Articles pertaining to fan films, games and other real-life Star Wars material should also be written in the out-of-universe perspective.

Tense
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."

- Star Wars Saga Opening

All in-universe articles should be written in past tense. The above quote itself is written in past tense, just as it is in all six Star Wars films. The reasons for this are twofold. First, articles on Star Wars Fanon are presented as historical recordings that have been pieced together from scraps of information left over from the Star Wars era. As such, all details pertaining to the history have not yet been uncovered and more information might be added later on. In real life, this would be the author’s way of coming up with a new idea for his or her article. Keeping articles written strictly in past tense provides consistency and flavor.

Second, the Star Wars universe takes place a long time ago, meaning it took place in the past. Writing in-universe articles in past tense properly relates the timeline of the Star Wars galaxy with the perspectives of all users. However, even though it is assumed that not all information from that era is available, authors should not include phrases such as “his ultimate fate is unknown” or “what happened to the ship after the battle is a mystery”. In the minds of many, lines such as those make it appear as if the author did not want to put the time or effort in creating the final portion of the history for the character or ship. It is expected that all articles have a complete and detailed history.

Articles written from the out-of-universe perspective, however, do not have to be written in past tense, though that depends on the section of the article. For example, the article about the movie To Live and Die in L.A. includes lines such as “is an upcoming film....” and “is set for a December 31, 2009 release....”, as it is an article about something that exists in real life. However, in sections of the article such as Prelude Information and Excerpt, the information is in-universe so it is written in past tense.

Layout Guide (In-Universe)
Out of the many different types of articles that can and have been created on Fanon Wiki, the most common is the in-universe article about a character, ship or weapon. It is the style that makes the article appear to be a very professional, Wikipedia/Wookieepedia-like encyclopedia article, as it contains as much detail as possible. All in-universe articles should contain the following:


 * Infobox - An infobox is the box of statistics on the right side of an article. A relevant infobox contains statistics and known information in a comprehensible chart. A limited amount of background information on the subject is also present. Articles that only have an infobox are discouraged and will be deleted shortly after creation unless more information is added. When choosing an infobox for an article, users should consider the category that the article fits in. For example, Ryanus was an individual, or a character. Therefore, he would have a character infobox. However, infoboxes become more specific than that. Ryanus was a Roman, so therefore he could have a Roman soldier infobox. For a list of all infobox templates, please see "Category:Infobox templates". This section is recommended.


 * Introduction - The introduction of an article should be a sufficient lead that has at least two hundred words or more. All introductions should be written as if they were to be featured on the main page as a Featured Article or a Good Article. Who, What, Where, When, Why and, if applicable, How should all be covered in as much detail as possible. This section is required.


 * Main Article - The main article is the most important part of an article, as it is where the majority of the information is. A character’s history, personality and traits, talents, and legacy should all be placed in the main article. If the article is about a ship or another form of vehicle or technology, the topic’s characteristics, design and legacy should all be discussed. This section is required.


 * Behind the Scenes - The behind the scenes information is information regarding inspiration, origin and the reason the article was created. This section is generally written as a bulleted list. This section is recommended.


 * Appearances - The appearances section documents any appearances the subject of the article has had. If the fanon character or concept covered in the article is part of an unencyclopedic fan fiction, novella, short story or other fan-devised media in or outside Fanon Wiki, it should be mentioned in this section. The list should be in bulleted form in an in-universe chronology. If the subject’s appearance is only a brief mention, apply the mo template. For the subject’s first appearance in the saga (in order of publication, not in order of in-universe chronology), apply the 1st template. If the subject’s first appearance in the saga is only a mere mention, use the 1stm template. If the subject is not named in it’s first appearance but it is identified in a later source, first use the 1st template and then the 1stID template. This section is used only if applicable. An example of a list, using PLACE ARTICLE NAME HERE as an example, is as follows:
 * PLACE APPEARANCE NAME HERE


 * See Also - The see also section should include links related to the topic that are not linked to in the article. It is generally reserved for links to gallery or family pages that do not belong in the main article. This section is used only if applicable.


 * External Links - The external links section is used to link to other sources or websites in which the subject might be mentioned, covered in alternate detail or discussed. Even if there is only one link, the name of the section is to remain plural. This section is used only if applicable.


 * Succession Box - A succession box is a box at the end of an article that lists the time period for which an individual held a certain position or title. It also provides links to their immediate predecessor and/or successor, if the names of the aforementioned are known. Succession boxes should not be used for titles that were unique to certain individuals, therefore resulting in no predecessors or successors. The same applies if the individual is the only known holder of the title. Succession boxes should not be inserted if the individual’s position in the succession sequence is unclear. If the individual was the first or last person to hold a certain title, the “Preceded By” or “Succeeded By” section should read “None”. If there are no known predecessors or successors, the sections should read “Unknown”. However, if there are some known predecessors or successors, the section should read “Unknown, eventually ”. All succession boxes should be contained within two templates: start box and end box. This ensures that there are no line breaks within the succession box. This section is recommended.


 * Category - Every article on Star Wars Fanon is required to be in at least one category. Maintenance categories such as Category:Articles to be cleaned up and Category:Articles being improved do not count. Categorizing articles by author does not either, though it is encouraged to add that as an additional category. Categories should be listed in alphabetical order. For a list of categories, please see this page.

Layout Guide (Out-Of-Universe)
The less common types of articles that can and have been created on Fanon Wiki are those that deal with fan fiction and video games. Although the fan fiction might never get published and the video game will probably never be made, the article is still expected to look professional as if it is a part of a professional encyclopedia. All out-of-universe article should contain the following:


 * Infobox - Like in-universe articles, out-of-universe articles should also contain an infobox. Infoboxes for novels and video games can be found in the list of Infobox templates. This section is required.


 * Introduction - Like in-universe articles, out-of-universe articles should contain a proper lead that is at least two hundred words describing the Who, What, Where, When, Why and, if applicable, How of the story or video game. This section is required.


 * Main Article - The main section of the out-of-universe article contains the bulk of the important information. If the article is about a novel, a summary of the novel and a list of chapters should be given. If the article is about a video game, a summary of the video game and a list and important information about levels should be given. This section is required.


 * Characters/Dramatis Persona - If the article is about a video game, a list of playable and, if the author wishes, non-playable characters should be given. If the article is about a novel, a list of all the characters that appear, no matter how significant, should be given. This section is recommended.


 * Controls - If the article is about a video game, the author may wish to include information about the console that the video game is for and the controls for the video game.


 * Behind the Scenes - Same as in-universe.


 * See Also - Same as in-universe.


 * External Links - Same as in-universe.


 * Categories - Same as in-universe.

Naming
Naming an article is very important, because if it has a bad name many users will “judge a book by its cover” and choose not to read it. Articles names should be in singular form, not plural. For example, articles about a battle droids should be named Battle droid, not Battle droids. The titles of articles about individual characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known in the Star Wars universe, with later names preferred to earlier names and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles such as military ranks or titles of nobility should be omitted. For example, an article about Captain Piett would be titled Piett, not The Great Captain Piett or Man-Who-Got-Ran-Over-By-An-A-wing. An article that is often cited as an example of this on Wookieepedia is Palpatine. The article is simply called Palpatine, not Emperor Palpatine, Chancellor Palpatine or Darth Sidious. Also, unless the name of the article contains a proper noun, only the first word should be capitalized. For example, an article about certain types of droids would be called Protocol droids, rather than Protocol Droids. For more details, see naming conventions.

Headings
Headings are the parts of an article that include the equal signs, thereby making either a large name with a solid grey line or simply large black letters. To make a heading, users are excepted to use the  rather than the (bold) markup. For example:



If headings are marked in that way, a table of contents will automatically be generated from all of the headings in the article. Sections will be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings will be given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article. Please also note the proper coding for articles when it comes to articles. The proper heading coding for a well put together article is as follows (in the format of a character):



When writing headings, users should capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in the heading. All other letters should be in lower case. It is also recommended that you avoid links within headings and the overuse of subheadings.

Usage and spelling
Although the readers and editors of Fanon Wiki come from many different countries and speak many varieties of English, users should use standard American English spelling, punctuation and word usage. If the title of an article differs in different varieties of the English language, the American title should be the article title with alternative names used as redirects. For example, sabre should redirect to saber. It is also recommended that articles be typed in a word processor with a spell check before being posted on Fanon Wiki to maintain a standard of quality.

Sector versus system
When naming systems, users must be aware that the word system should remain in lower case while the word Sector when coupled with the name of a sector should be capitalized. For example, Corellian Sector and Corellian system.

Human
In the in-universe sections of articles, the words “Human” and “Near-Human” should be capitalized, as should the names of any other sentient species from the Star Wars universe mentioned in articles. The word “humanoid”, however, should not be capitalized.

Italics
When referring to or creating articles about ships and/or ship classes, users should be aware that the name of the ship and the class should be capitalized, the ship name should be italicized and it should be used with the definitive article. Class names are italicized only when a ship in that class bears the same name. The definite article may be used, but it is not required. For example, an author would say “The Thunderflare operated in the Core region” rather than “Thunderflare operated in the Core Region”. When a ship’s class is a modifier, a hyphen should be used. For example, “Quasar Fire-class Bulk Cruiser”. When the class name is a noun, a hyphen should not be used. For example, “Ships of the Victory class were often overlooked.”

When the word “class” is not used when referring to the class name, italics should not be used. For example, “Venator Star Destroyer” does not need the word “class” as the name is being used as a noun. Starfighters, missiles and other craft types where a specific ship does not bear the class name should be capitalized and un-italicized. When referring to a class in an article, the first time it is used it should be preceded by the full technical designation. In all succeeding instances, it may be referred to solely by the type name or common name. The names of ships and classes should also be referred to with neutral pronouns. For example, “it was a fine ship with a good crew”.

Quotations
Many users have adopted the use of quotes in their articles to give them a more “real life” feel to them. Regardless of the size of the quote, it should be inserted with the quote template, that template being as follows:

Only the name of the speaker is required after the quote, but some users may wish to include who the quote was spoken to, the source of the quote and the page number the quote is from. This is acceptable and encouraged.

Categorization
For information on categorizing articles, please see this page.

Articles that won't be deleted
On the Fanon Wiki, the Administrators have taken great strides in their attempt to create a standard of quality and excellence for every user to be proud of. However, as of June, 2007, greater strides have been announced. Many articles will be deleted by Administrators that fail to live up to the Manual of Style. For example, if a user simply creates an article that is an infobox and does not incorporate any text into an introduction or some form of an article and, furthermore, lets it sit that way for some time, the article will be deleted. Articles without categories will also be deleted, as most of the articles that are uncategorized have not been and will not be touched by the authors for quite some time. The most important thing for users to remember is to follow the Manual of Style. By doing so, their articles will not be deleted. For more information regarding what articles will be deleted, please contact one of the Fanon Administrators.