Help:Wiki Guideline

Over the years as the wiki grew, it has faced various troubles which this guideline is meant to avoid.

Article Choice
Before you start an new article look at Wanted Pages and use the search function on the left to check if it is already there. Don't just search for the article name. Search for related contents as well and information to see if it's there already. Due to translation, pronounciation and romanization problems with Japanese the spelling can differ!

Many, "Wanted Pages" are still there because of unclear names. You should leave these alone. You can write content for them in the Community Portal were they will be reviewed and eventually the article will be created.

There are many articles which have unfinished subtopics. As a new editor it's better to start from there.

Article names
Do not just name an article as you please. Take a look at the All Pages for similar article themes and try to name similarly.

Should a spelling or translation interpretation of a name be resolved a subtopic "Difference and Changes between Novel and Anime" must be included in the article and mention the problem. The article should be renamed and a relink be left. All articles involved must be linked to the new name. This is to ensure integrity. Depending on how sever or common or important the difference is the wiki staff administration will decide to keep or delete the old name relink. That is why articles must be linked to the new name and why you should keep links at a minimum.

Name already taken but not same content
There are cases where the same name refer to different things. For example, a ship name can be held by more than one ship but of different classes. In these cases put the difference into parentheses:

Leif Erikson <= this is about the person

Leif Erikson (colony ship) <= this is about the ship

Character and People's names
For people's name use the following formats, without hyphen(underscore = space; doesn't matter):


 * for the Abh: "family-name first-name" ; this is consistent with the novels and anime as the are of asian origin. Also this helps a bit to give an overview on the AllPages as all family members a close together.

Exceptions are people with single names. Some of them are Abh nobles. For these Abh nobles, the article will also serve to describe their family clan.
 * for other people: "first-name family-name" ; as is usual in the western world

Ships
For ship classes simple use "name-Class".

For individual ships simple use "name".

Star system and Territories
As territories are generally the same as a star system. A territorie's name may change but not necessarily the star system's name. Name them as star system "name_system".

Content
For general writing help look at s:Help:Contents.

Do some research or at least be 100% before writing content. Do not invent content. These will be removed, and you may get a warning or will be banned.

If you are not sure, write the information in the talk or discussion page of the article. For an empty article just write "stub".

Format
Try to keep the formats to similar articles. It's best to simply copy and change the content. There are different colorings of infoboxes for the different nations. You may color character infoboxes as you see fit. Available infoboxes can be found here. Available warnings can be found here.

Links in Content
To keep maintenance low, don't link everything. There must be at least one link in the article. This is to keep the wiki looped.

Use only one link for each term- or article-name in the content. Terms in the infobox must be linked unless they link to itself. You may create another link for a term if it's in a listing or if it is a subtopic.

Images
Do not upload things that are copyrighted or without permission! Before uploading check if there is already a picture here Special:ListFiles. Upload by using this Special:Upload.

There are certain images that should be named similarly like flags, emblems, ship insignias: "ship_ship-name_emblem.gif".

File format doesn't matter. If you have or are making directly from the source like scan or screenshots the format of choice for quality is the PNG format.

If you scan images with Japanese text that need to be readable they must be big enough to read. Letter size must be about 20 pixels. Generally a page should be 1200x2000.

Categories
Some articles may belong to a certain category. You can check for existing categories here Special:Categories. To add a category just link. Articles with content or information that are not accurate or subject to change in the future should be assigned to the.

Templates
Many templates are simply unready able for most mortal man. Don't create variable with short and unclear names. Give variables sensible names!

The template is going to be used by everyone and everyone must be able to understand it. If you write a template make sure to write some documentation. At least write what variable are there and for what they are needed.

Final Task
After you have finished all your major edits you must refresh the reports with this Special:RefreshSpecial. However, this can only be done by bureaucrat level staff. Therefore, please keep the number of links down in your article to prevent a mess due to outdated reports.