Help:Guidelines

Table of Contents

Introduction

Before we get into editing articles, we need to talk about some basic editing guidelines concerning things like etiquette, style, structure, and layout. Mistakes are okay, but do your best to keep the quality high by following these guidelines.

Etiquette

• Always treat other editors with respect, politeness, and good faith.
• Be professional, avoiding personal criticism.
• Do not be combative or passive aggressive. If you have problems with an article, express them openly and respectfully. Remember, this is a collaborative resource.
• Talk through major changes with other editors to make sure others agree with the changes. If you're making significant changes to an article that someone else has put a lot of work into, involve them in the process.

A.I. Policy

The use of Artificial Intelligence to generate, modify, or otherwise contribute to The Reed and Rite is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: artwork, text, and any other content used on or by The Reed and Rite.

The use of The Reed and Rite content for training machine learning models, and the scraping of data are strictly prohibited without express permission.

Style

General Style

Information, not opinion

• The Reed and Rite is an encyclopedia and it should read as such. Contributions should be informative and fact-based with citations; not personal opinions.
• Please do not insert personal commentary. Opinion(s) should only be expressed in appropriate spaces. (e.g., article discussion tabs.)

Theories and Speculation

• Speculation is discouraged in most cases. It should only be included when the article would not be considered complete without this speculative information. For more on this, see Help:Speculation.

Paraphrase Sources

• Do not quote sources extensively.
• Direct quotations of the text may occasionally be appropriate, but you should strive to paraphrase things in your own words when adding to an article.

Limit Links

• You are encouraged to provide links to other articles as related term(s) appear in the text.
• In general, this can be limited to the first appearance of a term in a given article. (e.g. Don't link to a character's article every time their name appears in an article.)
  • Note: Links contained in infoboxes should not count towards the one link limit.

Word Processors

• Avoid preparing your contributions in rich word processors. (e.g., Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.). Punctuation marks, such as Quotation marks, apostrophes, and dashes, do not work properly across these platforms. If you need to prepare contributions, it would be best to do so on your User page.

Writing Conventions

Grammar

• Strive to use grammatically correct language.
• Avoid speaking in first person and never address the reader directly.

Tense

• In general, articles should be written in present tense. There are exceptions; most notably, history sections, which should be written in past tense.

Capitalization

• For capitalization of special terms, follow the rules in the style guide.

Other

• Though some books are written using UK English, unless in direct quotation, please use American English spelling when contributing to The Reed and Rite.
• In general, spell out the numbers 1-100 rather than using numerals. (e.g. use "four" not "4")
• Use a single space to separate sentences, not two.
• References at the end of sentences should be placed directly after the period.

Titles

Article Titles

• Titles of articles should generally be singular.
• For characters, do not include titles, honorifics, etc., unless the character's full name is not known. For other scenarios, see the style guide.
• Don't capitalize subsequent words in a title unless warranted by the capitalization rules.

Section Titles

• Section titles should be in title case.
• Do not apply formatting (e.g. bold, italics, etc.) to section titles.
• Do not use links in section titles, whether internal or external.

Article Structure

If you're starting a new article, don't worry about getting the structure right the first time—getting information on the page is more important than proper structure and formatting. Administrators will scan through new edits and tweak structure where necessary/needed.

Initial Templates

• An infobox should be the first thing in most articles, followed by any relevant spoiler or update tags.

Summary

• Article content should typically begin with a brief summary.

Article Body

• Some recommendations of typical headings to use may be found here.
• For more guidance, find a similar article to the one you are working on and use it as a guide.

Notes Section

• Articles final section should be a "Notes" section. This section should contain a <references /> tag, to provide a home for references and citations.
• For more information, see References.

Category Tags

• Articles should conclude with any appropriate category tag(s). For more information, see Categories.

Layout

Structure

• As discussed in the previous section, structure is important. However, deviations from standard structure(s) may be desirable in certain cases. For example, if there's little information available under a given section, it may be better to find another place for it elsewhere on the page, rather than having an awkwardly short section.
• You are encouraged to create additional sections and subsections as needed, to visually break down the article into more digestible pieces.

Flow

• Always consider the overall flow of the article. An article should tell a coherent story, and not jump between unrelated topic(s).
• Ensure images and quotes relate to the surrounding article text.

Images

• Images are a fantastic way to spruce up an article. (As always, make sure you have each individual artist's permission first.)
• Take into consideration size and spacing; the image should be clearly visible, but not obtrusive to the article text.
• Try mixing up the alignment of images so that they appear at different locations along the page, rather than cascading down one side.
• Use captions to give context.
• Keep in mind that too many images can also be a problem. If you believe a large number of images are important to an article, consider using a gallery.
• For more information, see Images.

Quotations

• Quotes are another great way to provide a visually appealing layout to articles.
• As discussed above, avoid quoting large portions of text in the body of articles.
• Use of relevant quotes is a great way to let the books speak directly into the article.
• Similar to images, try mixing up the location of any quotes that you use.
• For more information, see Templates.

❮ Introduction

Guidelines

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