Little-Known Galaxy Wiki:Manual of style

The Manual of Style is a set of guidelines for editing and creating articles for the Little-Known Galaxy Wiki. It provides a basic style guide to ensure all pages are harmonized and eliminate any disputes amongst editors regarding the correct layout. While this is only a guideline and does not have to be followed, it is recommended for editors to familiarize themselves with this manual or their edits may be deemed to have not met the wiki's quality standards.

Any questions, suggestions, or complaints regarding these rules can be posted in the talk page or in the wiki channel of the official discord.

Language

The preferred language of the Little-Known Galaxy Wiki is modern American English. It is important to note that English differs amongst each English-speaking countries, where spelling and grammar usage, such as "color" in American English and "colour" in other versions of English, may mean the same but have different spelling. To remain consistent, editor should use American English language, therefore "color" is the correct form.

Commonality

As an international database, using vocabulary common to all varieties of English is preferable. Words and acronyms should be spelled out completely.

Contractions must be written formally.

Incorrect: don't, won't, it's

Correct: do not, will not, it is

Slang, abbreviations and colloquial words should also be avoided. Use universally accepted terms rather than those less widely distributed, especially in titles. For example, glasses is preferred to the national varieties spectacles (British English) and eyeglasses (American English); ten million is preferable to one crore (Indian English).

Incorrect: spectacles (British English)

Incorrect: eyeglasses (American English)

Correct: glasses

Incorrect: one crore (Indian English)

Correct: ten million

Lastly, the word "it" should be avioded when editing an article as "it" is vague unless a subject is noted beforehand. The word "it" is not completely banned, however using a more-appropriate, descriptive term is preferred.

Incorrect: It is colored red. (What is "it"?)

Correct: The stop sign is colored red.

Point of view

There are three types of point of view:

• First-person - uses pronouns that describe the writer/narrator (I, me, we, etc.)
• Second-person - uses pronouns that describe the reader (you, your, etc.)
• Third-person - uses pronouns that describe the subject (he, she, it, they, etc.)

The point of view of the Little-Known Galaxy Wiki is third-person. Third-person writing allows for more flexibility, credibility, and objectivity. First-person and second-person should be avoided as it becomes narrative, directive, or opinionated (biased). As a professional wiki, information should be factual and unbiased (not favoring one or more sides) and should not narrate the writer or reader nor direct the reader to "take action".

Incorrect: I use my space ship to travel to different planets. (First person)

Incorrect: You use your space ship to travel to different planets. (Second person)

Correct: The player uses their space ship to travel to different planets. (Third person)

Quotes and dialogue are exempt from the third person point-of-view rule, as these must be written as given.

Biased vs unbiased

Little-Known Galaxy Wiki is an unbiased source, providing factual information by being impartial, or "equal/fair", towards the subject rather than being biased by stating opinions, or "favoring one side", that can be argumentative. When an information becomes biased, it directs the reader to "join that side" instead of allowing them to "make their own judgment".

Incorrect: Lin is the best to befriend, because she has the best smile. (biased and argumentative, because it is insisting the reader to befriend Lin by stating she is "the best"; other readers may disagree)

Correct: Befriending Lin gives the player free apple tree seeds. (unbiased, because it allows the reader to make their own judgment if they should befriend Lin; there is nothing to agree or disagree on as it is clearly only stating facts)

Capitalization

Capitalization is when all articles are subjected to sentence-case, where capitalization is written in a way it would be written in a sentence. Non-proper nouns need to be lowercased. Proper nouns or the first letter of a sentence need to be capitalized. Avoid unnecessary capitalization.

Incorrect: the quarry was Abandoned.

Correct: The Quarry was abandoned.

Places in-game are treated as proper nouns. Names of items are to be capitalized for clarity.

Incorrect: blue reef, iceladus

Correct: Blue Reed, Iceladus

Articles are the words "the", "a", and "an". Articles should not be capitalized, unless it is the first word of a sentence or title.

Conjunctions and prepositions should not be capitalized either, unless it is the first word of a sentence or title.

Dates

Dates in the Little-Known Galaxy Wiki should all follow the same American English format (month-day-year). Dates in quotes and titles are left as-is. Dates should always be fully written out instead of using a numberical format (MM-DD-YYYY)

Incorrect: 6th May 2021

Incorrect: 05-06-2021

Correct: May 6th 2021

Articles titles and headers

Article titles

Article titles name should follow the same capitalization rules as above. Parenthesis are used to distinguish articles with the same name but different purposes.

Article headers

Article headers, such as sections, should never contain links, non-icon images, nor citation. Headers follow the sentence-case rule. Headers may be singular or plural form, whichever makes sense.

Article bodies

The article body is the main content space of an article, including descriptive information, usage of various tools, and more. The editor should make sure they familiarize themselves with the page layout guides prior to extensive editing.

Links

Links should be added to the first appearance of a word, if applicable. Do not link the same word or name multiple times in the same article.

• To add a link, add double brackets on each end. For example: [[Blueberries]]
  • To link to a category or file, add a colon before the prefix. For example: [[:Category:Crops]] will be Category:Crops.
  • To link a category or file without the prefix, add a pipe | at the end. For example: [[:Category:Crops|Crops]] will be Crops.
• Different names for links can be added for clarity if needed by adding a pipe | at the end of the article name and before the different name. For example: [[Blueberries|different name]] will appear as "different name".
• Be clear when adding links. Do not use a different name that puts the subject out of context.

Incorrect: This and this can be obtained from harvesting crops.

Correct: Blueberries and Corn can be obtained from harvesting crops.

• Blend linking are endings added immediately after a link (without a space after the link). These endings will be included in the link. For example: [[Potato]]es will appear as Potatoes.
  • Avoid linking unnecessary words or punctuation.

Incorrect: [[Lin]]is OR [[Lin|Lin.]] will appear as Linis OR Lin.

Correct: [[Lin]] is OR [[Lin]].

• Captions in images should contain links if possible.

Section linking

Section linking can be used to direct the reader to the appropriate part of the page, rather than the beginning of the page. Section linking can be used on the same page or on a different page. Section linking is accomplished by placing a number sign # in the beginning of the link, after the opening brackets [[, or after the link name. However, to omit the # sign, you must use a different name.

If used on the same page, the # is added at the beginning of the section name.

For example, on this page, rather than Little-Known_Galaxy_Wiki:Manual of style#Section linking, you can do #Section linking instead. Both accomplish the same task, but the latter is shorter and quicker.

If section linking to a different page, you must first include the page name followed by the # sign and lastly the section name.

Files

Files are images, videos, or audio that help readers visualize the subject better. They should be high quality and pertain to the article. Avoid redundancy, irrelevancy, clutter, or otherwise unnecessary or obtrusive.

Articles do not need to have multiple images of the subject. Galleries should be used to place all relevant images together without cluttering the article body, especially on individual item pages.

Additionally, follow these principles pertaining to files:

• Groups of files should be placed in the "gallery" section of the page.
• Images should be the right size - size should not exceed half the page's width or be too small to see.
• Captions should be clear and to-the-point.
• File names should be clear, appropriate, and named properly. If you can't find an image through the search, then the file name is not appropriate. Name the file in a way it is relevant, clear, and can be easily searched in the wiki.

Templates

Templates should be added when necessary and avoided where it would detract from the actual content. All infoboxes need to use the infobox tags.

• The prefix Template: inside curly brackets {{ }} are not necessary.
• If creating new infoboxes, please ensure you are using the DRUID format. For more information on DRUID infoboxes, please see: the wiki.gg information page

Naming Convention

To standardize naming conventions, please use the following rules when creating new templates.

• Templates should begin with a capitalized letter in the first word. All other words should be lowercase.
• Templates should have spaces between all words.

Trivia

Trivia are miscellaneous facts that are relevant to the article but do not meet the standards of being placed in the main body of the article.

• Opinions are not allowed to be added. Opinions include but not limited to: "I think", "most players think", etc.
• Do not be redundant. If the fact is already in the article, do not add it again.
• All pertaining facts should be grouped together.
• Do not add speculation.

Category pages

Category pages are the navigator pages of a wiki. They list all articles containing the category, allowing readers to read other related articles. Categories allow readers to navigate to different, related articles on the wiki. Add only related, relevant categories. Do not add redundant categories. Categories must be added at the end of the page, if typing in the page editor.

To add a category, use the prefix Category: and an existing category page name. For example: [[Category:Characters]]. To link to a category, add a colon before the Category: prefix, see #Section linking.

Naming Conventions

To standardize naming conventions, please use the following rules when creating new categories.

• Categories must begin with a capitalized letter in the first word. All other words should be lowercase.
• Categories must have spaces between all words.
• Categories must be plural.

Redirects

Redirects are pages that direct readers to another page if the initial page no longer exists or is applicable. Rather than being deleted, redirects help divert the reader to the correct page. For example, if the article was formerly named "Town" and was changed as a redirect to "Starlet Town", old links that had linked to "Town" will redirect all readers to "Starlet Town". You can also redirect to a section of a page, see #Section linking.

To create a redirect, add #REDIRECT [[name of new page]].

For example, #REDIRECT [[Blueberries]]

Lists

Indentation

To indent a line, add a colon : at the beginning of the line. For further indentation, add more colons.

:This line is indented.
::This line is indented twice.
:::::This line is indented even more.
:This line is back to one indentation.

Would result in...

This line is indented.

This line is indented twice.

This line is indented even more.

This line is back to one indentation.

Definition list

Definition lists begin with a bolded statement, followed by an indented statement or definition. Rather than using single quote marks to bold a line, use a semi-colon ; at the beginning instead.

;Statement
:Definition
:;Sub statement
::Sub definition

Would result in...

Statement

Definition

Sub statement

Sub definition

Numbered list

To add a numbered list, use a hashtag (#) at the beginning of a line. Do not separate each line with a space as it will break the numbering system.

Correct	Incorrect
#Line 1 #Line 2 #Line 3	#Line 1 #Line 2 #Line 3

Bullet points

To create bullet points, use an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. Do not separate each line with a space.

Correct	Incorrect
*Line 1 **Indented line 1 *Line 2 **Indented line 2 ***Further indented line 2 of indented line 2 *Line 3	*Line 1 *Line 2 *Line 3