Style guide

The **style guide** aims to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines used by all pages across the *PokeMMO* wiki. If everyone does things the same way, the articles are easier to read and edit. Reading the style guide is important to ensure that each user's edits will be consistent with those of other users.

Wikipedia already provides a more general style guide, a more specific set of *PokeMMO*-specific guidelines will be outlined here. As such only guidelines that differ from the general style guide will be outlined here. This page always has precedence over the Wikipedia style guide.

Regardless, some pages may not follow the style guide entirely. This is generally because of the large number of pages which need to be maintained. Many pages have not be interacted with in a long time or have been completely forgotten about. All editors are encouraged to fix pages as they come across them.

## General guidelines

### Language

* Use American English.
* Use standard, formal English and proper grammar and spelling. Do not use contracted forms (such as *don't*, *there's* -- use *do not*, *there is* instead), colloquialisms, or slang.
* Ensure a neutral, "encyclopeida" tone:

\* Do not include first or second person perspectives. Do not address the reader as "you", such as in "You can find a potion on this route". Alternatively, use "the player" or "trainers" (e.g. "Trainers can find a potion on this route"). Do not use phrases like "It is recommended to ...". Instead use "Trainers should ...", and provide an adequate reasoning. Also, do not use phrases like "Most players ..." as there are many different ways to play the game. Making the user believe that there is only one viable play style is not something we should be doing.
\* Adhere to facts -- do not include opinions or personal bias. If what is being added is not substantially backed by statistical and undeniable evidence already outlined in that article, the edit should not be added to the page.
\* Never leave visible comments that are not meant for the reader, like a list of things to do. This type of things should be hidden in comments or placed in the discussion page.
\* This a wiki dedicated to *PokeMMO*. As such, references related to mainstream Pokémon games should not be included in any capacity in this wiki.
### Notability

Articles are allowed only if they meet the following criteria. Articles that do not fit the criteria may be deleted or redirected without notice.

 **General**

* Articles must contain enough information to warrant a full page. If they do not have enough content, they should be merged with other similar articles.
* Articles must relate directly to *PokeMMO* in some way.
* Articles about people are allowed but only if the person is a developer or closely related to *PokeMMO*.
* Features that are not implemented in the game should not included in any pages.
	+ This excludes features that were implemented and then removed at a later date.

 **Community**

* Gameplay strategies, guides, how-to's, etc., should be subpages of Guides.
* Articles about client mod packs are allowed. Articles about client mods that alter the game beyond what's intended, or third-party programs, are not allowed to be created on the wiki.

### Redirects

Redirects are exempt from the normal notability, but must redirect to an article that fits the notability guidelines. Redirects can be created if they fit one of the following:

* Alternative spelling of the title.
	+ Incorrect spelling, typos, irregular formatting are not allowed.
* Alternative capitalization or form, including changing the title to plural case.
* A part of a merged or multi-topic article.

Redirects in the user namespace may lead anywhere, except to an article that does not exist or another redirect.

## Article titles

Article titles should generally be in the singular form, except in-game features with plural names.

Articles should follow a general naming format based on the type.

* Articles about in-game entities should use the in game name capitalized as it appears in game.
	+ If the feature does not have an in game name, it should follow the same format as other articles of the same type.
	+ If the article is about multiple things in the game, the title should equally represent all the titles. For example, an article about stat boost items would be called Battle items.
* Articles about people should contain the first and last names, rather than their Twitter handle.
* If the article's type is unlisted, it should use the most relevant title in sentence case.

## Article format and sections

Different article types require different formats and sections:

* For Pokémon, see the Pokémon page format.
* For NPCs, see the NPC page format.
* For items, see the item page format.
* For locations, see the location page format.
* For moves/abilitys, see the moves and abilities page format

However, the section below should exist on almost every page. Exceptions where this is not possible for obvious reasons include articles like PokeMMO and listings like List of locations in kanto. Other article pages with special guidelines are disambiguations and Guides.

Any section that is not listed here or on the specific page format pages whould be given careful consideration. Often the content of such an inconsistent section fits into one of the consistent, standard sections without problems.

### Intro

*This section is located at the very top of the page, above everything else, generally including the table of contents*.

This section has no heading. At the very beginning of the page, followed by an infobox.

The first paragraph should contain the article's topic and alternative names in **bold** when first used. A classificiation should be made in the first one or two sentences.

Next, information about how it is encountered should be added.

Finally, the behavior or function of the entity should be described in *basic* terms.

Do not include obscure or rare behavior, complicated math, or anything else that is not required to gain a basic, general overview.

### Notes

*This section should be omitted if there is nothing to note beyond the intro.*

This section of the page should have a bulleted list of facts about the subject. Useful information about the subject that has not made it into the intro section should go here. It should be limited to *crucial gameplay information* (i.e., info that players need in order to understand how the entity works) and other noteworthy facts -- always make sure to differentiate Notes from Tips.

### Tips

*This section should be omitted if there are no particular tips for the players.*

This section of the page should have a bulleted list of advice regarding effective practices and what to avoid that might be helpful to players. It could include how certain facts and circumstances can be utilized in clever, non-obvious ways, or comparisions to related entities. This section should not include very obvious tips or tips that are based on characteristics of an entire group of entities.

### History

*This section should always be included, and should consist only of history.*

This section of the the page shoudl list changes to the article topic from various game updates. A history section should always be included with at least one item stating which update introduced the game element. It should furthermore be the only location acknowledging game updates that have caused introductions or modifications of page content.

This section should generally follow the offical changelog, but sometimes undocumented changes are introduced in updates. In those cases, the information should be based on testing and on the source code.

### References

*This section should be omitted if  does not produce an output.*

This section of the page lists the references and footnotes used in the article text. Its only content should be , which will produce a list of references and footnotes, if there are any on the page.

Either the References section of the History section is the last section of the page. Appropriate navigational templates should be placed at the end, followed by categories and templates that solely cause categorizations.

## Writing

### Formatting guidelines

* The first instance of an entity name on a page should always be linked. This does not apply to the page title which should be bold instead. Further mentions of the same entity can be linked *only* if it is mentioned far from the other links and would be helpful to readers.
* The first instance of the page title should be '*bold*. This should usually be in the first sentence of the article. No other instance of the page title should be bold. Bold print should generally be avoided for emphasis on certain words.
* *Italic* print is to be used in the following cases:
	+ Emphasis (instead of bold), though be sure not to overuse it.
	+ Titles of major works. This includes *PokeMMO*.
	+ Foreign words and phrases that are not common in everyday English.

Italics are not to be used for titles of minor works (which are to be enclosed in double quotation marks instead).

### Coding guidelines

* The syntax provided by MediaWiki is preferred over HTML, e.g. `'''bold'''` instead of `<b>bold</b>` and `{|` instead of `<table>`. Nonetheless, in some cases the HTML syntax may be more beneficial for code readability or even necessary to avoid errors, such as in templates.
* Section titles, lists, and indentations should include spaces for readability, i.e.:
	+ `== Section ==` instead of `==Section==`
	+ `* bullet point` and `# enumerated item` instead of `*bullet point` and `#enumerated item`
	+ `: indented text` instead of `:indented text`

Section titles should be immediately followed by the section text or the following subsection title, without an empty line in between.
Section titles should always be preceded by an empty line, unless this interferes with the rule above or creates an empty paragraph.
### Keeping articles concise and up to date

Articles should contain only information that is up to date. Anything that is outdated should be moved to the History section of the article and not deleted. When something changes, note the change in the history section and remove the outdated information from the other sections of the article.

#### Future

Content added in future updates may be added to an article provided there is enough evidence to support the update coming soon. If the update contains major changes to the article, then the content may be placed in its own section called *Upcoming*. Upcoming features may also be noted as well in the history section.

Upon the release of the update, all content will need to be moved and updated appropriately. The history section will also need to be updated as well.

### Capitalization

In-game items should be treated as common nouns and as such *should not* be capitalized, unless they start a new sentence. This includes fictional items. Proper nouns, such as Kanto or Pallet Town *should* always be capitalized.

### Section headings

* Article main sections should start with level 2 headings (`== Heading ==`) and increase by one for subsections. *Never* use a level 1 heading (`= Heading =`; this is reserved for the article title.
* Follow sentence style capitalization, not title style, so only the first letter of the heading and proper nounds are capitalized.
* Headings should not have links or templates in them; links should be placed underneath, such as in a `{{main}}` template.

### Images

When adding screenshots to an article, make sure the screenshot uses vanilla textures and UI. Screenshots that use custom texture/resource packs are not allowed. This does not apply to articles covering texture/resource packs.

Image captions should not have periods at the end, unless the phrase is a full sentence.

Images added to articles should fit the following guidelines:

* Images should show case an attribute of the article's topic.
* Articles should have one image showcasing an individual attribute of the articles content.
* Images should showcase the most up to date version of *PokeMMO* available.
	+ Images that are outdated are subject to be removed or replaced with the current version.
* Right-alignment is preferred to left- or center-alignment.
* If there are too many images in an article, consider making a gallery instead.
* Make large images a thumbnail.
* The preferred formats for images are PNG.
* Personal images to be used on a User page should not be uploaded. Images should be used on main space articles otherwise they will be deleted.
* Please name our files descriptively to avoid confusion. Name it *Map Kanto Pallet Town.png* instead of just *Pallet Town.png*
* **Don't upload images we already have**. Update existing images instead. Updates should make the image better, not remove pieces of information about the item.

### Ownership and bias

* Nobody owns articles. This *is* a wiki, after all. This means works like "I", "we", or "me" should not be included in articles.
* Do not include specific usernames of players or groups of players in articles, unless they highlight specific historical events. These should be kept relevant and be supported with an external link.
* Do not try and claim "facts" such as "player x was the first to complete this task" without any verifiable proof.

## Templates

* It is crucial to read teh documentation of a template before changing its parameters on a page. The documentation should be available at the template's base page, with links to related information if necessary.
* Template documenation usually consists of a short intro, a *Usage* section, and an *Examples* section.

## Categories

* Category pages are not articles. They should not contain more than a few explanatory sentences. If it feels necessary to add more information, create a new article and categorize it with the blank sortkey.
* The blank sortkey is reserved for pages that share the category's name or are in another way very closely related to the category.
* Pages that are related to the category in some way, but are not regular members, should get the asterisk sortkey.

## Disambiguations

* Disambiguation pages are short pages used for resolving conflicts with ambiguous page titles.

## Guides

* Guides can cover a wide array of subject matter, so a single blanket template cannot be applied to all of them.