Taboo Wiki:Manual of Style

**Taboo Wiki** has a Manual of Style that all articles are highly suggested to follow.

This article and related articles represent our official policies and act as guides to ensure that all articles are uniform with certain encyclopaedic standards. Some aspects of the policies are optional, but most are required unless otherwise noted.

## Editing

### How do I create a page?

If you see a red link on an existing page and you want to create the page it points to, simply click that link and it will point you to the editing form. Type the content, then save the page. Alternatively, you can type the title of the page in the search box and press "Go". If the page already exists, it will take you there, but if it doesn't, you can click the red link with the page title, and it will take you to the editing form.

### How do I delete a page?

Only Administrators can delete pages, and only they can restore deleted pages. If you created a page accidentally and would rather get rid of it, do not blank it; blanking is considered vandalism and, if repeated, can get you blocked. If you think that a page should be deleted, leave a comment on the admins' Message Walls with the reasons. However, if you accidentally uploaded the wrong image, there is usually no need to delete it: simply upload another one under the same name, and it will replace the original image.

### How do I improve a page?

* Feel free to add pages following the appropriate guidelines, especially where there are red links for missing pages.
* Feel free to supplement stub articles. They will not grow if they aren't nurtured.
* You may know (American) English well. Not everyone else watching the show does. Respect that you may even be an English-speaking who does not read or write (American) English as well as others. If you notice grammatical errors, correct them.
* Due to production and main setting of the show, British English is preferred to American English, so it is possible that some spelling will be changed from American to British English although they do not constitute grammatical errors. Grammarist and Comparison of American and British English can be used as guides.
* Use the special templates where appropriate. Read the documentation for those templates: it explains a lot. If there's no documentation and using it is not obvious, ask a wise contributor about it.
* Be aware of the way some pages are structured. Some page types have special guidelines that we like to keep consistent. If they're in a Category, the Category may have a link to the preferred format.
* If you see an empty heading, your instinct should be "fill it", not "delete it". Removing an empty picture frame leaves a barren wall.
* Talk amongst yourselves! The comment section is a great place to suggest changes, especially if you're not sure about changing something yourself.
* Don't move pages without a good reason (and probably discussion). If you are clear to move a page, please be sure to leave behind a redirect so that we don't get broken links.
* Clean up articles doesn't mean blanking everything that's there, just removing what is repeated or mistyped. Don't bulk delete someone else's work. Admins notice this sort of thing, and you may find your changes reversed.
* Attribution is good policy. See Referencing below.

## Layout Guide

This Layout Guide is an official guide as to how an in-universe article should be structured. Generally, this guide is to be used for character articles but can be adapted to almost any in-universe article by leaving out non-relevant sections. In the following lists, words in bold indicate that they are to be coded as headers.

### Article Body for Character

An infobox is a template that displays as a labeled box along the righthand margin of the article, and contains short labeled data. Fill in the infobox with preset parameters identifying it, see {{Character}}. An introductory preamble of the character, including actor portraying them follows the infobox. The introduction doesn't need a header stating it. Write the name of the subject in bold the first time it is mentioned.

* **Official Description**: A blurb officially provided by BBC and/or by FX, properly referenced to the source website. It is preferable that the text is written in quotation marks, and in italics.

* **Character Overview**: A concise overview of the character, ranging from their personality, clothing to their purpose and motivation. Careful to maintain a neutral point of view, not drawing any conclusions for the reader and to keep it brief.
* **Story**: Concise summaries of the story of the character in *Taboo*, keeping in mind this is not meant to be a scene-by-scene recap. Where provided, information from events prior to the first episode should be added under a "Background" sub-header. Be mindful to keep a neutral point of view and not drawing conclusions for the reader.

* **Quotes**: Memorable quotes from said character leaving a mark. Not all dialogues are quotable.
* **Gallery**: A selection of images depicting the character. It would be advisable to limit the upload of images to those officially released by the production, i.e. promotional stills, posters. Where necessary, screen caps can be uploaded for characters, objects and locations that do not have official images. See Naming Files.

* **Appearances**: A list of the episodes in which said character appears.
* **Notes**: Where necessary, a bullet list of trivia and annotations clarifying certain aspects or information provided in interviews.
* **References**: Links to external sources mentioned in the article will appear here. See Referencing.

### Article Body for Episode

As for characters, articles about episodes, start with an Infobox that is filled with relevant datas, {{Infobox episode}}. An initial preamble then follows, listing the main data on the episode such as title and broadcast date.

* **Synopsis:** Official synopsis released by the network, be it BBC or FX, appropriately referenced.
* **Cast**: a bulleted list divided according to credits into starring, guest starring and co-starring.
* **Notes**: Where necessary, a list of trivia or information about the production of the episode in question.
* **References**: Links to external sources mentioned in the article will appear here. See Referencing.

### Article Body for Cast

Main actors have pages dedicated to them. A good guideline is to limit oneself to the actors listed in the press release by the network. Their articles starts as usual with an infobox, {{Cast}}. Introduction with full name or real name if there is a stage name, followed by the role they are credited with in the series.

* **Biography**: an official biography provided by BBC and/or FX properly referenced.
* **Credits**: a bullet list of the episode the actor appearances.
* **Gallery**: a selection of images from promotional events or on the set. See Naming Files.
* **References**: Links to external sources mentioned in the article will appear here. See Referencing.

### Article Body for Organizations, Locations, et al.

Other elements can become the subject of an article, such as an organisation or location. They follow a simpler pattern, but as always each article starts with an infobox. These should be limited to relevant topics and not to any named place or organisation. See {{Location}}, {{Group}}, and {{Object}}. After a brief introduction, elaborate as follows.

* **Description/History**: A concise account of the subject of the article. Be it a description of the organisation and its role in the series or a location.
* **Gallery:** a selection of images depicting the subject of the article.
* **Notes**: where necessary, a bullet list of trivia or clarifications about it especially if it refers to historical places.
* **References**: Links to external sources mentioned in the article will appear here. See Referencing.

## Naming

Name pages according to canon names used for promotional material. If you do not know a name, use the one used on-screen. Occupation or honorific titles should be used only when there's no given first name, or the character is expressly credited as such, ie. "Sir Stuart Strange", "Prince Regent". Others will have their honour written in the introduction but not as the title of the article, ie. James Delaney not Cadet James Delaney.

### Naming Files

When uploading or embedding a media file, it is good practice to name the file something significant so that it is easy to find later. For consistency, it is recommended to follow the examples below.

* **Promotional Still:** Taboo-Still-S1E01-00-James-Delaney.jpg
* **Screencaps:** Taboo-Caps-1x01-01-James-Shooting.jpg
* **Behind the Scenes:** Taboo-BTS-02-Dolphin-Boys.jpg

## Referencing

Whenever citing a text from external sources (synopsis, interviews, etc) type the following code <ref> [External Source link\_Title of the Article - Source] </ref> in order to in order to give the proper credits to right holders. This also ensure a source to check where the information is coming from. Be sure to write the following wiki code at the bottom of the page for it to work.

```
 ==References==
</references>
```

### Referencing Episodes

**"Ep ref"** short for episode-referencing, is a template used on **Taboo Wiki** to indicate the episode in which the facts just described in a given sentence occurred. The template is added at the end of the paragraph without linking the episode page as that occur automatically.

Type this:

```
 <ref>{{Ep ref|101}</ref>
```

to see the following text displayed under "References" heading:

References
Knight, Steven (writer) & Nyholm, Kristoffer (director); January 7, 2017 BBC; January 10, 2017, FX; "Episode 1". *Taboo*.

If an episode is going to be referenced more than once, then you should change the ref tag accordingly. For example,

```
 <ref name="Ep. 01"> {{Ep ref|101}} </ref>
```

The second time, you just need to type the first part of the template. And remember to close the tag:

```
 <ref name="Ep. 01"/>
```

This will automatically create as many references as needed to a single link.

## Category Guide

*Main article: Taboo Wiki:Category Guide*
A category is a group of pages with a similar theme, such as characters, books, or places. You can add a category link to any page, and it will automatically be listed on a category page with other similarly linked pages. Categories help organise the community and make it easier for readers to find related content. Ideally, every wiki page should be in at least one category. A category page itself can be in another category. So, for example, a wiki might have a category called "Characters" with sub-categories for "Minor characters", "Dead characters", and "Main characters".

At the bottom of each page, there is a set of 'Related Pages' images to help guide visitors from one page to another; these are chosen based on category tags on each page. The more specific the category tags are, the better these suggestions will be.

## Canonicity

It is recommended to insert only content whose nature is verifiable and inherent to *Taboo*.

### Tiers of Canon

1. **The Show Itself:** Everything shown or said on screen about characters, situations, events, etc. is considered canonical, paying attention to characters' bias.
2. **Behind the Scenes:** Additional and insightful explanations provided by cast and crew in interviews and special featurette videos, should they be released.
3. **Reliable Sources:** All content released by official websites such as BBC Pressroom, or from reliable magazines, websites and social networks such as The Futon Critic, TV Line, etc. This includes episode synopsis and character biographical descriptions.

### Subjectivity

Articles should be written by keeping a neutral point of view (NPOV) merely reporting facts as they are presented on the series. Personal opinions, theories, and conjectures about characters and episodes are more appropriate in Discussions boards. Moreover, most of the articles are written as accounts of what happened and presented as if they were a real story. Therefore, expressions such as 'in such an episode we see that...' should be avoided.

## Forbidden Content

*Main article: Taboo Wiki:Policy*
1. Vandalism such as deleting sections of a page or replacing them with gibberish or misinformation.
2. Profanity, insults, harassment, racial slurs (unless used in-universe by certain characters. In that case, give said words a context and censor them, ie. "N-word"). Malicious action against other users is met with a Zero Tolerance policy.
3. Original research and personal opinions presented as facts are to be avoided. Repeated infringement may lead to suspension and blocking of the user.
4. Links to download the episodes from torrent sites or other illegal streaming sources (or of questionable legality).
5. Spamming off-topic material such as rants against a third party, political statements, advertisements.
6. Trolling or general irritation or disruption of other users. This often includes, but is not limited to excessive use of capital letters, punctuation marks, deliberate distortions of the English language and excessive usage of languages other than English.