MushoTen Series:Article Guidelines

Welcome to the **MushoTen Series Wiki's Article Guidelines**, also known as the **Manual of Style (MoS)**.

**Before editing, please make sure to read the wiki's rules!**

## Introduction

This page will answer many of your questions pertaining to articles on this wiki. If you can not find your answer, please ask an administrator.

## Article do's and do not's

**Do**

* Write in paragraphs
* Use punctuation
* Link
* Add sources
* Add categories
* Fix grammar
* Use templates

**Do not**

* Forget capitalization
* Add lists of attributes
* Leave blank articles
* Vandalize articles
* Add speculative information
* Add both appearance and personality in infoboxes

## Article titles

Avoid making articles with conjectural titles. Please make sure the article name for a subject is its official name. Similarly, please do not use nicknames or alternate names for an article's title. (e.g. "Sora" instead of "Main Character.")

Article names must also be written in the singular form rather than the plural. (e.g. "Dog" instead of "Dogs.") Certain exceptions may apply, such as if an article is a list. (e.g. "List of dogs.") Additionally, the definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) should be avoided in article titles except when they are part of an official title.

When starting an article, make sure to always include at least a single sentence about the subject. This sentence should include a brief definition of the subject, and don't forget to bold the first instance of the article name.

## Language

For the purpose of maintaining consistency, and because the subject of this wiki originates from the United States, words on this wiki should conform to the spelling used in American English. This applies only to main namespace pages, not talk or user pages. Although no user should be harassed or punished for using other regional spellings of words, editors are encouraged to conform text in articles to U.S. spelling. If you come across a word spelled the way it is in another country (for example if you see "color" spelled as "colour"), just change it to the U.S. English spelling and be done with it.

## What should an article have?

This depends on the page. Some things are meant for some pages.

### For characters

Each character gets an article, as long as they are important enough. What defines important enough are shown in the three standards below.

* Every character that visually appears on the show is allowed to have a page, *except* for characters that only appear in a group and don't perform any unique individual actions.
	+ For the above group characters, a character page about the group should be created instead. (Example: Human)
* Unseen characters should only have their own page if they are specifically named and play a role in an episode's plot.

Each page of a character should have the following sections:

* the **Infobox** with relevant information about the character (*see character infobox template for instructions*)
* An introduction section giving a brief explanation of the character.
* Next, in order, **Appearance** (with **Body**, **Clothing**, and **Additional features** subsections), **Personality**, and **Background** sections to further describe their characteristics. If there is not enough information on the character, the Personality section can be omitted. When describing the character's appearance, first describe their physical appearance followed by their typical clothing and accessories. To describe a person's skin color, please use "light-skinned", "olive-skinned", "dark-skinned", or similar descriptions. Body size descriptions such as "thin", "fat", "tall", and "short" are okay. Avoid using euphemisms such as "overweight" or medical terms such as "obese".
* Next, a **Relationships** section to describe the character's notable relationships with other characters. Non-notable relationships (such as other characters that the character has only limited interaction with) should not be included.
* Next, a **Powers and abilities** section to describe the character's notable abilities (example: Inquisitor's future sight, Rin's regenerative abilities, Triton's God-rank magic, etc).
* Next, a **Behind the scenes** section. This section include the following subsections: **Early development**, **Name and basis**, **Voice**, and **Debut**. If there is no information for the character base, early development, or no voice actor, the Early development, Name and basis, or Voice sections can be omitted.
* A **Quotes** section should be added for any page that has an associated quotes page. In this section, simply put {{Quote}}. See the section below that describes how to add quotations to the subpage.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}. To insert an image in the gallery link, type "{{Gallery|image=}}" and put an image's filename after the equal sign.
	+ If the page has an associated Designs page, in the Gallery template section simply put "{{Gallery|designs=yes}}". To insert an image in the designs gallery link, type "{{Gallery|designs=yes|imagedesign=}}" and put an image's filename after the equal sign.
* Next, a **Trivia** section.

Example of a good character page: Rin Est.

### For episodes

Each episode gets an article. It is best not to create too in-depth articles about episodes not released yet (unless information, with references, is provided about said un-aired episode), as the information can change drastically. Each episode page should have:

* An infobox using the Episode template.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence). This should include the title, episode number, and premiere date.
* A **Synopsis** section, giving a very short description of the episode. These should be direct quotes from Disney press releases or other official sources. Avoid editing these sections.
* A **Plot** section. This should house a full recap of the story of the episode.
* A **Cast** section, for all the voice actors and characters featured in the episode, This section includes the following subsections:
	+ **Additional voices**, for voice actors who are credited as additional voices. In case it is credited in additional voices but the character the actor voiced is known, it can be listed in the main section.
	+ **Non-speaking cameo**, for characters that appear in the episode, but only as a cameo and without a speaking role.
	+ **Mentioned**, for characters that are only mentioned in the episode.
	+ **Pictured**, for characters that only appear in pictured or portraits in the episode.
	+ **Other characters**, for characters that are animals, creatures, or recurring background characters without a speaking role.
* In case the episode contains songs, a **Songs** section, listing the featured songs.
* A **Transcript** section should be added for any page that has a transcript made for it. In this section, simply put {{Transcript}}.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}.
* A **Trivia** section when appropriate. This section can include the following subsections: **Revelations and significant events**, **Continuity**, and **Production notes**.
* An **Allusions** section, listing the allusions and references to other media contained in the episode.
* An **Errors** section, listing errors in animation, production, or in the series continuity.
* An **Edits** section, listing the edits made to the episode such as censorship, animation or dialogue edits, among others, either after the original release or in international broadcasts.
* A **Videos** section should be added, as long as Disney Channel uploads clips related to the episode to its official YouTube channel, we also allow promos of the episode uploaded by non-Disney channels. Full episodes or clips uploaded by non-Disney channels are not allowed, except for promos.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good episode page: "WIP".

### For crew members

Each person that work on the show gets an article. A crew member article should include:

* An infobox using the Crew template.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence) giving a brief information of the person.
* A **Life and career** section, detailing highlights of they life and professional career.
* For voice actors, a **Roles** section, listing in a gallery with links the characters they voice.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}. Please note that the galleries are only created for the most prominent people in the crew (such as the creator, and the main and important cast).
* A **Trivia** section when appropriate.
* An **External links** section, listing the social networks, Wikipedia and IMDB page, and the official website with the corresponding templates.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good crew member page: Rin Hakase.

### For groups, species, and organizations

Each major group gets an article. An group article should include:

* An infobox using the Group template.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence) giving a brief explanation of the group.
* A **Background** section, detailing the history and background and what effect it had on the plot.
* A **Known members** section, listing the names of all known members of the group or organization, and the role they play in it.
	+ In the case of species, instead of "members", the species name is put in plural (e.g. Known humans).
* A **Sightings** section listing the episodes the group has been seen.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}.
* A **Trivia** section when appropriate.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good group page: Human.

### For locations

Each major location gets an article. Depending on the information, sublocations may be given their own page or assimilated onto the main location page.

A location article should include:

* A place template for the infobox.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence) giving a brief explanation of the location.
* The **Appearance** section, detailing what the place is like or what is found there.
	+ An **Interior** subsection, detailing what the place looks like in its interior. In case the interior of the place is not known, the subsection can be omitted.
* The **Background** section, detailing where the location was featured and what effect it had on the plot.
* A **Sightings** section for episodes that the location was featured in.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}.
* You may want to put in behind the scenes **Trivia** as well, if possible.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good location page: WIP.

In the case of an article of a geographical location it should include:

* A place template for the infobox.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence) giving a brief explanation of the location.
* The **Geography** section, detailing the geography of the location. If there is no information on geography, the section can be omitted.
* The **History** section, detailing the history and background of the location.
* The **Society and culture** section, detailing the society and the culture of the location.
* A **Places of interest** section, listing and describing the different interesting places that can be found in the location.
* A **Sightings** section for episodes that the location was featured in.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}.
* You may want to put in behind the scenes **Trivia** as well, if possible.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good geographical location page: WIP.

### For objects, films, and shows

Each major object gets an article. An object article should include:

* An infobox using the Object template.
* An introductory paragraph (or sentence) giving a brief explanation of the object.
* An **Appearance** section describing the appearance of the object.
* A **Background** section describing when and where the object is seen.
* A **Sightings** section listing the episodes the object has been seen.
* A **Gallery** section should be added for any page that has an associated gallery. In this section, simply put {{Gallery}}.
* A **Trivia** section when appropriate.
* A **References** section should be included if any references are used. In this section, put {{Reflist}}.

Example of a good object page: WIP.

### Draft templates

Draft templates are useful for creating a draft with preloaded text defined on some other page whether it be characters, episodes, etc. It is useful to create new pages with an already defined format for each category.

* For characters
* For episodes
* For crew members
* For groups, species, and organizations
* For locations
* For geographical location
* For objects, films, and shows

### Special note

Please avoid the following:

* "Counting" trivia (e.g., *"This is the fifteenth time Inquisitor uses his gem."*). There may be exceptions.
* Trivia that is likely to change in the future (e.g., *"This episode contains the most scenes with Sora to date."*).
* Uninteresting stuff (e.g., *"Haru drinks apple juice."*).
* Referring to special playtimes/timecodes (e.g., *"If you look at 5:12, you can see [name of character] in the background."*). Because not everyone has the same version of a particular video, these times are often unhelpful.
* Tangential relations (e.g., *"This is just like the time Triton ate rocks and Ash said nothing."*).
* Non-factual information/opinions.
* Speculation/theories.

## Wikitext spacing

In order to ease source editing, there are specific guidelines for the spacing of wikitext.

```
*Bullet
**Point
***List

#Numbered
##List

==Header 2==
===Header 3===
====Header 4====
Content
===Header 5===
More content

{{Template with named parameters

A|B|C|D}}

;Bolded
:Indent

```
```
* Bullet
** Point
*** List

# Numbered
## List

== Header 2 ==
=== Header 3 ===
==== Header 4 ====
Content

=== Header 5 ===
More content

{{Template with named parameters
}}

; Bolded
: Indent

```

## Sections on character pages

### Appearance and Personality

Please include an appearance and personality section in an article and not in a character infobox.

### Background and Relationship pages

Please do not create background and relationship pages. Instead, create a section in a character's article that describes background and relationships. For example, Meatball's page should have a section describing her most important background (if necessary with subsections) and her major relationships with other characters.

## Linking

Linking is usually limited to the first occurrence of the word or phrase in each article, not counting links inside infoboxes. This is because spamming too many wiki links makes articles difficult to read. Using this guideline, one thing should never be linked on a page more than twice. Adding multiple links for the same term might be acceptable in very long articles, where linked instances of the term are very far apart. Another exception to this is if multiple links lead to different sections on the same page.

When linking to an article, please use this format:

✓ **[[Rin Est|Rin Est's]]**
instead of
✗ **[[Rin Est]]'s**
When linking to Wikipedia, please use this format:

✓ **[[Wikipedia:Fiji mermaid]]** or **{{w|Fiji mermaid}}**
instead of
**✗ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji\_mermaid Fiji mermaid]**
When linking to another wiki on Wikia, please use this format:

✓ **[[w:c:WIKIANAME:WIKIAPAGE|TEXT]]**
instead of
**✗ [http://WIKIANAME.wikia.com/wiki/WIKIAPAGE TEXT]**
## References

### External references

Please use *reliable* external sources such as MTFandom Inc. or crew pages. Avoid using unreliable, editable sources such as IMDB. To reference an external page, use the following format:

<ref name=kadokawa>https://group.kadokawa.co.jp/</ref>
Note that the *name* allows you to reuse the same reference later in the article. If you want to reuse it, use the following format:

<ref name=kadokawa />
### Source quality

Not all sources are created equal. Please consider the nature of the source you are citing. Websites that are editable by users are not considered reliable sources.

*Good sources:*

* Publisher websites (including press releases and official social media pages)
* Websites citing official press releases or specializing in television (e.g., tvguide.com)
* Any verified Twitter account (e.g., @kadokawa\_PR, @ProductionIG.)
* Tumblr accounts used exclusively by *Series* crew

*Bad sources:*

* IMDB
* TV.com
* Wikipedia (unless it gives citations and you verify their accuracy)
* Unverified Twitter accounts
* Blogs, opinion pages, etc.
* Unverified, leaked material (content could change before airing)

## Templates

### Stubs

Do not add the "Article stubs" category directly to an article. Instead, append `{{stub}}` to the beginning of an article. Articles should only be marked as a stub if the article is incomplete and is missing some basic information.

### Cite web template

The Cite web template is used to create citations of web sources and thus have a better order in the references of the articles.

## When adding a quotation

Use the Template:Quote for one-liners. Quotes should be memorable or illustrative of the character's personality. Please limit the number of quotes per page and only add the most memorable or illustrative quotes of the character.

## Specific issues

### Straight vs. Curly (Smart) quotes

The only acceptable type of quote designs are the straight quotes (' ") since they are available on your keyboard to type short-handedly and majority of the articles uses the straight punctuation characters. This means that curly (smart) punctuation characters (‘ ’ “ ”) are not acceptable due to the symbols being outside of a common keyboard and being tedious to render in the articles using keyboard shortcuts.

### Use of commas

As MushoTen Series Wiki entails an American television series, please follow the American English usage of the comma, known as the "Oxford comma" or "serial comma", when appropriate. This comma generally separates the final two items in a series. For example, "Rin, Demon, and Wei live in Mushoten" is preferred instead of "Rin, Demon and Wei live in Mushoten".

**Confused on when to use commas between adjectives?**
If the sentence contains adjectives, ask yourself:
1. Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written in reverse order?
2. Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written with "and" between them?

If you answer yes to both of these questions, then the adjectives are a coordinate set and should be separated by a comma. Examples of coordinate and non-coordinate adjectives:

He was a difficult, unfriendly frog. (coordinate)
They have a white frame picture. (non-coordinate)
She wore a wide silk dress. (non-coordinate)
Your mother has a soft, friendly gaze. (coordinate)
The relentless, powerful summer sun beat down on them. (1-2 are coordinate, but the third is non-coordinate.)

The relentless, powerful, oppressive sun beat down on them. (Both 1, 2, and 3 are coordinate.)

For more on the use of the comma, see this page by Connecticut Community College or this page by Purdue University.

### Use of apostrophes

Like the comma, please follow the English usage of the apostrophe. This is noted for decades and years, e.g., '90s instead of 90's/90s or 1990s instead of 1990's.

On the difference between "its" vs. "it's", note that "its" is a possessive pronoun of a subject's quality or object (ex: The Titan is large, its design is based on a human skeleton); whereas "it's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has", indicating status or position of the subject (ex: Nenosaj's staff has an water totem, it's made of wood).

### Capitalization

Capitalization of article titles and section headers should include the first letter of the first word being a capital letter, but it should otherwise follow the normal English rules of capitalization. For example, a section title should be "External links" instead of "External Links." An exception is the capitalization of article titles for characters.

### POV

The situations in the articles of this wiki should be written from a neutral point of view in a disinterested tone, giving no bias or preferences and avoiding giving unimportant issues undue weight. That means it should include facts, not personal opinions. Avoid the use of imperative form and second person (you), and the statements about what "some fans think" when writing articles.

### Raw format

When bolding an article's title within the article itself, only the first instance of the article's name should be bolded. In instances where alternate names or nicknames for the article's title are added, the first instances of them should *also* be bolded. Here is an example of this:

A **bag** (also known regionally as a **sack**) is a common tool in the form of a non-rigid container. The use of bags predates recorded history, with the earliest bags being no more than lengths of animal skin, cotton, or woven plant fibers, folded up at the edges and secured in that shape with strings of the same material.
*View the original article here.*
When viewed in Source mode, this is what it would look like.

`A '''bag''' (also known regionally as a '''sack''') is a common tool in the form of a non-rigid container. The use of bags predates recorded history, with the earliest bags being no more than lengths of animal skin, cotton, or woven plant fibers, folded up at the edges and secured in that shape with strings of the same material.`
When referring to the names of media, such as the title of a television show, these should be italicized (e.g. *Mushoten Discord Series*) while things like episode names should be surrounded with quotation marks. (e.g. "Episode name" from Season 1.)

### Verb tense

Works of fiction are generally considered to "come alive" for their audience. They exist in a kind of perpetual present tense, regardless of when the fictional action is supposed to take place relative to "now". Thus, generally you should write about fiction using the present tense, not the past tense. Here are examples of this:

* Homer presents, Achilles rages, Andromache laments, Priam pleads.
* "Roxy Migurdia is a fictional character from the Mushoten Discord Series."
* "The inhabitants of Lushala have a certain contempt for heat and sand."
* "Shift, who upon arriving in Mushoten is adopted by Mina, becomes Roxy's student to learn magic."
* "The Mushoten Discord Series is a Japanese-American series that was aired on Tokyo MX."

### Date and time formatting

Read **this article** from Wikipedia for more on date and time formatting and standards. Below are excerpts from that article.

**Acceptable date formats**:
The following date styles are acceptable in Wikipedia articles, subject to rules included thereafter:

 D MMM YYYYNumeric day, space, short month name, space, full year | 8 Sep 2001
 YYYY-MM-DDFour-digit year, hyphen, two-digit month, hyphen, two-digit day | 2001-09-08

**Unacceptable date formats**:
The following date styles are **not** acceptable in the MushoTen Series Wiki except in external titles and quotes:

* The ordinal suffixes, articles, or leading zeros (except for the YYYY-MM-DD format) are not used in the wiki. A comma is not inserted between the month and year, nor is a period inserted after the day (June 10, 1921); however, when using mdy format, a comma is required between the day and year. When a date in mdy format appears in the middle of text, include a comma after the year (The weather on September 11, 2001 was clear and warm). Type the full year string instead of using the apostrophe to abbreviate the first two digits of the year.

 June 9th
 June, 2001
 9 June, 200109 June 2001
 June 9 2001June 09, 2001
 '01

* An exception to this guideline is when a specific style of a date achieves notability within a culture, such as the Fourth of July (does not adhere to ordinal nor spelled out guideline, yet is acceptable).
* Do not use year-final numerical date formats (DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY), as they are ambiguous: "03/04/2005" could refer to 3 April or to March 4. For consistency, do not use such formats even if the day number is greater than 12.
* Do not use customized variations of the YYYY-MM-DD format. E.g., do not replace hyphen characters ("-") with any other character; do not change the order of year, month, or day. Use leading zeros for days or months when needed to make these fields two digits.
* Yearless dates (March 5) are inappropriate unless the year is obvious from the context. There is no such ambiguity with recurring dates, such as January 1 is New Year's Day.
* Do not use Roman numerals, such as "MMXII" for "2012", to denote years.

## General tips

For tips on improving article writing and general quality guidelines, please read *this article* from Wikipedia.