Operation Harsh Doorstop Wiki:Manual of Style

This **Manual of Style** outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. The formatting described here is a *guideline* and can be overridden where circumstances warrant it. These guidelines will never be unerringly perfect for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined in this article so others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles.

Please note this guideline should be followed for making pages for mainspace, canon use. If you wish to create a page for theories, opinions, or personal use they should be done so in the forums, on a blog or on your userpage. Any pages made that do not belong on the mainspace will be deleted, if you're unsure on making a page simply ask an admin or bureaucrat on their talk page first, but also remember to be bold.

These guidelines are a summary of the most important guidelines for this wiki, but a more expansive set of style guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at Wikipedia Manual of Style.

## Article layout

One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when they read it. It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does. Keep a well structured article, and you are more likely to have a high quality one.

Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article.

Above all, keep your layout consistent. Don't throw your reader a curve ball too often. The following sections will offer some good advice on keeping your articles clean, consistent, and clear.

### Lead section

Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should *not* be explicitly entitled ==Introduction== or any equivalent header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading.

The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article.

If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "The **Kar98k** is a bolt-action rifle featured in ''[[Operation: Harsh Doorstop]]''."

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — `'''article title'''` produces **article title**. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example:

> The **M16A2** is an assault rifle...
>
>

Follow the normal rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics. This will mainly apply to the titles of books and games:

> ***Operation: Harsh Doorstop*** is a [[first-person]] [[shooter]] released in 2023, developed by [[Drakeling Labs]].
>
>

### Table of contents

A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of **four** headings (unless forced by the below options). By default this will be left-aligned above the first section heading.

* To the force a TOC position (left-aligned): `__TOC__`
* To completely remove the TOC from a page: `__NOTOC__`

The table of contents can be right-aligned - but **only** if it is very long (over 15 entries) and an information box is not occupying the top-right corner of the article (rare exceptions exist).

* Right-aligned TOC that floats next to text: {{tocright}}

### Section headings

Use the `==` (two equal signs) style markup for main headings, equivalent to `<h2>`. **Do not use a single `=`.** This is because a single `=` creates an `<h1>` heading which is already used by the page header and would be bad coding. Also, do not use wikilinks in subject headings. When edited, these sections become confusing in the edit history because of the link code. Consider instead putting the word in the first or second sentence of the section and linking it there.

Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading and leave all of the other letters in lowercase. Use **"Founding and history"**, not "Founding and History". Note that this is different from most section title rules you will encounter elsewhere.

Avoid special characters in headings, such as an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), curly brackets ({}), or square brackets ([]). In place of the ampersand, use the word "and" unless the ampersand is part of a formal name.

Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections.

Section headings should not be italicized or bold.

### Images

Images make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up.

Large images such as screenshots should use the "thumb" (example:`[[File:Example.png|thumb]]`) option which displays large images as thumbnails. Images should generally be right aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin - the "thumb" option does this by default. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged.

For more information, see Help:Images.

#### Galleries

When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readbility of an articles, the use of a `<gallery>` section is encouraged.

CaptionCaption
### Tables

Tables should use a "class" design when possible, and should include as little 'fancy' formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class.

For long tables, it is recommended to create an "alt" class to alternate row colours to enhance readability. The below examples use "toccolours" as a class, but this is only for the purposes of demonstration, and is not generally recommended.

#### With row headings, table caption, sortable

I am a caption
 Row heading 2
 Row heading 3

#### Without row headings, with alt rows

 Row data 1
 Row data 1
 Row data 1

### Navigation boxes

Navigation boxes, or Navboxes, can use or be based off {{Navbox}}. Generally they should be placed at the end of an article, above the categories. Navboxes are used to group together items that are related to eachother on article pages, allowing readers to switch between pages without needing to use the search bar. To use a navbox

### Article message boxes

Article message boxes are templates used to display a notice or other related information in the article. These article message boxes can be referencing stub articles, upcoming articles, or articles needing images. Message boxes are generally at the very top of an article or section, directly underneath the title. To use a message box, call the message box using the template name e.g. `{{Stub}}`.

### See also, references, external links, and navigational tables

The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. Under the references section should be placed `<references/>`. Finally, in the external links should be *all* external links.

### Categories

Categories should be added to the end of an article - a full list can be found on Special:Categories. They take the form `[[Category:Categoryname|{{PAGENAME}}]]`.

All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Operation: Harsh Doorstop Wiki, via subcategories.

### Disambiguation

A disambiguation line is sometimes put at the beginning of an article to link to another article with the same or similar title. The line should be italicized and indented once. Most usually contain the phrase, "Were you looking for X?" For example:

*For the members of the player's faction, see "[[Pirates]]".*
The template {{for}} can also be used for this purpose.

### Quotations

Format a long quote (over four lines) as an italicized block quotation, which will be indented from both margins. Do not enclose the block quote in quotation marks. To format a block quotation, do not use the wiki indentation mark "`:`" — instead, use the HTML `<blockquote>` element.

## Grammar

Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You cannot build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication. As the game is created by a mainly British studio, all language on the wiki will be primarily British English, such as the use of the letter "u" in the word "Armour".

### Capitalization

Titles such as lord or king start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "King Arthas", not "king Arthas". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Furion is a powerful lord." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Varian is the current King of Stormwind."

Classes should only be capitalized when used as a proper noun, i.e. as someone's name. ("Warlock, go be evil" versus "That warlock is quite evil.")

### Titles of works

Italics are used for the titles of works, such as books and games. The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized but are enclosed in double quotation marks.

For example, italicize *[[Operation: Harsh Doorstop]]* when referring to the game, but not M16A2.

### Structuring Sentences

A clause is a simple set of words that makes sense on their own. If there happens to be two in a sentence together; separate them with a **semi-colon**. (**;**)

For example: *"Germany is a playable faction**;** they fight against the Americans in World War II."*

**Not:** *"Germany is a playable faction**,** they fight against the Americans in World War II."*

Sentences are always structured beginning with a **capital letter** (**A, B, C etc.**) and they end with a **full stop**. (**.**) Spaces are used after the full stop to make the writing look more professional.

### Error

Sometimes, transcriptions of text from games, posts or advertising may appear with errors, such as misspellings, missing words, incorrect translations, or unsynchronized voice lines. These errors are **always intentionally transcribed** on to the wiki, and marked with the sic template. The  icon indicates the preceeding phrase or word is transcribed directly as it appears from the source material itself, and should not be corrected or changed without due cause.

## Writing

*“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs”* -- Stephen King
We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you are editing wikis, you must be both academic and artistic. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you must skillfully balance both.

**Keep your writing concise.** Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox: know the rules, but only break them on purpose. However, at the same time, do not use contractions in articles (words that are made by combining two words with an apostrophe, such as "don't" instead of "do not").

**Check your spelling and grammar.** Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to'. Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article.

**Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article.** What that means is, you do not need to give a detailed history of humans on the page about Winston Churchill. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information.

**Write in 3rd Person.** Do not use "I" or "you". For example, do not write, "The Central Empire represents the old German Empire, As far as I know." Completely avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself). Do not use the impersonal "you," either, which refers to the reader or player. For example, when referring to lore of the player's faction or character, say "the player is" instead of "you are."

**Be bold.** If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, write it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt is not golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up.

**Maintain article neutrality.** Avoid pointless adjectives that insert personal bias into an article and do not definitively say that something such as a weapon or Perk is relatively good or bad unless it can be statistically proven.

## Choice of Words

**Don't make up words**. English is the world's most comprehensive language, there is bound to be a word to describe the writer's needs. Remember, no wikian is Shakespeare. If stuck, use the Wiktionary.

**Maintain good usage**. Try to use words that all wikians will understand rather than using rather localised terms or slang. For example, use "*confused*" rather than "*miffed*," to help maintain formality and to make sure other players are not "miffed" by strange terms.

## Conclusion

Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It is ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it.