BattleTechWiki:List of guidelines
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 | This list of BattleTechWiki guidelines includes a summary of the most important guidelines that are currently in use. For a list of policies see List of policies. For a comprehensive but less detailed listing of policies and guidelines, see List of policies and guidelines. For categories of guidelines, see Category:Guidelines and its subcategories. See BattleTechWiki:Policies and guidelines for a general overview of what policies and guidelines are about, how they are made, and why we have them. |
Because there are a large number of guideline pages, they are subcategorized (using the {{subcat guideline}} template) according to their purpose.
- Conduct guidelines outline ways for editors to behave and interact with each other on talk pages and elsewhere at BattleTechWiki.
- Content guidelines apply only to the article namespace (unless otherwise specified in the guideline), and offer advice on identifying and including encyclopedic information in articles.
- Editing guidelines usually provide non-content advice about categorization, navigation or other how-to-edit advice.
- Style guidelines otherwise known as our "Manual of Style", contain extensive advice on writing style, formatting, grammar, and more.
- Deletion guidelines explain criteria and procedures for deleting unwanted pages.
- Project content guidelines contain guidelines related to our administrative pages and their namespaces
- Naming conventions detail the correct ways to name articles on particular topics.
- Template guidelines guidelines concerning templates.
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Contents
Conduct guidelines[edit]
Behavioral guidelines expand on our conduct policies. Please read these first.
- Assume good faith
- Unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, assume that people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it.
- Conflict of interest
- Do not use BattleTechWiki to promote yourself, your website, your mixtape, or your organization.
- Disruptive editing
- Participants with a pattern of edits that has the effect of disrupting progress toward improving an article or the fundamental project of building an encyclopedia may be blocked or banned indefinitely.
- Do not disrupt BattleTechWiki to illustrate a point
- State your point. However, do not spam BattleTechWiki, disingenuously nominate articles for deletion, push rules to their limits, or otherwise create work for other people just to prove your point.
- Etiquette
- Editors have different views, perspectives, and backgrounds, sometimes varying widely. Treating others with respect is key to collaborating effectively in building an encyclopedia.
- Signatures
- Sign all of your posts on BattleTechWiki talk pages by typing ~~~~ to be accountable and to help others understand the conversation, but do not sign in articles.
- Talk page guidelines
- Talk pages are for polite discussion serving to improve the encyclopedia, and should not be used to express personal opinions on a subject.
- User pages
- You can use your user page to add a little information about yourself or to help you to use BattleTechWiki more effectively. However, remember that BattleTechWiki is not a blog, webspace provider, or social networking site.
Content guidelines[edit]
Content guidelines expand on our content policies. Please read those first.
- Autobiography
- Avoid writing or editing an article about yourself, other than to correct unambiguous errors of fact.
- Citing sources
- For writing and formatting references using different citation styles.
- Content forks
- A content fork is a piece of content (such as an inter-wiki object, a page, or a page section) that has the same scope as another piece of content that predated it, essentially covering the same topic. There are acceptable and unacceptable content forks. This guideline explains them all.
- External links
- External links should be kept minimal, meritable, and directly relevant to the article. BattleTechWiki is not an advertising opportunity.
- No disclaimers in articles
- BattleTechWiki contains spoilers, potentially objectionable material, and more. There is generally no need to warn readers of this.
- Non-free content
- Non-free content—including all copyrighted content—can only be used in specific cases, and must be employed judiciously. Its usage must be considered fair use under US copyright law, and comply with the non-free content criteria policy.
- Reliable sources
- Information about identifying and using appropriate sources to comply with BattleTechWiki's Verifiability policy.
Other content guidelines[edit]
- Accuracy dispute
- Articles for which much of the factual accuracy is actively disputed, should have a {{Disputed}} warning place at the top, and are listed at Category:Accuracy disputes.
- Non-US copyrights
- A work that is in the public domain in its home country can sometimes be under copyright in the United States, and so can not be used on BattleTechWiki, which is subject to US law.
- Patent nonsense
- Guideline for dealing with nonsense text.
Editing guidelines[edit]
- Article size
- discusses the optimal size for articles.
- Be bold
- Wikis develop faster when people fix problems, correct grammar, add facts, make sure the language is precise, and so on. We expect everyone to be bold. It is okay.
- Disambiguation
- Resolving the conflicts that arise when a single term is ambiguous—when it refers to more than one topic covered by BattleTechWiki.
- Categories, lists, and navigation templates
- This guideline helps editors choose appropriate grouping techniques.
- Categorization
- guidance on the proper use of the categorization function of the wiki
Other editing guidelines[edit]
- Hatnote use
- Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article or section, and provide links to a possibly sought article, or to a disambiguation page.
- Year Pages
- This guideline is intended for year pages.
- Reference desk guidelines and Requests for comment guidelines
- Keep the Five pillars in mind when responding on the research desk and Requests for comments pages, try to make it useful for our readers, and a benefit to BattleTechWiki.
- Summary style
- Sections of long articles should be spun off into their own articles, leaving summaries in their place.
- Updating articles and "as of" technique
- Guidelines on updating time-sensitive articles.
- Stubs
- Guidelines on "stub" articles
- Redirects
- Guidelines on redirects
- Soft redirects
- Guidelines on "soft" redirects
Style Guidelines[edit]
- Manual of Style
- This is the most important style guideline, and the "parent" of all the other style guidelines. It provides guidance on matters such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting.
- Accessibility
- Make BattleTechWiki pages easy to navigate and read for those with accessibility limitations.
- Dates and numbers
- Consistent standards in the use and formatting of dates and numbers make articles easier to read, write, and edit.
- Images
- Layout
- Common principles guide formatting of large-scale article components in most cases. Complicated articles may be best modeled on the layout of an existing article of appropriate structure.
- Lead section
- The lead should define the topic and summarize the body of the article with appropriate weight.
- Linking
- Provide links that aid navigation and understanding, but avoid cluttering the page with obvious, redundant and useless links.
- Lists
- Tables
- Words to watch
- Be cautious with expressions that may introduce bias or can be interpreted in more than one way. Use clear, direct language.
Deletion guidelines[edit]
Deletion guidelines expand on our deletion policies. Please read these first.
- Deletion process
- An overview of the processes by which articles get deleted.
- Deletion guidelines for administrators
- Administrators should mostly use the BattleTechWiki:Proposed deletion, BattleTechWiki:Articles for deletion, and BattleTechWiki:Miscellany for deletion pages when they think a page should be deleted. There are a few limited exceptions, which are given at BattleTechWiki:Criteria for speedy deletion.
Project content guidelines[edit]
Other Project content guidelines[edit]
Other guideline categories[edit]
Naming conventions[edit]
- Article titles
- The main page for naming conventions for article titles. Also has links to topic-specific conventions on article titles.
- Category names
- Category names should be specific, neutral, inclusive, and follow certain conventions.
- File names
- Image files, and other files, should have readable file names.
Template guidelines[edit]
- High-risk templates protection
- High-risk templates and Lua modules may be fully protected or template protected. Edits to such pages should be infrequent.
- Substitution use
- Certain templates should be substituted, while others should be transcluded.
See also[edit]
- List of policies and guidelines – a list of the principal policies and guidelines.
- List of policies – a comprehensive descriptive directory of policies.
- Manual of Style contents – a comprehensive descriptive directory of the pages which make up the Manual of Style.
- Tutorials
- Introduction to policies and guidelines – a quick introduction to the major policies and guidelines for very new users.
- Keep in mind – a quick introduction on how to apply policies and guidelines as you go about editing.