 Manual of Style is being edited slowly by MHLU, and may undergo critical changes while this message remains in place. |
Since top-contributor MHLU was tired of users (especially anonymous users) making mistakes and having to clean-up after them, he decided that users read and follow the new policy, Manual of Style.
In MHLU's opinion, not following the Manual of Style is still considered spam. It takes three chances before a user can be blocked from editing; however, indefinite blocks cannot be made by violating the Manual of Style. However, this is not required on talk pages or non-article edits (see below).
The Manual of Style
Introduction
"This wiki has been around since 2010. It is still a growing wiki. Read the notice template for more information.
This wiki has at least ten edits of vandalism daily, mostly from unregistered contributors. It would be very helpful if people followed my guide."
-MHLU
The Manual of Style is a guide that is pertinent to all Annoying Orange Wiki articles. It helps clarify the language and makes the encyclopedia much easier for Annoying Orange fans to read. The goal is to make the whole encyclopedia much easier for contributors to use.
Basic principles
Language
An encyclopedic article is an article for readers to study. The writing is not for showing off one's exceptional way of writing, even if it is the purpose that you write here.
Spelling
Wikia does not have a spell checker. Remember to check your spelling before publishing an article, as if you were at school (checking a writing assignment before turning the paper in). The following demonstrates:
Unacceptable: Orange is a mane charicter form the Annoyng Orang seris.
Acceptable: Orange is a main character from the Annoying Orange series.
Therefore, if you do not check your spelling, your edit will be undone, and you will be warned if you have more than two major mistakes.
Grammar
Just the old-school way: capitalize your I's, end your sentences with punctuation, and do not use the wrong homophone. Grammar can be easily remembered with spelling.
This is not like YouTube or Facebook. The following shows what's right and what is not:
Unacceptable: pear is a great guy. i think he is cool.
Acceptable: Pear is a great character; I think he is cool.
Therefore, if you do not check your grammar concisely, the same consequences will happen (you will be warned). This is part of this guideline that can also be counted as vandalism.
Clear, consise wording
As stated above, articles are not to show off someone's exceptional English. The example below shows what is unacceptable and what can be used on an article (Elephant)
Unacceptable: Pachyderm was a momentous titanic pachyderm that came into view in Elephants are Huge.
Acceptable: Elephant was a extremely giant pachyderm that first appeared in Elephants are Huge.
Therefore, don't overload an article with technically advanced English, because youngsters and people understanding basic English occassionally read an encyclopedia.
Article titles, headings, and sections
Article titles
The rule about article titles is violated very often, even by registered users and administrators. The rules are as follows:
- Capitalize the beginning of the title.
- The title should be a clear match of an article's contents (therefore, don't put "Clementine" if the article is about a lemon).
- The intial (first) letter of the title is capitalized, unless in rare cases, such as iPhone.
- Capital letters are only supposed to be used only in where they would in normal sentences (Grandpa Lemon's motorcycle, not Grandpa Lemon's Motorcycle unless it is a character's name (Bunny Rabbit).
- Like in library searches, do not start a title with the words a, an, or the unless it is a proper title (The Annoying Orange).
- Titles should be short (Orange, not Super Duper Irritating Annoying Orange).
- Avoid special characters (/, +, {}, []), use and instead of &, unless the ampersand is part of a name (Steinway & Sons).
Section headings
Headings provide an overview in the table of contents and allow readers to navigate through the text more easily.
- Section and subsection headings should preferably be unique within a page; otherwise, after editing, the display can arrive at the wrong section (see also below) and the automatic edit summary can be ambiguous.
- Headings should not normally contain links, especially where only part of a heading is linked.
- Headings should not explicitly refer to the subject of the article, or to higher-level headings, unless doing so is shorter or clearer (Biography) is preferable to His biography when his refers to the subject of the article; headings can be assumed to be about the subject unless otherwise indicated).
- Spaced or unspaced multiple equal signs are the style markup for headings. The triple apostrophes (
''') that make words appear in boldface are not used in headings. The nesting hierarchy for headings is as follows:- the automatically generated top-level heading of a page is H1, which gives the article title;
- primary headings are then
==H2==,===H3===,====H4====, and so on until the lowest-level heading======H6======.
- Spaces between the
==and the heading text are optional (==H2==is equivalent to== H2 ==). These extra spaces will not affect the way the heading is displayed to readers. - Include one blank line above the heading, for better readability in the edit window. Some editors also prefer an (optional) blank line below the heading. Only two or more blank lines above or below will add more white space in the public appearance of the page.
Wording
Capital letters
There are differences between the major varieties of English in the use of capitals (uppercase letters). Where this is an issue, the rules and conventions of the cultural and linguistic context apply. As with spelling, maintain consistency within an article. Do not use capital letters for emphasis (Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are NOT the same as anteaters.); where wording alone cannot provide the emphasis, use italics (Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are not the same as anteaters.)
Use of "the"
Generally do not capitalize the definite article in the middle of a sentence. However, some idiomatic exceptions, including most titles of artistic works, should be quoted exactly according to common usage. Consider consulting the sources of the article.
Incorrect (generic): There was an article about The United States in yesterday's newspaper.
Correct (generic): There was an article about the United States in yesterday's newspaper.
Incorrect (title):
Dane Boedigheimer made the Annoying Orange.
Correct
(title): Dane Boedigheimer made The Annoying Orange.
Correct
(title): Homer wrote the Odyssey.
Incorrect
(exception): There are two seaside resorts in the Hague.
Correct
(exception): There are two seaside resorts in The Hague.