When Dinosaur Roamed America Wiki:Manual of Style

This is When Dinosaur Roamed America Wiki's Manual of Style.

Manual of Style

Writing conventions

General

• This site is a wiki like Wikipedia.  Therefore, articles should been written like pages in an encyclopedia.  Descriptions should be clear and precise; speculation and conjecture should be avoided.
• Do not be overly specific.  For example, don't use up one line to describe a slight movement.  Be specific when necessary.
• Use full sentences where possible.

Language

• Please write in English.  Preferably American English.
• Please write in proper English.  Colloquialisms, slang and text speak is not acceptable.  It's just lazy.
• Users can use short hand on non-content namespaces only.

Linking

• Do not overlink articles. If you refer to the same article twice in an article, only add a link to the first reference.
  • Episodes titles are the only exclusion. They should be linked for every occurrence.
• If a link is not to this wiki put the URL like this: [http://whendinosaurroamedamerica.wikia.com {{SITENAME}}]. It will look like this: When Dinosaur Roamed America Wiki.
• If the link is to a page in this wiki, use [[Tyrannosaurus rex]] link. It will look like this: Tyrannosaurus rex.
• To link to other wikis, you should use [[w:c:wiki name:article name| intended name]]. (ex. [[w:c:community:Interwiki map|Interwiki map]] will produce Interwiki map)
• If you need to link to Wikipedia you should do so in the form of a reference.
  • Wikipedia links should not be in articles themselves.
  • Wikipedia links should not be used to define terms and should be used very sparingly.

Attribution

• Do not add any attributions (like "written by XYZ") or dates ("written on 14/02/09") to articles. An accurate record of all contributions to an article is available via its "History" page.

Formatting

General

• If you are new to wikis, you may want to read the tutorial on Wikia Help.
• To learn the basics of editing a wiki, go to the page editing guide.

Bold

• Bold the article name the first time it appears in the article itself. Any alternative names should also be bolded at their *first occurrence.
• Avoid using bold formatting for general emphasis.

Italics

• Scientific names such as "Allosaurus" or "Tyrannosaurus rex" must be italicized.
• Italics should be used for "When Dinosaurs Roamed America".
• Italics can be used for general emphasis, but should be used sparingly.

Emphasis

• Do not use ALL CAPS.
• Avoid bolding words for general emphasis.
• Avoid using double emphasis (e.g. combining bold and italics).
• Use emphasis sparingly and only when necessary.

Underlining

• Underlining article content should be used sparingly and only in special cases.

Categories

Categories are used for both organizational and navigational purposes. When adding categories, make sure that the category belongs in the article. Also always check the description for each category before adding it.

• Always pay attention when adding a category, categories need to be written and capitalized properly in order for them to work.
• Categories don't work like "tags" do on other sites.