Star Wars ReExpanded:Manual of Style

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The Manual of Style is a guide applicable to all ReExpanded Wiki articles. It establishes the site's expected standards, and provides editors with guidelines to produce articles with language, layout, and formatting which are clear, precise, and consistent. The goal of this site is to catalog the ReExpanded "canon" in an easy and intuitive manner, so that it can be the definitive source of information for these stories.

General guidelines

Editing

There are two general types of editing: copy editing and content editing. Copy editing refers to spelling, punctuation, and grammar (or SPAG, for short). This requires a basic knowledge of English language syntax. Content editing further expands on this by assessing whether the current written content meet sthe standards of a good encyclopedic entry. The elements of what makes a good entry are further described below.

Do not copy/paste content

Plagiarism is frowned upon in almost all aspects of life, including on this wiki. Do not directly copy/paste content from sources when editing a page. When writing or editing an article, you must paraphrase this content in your own words. Exceptions apply to direct quotations, but these must be noted as such and properly attributed both in-body (or via footnote) and in the article's reference list.

Internal consistency

Ideally, we would like to maintain internal consistency intra-wiki. However, with multiple editors, this would be too difficult to enforce. Internal consistency within an article, however, is expected. This promotes better readability, clarity, and cohesion.

Stability of content

Wikis tend to steer clear of the larger Internet cultural sphere. Instead of content quality, edit wars tend to be what push wikis into the popular consciousness. The ReExpanded Wiki has a strict policy against such behavior. Disagreements over article content and style should be discussed on that article's Talk page, and a fair attempt should be made to come to a mutual agreement. Reverting changes without reason is equivalent to article vandalism.

Adhere to the source material

When deciding how to treat in-universe terms, such as proper names and other nouns, look to the official source. In the case of terms which already exist in the Legends continuity, effort should be made to follow the leads established in the latest secondary source material (Essential Guides, etc.) or the original book from which the term came, if not present elsewhere. For terms originating from fanworks, remain consistent with original authorial intent. Note that there are exceptions to this rule: if sources can be shown to be unrepresentative of modern English usage, follow current English usage rules instead.

Clarity and Nomenclature

Writing should prioritize readability. Contributions should be written in a clear and concise manner, in plain English. Keep jargon and ambiguity to a minimum.

Capitalization

  • Capitalization should adhere to the standards established by the primary and secondary source matrial. In the event that there is no standard established, it should adhere to the rules of standard English. In the case of existing Legends material, the ReExpanded Wiki defers to the Wookieepedia Manual of Style's section on capitalization.

General style

  • The main ReExpanded Wiki requires all articles to be written in English, however the site has no preference between either British or American English spellings. Whichever style is used should remain consistent within that same article.
  • In an article's introduction, the first instance in the body of the article's name must be bolded, and must not contain a hyperlink. All subsequent mentions should be written as normal.
  • The ReExpanded Wiki (as does Star Wars) prefers Metric as the primary unit of measurement. If also including the U.S. customary equivalent, you may present it in parentheses after the metric unit (i.e., 130 kg (286 lbs)).

Perspective

Like most wikis of this nature, the ReExpanded Wiki makes use of two perspectives: In-Universe and Real-World.

In-universe

Articles about in-universe content should be written from an in-universe perspective. To keep things simple and to the point, simply write the article as if you were a Galactic historian chronicling the life of a character, or writing a historical treatise on a war. Articles should be written from a neutral perspective, free from bias, and without meta-knowledge that those in-universe would not know. Similarly, articles should be written in past tense.

Real-world

Real-world content includes meta articles, as well as pages about media, authors, projects, and events. These should be written from the perspective of individuals in the real world, and are free to make use of meta-knowledge.

Point of view

Articles should be written from a third-person point of view. Avoid first- and second-person completely. Outside of quoted dialog and excerpts, the pronouns "I" and "you" should never be used in the text of an article.

Articles are also no place for speculation or ambiguity, unless it is appropriately tagged with a template. Phrases such as "their fate was unknown" should be avoided unless this is a statement of fact in-universe.

Article scope

Articles should avoid content overlap where possible. In ideal circumstances, Wiki articles form interlinked tree structures via in-body links and categories which allow users to access additional information with a simple click. Character biographies should only include details about that character's specific involvement in an event, rather than rehashing the details of the whole event. Those details would be linked to on another article.

Balancing the amount of detail and overlap is at the editor's discretion. This typically depends on article length. Characters with lengthier articles will typically have less time spent writing about minutiae; shorter articles about one-off characters or species, on the other hand, might delve into verbose detail about comparatively miniscule events.

Do not use conversational style

As the ReExpanded Wiki is an encyclopedia, it needs to read like one. Think of it along the same lines as Wikipedia or Wookieepedia. A few things to note:

  • In addition to checking your SPAG, do not use Internet slang, memes, l33tspeak, or txt speech. Make use of spellcheck using either a dedicated word processor, a browser extension (Grammarly, etc.) or your browser's built-in spellcheck function.
  • Do not "reply" to other's edits in an article's body. This ties into the "edit wars" mentioned above. Discussions belong on an article's talk page, and banter belongs in direct messages.
  • Avoid first- and second-person point of view. This wiki should read like an encyclopedia, not a video game FAQ or tutorial site.
  • When possible, always introduce a character, weapon, planet, vessel, or other entity by its full name. After the first mention, you are free to use epithets and shorthand as long as they are consistent with an in-universe perspective.

Page titles

Article titles should aim to provide basic information abouit the subject, either by using an official name, or unofficial description given by editors if the subject remains unidentified in official sources. If an article's title is multiple words, remember that only proper nouns should be capitalized (sentence case).

For articles on weapons, vessels, and vehicles, the title should reflect the item's formal designation or model number followed by its familiar moniker. Articles concerning vehicles primarily identified via acronym (AT-AT, STAP, etc.) should use the full, spelled-out name in the title as well as the first instance in the article body.

Disambiguating titles

If there are two or more subjects with the same name, it becomes necessary to disambiguate the article titles from one another via a disambiguation page or other means, such as parentheses. Best practice is to use parentheses when there are only two items with similar names. The most notable subject is given precedence in these cases; the other must be disambiguated.

If there are three or more articles with the same or a similar name, these should be listed on a separate disambiguation page. This page can then be linked at the top of each article via the disambiguation template. The titling convention for disambiguation pages is {SUBJECT} (disambiguation).

Definite and indefinite articles

Definite ("the") or indefinite ("a"/"an") articles should only be included in an article's title if it is part of the subject's name. This is most common with vessels and titles of works.

Links and redirects

On wiki articles, redirects are your best friend. There is no reason to avoid using them when they are available. This is actually good practice; if an article or section title is changed, for example, then only a single redirect page would need to be changed, as opposed to every link to that article on the wiki. There is also an aesthetic benefit in the form of less clutter in the editing window.

With this in mind, piped links (formatted as [[Article|in-body text]] ) should only be used when absolutely required.

  • Wiki links are case insensitive, therefore you do not need a piped link to convert a single letter to upper/lowercase. Lightsaber and lightsaber will link to the same page.
  • Piped links are required when linking from any text which is completely different to the title of the linked article, unless you are linking to a redirect page. For example, Ashen One will redirect to The Ashen One, but Cinder's ship will require a piped link.

Article size

Articles, like other media, are often as long or short as they need to be. However, here are some general guidelines for determining whether an article should be split, expanded, or consolidated.

Article size (in KB) Rule of thumb
>100 KB Needs splitting
>60 KB Consider splitting
>40 KB Typical size for articles about lengthier subjects
<40 KB Split based on content, not length
< KB Consider consolidating into a related page, or add more info if possible. These are considered "stubs"

Editing

Avoid "spam edits"

Wikis thrive on active editing. However, editing the same article an excessive number of times can be construed as spam. As a general guideline, a maximum of five (5) successive edits within thirty (30) minutes is considered acceptable. To avoid this problem, use the "Show preview" button to review your changes prior to hitting "Save changes". Note that the Visual Editor, if used, provides a preview automatically.

Use the minor edit flag

A minor edit is any minor fix to spelling or formatting. Adding links, a new content section, or implementing a template are not minor edits.

Use the summary box

Before clicking "Save changes", always fill in the "Summary" box with the changes you made. These show up on the Recent Changes page, and make it easier for other editors to keep track of happenings on other pages.

Do not sign your edits

Just like Author Notes do not go in the body of fanfiction, do not leave your mark within the body of an article. Showcase edits of which you are proud on your user page, and hold discussions on an article's talk page.

Do sign your talk posts

When posting on talk pages, make sure to sign your comments with ~~~~~ at the end of your post. This also has the benefit of hiding your IP address!

Images and files

Make sure you have the proper permissions to use the image/file you are uploading. If an artist, photographer, or other copyright holder asks you to not repost their work, please respect their wishes.

AI art, while welcome, must be labeled and tagged appropriately on its respective file page. While there are no penalties for using AI art, the ReExpanded Wiki encourages using human-made art when available.

Layout

Main article: Star Wars ReExpanded:Layout Guide

Stubs

If an article is particularly short (>1 KB), please add the {{stub}} template at the end of the content. This will add it to the stub category, where other editors can easily find it and add more content. The ReExpanded Wiki prefers the {{stub}} template to be placed at the end of an article.

Pages should not link to themselves

No page should link to itself. Wikis do not typically allow this, anyhow; any such attempt at this will simply render the "link" as bold text.

Link once

In short articles, this means to only link once. For example, if a link is made to Grievous at any point in a short article, then that should be the only link to Grievous within that article.

In longer articles, this rule applies per section. On media articles, for example, there may be a link to a character during a lengthy synopsis. It would be permissible to link to that same article again in a "Behind the scenes" section towards the end of the article.

External links

External links should be formatted thus: [https://www.starwarstimeline.net/Westendgames.htm West End Games Supplements]

It will render in the article like so: West End Games Supplements.

Interwiki links can be written in a more truncated manner:

  • [[wikipedia:Star Wars]] will link to Star Wars on Wikipedia.
  • [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Jodo Kast]] will link to Jodo Kast on Wookieepedia.

See also

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