Redwall Wiki:Manual of Style

This page is considered an official policy on the Redwall Wiki. It is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.

At the Redwall Wiki, there is an established style when it comes to authoring new pages and editing current ones; it is considered important to follow guidelines and wiki policy.

This manual's goal is to provide new and old users with the way we do things around here :) If you're interested in experimenting, please use the Sandbox. For basic wiki code questions/inquiries, see Help:Contents.

Below are basic formatting guidelines and site policies. It is highly encouraged to check out other pages here at the Redwall Wiki to get a good idea of how to properly format. When editing pages, please say what you did in the summary box. If commenting on a talk page, please sign by typing 4 tildes (~) or clicking the button.

For the most part, the Redwall Wiki style is modeled after the AP Stylebook. For a basic overview, see here.



Redwall Wiki Edict

 * Absolutely no vulgarity or profanity. This site is intended for audiences of all ages. If you find a user is using inappropriate language, please report this behavior to an administrator.

Spamming and Vandalism Policy
If an anonymous IP or registered user is found to be spamming the Redwall Wiki with links containing illegal content, pornographic content, or just spam in general (i.e. gambling websites, etc.) they will be banned for an infinite amount of time. This is non-negotiable.

Anonymous IPs and registered users found to be defacing Redwall Wiki (deletion or blanking of large sections of articles, replacing content with nonsense or gibberish, etc.) will receive one (1) warning instructing them to halt all such actions. Continuation of vandalism at the Redwall Wiki after receiving a warning will earn the offender a ban, length is up to the discretion of the administrator.

Copyright Issues
Any questions regarding the placement of copyrighted material on the Redwall Wiki are answered here: Project:Copyrights

What the Redwall Wiki Is Not
The Redwall Wiki is not a social networking website or a discussion forum, nor are we a host for your personal files. Images, videos, and audio files that have absolutely nothing to do with the world of Redwall or Brian Jacques will be deleted. If a user wishes to link to an outside website to share files on his/her user page, that's absolutely fine. However, embedding video is not allowed. Anyone caught linking to copyrighted material faces a ban.

Topics such as religion, politics, etc. are forbidden. This site's purpose is to come together around Redwall, and not create divisions amongst editors.

The Redwall Wiki is also not meant for Role Playing, as stated many times before, it is meant to be a reference and information resource. For Role Playing, please see the Redwall MUCK, or one of many other Redwall websites that encourages this sort of activity. Any role playing will be halted.

Where to Begin
So you've clicked an article, and feel something vital needs to be added, or perhaps you've spotted a grammatical error. How do you start?

Editing most pages is very easy. Click the "Edit this page" link in the top left corner, near the search box. You will be taken to the page source where you can edit the contents at will. If the change is not minor, please include a brief summary in the "Summary" box.

When editing, here are a few important tips to remember:


 * To link to a page (even if it doesn't exist yet), write it like this: article name . It is case-sensitive except for the first letter.
 * You can link with different text like this: text to display
 * To link to a Wikipedia article, write it like this: Text to display

Starting a New Article
Anywhere you see a red link, you can create a new page. You can also click "Write an Article" in the left toolbox, beneath the navigation menu.

Generally, there should be plenty to say about a character, much more than 1 sentence or phrase, unless of course the character is so incredibly minor that only 1 complete sentence describes their existence in its entirety.

If a new, unformatted page is created with only 1 sentence or phrase, and it is obvious much much more can be said, it will be deleted. It contributes nothing of value to this information resource, and only wastes the time of dedicated Editors who have to completely format the article. If you decide to start a new article, please fill it up with as much information as you know, and format it according to the below guidelines.

So you want to write an article about a character, place, or thing, but you need more information and don't want to scour a book looking for it?

The solution is simple!

Amazon.com has a feature that allows you to search within books. I like to get the book I'm working on, for example, Pearls of Lutra in front of me. Then let's say I want to know more about Abbess Tansy. I pull up Pearls on Amazon, and search inside for 'Tansy'. Then, I get a list of every page Tansy is mentioned on! I can now look in my copy of the book (which I find easier to read than Amazon) for the references, and take notes for the character description for the Wiki, which I can then re-write as an article! Give it a shot!

What should I include?
Anything that is stated fact. The Redwall Wiki does not operate on fan speculation about characters or places. Articles should only include content strictly from the works of Brian Jacques; we call this information "canon". Anything identified as "fanon" will be deleted or removed.

The Redwall Wiki is intended to be a neutral source database. If you are not totally sure about something before adding it or changing the content of an article, check the book first.

Page Layout guide
The following layout guidelines are mandatory. If an article does not need a template, please put at the beginning of the article.

Books

 * 1. U.S. book cover thumbnail right-aligned
 * 2. Book Template
 * 3. U.K. book cover thumbnail right-aligned (if applicable)
 * 4. Book awards (if applicable)
 * 5. Detailed book summary
 * 6. Release date info
 * 7. Books template

Example of a book: Redwall

Characters

 * 1. Character template with image if applicable. Images should be given a specific pixel width between 150-250, the highest number without blurring.


 * A) Regular character template
 * B) Badger Ruler template
 * C) Abbess/Abbot template


 * 2. Summary/Description
 * 3. Categories (at minimum: species, gender, and book)

Example of a character: Martin the Warrior

People
Please see the Redwall Wiki People Policy.

Style Tips

 * Bold the first mention of the article's subject.
 * Italicize all references to book titles, as well as ship names.
 * Categorize all characters by species, gender, rank/class, hero or villain (if applicable), and the book in which they appear.
 * End all sentences with a period.
 * Link all names, places, groups, etc, when they are mentioned for the first time. It is not necessary to link every occurence.
 * Use complete sentences, no fragments please.
 * Capitalize the letter 'A' when the word 'Abbey' is used.

Talk Pages
Please restrict usage of the talk pages for discussion of the article content, e.g. what can be improved, what can be taken out or discussed further, etc., rather than posting personal feelings on the subject matter.

Acquiring
In this day and age, almost everyone has a digital camera and/or a scanner. As we are dealing with content from printed materials, using a scanner is more appropriate when acquiring an image. If you do not have a scanner and wish to scan an image, you can almost certainly find one at your local library. However, if the only device at your disposal is a digital camera, using it would certainly be fine until someone with a scanner is able to re-acquire the image.

Uploading
If you're uploading an image of a character, be sure to credit the illustrator in the description (i.e. "Friar Alder by Gary Chalk"). If you're not sure who the illustrator is, just check the book's page here!

Additionally, the following is very important:


 * When uploading, be sure to name the image something relevant. Something like "Friaralder.jpg" makes sense for a picture of Friar Alder. An inappropiate filename would be something like "MyPicture094.jpg" or "1740345830.jpg".


 * This also applies to book cover image uploads. Name the file something relevant. "RedwallUKhc.jpg" for a hardcover version of the Redwall UK makes sense, "Kjskdjgs.jpg" does not.

Writing an Essay
Redwall Wiki Essays are a part of the Redwall Wiki editor community. They are not policy and are primarily opinion pieces, created either by individual users or the community as a whole. Generally, an essay should consist of an in-depth analysis, thought-provoking commentary, or observant critique. If you would like to publish an essay on the Redwall Wiki, please bear in mind the following:


 * You must be a registered member of the Redwall Wiki. Registration is free, painless, and takes less than 10 seconds. You don't even need an e-mail address! Register here.
 * Essays must have some relevance to Redwall, the Redwall Online Community, Brian Jacques, or any of his other works.
 * Make sure the pagename is Essay:EssayTitleHere
 * Put the template at the top.
 * Put the category at the bottom.

Start a new essay!

Customizing Your Signature
When editing talk pages, you should sign your edits so that you can be identified. This is done by typing 4 tildes ( ~ ) or pressing the signature button in your editing toolbar:

If you'd like to customize your signature, it's very simple. Go to your preferences screen. On the "User Profile" tab, locate the "Signature" field (right under your email address), add your signature, make sure that the "Raw signature" box is checked, and save.

Images used in signatures are not be giant in size. Use LordTBT's signature as an example of how big your image should be.

This is what an example signature looks like:

Your Username  Talk Page

Blogs
The Redwall Wiki is pleased to offer blogs to all users. Blog content must be Redwall or Brian Jacques-related, this could be an essay, review, fan fiction, or something similar. Just like articles, blogs can be edited, but only by the user who owns it. If you would like one of your blogs deleted, please contact an administrator, and/or use the template. Non-topic related blogs will be deleted.

All the same rules apply to blogs - no profanity in content or comments. Blog comments are not to be used for chatting, spamming, or as a forum. Multiple comments from a single commenter in a short period of time will be viewed as chatting/spam, and the violator will be disciplined appropriately. Messages are not to be directed to other commenters, this is chatting. Please keep blog comments constructive and related to the blog post only.

Talk Page Discussions
The Redwall Wiki is not a discussion forum; discussing issues not related to Redwall or the wiki does not help the wiki. User Talk Pages should not be used for any discussion not related to improvement to the wiki itself.

Please keep comments on Article Talk Pages related to article improvement and development.