StarMade Wiki:Manual of Style

64px	“	Encyclopaedias are of a scale that you have to make it a collaborative effort... to make it good, to make it read like it was from a single mind is the challenge.	„
		—Ward Cunningham, Inventor of the Wiki

This guideline creates a set of rules and guidelines that should be followed when writing and editing articles on the wiki. This creates a more uniform and professional feel to readers on the wiki.

The rules in this article should be followed in most cases, however there will be some instances where they can be ignored, please use common sense. If you are unsure, feel free to consult an administrator via the forums, wiki talk pages or on the #starmade-wiki IRC channel.

Page structure

Page structure will depend on the topic of the article, however most articles will be about either blocks or items. The structure of block/item articles can usually be adapted to other article types, if there is no guide for them.

Block and item articles

All block and item articles should follow this basic template:

1. Any article message boxes that apply to the page
2. An infobox
   • Likely {{Infobox block}}
3. Quick description of the item's function
4. A table of contents
   • The TOC is added automatically by the wiki software, so editors shouldn't need to worry about it in normal circumstances.
5. Manufacture of the item
   • Include the {{mfg}} box, which shows the recipe
6. Usage of the item
   • If the item is purely cosmetic in function, this section can be excluded. Instead, it should be noted that the item is purely cosmetic in the quick description.
   • If the item has a functional use, the cosmetic use need not be mentioned anywhere, as all blocks can potentially be used cosmetically.
   • If the item is activated with a key, indicate this using the {{K}} template which produces something like the following: R.
   • If there is a general page which describes behaviors common to the item - such as factories, groups or linking - link to those pages instead of duplicating the information.
7. Tips & interesting facts
8. Categories
   • NOTE: Please do not create new categories. See below.

Categories should always be the last item on the page, so they can be quickly found and modified if necessary.

Content

Accuracy

Content should be both tested and proven to be accurate. It should also be provable to be accurate at any point, otherwise it can be considered unreliable and could be removed.

Original work

Original work on the wiki is highly encouraged. This ensures that all content added to the wiki has at least been thought about before saving, which makes it more likely that it is accurate. It can never be certain that information from other sources will be correct.

However, using information from other sources is allowed, provided that all copying follows the license that the content is under.

Videos

While videos can be added to the wiki, care should be taken to ensure the legal restrictions on said video permit use on our wiki. If possible, the video should be created by an editor of the wiki, specifically for the wiki, which will eliminate any potential copyright issues. Videos should be uploaded to YouTube, then embedded onto pages.

It is very important to note that videos are never a replacement for text. Any information available in the video should also be available in text form by reading the page.

To reduce space taken up and potential internet use (particularly for mobile users), only one video is permitted per page.

Grammar

Grammar is of the utmost importance on the wiki. Edits that do not follow proper grammar rules will be altered, or fully/partially reverted.

Writing style

Writing style should be strictly encyclopedic, see Wikipedia articles for examples. The reader should never be addressed directly, for example, "you can use this block to..."

Instead, this could be written as, "this block can be used to... " There is always a way to reword sentences so they are encyclopedic. Any edits that are not encyclopedic in tone will either partially or entirely reverted.

Interwiki linking

This refers to the method of linking to other pages on this wiki by writing [[Page Name]].

If the name of another page is used, in the same context as that page is written, then a link should be created. This may be better understood by thinking, "I've written the name of another page here. Will having a link there help a user looking to understand this topic more, or smoothly extend the user's knowledge into another topic related to this one?" If so, add a link, if not, don't.

Only one link to a certain page should be created per page, unless the page is large enough that, when scrolling, the link will be hidden. In general, it is acceptable to assume that editors need only link to a particular page once per one or two paragraphs.

For example, if a page was being written about ship building, it could contain:

Ship building has several major components: [[Ship Design]], [[Weapon Systems]], [[Defense Systems]], and so on.

== Ship Design ==
Ship Design is an important component, as on multiplayer servers factions are often judged and ranked, if only in players' minds, on how good their ships look.
...

If an editor wishes to link to a post while using different text in the article, the editor should use the pipe '|' icon as follows:

[[Reactor Conduit | reactor conduits]]

The text before the pipe icon indicates the article to be directed to while the text after the icon is the text that will be displayed in the article.

Editors should note that while the page "Ship Design" was linked to in the first instance of it, it was not in the second or third (the section title, then within the section). However, after the "Ship Design" and "Weapon Systems" sections, the page may be large enough that readers cannot see the "Defense Systems" link without scrolling up. In this case, the "Defense Systems" page should be linked to in it's section.

Headings

Headings, under normal circumstances, should not be links. Headings refers to text within one to six equals signs == Example level 2 heading ==.

There may be rare circumstances where this is appropriate, but on almost all pages it will not be acceptable linking and will be removed.

Categories

If you are interested in modifying the category structure of the wiki, please contact an administrator. Category restructures are major undertakings that affect a large amount of pages, they should have prior approval and be completed by a bot so as to maximise efficiency.

More Information

For more information on wiki editing the following wikipedia articles may be useful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Section#Table_of_contents_(TOC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial/Wikipedia_links