Halopedia:Manual of Style

For more general information, see the Wikipedia Manual of Style.

This Manual of Style for Halopedia is a guide for editors on how to properly format Halopedia articles.

General

 * 1) Please categorize articles and insert navigational templates appropriately to ensure that Halopedia is a more orderly compendium of Halo knowledge.
 * 2) Please do not insert a heading, such as ==Summary==, if there is only a single heading within the article. Just don't put a heading until you feel the need to insert two, and then you may create two.
 * 3) Whenever inserting pictures in "thumb" format, such as Random.jpg, be sure to add a caption like Random.jpg.
 * 4) Refer to the Halo universe from a third-person perspective.
 * 5) List all references at the end articles. It should not be:  Instead, use the reference tag if necessary, or else, write:
 * 6) Refrain from using slashes whenever possible. Instead, work the word "or" into the sentence, or figure out some other way of stating it.

Use the Minor Edit button
As a corollary to the above, if you're making a minor edit (e.g. fixing a spelling error or tweaking formatting), check the "This is a minor edit" button below the Summary box before saving the page. Again, this will make things easier for the rest of us.

Use the Preview Button
The preview button is right next to the save edit button, and is there for a reason. It's your own personal spell checker, link checker, whatever-else checker. Use it. Users that purposefully do not preview edits as to inflate their edit count are not well regarded amongst Halopedians, and you may find yourself in trouble with an administrator.

Don't link to the current page
In other words, a page should not link to itself. If it is attempted, the link will simply turn into bold text.

Link once
A given page should only contain one link to any other page. If a page links to Captain Jacob Keyes in one place, then that should be the only link to Captain Jacob Keyes on that page. Typically this link should be the first instance of the term in the article.

Don't use conversational style
This is an information site. It should read like Wikipedia, not like your diary.


 * Check your spelling and grammar. Don't use internet slang (ex. "How r u?" or "c u 2nite"). If you're not 100% sure about the way a word is spelled, type it into Google or Dictionary.com. If you know that you're not the strongest speller, compose your edits in a word processor like Microsoft Word or use an Internet browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, which has spell-checking built in.
 * Don't use "smileys" or "emoticons."
 * Don't "reply" to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, post on the article's Discussion page. If you are 100% sure that something should be changed and don't think a discussion is necessary, just change it. Dialogue goes only on articles' Discussion pages or the forum.
 * Never abbreviate the names of characters, places, or anything. Wherever possible, use the full name of a character the first time they are mentioned. After the first mention, you may refer to "Master Chief" as "the Chief" or "Captain Jacob Keyes" as "Keyes" and so forth.

Stubs
If you don't know enough information on a topic, or you know there's more, add a stub to it. To do so, try this:

And people will know that it's a stub by looking at the stub category. Generally the template is put at the bottom of the page.

Don't sign your edits
All contributions are appreciated, but if every user left their mark on every contribution they made, the Wiki would be nothing but signatures. If you've made an edit that you're particularly proud of (such as a transcript or screenshot), the correct place to take credit is on your own user page. If you do not have a user account, we respect your anonymity, but your edits will remain anonymous, too.

Do sign your talk posts
If you make a post on a discussion page, please sign it. If you have a user account, this is as easy as typing ~ at the end of your post. If you don't have a user account, just sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who's who when reading long conversations. Even better, create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to if you're going to stick around.

Headers/Headings as links
Never make a header title as links. Instead, use the Main Redirect Template and add it under the header. Additionally, avoid adding the the Ref Tag to the header.

Article Standards
The purpose of standardizing all articles to an official format is to improve the quality and readability of all articles in Halopedia. That said, all users must follow the official format. Halopedia:Manual of Style/Starship|Starship (UNSC/Covenant) Halopedia:Manual of Style/Character|Characters (incl. SPARTANs) Halopedia:Manual of Style/Weapon|Weapon (incl. Vehicles) Halopedia:Manual of Style/Campaign|Campaign Level Halopedia:Manual of Style/Walkthrough|Walkthrough Standards Halopedia:Manual of Style/Multiplayer|Multiplayer Level Halopedia:Manual of Style/Doll|Action Figures Halopedia:Manual of Style/Music|Music & Songs Halopedia:Manual of Style/MilUnit|Military Unit