User blog:Arcaedia/Updating Wiki guidelines

Having been on this wiki for a number of months, I've noticed quite a few things that are done inconsistently throughout the wiki. There have been occasions where I wasn't sure how to format something etc. because it wasn't dealt with in the current guidelines. Considering they haven't been changed in three years, I think it's about time that they are updated.

I don't have an issue with any of the current guidelines; the problem is that there simply aren't enough of them and they don't tend to deal with specific questions that editors may have about how things are done. I've come up with a list of things that I think should be implemented/dealt with in the guidelines but I really would like there to be some discussion about them first so a consensus is reached.


 * Italicize all transcripts of books (not sure about emails, bulletins or datacubes)

Megan Reed’s computer is a computer appearing in… It is owned by Megan Reed... rather than: Megan Reed’s computer is a computer.. Actually as I’ve seen outlined in the Dishonored wiki guidelines (I’m a big fan of that wiki), maybe we should disallow links in all subheaders, quotes, and captions (including image captions). I’ve seen on this wiki that links were included in a quote and then were relinked to later in the article since the link in the quote is missable.
 * Don’t put links in the name of things (such as the name of an article when introducing it or the title of an e-mail), even if it is the first occurrence of the word/name. e.g.:

Every image in a gallery should have a caption; caption should be centered, and no links should be included in captions. The spacing of images in galleries can be changed at the editor’s discretion but should always result in the neatest ordering of images in a gallery. (e.g. spacing can be decreased if it allows all images to fit in one row rather than having a single image on the bottom). Images in a gallery should be ordered in a sensible manner, if applicable. The order of images in the gallery should be chronological, for example.
 * If galleries contain more than two images, they should be centered. (This can be changed to centered, no matter what if people would prefer. Or not centered at all, I suppose, but I think they look neater when centered).


 * This is quite a specific one but it is a real problem for Deus Ex 1 screenshots. Please do not upload very dark screenshots onto the wiki. When taking screens in DX it has the tendency of making them really dark. If at all possible, edit the image before hand using a program such as Irfanview to restore it to its intended colours. Otherwise the image will be deleted, or edited and reuploaded. Also I just noticed that it doesn't mention that images shouldn't contain subtitles in the image policy. That should be included, in my opinion. Also, another DX1 specific one, the white 'box'that appears around objects when you get close to them that includes its name at the top, should not be visible. Normally it can't be cropped out so the only way to avoid it is by taking the screenshot while in no-clip (ghost) mode (see Deus Ex console commands to learn how to enable this mode).


 * When linking to articles *either do or do not* include any suffix that is added on to the article name. E.g JC Denton’s or JC Denton’s ((which one?)) (I personally prefer how the first one looks visually but I’m not too fussy as long as we decide on one of them).


 * We need to decide on a way to link to other similar articles at the top of an article, for example, a “not to be confused with X” or “for other uses see ‘disambiguation page for Y’”. Could we make some sort of template for this?


 * We also need to decide whether we should but spaces in between sub-sections in an article. I have been including spaces occasionally when I feel that an article is a bit cramped without them (for example on the APR and The Midnight Sun pages.) Should this be decided on a case-by-case basis by the editor or should we choose one or the other and stick with it? (The lack of spaces tends to only be a problem when an article includes Heading 3’s, so maybe we could make an exception for articles that that applies to).


 * Links to Wikipedia articles should be kept to a minimum. A link to Wikipedia can be useful from time to time, mainly if it explains some term that is not commonly known or enhances the readers understanding of the topic they’re reading about on the wiki. For example I know I’ve seen a link to the Trilateral Commission Wikipedia page as there is no article about it on the Deus Ex wiki. However do not link (as I’ve seen being done) to commonly understood words/terms (i've seen 'police force' and '21st century' being linked to before..)


 * Images integrated into the main article (particularly the image at the beginning of the article) should be on the right hand side and have a width no larger than ___ pixels (I’m thinking around 300px max?). I have seen articles on other wiki’s that alternate between having images on the left and right of the text and I think they do look quite good; this article, for example (side-note: ResistanZ, the Dumbledore page is a good example of an article written from an in-universe perspective). I’d be happy with either/both but again, do we want to be consistent and choose one or the other?


 * Don’t use grammar contractions in articles unless included in a quote or in-game text.


 * Red links should only be added when there is enough information available to write an article on the subject, but simply hasn't been written yet. There is no point in putting a link on a persons name who is mentioned in one e-mail (for example), with no other information known about them apart from their name. An exception to this would be if we expect to find out more about the topic in a future release.


 * The guidelines are already pretty clear about categorization but I've noticed lots of articles which are double-categorized. As in, they are included in a game-secific category and the more general category. An example of this is voice actors, who are included in the "Deus Ex game voice actor" category and the "Voice actor" category. We either adhere to what the guidelines currently specify or we change what it says with regards to this.

This isn't by any means a comprehensive list and I'm sure myself and other users will think of other things that should be added. I'm going to add this blog to the "News" section so that as many people as possible see it. I really would like some feedback on this!