Sonic Wiki Zone:Style

The style of pages on Sonic News Network is largely up to the editors involved. However, this page contains a list of some guidelines that have proven to be suitable through frequent use.

General

• Sonic News Network's articles generally follow the guidelines in Wikipedia:Manual of Style and its subpages, which has been extensively tested and refined. See also the Community Central guidelines on spelling and grammar.

• Any change is acceptable as long as it does not break the wiki's rules. You don't need to seek approval before making changes, no matter how big. If another user disagrees with a change you've made, open a discussion with the other user on a relevant talk page, Message Wall or Forum.

• If you are making a page that is similar in subject to a page that already exists, consider imitating the style of the existing page.

• If existing styles do not allow you to present information on a page in the best possible way, create your own. Any style is acceptable as long as you convey the information appropriately and the page looks good.

• Maintain a neutral point of view in articles.

• Try to avoid using the first- or second-person in articles. For example, instead of saying "The robot shoots fireballs at you", say "The robot shoots fireballs at Sonic" or "The robot shoots fireballs at the player."

• Page names should be singular (Ring, not Rings although a plural base may be created as a redirect), unless the subject in question is always in plural (such as Alloy Boots), refers to a group or class of specific things (such as Lists) or other exceptions. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plural) for more info.

• Page titles and headings should be in sentence case (a leading capital letter at the start of the first word only) instead of title case (capital letters at the beginning of every word). See Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Article titles for more info.

• Banner templates can be placed at the top of some articles, e.g. to indicate the continuity to which the subject of the article belongs. At the discretion of users, {{Real World}} can be used on pages relating to the real world.

• "Plot" is to be used instead of "Storyline" for sections entailing events or plot.
• Using the gallery tag for infoboxes have conditions for each case which are:
  • For the Infobox character, it is when a character has several forms but has no "base form". If there are more than six images in a gallery, they must be removed from it and placed in their own section.
  • For the Infobox item, it is when there is more than one design for the item in games or any other media, in which both are used in recent titles. If there are more than six images in a gallery, they must be removed from it and get their own section.
  • For the Infobox boss, it is when there is no "defined appearance" for the boss (being used in several versions). If there are more than six images in a gallery, they must be removed from it and get their own section.
  • For the infobox comic, it must be used with issues that more than one version cover. There is no maximum number of images previewed by the gallery here.

• Categories are to have the following criteria:
  • They must contain at least five articles. More than five is accepted, but less than five is not. This law, however, does not include categories made to list games for a specific console.
  • Articles must not have "grandparent categories." For example, Sonic the Hedgehog is categorized in the Speed types category, but not in the Subjects by ability type category. The grandparent category, in this case, is the Subjects by ability type category.
  • There should not be a category for deceased characters, and creating one is not permitted.

• A gallery sub-page needs sixteen images to be approved. Any fewer images and the article will be qualified for deletion. After making the sub-page, add the Tab template on the original article and link it to the gallery sub-article.

• If you have created an article and started it with little information but you are willing to add more, place the Under construction template atop your article so that it is visible to users that you will complete it. The same applies to existing articles.

Character pages

• Characters are allowed to have a separate article for each continuity. For example, a game article, Bean the Dynamite, and an Archie article, Bean the Dynamite (Archie). This is for two reasons:
  1. Some characters have vastly different and mutually contradictory portrayals in particular continuities, so it makes sense for them to be addressed separately.
  2. Pragmatically, pages that deal with multiple continuities tend to get so long that it's a chore to edit or read them. If you find an article that you think could do with being chopped into more digestible pieces, don't hesitate to post a suggestion on the discussion page, or bring it up with one of SNN's sysops.

• Ages for game characters should be those from Sonic Channel where given. Characters from other continuities may have different ages, which should only be given if confirmed in their respective canons.

• Infobox character can be used to add infoboxes to character pages only.

Guidelines

Although editors are free to edit however they want, the Sonic News Network has presented editors with sets of guidelines to help editors. These guidelines are official, but editors are free to stray from them if it means that the overall quality of the article will be improved.

The guidelines currently in existence are listed below:

Red text means the guide has not been created. You can help SNN by creating it!

• Characters
• Video games
• Real-world people
• Real-world group
• Level
• Boss
• Object
• Transformations
• Song
• Music album
• TV Series
• Missions and Challenge Acts
• Group
• TV episode
• Scripts
• Comic issue
• Attacks and moves

Copying from Wikipedia and Mobius Encyclopedia

• Material may be used from Wikipedia or Mobius Encyclopedia (the Archie Sonic wiki) due to the licenses used by these sites, but any material copied from Wikipedia or Mobius Encyclopedia must be appropriately marked and linked to indicate where the information came from.

• If pages copied directly, the banner templates Template:enWP or Template:enME should be used on pages copied from Wikipedia or Mobius Encyclopedia respectively. These templates should remain on the page until it has been edited sufficiently to ensure that most of the content was created by Sonic News Network users.

• If any information is used from Wikipedia, Mobius Encyclopedia, or any other affiliated wiki, then a link must be placed to the relevant page on that wiki. This is usually done in an 'External links' section at the very bottom of the page. Template:WP link and Template:ME link (as well as Template:STC link and others) have been created to ensure that such links are presented consistently. These links should remain on the page indefinitely.

Lists versus articles

• At the Sonic News Network, we prefer that each character/object/location/etc should have its own article, rather than being grouped into long lists. Individual articles are more conducive to people adding information, and as this is a Sonic Wiki, we want as much information as possible!

• If you feel it is appropriate, you can use lists that link to more specific articles. However, any explanatory paragraphs in long lists should be kept brief, with the majority of information in the destination pages.

• If you can write a page about even the most obscure topic, by all means go ahead! (If it's really obscure, make sure you say, aka cite, where you got the information from.)

Article restrictions

Our mission is to create the largest and most accurate database on everything Sonic, but there are articles that go beyond what can be reasonably allowed. These restrictions are here to prevent articles being created that would be better suited on a list or another wiki.

Unseen content in TV and comics

• In order for a character, object, location, event, or group that appears in a TV or comic to have an article, they must fit one of the following criteria:

1. An appearance is made and a name is given (Examples: Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic the Comic), Grey Emerald, Floating Island (Sonic the Comic), Echidna Empire).
2. A name is given and plays a significant role in the media it is mentioned in (Examples: Avatar (IDW), Mobium (Archie), Casino Night Zone (Archie)).
3. Appears and plays a significant role in the media it appears in (Examples: Old Goats Couple, Sonic Underground Zone).

• A "Significant Role" is defined as:

Provides enough information to make an article and would hamper the content it appears/is mentioned in if it did not exist. Multiple mentions/appearances is a good indicator it plays a significant role.

• Unseen content that does not play a significant role may be added to the List of unseen content in media page. If the content does meet one of the stated criteria later on, an article may be made for it. Additionally, information that does not fit the criteria for its own article can be placed in an article that relates to it.

Voice Actors

• Any English or Japanese voice actor that worked on any Sonic media can have an article created for them. This is because SNN is an English wiki and Japanese voice actors have done the original dub of the majority of Sonic media.

• All other language voice actors that have been licensed by SEGA can have an article created for them.

• Voice actors that do not fall under this criteria should redirect to the Fandom wiki of their appropriate language, if a page for them exists. If their name is not on the List of voice actors page yet, then they should be put on it.

• Every voice actor article should have a reference that they did the role listed. Sources can be found in the credits of the media, on the actor's resume, or a reliable web source (note: IMDB is NOT RELIABLE).

References

• References are the backbone of the majority of articles. Without them, the information in the article can not be considered accurate. An article with many references shows the page has been researched and the information can be verified.

• To add a reference to an article, simply type <ref>[Link to source here.]</ref>. To be more professional, you can use a Citation template made specificity for certain sources (book, webpage, news article, ext.). If you need help with this, see Help:Citing sources or ask an administrator.

Editing Directory

New content is the best way to help the wiki. To write a new article, just enter the article title in the box below!

Not sure where to start?

You lend us a hand with some of these:

• Expand some of our stubs and incomplete articles!
• Improve our articles in need of cleanup.
• Update our out-of-date articles!
• Fix some of our double redirects!
• Add links to some of our orphaned pages!
• Add citations to our unreferenced statements!
• Categorize some of our uncategorized categories, files and articles!
• Add images, references, and infoboxes to our articles!
• See if any of our unused files should be posted on articles!
• Join in our merge, Featured Article, and split debates!

Here are some tips from our editors on how you can contribute to SNN (note that it is currently in progress):

Tips

• Use the Random Page button. This will take you to one of our over 15000 main-space pages we have. Eventually, you will find a page with an easy edit you can do.

Sonic Wiki Zone

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